Temporal Prime Directive
The rule against changing history through time travel.
The Temporal Prime Directive is a guideline that forbids time travellers, from the past or the future, from interfering with the natural development of a timeline.
Quick Facts
- Related
- Temporal Accords
- Appears in
- A Matter of Time
- Cold Front
- Face the Strange
Lore & Background
In the Next Generation episode "A Matter of Time", Picard compares the Prime Directive to a possible temporal equivalent and asks a time traveller to make an exception to it.
In Star Trek: Enterprise's "Cold Front", the 31st-century traveller Daniels tells Archer that the Temporal Accords were set up as time travel became practical, allowing it for the study of history but forbidding its use to change history. Star Trek: Discovery's "Face the Strange" shows the directive still in force in the late 32nd century.
More in History & Behind the Scenes
Elsewhere in Star Trek
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