Logline
Commander Una Chin-Riley faces court-martial along with possible imprisonment and dishonorable dismissal from Starfleet, and her defense is in the hands of a lawyer who’s also a childhood friend with whom she had a terrible falling out.
Written by Dana Horgan
Directed by Valerie Weiss
I always thought the genetic modification ban was pretty flimsy. It wasn’t even established until DS9 since TNG had the Darwin Research Station.
I really don’t like how strict they made it in SNW. Why should humans dictate the laws for all races in the Federation? What happened to the Denobulans? Phlox said that they genetically modify themselves.
DS9 said that genetic modification was still allowed for the treatment of serious illnesses. So it doesn’t make sense for all permanent genetic modification to be banned.
Also, in DS9, genetic modification was more like performance enhancing drugs. Bashir’s modifications gave him an unfair advantage over other people. It’s kind of like someone cheating to get into a good school. But that argument also has problems since there are aliens with naturally superior abilities compared to humans. Vulcans have perfect memory, superior physical abilities, and telepathy, they would have a big advantage over humans in a lot of things. But Vulcans aren’t banned from Starfleet.
There’s a theory that every major race has gone through some version of Earth’s Eugenics Wars, or at least the most influential ones, such that the laws against genetic modification were pushed through. Other races simply didn’t care enough to protest or protest much.
As for the Denobulans, it could be that they wound up on the wrong side of the Neutral Zone after the Romulan War when borders were drawn, so they were never Federation members. This also explains why they weren’t seen between ENT and, chronologically, their appearance in PRO.
I think a lot of the species at least agree with the idea of a eugenics ban after seeing the records of how disastrous it was for Earth, regardless of their own struggles.
And don’t forget that it went badly (in different ways) for the Klingons as well.
The franchise is fairly consistent about genetic enhancements (i.e., augmentation) are illegal, while medical procedures are not. The Darwin station is the biggest outlier.
TNG overall never said anything about the Federation or Starfleet being against genetic modification. It wasn’t just Darwin Research Station. They didn’t say anything about it in “Masterpiece Society” either.
Dr. Bashir I Presume was the first episode that any kind of ban was ever brought up. They didn’t even say anything about a ban in “Space Seed” or “Wrath of Khan.”
Also, when Torres was pregnant in Voyager, she wanted the Doctor to modify her baby to remove Klingon traits and no one said it was illegal.
That colony wasn’t a member of the Federation, though.> Also, when Torres was pregnant in Voyager, she wanted the Doctor to modify her baby to remove Klingon traits and no one said it was illegal.
One could argue that’s not an augmentation.
But they have discussions about it in the episode and no one brought up any laws about it. Picard even says he disapproves of it personally but says nothing about it being banned.
From Dr. Bashir, I Presume: “DNA resequencing for any reason other than repairing serious birth defects is illegal.”
The Doctor specifically said that many of the modifications Torres wanted to make had nothing to do with the baby’s health.
Well, SNW predates DS9, right, so this seems consistent with and even complementary to continuity, unless there’s something in TOS I’m missing.