Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (TOS episode)

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Star Trek: TOS episode
"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
Bele's powers seize control of the Enterprise, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".
Episode no.	70
Prod. code	070
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.

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.

[edit] Plot

On stardate 5730.2, the Enterprise is on a mission to help clean up a bacterial infestation on 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, identifies himself as Lokai - a political refugee from the planet Cheron - and 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.

Shortly thereafter, sensors detect an another spacecraft in fast pursuit of the Enterprise. The ship's engines struggle to keep up and will soon overload. Seconds later, another alien beams himself aboard just as the pursuing ship breaks apart. The second alien identifies himself as Bele, obviously of the same race as Lokai - however, the sides of Bele's black and white skin are reversed.

Bele explains he is a police officer from Cheron, 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 and almost come to blows. 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.

Kirk decides to ignore their racially prejudiced arguments, and returns to the bridge. Bele soon follows and demands that Kirk change course to Cheron. Kirk refuses, informing him that the aliens' quarrel is no concern of his, and that he has more urgent matters to attend to at the moment. He allows Bele and Lokai to remain aboard, and offers to drop them off at Starbase 4 once the mission is complete.

Tired of Kirk's babbling, Bele invokes a strange power which takes control of the ship, steering 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.

Once the Ariannus mission is completed, Bele takes control of the Enterprise again, this time deactivating the auto-destruct in the process, and sends the ship to Cheron. Once there, they 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 - realizing 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 repels anyone who tries to break up the fight and which threatens to severely 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] Trivia

• 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.

• Ironically, Bele wears a chain around his neck, while Lokai does not. However, it may have been a symbol of authority, as Bele claimed he was a police officer.

• In what is considered the most glaring example of how production values suffered under the show's reduced budget, Bele's ship was never depicted, and its visual absence was explained by having Bele's ship be invisible.

• Frank Gorshin received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Bele. While he did not win, most critics and Trek historians agree that the sole reason behind his failure to receive the award was the awards committee's well-known reluctance to award any major acting Emmy to any science fiction show.

• 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).

[edit] External links

• Let That Be Your Last Battlefield at StarTrek.com
• "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

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"