system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek: TNG] In the episode "Justice" why was contact made so casually with the Edo?

In the episode they make it clear the Edo are a different species, and the Enterprise crew basically knows nothing of them. Yet they make very casual contact with the species, and to boot use the planet as a recreational outing for the crew.


Later we find out the Edo aren't allowed to leave the planet, and have primitive knowledge of space travel. There's no way this species is warp capable. They aren't even allowed off of their planet and are shocked by the Federation's technological capabilities.


This seems like a clear violation of the prime directive, or at best a very unprofessional, haphazard way to make first contact.


What happened here? How was the way they made contact justified?
gpt
The only possibility was that prior contact was made before the Enterprise shows up. Since the natives have no issues with seeing aliens (Worf is down there), they've obviously had exposure to off-worlders.

In this care, the Prime Directive only comes into effect if they try to give them advanced tech.