Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
- Episode aired Jan 10, 1969
- TV-PG
- 51m
The Enterprise encounters two duo-chromatic and mutually belligerent aliens who put the ship in the middle of their old conflict.The Enterprise encounters two duo-chromatic and mutually belligerent aliens who put the ship in the middle of their old conflict.The Enterprise encounters two duo-chromatic and mutually belligerent aliens who put the ship in the middle of their old conflict.
- Lieutenant Hadley
- (uncredited)
- Lt. Brent
- (uncredited)
- Lt. Lemli
- (uncredited)
- Yeoman
- (uncredited)
- Enterprise Lieutenant
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original story concept did not depict the aliens with bi-colored skin. One was a devil with a tail and the other was an angel. Episode director Jud Taylor came up with the idea of bi-colored skin shortly before the episode began filming. His original suggestion was that they be half-black/half-white, one color from the waist up and the other from the waist down, but each wearing reversed color schemes. The central idea stuck but the colors were finally separated along the vertical axis rather than along the horizontal.
- GoofsChekov reports that Bele's ship is "out there" while at his station at the helm. The camera shot from behind the helm shows Kirk and crew looking at the display screen appears, Hadley rather than Chekov is at the navigation station. When they cut back to a shot from the front angle as before to show the crew's faces, Chekov is back in his seat and Hadley is in Sulu's position at the helm.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Mr. Spock: [On the bridge, after Lokai and Bele have beamed to the surface of Charon] And another life form has appeared on Cheron.
Uhura: That doesn't make any sense.
Mr. Spock: To expect sense from two mentalities of such extreme view points is not logical.
Sulu: Their planet's dead. Does it matter now which one's right?
Mr. Spock: Not to Lokai and Bele. All that matters to them is their hate.
Uhura: Do you suppose that's all they ever had, sir?
Captain James T. Kirk: No, but that's all they have left. Warp factor two, Mr. Sulu. Set course for Starbase 4.
- Alternate versionsSpecial Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
- ConnectionsFeatured in William Shatner's Star Trek Memories (1995)
The two guest stars in their cheap black&white make-up (you could tell they were scraping the barrel of the budget for the show by this time) steal the show with their constant hating of each other while the Enterprise crew does very little except watch and make self-righteous comments.
This episode is a time capsule of sorts because it is very much a part of its time as the settings of many Sci-Fi stories of the 50s&60s were often just thinly-disguised commentaries about social conditions and human nature. Writers of such stories were more interested in the message than in fleshing out a story universe that made sense.
"Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" though is enjoyable fare to sit back and enjoy and not to be surprised by the inevitable obvious ending. What makes it even more delightful is the appearance of Frank Gorshin, Jr famous for playing The Riddler in the 60s Batman series as one of the illogical hate-fueled aliens.
- ronindave
- Dec 22, 2013
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