Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
By my count, including this episode, we have only 10 episodes left! Cue Europe, it's...The Final Countdown!
(And how fitting is The Final Countdown for this episode?)
The TOS-R version has a cool visual of the shuttle coming in to land in the shuttle bay.
So the answer to the question of how they evolved to be half black half white is that there was a mutation at some point?
Spock: "Yet you are pumping him full of your noxious potions as if he were a human. " Ooh, this time Spock starts the snark with McCoy rather than the other way around.
Kirk:"That's in the southernmost part of the galaxy, in an uncharted quarter." Huh. So apparently by convention they've decided that one side of the galaxy is the top and one the bottom and they refer to them as north and south? Is he talking about a quarter of the southern side or a quadrant of the whole galaxy? Any relation to the alpha, beta, gamma, delta designation of quadrants we hear about in later Trek series?
Wow, look, there are people in the corridors as if this was a busy crew of 430 people. How reminiscent of Season 1.
Nooo, it's the Riddler! Don't trust him! Kirk needs to pick up the red phone and call Adam West.
The dynamic between Lokai and Bele reminds me of G'Kar and Londo and will be expanded upon more in DS9 with the dynamic between the Bajorans and Cardassians.
What is it with this in and out with the camera during a red alert? Holy psychedelic 60's, Batman.
Good acting by Gorshin and Antonio. They really sell two guys who are obsessed and enraged.
Bele:"For fifty thousand of your terrestrial years, I have been pursuing Lokai through the galaxy." Wow, you suck.
Ah, the classic self destruct sequence. One of the truly iconic scenes in all of TOS repeated in STIII. A very tense, edge of your seat scene where Kirk shows his iron will will bend to no one. Meanwhile, everyone else looks on and thinks "this isn't what I was expecting to happen today."
Okay, it's a good scene, but I disagree with Kirk here. I hate to pull the "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one" card, but Kirk has no business risking the lives of a billion Ariannusians, not to mention those of his crew, by potentially destroying his ship over Lokai. If Bele won't give up control, then Kirk needs to get to Cheron as soon as possible, get the two nutjobs off the ship, and go save Ariannus. We know that's where they end up anyway, but we didn't know that at the time. And why didn't Bele just walk over and burn out the computer while they were setting up the self destruct sequence?
Another TOS episode with a social message. This one hits us over the head with a 2 x 4, a sledgehammer, and a Mack truck: Hey! Racism is stupid and bad!
The first time I saw this, like Kirk and Spock, I didn't register the difference between Lokai and Bele, and when Bele gives his explanation of "I'm black on the right side, he's white on the right side", like Kirk and Spock, I was like "what a stupid reason to hate each other." DUH! That's the point! It's stupid to hate over each others' skin color! Oooooooooh, I get it!
This isn't really one of my favorite episodes. It doesn't help that we have to see them run around the ship for twenty minutes. Okay, it wasn't twenty, it was three. Long enough.
Kirk: "Give up your hate."
Luke: "Search your feelings, Father, you can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate."
Turn from the Dark Side, Bele and Lokai! But they don't. They turn to the Dark Side and become Sith. Or something.
Lokai goes into the turbolift. Bele follows IMMEDIATELY, and there's already a new turbolift. How fast do those things go?
So what have we learned? It's stupid to hate someone for the color of their skin, and if you don't knock it off it will destroy you and your whole world. And we're still learning this lesson unfortunately.
Like I said, not a real favorite of mine, but the dynamics between Bele and Lokai and the crew were well-acted. I wonder if it would have been more of a statement to have a black actor play one of them. Have a black actor play Bele and watch 1960's-era heads explode.
Alien Watch! Just a couple of wild and crazy guys!
Season 1
Talosians
That big ugly Rigellian guy Pike fought in illusion
Vina as an Orion girl in illusion
Glimpse of other aliens captured by Talosians
Ron Howard's brother
That dog from Enemy Within
Salt monster
That hand plant...Gertrude
Spock (duh)
Charlie's parents (Thasians)*
Romulans!
(Ruk)
Miri's planet kids (bonk bonk)
Giant ape creatures of Taurus II
Shore Leave Caretaker guy
Trelaine and his folks*
Gorn
Metrons*
The Lazerii
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Beta 3. (RotA)
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Emineminar VII (AToA)
The Triffids of Omicron Ceti III (TSoP)
The refreshingly non-human-looking Horta
Organians*
Klingons! (Remarkably human looking).
(The Guardian of Forever)
Flying pancakes
Season 2
Sylvia and Korob
The Companion
The remarkably human looking (though tall) Cappellans.
Native Pollux IV-ians (Apollo and his gang)
Full-blooded Vulcans
The remarkably human looking citizens of Argelius II (WitF)
Redjac
The People of Vaal (Gamma Triangulians)
Crew of the ISS Enterprise
The remarkably human-looking** (except for maybe a dot on their forehead) Halkans
Tribbles (not at all human looking)
The remarkably human-looking citizens of...892-VI. Is that what they call this planet? (The Roman one.)
Tall guys, short guys, Andorians, Tellurites, purple lady, Orion made up like an Andorian. (JtB)
The remarkably human-looking people of Neural. (APLW)
The awesome Mugato!
Shahna, Lars, Tamoon, Kloog, Thrallmaster Galt, and the Providers
The Cloud from the Tycho system.
The BIG FREAKIN' AMEBA!!!!!
The remarkably human-looking Iotians. (Gangsters)
Kelvans! Who really look like big, cool squids but choose to look remarkably human.
Sargon and the gang of not-quite-omnipotent aliens.
Remarkably human looking Zeons of Zeon and Ekosians of Ekos. (PoF)
The remarkably human looking Yangs and Coms of Omega IV.
Isis! Who looks remarkably like a cat until she wants to look remarkably human.
Season 3
The decidedly non-human looking Melkotians.
The remarkably human-looking Elasians and not so human looking Troyians.
Lawyer in a muumuu. Remarkably human-looking but maybe that was on purpose.
The remarkably human-looking Morgs and Eymorgs of Sigma Draconis.
Kollos the Medusan
Gem the Empath (remarkably human looking)
Vians (the OTHER bumpy-headed aliens)
Tholians!
The remarkably human-looking Fabrini of Yo Mama.
The malicious swirly ball of hate (DotD)
The remarkably human-looking Platonians who are douchebags except for Alexander
The fast, but still remarkably human looking Scalosians.
The remarkably human-looking image of Losira.
The Cheron boys, Bele and Lokai
*Alien Watch sublist: omnipotent aliens!
**By request