| Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 70: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 12 reviews)
Sales Rank: 26558
Category: Video
Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy
Publisher: CBS Paramount International Television
Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
Manufacturer: CBS Paramount International Television
Label: CBS Paramount International Television
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Media: VHS Tape
Running Time: 46 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 630098866X
UPC: 097360007039
EAN: 9786300988668
ASIN: 630098866X
Release Date: April 15, 1994
Theatrical Release Date: September 8, 1966
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
There's blunt and then there's really blunt. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" is certainly the latter, a thick fable about the absurdity of intolerance, a story so obvious it becomes energized by its own, sheer audacity. Frank Gorshin, a 1960s television icon for his recurring role as the Riddler on Batman, plays Bele, an extraterrestrial cop pursuing a fugitive named Lokai (Lou Antonio). The latter is chalk-white on the right side of his body, and ebony-black on the left, an arrangement despised as inferior by Bele and his race, whose own color scheme simply reverses the two. While Captain Kirk (William Shatner) decides what to do about Lokai's request for asylum, the old race hatred between both sides looks increasingly ridiculous. Interestingly, the episode originated as an idea from producer Gene L. Coon, who envisioned an endless chase between a devil and an angel. Eventually it was decided that the sheer stupidity of prejudice would be underscored more clearly in the final arrangement and, indeed, several decades after the fact, the show does have a surrealist punch to it. Incidentally, the Enterprise self-destruct sequence seen here was reprised in the feature film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
An in-your-face commentary about racial hatreds, superb performance by Frank Gorshin July 10, 2008
Subtle is the last possible word that could be used to describe this episode. It is blunt and a bit over the top in making a point about race hatred. It all begins with the Enterprise pursuing a shuttlecraft stolen from Starbase 4. After a tractor beam brings the craft on board the Enterprise, a being from Cheron (Lokai), with one side of his face white and the other black, staggers out and collapses on the deck. He is immediately taken to sick bay where Spock and McCoy are in agreement that his coloration is a genetic anomaly, a one-of-a-kind. When Lokai awakens, he is arrogant, feeling that it was his need that gave him the right to use the shuttlecraft.
The Enterprise proceeds on mission when an unknown vessel approaches. While the sensors can detect it, there is no visual confirmation and when the vessel is destroyed, another, similar creature (Bele) appears on the bridge. He immediately announces that he is a law enforcement officer and he has been pursuing the criminal Lokai for thousands of years. Kirk refuses to hand Lokai over and Bele uses his mental powers to take over the ship. Kirk then begins to execute his threat to engage the autodestruct and when Bele is unable to stop it, acquiesces to giving control back to Kirk.
The Enterprise completes its assigned mission and then Bele once again takes over the ship, which proceeds to Cheron. When they arrive, they discover that everyone on the planet is dead, having killed each other in a vast race war. In this case the racial differences are not in coloration but in location. While both Lokai and Bele are black on one side and white on the other, one is black on the right side and the other black on the left side. One after the other, they beam down to the surface of Cheron to engage in the last, pitiful battle of a race war that can only end in the deaths of everyone on the planet.
The performance of Frank Gorshin as Bele is what made this episode work, his intonation and facial expressions drive home the point that this is a police officer who will stop at nothing to capture his prey. Gorshin is best known as "The Riddler" in the campy Batman series, and those same talents are demonstrated in his portrayal of Bele. It is a hard episode; neither of the protagonists generates much sympathy in you. They have only their hatred of the other and their only goal is to satisfy this perverted desire. It is also notable that this episode introduces the autodestruct potential built into the Enterprise. This feature was a fundamental plot necessity in a subsequent movie and in the "Star Trek The Next Generation" series.
If You're Half-White, You're Alright?? January 23, 2008
One of the most memorable moments in Star Trek occurs in this episode. Two aliens, each half-white and half-black, make the Enterprise their battlefield. Kirk and Spock try to mediate. Spock says, "Your war is surprising, given your genetic similarity." The alien responds, "Are you blind? I'm white on the right side. He is white on the left side!"
Bravo! Differences that seem trivial to any rational observer take on significance to groups looking for any excuse to hate each other. This is what the original show did best: use interstellar allegory to comment on the issues of the 1960s. Yet the message is timeless... Are racism and bigotry still with us? You bet! These aliens could be Sunnis vs. Shiites, Sikhs vs. Hindus, or Serbs vs. Bosnians. Whatever.
Two other things make this episode worth watching: 1) the guest performances by Frank Gorshin (representing the authoritarian faction) and Lou Antonio (representing the rebel faction) are strong, and each is well cast... Gorshin doing a sly turn that is sneering and arrogant, while Antonio is appropriately angry. 2) The centerpiece of the episode is a battle of wills between Commissioner Beal (Gorshin) and Captain Kirk for control of the ship. Beal's powers enable to him to take control of the helm, to take his "prisoner," Loki, back to their home planet. Kirk's only option to is to threaten to make the ship self-destruct.
That's not as silly as it sounds. The conflict results in an exceptionally tense, dramatic scene. What's wonderful is that it uses technology but doesn't depend on technology to resolve the dilemma. It's really about the characters' choices. Writers would revisit this famous self-destruct concept at the end of Star Trek III.
The episode is not without flaws. The aliens are obviously wearing face paint, like Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer. The tight trousers they wear (their costumes are deliberately made identical) show all-too-obvious bulges. But maybe that's intended; these are overtly male characters bent on aggressive behavior. Perhaps the biggest flaw is that the ending isn't fully satisfying. Kirk manages to get the Enterprise to its rendevous to innoculate a planet (saving a few billion people we never see) but nothing can be done to stop Beal and Loki from destroying each other. In that, Kirk fails.
But maybe that was the point. What can be done against such relentless hate?
 Almost preachy, and low budget, but the acting would win it big awards. January 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Indeed, not one person's acting in this episode is anything less than stellar; and Frank Gorshin, if he hadn't won any awards for this episode, definitely deserved as many as theoretically possible.
The story is basic - distant planet, two humanoid species hating each other because of skin color. Indeed, this is the closest original Trek ever got to telling people how to be politically correct, but in this case it's justified, immensely well told, and there are little gems of dialogue scattered all over the place in this episode. And, quite frankly, having seen it a thousand times or for the very first time, it takes little time for the viewer to be caught up in the intrigue and kept hooked thanks to the dialogue and quality of the actors' performances.
Even when there are obvious gaffes:
* Spock thinks Lokai's color scheme is impossible and goes through the range of human pigmentations, but has he never seen a zebra?! Such a dual skin tone is hardly unique, impossible, or anything else.
* Spock doesn't see the difference between Lokai and Bele (one is black on the right side, the other is black on the left)
* The conservative element (Bele) is "right on the white side" - that and subsequent dialogue making an (incorrect) inference that only white is right.
I'll ignore the obvious re-use of Enterprise shuttlecraft footage. This was the no-budget season 3, which had to rely far more on character than what any special effect could do to carry.
But later, Spock (who's otherwise remarkably obtuse in this episode) points out to Lokai that, for all Lokai's talk of revolution and "justice", Lokai himself doesn't seem to want to put in his own weight; thereby diminishing his credibility. The whole scene is so well thought out, it more than makes up for the earlier gaffes. It defines the story.
Given this was season 3, with no budget and time available, what was made is astonishingly good and that needs to be taken into account.
This episode is a winner. Loud, proud, thought-provoking for all the right reasons; it's definitely worth the purchase.
 A solid episode September 22, 2003
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This episode, employing actors done up in half-black, half-white face makeup, is a none-too subtle statement about race relations. While Star Trek is to be commended for not ignoring controversial issues, the show's forays could be grossly oversimplistic; this episode is a case in point. Most viewers will have gleaned the difference between Lokai and Bele long before the crew becomes aware. This is also another talky episode, and while the actors do a good job expressing their choler through some truly acrimonious exchanges, the viewer gets the idea pretty fast.
The second half of the episode is not without its plusses though. The auto-destruct sequence was a nice touch, as were the montages of burning cities (which must have struck a cord in early 1969, as today). The conclusion leaves the viewer with much to ponder, both specifically about Bele and Lokai's fate, and more generally about hatred's powerful momentum. One other welcome aspect was the fact that the Enterprise and her crew were basically powerless here. This thankfully (in my opinion) spares us the need for a pat conclusion to such a complex problem. On the other hand, it is interesting to ask whether a first season episode would have been so pessimistic. The answer is almost certainly no. But a lot had changed in two years, and not just in the Star Trek universe.
Classic Trek at it's best April 25, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am very surprised Frank Gorshin was never asked to return as a baddie in another Trek episode. It was a real treat to see him argue with Shatner about the plight of their planet. You couldn't tell who was on the right side. Both of them had a convincing argument. There was no way to tell. Anyway, the episode did have another great action sequence where both of them wrestled with 60's style cosmic powers.
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