>>17772
>The Prime Directive
>AKA: The 'we wanted more tension in this scene but couldn't be bothered creating it' Directive
>AKA: The 'we need a reason that the heroes can't just fix things with a negative, polarity reversed, transwarp induction thingamajiggy' Directive.
>AKA: The 'Star Trek always does this, the fans will love it, right?' Directive.
It's one of the more overused and hacky plot conveniences, but it can be made to serve an interesting part of the lore if you assume it was Star Fleets way of making sure their captains actually did their job rather than running off to play god with the natives on planet Shi'thole VII.