Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
Image:STLastBattle.jpg
Bele's powers seize control of the Enterprise
Episode no. 70
Prod. code 070
Remastered no. 54
Airdate January 10, 1969
Writer(s) Oliver Crawford
story by
Gene L. Coon (as Lee Cronin)
Director Jud Taylor
Guest star(s) Lou Antonio
Frank Gorshin
Frank da Vinci
William Blackburn
Roger Holloway
Year 2268
Stardate 5730.2
Episode chronology
Previous "Whom Gods Destroy"
Next "The Mark of Gideon"

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #70, production #70, first broadcast January 10, 1969, and repeated August 12, 1969. It was written by Oliver Crawford, based on a story by Lee Cronin and directed by Jud Taylor. This episode guest-stars Frank Gorshin, best known for his role as The Riddler in the Batman live-action television series. Gorshin received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Bele.

Overview: The Enterprise picks up the last two survivors of a war-torn planet who are still committed to destroying each other aboard the ship.

Contents

[edit] Plot

On stardate 5730.2, the Enterprise is on a mission to help decontaminate the polluted atmosphere of the planet Ariannus when sensors track a Federation shuttlecraft reported stolen from Starbase 4. The craft is disabled and brought aboard along with its strange alien pilot who is found injured and taken to sickbay. The man later awakens and identifies himself as Lokai — a political refugee from the planet Cheron who requests asylum. Lokai's most striking feature is that his skin is half black and half white, the two halves split perfectly down the center of his body. His unique physiology is explained by Mr. Spock as possibly being "one of a kind".

Shortly thereafter, sensors detect another spacecraft in fast pursuit of the Enterprise. Curiously, the craft remains invisible to all but sensors and sets itself on a direct collision course with the ship. Moments later, Spock reports the invisible craft has disintegrated and deposited an "alien presence" aboard the ship. Kirk turns to see the alien pilot who has beamed himself directly to the bridge. The second alien identifies himself as Bele (pronounced "Beale"), obviously of the same race as Lokai, however, the sides of Bele's black and white skin are reversed. The difference is pointed out by Bele to a perplexed Captain Kirk who asks what is the difference between them, to which he replies, "Isn't it obvious? Lokai is white on the right side. All his people are white on the right side."

Bele explains he is a police commissioner from Cheron and on a mission to retrieve political traitors. His current quarry is Lokai who he has been chasing for what Bele claims to be 50,000 Earth years. Bele then instructs Captain Kirk to take him to see his "prisoner". Bele is taken to Lokai, but Lokai reacts fearfully to Bele's presence and strongly demands he be taken away. The two aliens begin arguing about slavery and racial segregation which almost come to blows.

Kirk decides to ignore their heated arguments and returns to the bridge. Bele soon follows and demands that Kirk change course to Cheron. Kirk refuses, informing him that the Bele's mission is no concern of his and that he has more urgent matters to attend to. He allows Bele and Lokai to remain aboard and tells them he will drop them off at Starbase 4 once the mission is complete "and let them sort it out."

Soon Lokai comes to the bridge and demands Kirk kill Bele and give him asylum. Kirk instead, calls security to escort the two off to the brig. The two aliens however, generate a powerful repulsion field which resists both phaser blasts and the guards' physical attempts to subdue them. Tired of Kirk's commands, Bele invokes a strange power which takes control of the ship and steers it toward Cheron. With no way to return control, Kirk threatens to destroy the Enterprise.

Bele believes Kirk is bluffing until Kirk activates the ship's auto-destruct sequence with voice code approval of his first officer Mr. Spock and chief engineer Mr. Scott. Bele nervously watches as the countdown nears zero then finally relents control at the last seconds. Kirk cancels auto-destruct and changes course back to Ariannus.

Meanwhile, Bele meets with Kirk and Spock where it is quickly shown that Bele believes his black and white coloration is superior to Lokai's, even though Kirk sees no difference in the two and refuses to agree in Bele's feelings of racial superiority.

Once the Ariannus mission is completed, Bele takes control of the Enterprise again, but this time he deactivates the auto-destruct in the process and sends the ship to Cheron. Once there, the two aliens find the planet's population completely wiped out by a global war fueled by insane racial hatred. Both Lokai and Bele stare silently at the destruction on the monitor and realize they are the only ones left of their race (or, as they see it, their races).

Instead of calling a truce, the two beings begin to blame each other for the destruction of the planet and a physical brawl ensues. As the two aliens fight, their innate powers radiate, cloaking them with an energy aura that threatens to damage the ship. With no other choice, Kirk sadly allows the two aliens to chase each other down to their obliterated world to decide their own fates, consumed by their now self-perpetuating mutual hate.

[edit] Cheron

It is established that Cheron is the planet from which Bele and Lokai hail - Cheron is also the name of the planet at which the Romulan forces suffered a crushing military defeat at the hands of Earth, marking the end of the Romulan War. TOS episode "Balance of Terror" describes the war as between Earth and the Romulans and confirms the formation of the Neutral Zone. The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Defector" has Admiral Jarok, who is defecting to the Federation, mentioning that the "Battle of Cheron" has not been forgotten by the Romulans have associated the battle as leading to the formation of the Neutral zone. Cheron is referenced again in Star Trek Generations as being the battle that ended the war.

It is not believed this is the same Cheron however, as the Enterprise crew doesn't appear to be familiar with the planet or the race from it.

[edit] 40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired January 12, 2008 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and followed a week later by the remastered "The Enemy Within". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

  • The Enterprise capture of the Starbase 4 shuttle has been reanimated in CGI. The shuttle now says "Starbase 4" on its hull.
  • The planet Ariannus has been recreated in CGI. The planet's "clean up of the environment" has been recreated. A device has been added to the bottom of the Enterprise which is used in the clean up.
  • The planet Cheron was recreated in CGI. The planet now appears as a scarred world destroyed by cataclysm.
  • Several of the scenes depicting Bele and Lokai running through the ship's corridors have been shortened.

[edit] Notes

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • There is some evidence that this script evolved from Gene Coon's unfilmed first season script A Portrait in Black and White. That particular script also dealt with racial issues, and would have featured Uhura and McCoy trapped on a planet where white people were slaves and black people were the masters. According to David Gerrold, Herbert F. Solow, and the recollections of Gene Coon's widow, Jackie Coon-Fernandez, the Trek production staff worked and reworked the script for nearly three years before it reached its final form.
  • In the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kirk, Scotty, and acting science officer Chekov activate the Enterprise's self destruct sequence to keep the ship from falling into enemy hands. The codes the officers used are identical to the ones used in this episode (although here, Kirk gives one additional line, to abort the destruct sequence, which was not done in the film).
  • There is a scene in a blooper reel, in which Frank Gorshin announces that he is Bele, pronouncing it as "Belly." He pauses, apparently realizing how ridiculous it sounds, and corrects himself.

[edit] External links

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Last produced:
"That Which Survives"		 Star Trek: TOS episodes
Season 3		 Next produced:
"Whom Gods Destroy"
Last transmitted:
"Whom Gods Destroy"		 Next transmitted:
"The Mark of Gideon"