Opinions on "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

[Captain Robert April]

There were a few subtleties between the sledgehammer blows. Lokai, the clear victim of persecution is also a belligerent, opinionated hothead who seems to feel that it's his duty to bite the hand that feeds him, which only serves to justify the actions of his oppressors. Whereas Bele, the Bull Connor stand-in, is generally dignified, respectful, and eminently professional, at least until Lokai starts pushing his buttons and Frank Gorshin starts sliding near his Kirk Douglas impersonation ("No half-black is gonna make a monkey outta me!").

So, the obvious message is "Racism is wrong, mmkay?" but the slightly more subtle on is that meeting hate with hate only results in everyone dead.

And for classification purposes, white. To be specific, English/Scottish with allegedly a half Cherokee great grandmother on my father's side.

 

[Forbin]

I think Frank Gorshin was doing his Kirk Douglas impression in this one.

Ethnicity: I'm 1/4 Scottish, with a fair helping of Dutch, and a smattering of German, English, French... IOW a typical descendant of last century's European immigrants. Though I can trace the first person of my paternal family name to come to America in 1638 from Norfolk, England.

 

[Noname Given]

Actually, the funniest aspect of the story is the facty that NOTH Lirk and Spock make an unfounded assumption that can be infered as ignorace of a sort when the both claim in a matter of fact way that the inhabitants of Cheron at onr time in their evelutionary past MUST have once been 'mono-colored'.

(And again, there's no scientific basis for such an assumption whatsoever and to this day, I wonder why the scene and line were included in the script.)

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I once posted a thread wondering what mixed race Cheronians would look like. (Polka dots, pinstripes, let it all out.) I figured it probably wouldn't work like it does on earth, or else the Cheronians would mostly be varying shades of light and dark gray. Instead, I imagined that there would be a genetic coin flip involved, with the offspring taking entirely after one parent's color scheme or the other. However, the offspring would carry the genetic possibilty of producing a child that had the non-expressed color scheme even if mated with another Cheronian with the same expressed phenotype. This possibility of having a child with the "wrong" colors if a Cheronian of mixed race was passing would do a lot to make the racism and taboos on the planet that much more severe and entrenched.

 

[MANT!]

1. Unsubtle allegorical racism storyline
2 Northern European descended Caucasian American AKA... White..(I do detest such labels though)

 

[TIN_MAN]

Actually, the funniest aspect of the story is the facty that NOTH Lirk and Spock make an unfounded assumption that can be infered as ignorace of a sort when the both claim in a matter of fact way that the inhabitants of Cheron at onr time in their evelutionary past MUST have once been 'mono-colored'.

(And again, there's no scientific basis for such an assumption whatsoever and to this day, I wonder why the scene and line were included in the script.)

I've always assumed that it implied that the Cheronians had previously attempted to solve their racial problems by genetic manipulation, only to have it backfire?

 

[Noname Given]

Actually, the funniest aspect of the story is the facty that NOTH Lirk and Spock make an unfounded assumption that can be infered as ignorace of a sort when the both claim in a matter of fact way that the inhabitants of Cheron at onr time in their evelutionary past MUST have once been 'mono-colored'.

(And again, there's no scientific basis for such an assumption whatsoever and to this day, I wonder why the scene and line were included in the script.)

I've always assumed that it implied that the Cheronians had previously attempted to solve their racial problems by genetic manipulation, only to have backfire?

How would either Kirk or Spock know this though as these were the first inhabitants of the planet Cheron that had been encountered by the Federation (again, neither Beele nor Lokai said the lines - they were stated by Kirk and Spock as a 'forgone fact' of Cheron evolutionary history, without either Spock or McCoy having done ANY sort of biological tests or examiination of either of them.)

 

[TIN_MAN]

Actually, the funniest aspect of the story is the facty that NOTH Lirk and Spock make an unfounded assumption that can be infered as ignorace of a sort when the both claim in a matter of fact way that the inhabitants of Cheron at onr time in their evelutionary past MUST have once been 'mono-colored'.

(And again, there's no scientific basis for such an assumption whatsoever and to this day, I wonder why the scene and line were included in the script.)

I've always assumed that it implied that the Cheronians had previously attempted to solve their racial problems by genetic manipulation, only to have it backfire?

How would either Kirk or Spock know this though as these were the first inhabitants of the planet Cheron that had been encountered by the Federation (again, neither Beele nor Lokai said the lines - they were stated by Kirk and Spock as a 'forgone fact' of Cheron evolutionary history, without either Spock or McCoy having done ANY sort of biological tests or examiination of either of them.)

Well, I was mainly referring to why the line was included in the script, but as far as K/S are concerned, based on the fact that they (or we, the audiance, for that matter) have never seen any other huminoid life form in the Trek universe that had skin pigmentation like B/L I'd say it was a fairly sound conclusion?

 

[AtoZ]

What sticks out most for me about this very dry but layered episode was Frank Gorshin awkwardly running in an animated fashion to the transporter room.

Another point to ponder. Was Gorshin cast in this becase of his experience with tights....or did the poor actor just never seem to be able to have an active career without them..

Color?

My blood is red....and that should say it all.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I've always assumed that it implied that the Cheronians had previously attempted to solve their racial problems by genetic manipulation, only to have it backfire?

How would either Kirk or Spock know this though as these were the first inhabitants of the planet Cheron that had been encountered by the Federation (again, neither Beele nor Lokai said the lines - they were stated by Kirk and Spock as a 'forgone fact' of Cheron evolutionary history, without either Spock or McCoy having done ANY sort of biological tests or examiination of either of them.)

Well, I was mainly referring to why the line was included in the script, but as far as K/S are concerned, based on the fact that they (or we, the audiance, for that matter) have never seen any other huminoid life form in the Trek universe that had skin pigmentation like B/L I'd say it was a fairly sound conclusion?

What's even more interesting is that Spock had already assumed facts not in evidence when he said that Lokai must certainly be one of a kind.

 

[Captain Robert April]

And McCoy agreed.

 

[plynch]

Another point to ponder. Was Gorshin cast in this becase of his experience with tights....or did the poor actor just never seem to be able to have an active career without them..

yes, that is indeed a riddle wrapped in an E. Nigma . . .

 

[Captain Robert April]

Frank Gorshin actually had a very good career in stand-up and plenty of movie and tv roles in regular clothes, including a one-man show on Broadway, "Goodnight, Gracie" as George Burns.

 

[Satyrquaze]

1. The follies of racism (slegehammer subtle, though)

2. White

 

[Red Ranger]

1. The episode is about racism, and how its pursuit harms both the oppressed and the oppressor. BTW, it's always been one of my faves, partly because of how Gorshin and Lou Antonio chew up the scenery. And let's face it -- the allegory is spellled out on the faces of the protagonists, so sure, it's a bit sledgehammery.

2. Don't know what you mean by a "visible minority," as I don't think I fit the category. I am of Latino descent, born and raised in the U.S.

Good luck with your paper. Let us know how it's received, eh?

 

[JimZipCode]

It's about the kick-ass self-destruct sequence. "She will go where I command, or I will destroy her." What an awesome scene.

Also has some excellent off-bridge moments: crew downtime in the rec-room while Lokai is rabble-rousing, Kirk & Spock & the Riddler conversing over dinner. Good stuff.

Not a great episode, but some good stuff for fans.

I'm a white guy.

 

[plynch]

It's about the kick-ass self-destruct sequence. "She will go where I command, or I will destroy her." What an awesome scene.

Before self-destructing a ship became a cliche. They have some sweet too-close close ups, if I remember aright, in that sequence also.

It's a classic ep, let's face it. As in, "The Racism One," or "Black on One Side White on the Other Side Guys One."

 

[scotpens]

The "almost self-destruct sequence" was a bad writer's cheap way of padding out an already-thin story and attempting to create artificial suspense. Yeah, like the captain's really going to blow up the ship.

 

[Expo67]

Yeah, one of the many reasons to dislike the show is its superficiality in that regard; as an artifact of the time, it's reflective of a certain kind of discomfort at the end of the 1960s amongst traditional liberals and isn't dissimilar from TOS's slightly schizoid take on American militarism.

What's so bad about that? Granted the late Sixties was turbulent and not the best of times for the whole world, but still, Star Trek was an intelligent science fiction series.

Unlike Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and Lost In Space, TOS was a show that addressed the political, social, and religious issues of that certain time. Even beyond that with the first six films(the Seventies, the Eighties, the Nineties, and today).

I don't see a problem with a morality play being displayed under the creative tracking/guise of science fiction. In 1968, the original Planet Of The Apes did the same thing, with equal and successful results.

And the commentaries of those times are still relevant to this day. Social Commentaries that humanity need to start paying more attention to.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Science fiction, when living up to its full potential, is always social commentary.

Otherwise, it's just a silly space opera.

How much of Star Trek falls into either category is an ongoing debate.