Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | 1x04 "Vox in Excelso"
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this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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| Date | Episode | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 01-29 | SFA 1x04 | "Vox in Excelso" |
| 02-05 | SFA 1x05 | "Series Acclimation Mil" |
| 02-12 | SFA 1x06 | "Come Let's Away" |
| 02-19 | SFA 1x07 | TBA |
| 02-26 | SFA 1x08 | TBA |
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It was okay, and I like that we got some insight into why Jay-Den is the way he is.
But... to be honest, I’m not sure why this debate between Caleb and Jay-Den is even happening. If they’re going to throwing regulations and laws around, doesn’t the actual Prime Directive exist anymore? Because I’ve not heard a single mention of it. If the PD exists, you just don’t mess with the internal workings of a civilisation (TOS: “The Apple” and “The Return of the Archons” notwithstanding). You can offer, you can plead, but whether they accept is their choice and right, even if it means they go extinct because of it. Yes, I know it’s all a metaphor for Jay-Den’s internal struggles, and perhaps given how they’re debating the Prime Directive is now scattered across several statutes and case law instead of one all-encompassing General Order and other sub-orders (VOY: “Infinite Regress”). But when you’re talking about this kind of situation, it’s precisely the Prime Directive you should be using to frame the debate.
Also, I saw the ending coming from very early on in the episode - it’s the obvious solution, and they should have thought of it so much earlier. Yes, if conquest, not charity, is what Klingons care about, just let them “conquer” Faan Alpha!
Caleb explicitly mentions the Prime Directive, stating that it doesn't apply here, but without explaining why not. I always understood that this directive applies only to pre-warp societies, which the Klingon society is not, but I may be wrong.
The PD applies to everyone the Federation encounters, pre- or post-warp.
The PD prevented the Federation from intervening in Bajoran internal affairs (DS9: "The Circle"). It prevented the Federation from intervening in the Klingon Civil War (TNG: "Redemption"). It prevented Picard from interfering with the Kaelon tradition of elder euthanasia, despite Lwaxana's entreaties (TNG: "Half a Life") and with the Ligonian's racist culture (TNG: "Code of Honor"). Kirk assured the Vians that even though they were more advanced than the Federation, the PD applied to them as well (TOS: "The Empath").
The pre-warp and post-warp distinction is not about whether or not you get to interfere; it's just the useful and most common criterion for first contact, i.e. when it is likely safe enough that first contact - revealing the existence of aliens - will not immediately alter the social and technological order. And a world that has achieved warp drive will be finding out about aliens soon enough. And even then it can be assessed that a civilisation still isn't ready (TNG: "First Contact").
At the end of the day, the PD is about non-interference, period. TOS even calls it the "non-interference directive" in TOS: "The Apple", "A Piece of the Action" and "Patterns of Force". Picard calls it that in TNG: "Justice".