Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/Discu

[AstroSmurf]

This is the grading & discussion thread for Star Trek Remastered for the weekend of 01/19/08.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

When the U.S.S. Enterprise is ordered to intercept a stolen Federation shuttlecraft, Kirk is surprised to find himself in the middle of a racial war being waged on the planet Cheron. Caught in the middle, it is left to the captain to try and negotiate a truce between the two factions represented on his vessel before they both destroy his ship.

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[AstroSmurf]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Oh man, I get the point of this episode. And I am not saying that it doesn't have something good to say but it is a little blatant about it. Fanaticism and racism are bad. We get it so put away the hammer. The acting was descent and the story was okay but I can't help but feel that the show was pandering to me. And because of that I had to give it a C+. It's like giving me a cute dog and then erecting a huge blinking neon sign over it that a says "DOG".

As for the effects, I give it an Average. The planet shots were nice (of course they are) but the shuttle scene was just... odd.

 

[Kegek]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Blatant is an understatement. There are times Star Trek does social commentary, and there are times it repeatedly knocks you upside the head with its message.

"Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" is the latter. When Sulu is thinking of racial persecution, why is it the mid-twentieth century that comes to mind? There are certainly worse periods - citing from American history alone, the 1860s. This is because the episode is a thinly veiled comment on the current political climate and makes little pretense at being otherwise. Lokai speaks of having to fight in the wars of Bele's people; an obvious reference to both conscription and Vietnam. But in the plot of the episode it's a misnomer: Wars? Against whom? Cheron is ultimately destroyed from within and there is no other mention of this enemy - it's appropriating contemporary rhetoric without really tailoring it to the narrative.

Still, I'm going to give it some credit: The idea of people who are white on one side and black on the other - and hating each other on the basis of which side is black and which is white - was inspired. It's a subtle difference the audience may not notice at first, and so they would be as genuinely surprised as Kirk when Bele offers his explanation - in itself, a clever satire on how ludricous the basis of judging people by their skin colour is.

And the episode ends on a dark, nihilistic note, reflecting no doubt cynicism at the current state of race relations and a warning about violence as the direct result of this hatred. (The one note of optimism is that Sulu notes that in humanity's history these problems were overcome, clearly the fate of Cheron as the cautionary alternative.) Obviously a reference to the American situation, but it could equally apply to Northern Ireland, where protests for Civil Rights quickly turned violent with the appropriation of the cause by the IRA on one side and the brutality of the B Specials and other dubious militia on the other. It's one of season three's best episodes, though that may be condeming it with faint praise.

 

[jayrath]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

I saw it when it was in syndication for the very first time, and it blew me away. A powerful and daring approach!

Of course, I was 10 at the time

Still, I defy anyone to say they do not love the self-destruct sequence.

 

[T'Bonz]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

I remember how the ending was so vivid, the two men running through a planet in ruins. Yeah, perhaps it was a bit heavy-handed with the black and white color bit, but the destroyed planet got the message across much more effectively.

Everything gone and in flames and ruins and still they hate and try to kill each other.

 

[Capn Flukie]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

The fast zoom-in zoom-out on the red alert indicator always cracks me up for some reason.

 

[AstroSmurf]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

^ Actually it does me too. The only thing missing is some weird screeching trumpet music and Kirk glaring into the camera.

And you know, I was thinking a little more about this episode today and it isn't about what you think. I have to give props to the make-up department for their really nice work on this episode. I don't think any of you realize how difficult it is to get a smooth even coverage like they did with the white make-up. And I am even more impressed with the super clean line down the middle.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

I suppose it wouldn't have been possible to accurately extend the black/white metaphor to Bele and Lokai's 1) hair, and 2) eyes and mouths.

What they did do, they did well, I will grant that. I think I know how they had help, though...if you look closely at Bele and Lokai's faces, there is what appears to be a red marking line, right around the place where the black and white come together. Apparently they drew that on the actors' faces and then painted black on one side and white on the other.

 

[Kegek]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Anti_Drone said:
I have to give props to the make-up department for their really nice work on this episode. I don't think any of you realize how difficult it is to get a smooth even coverage like they did with the white make-up. And I am even more impressed with the super clean line down the middle.

TOS had some of the best makeup in the day. IIRC, the guy who did Spock's ears would go on to do Planet of the Apes. This is certainly one of the best makeup jobs of the series, not just in execution but also in concept (it's fresh, weird, and effective even now. Makeup as moralising.)

Another touch I like is the cinematography. There are a lot of side shots deliberately showing just the black or white side of Lokai's face or Bele's face to emphasize the duality a little more.

 

[RAMA]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

This episode was meant to be blatant, and resoundingly bashes racists over the head with some common sense. The very moment when Spock and Kirk look at each other incredulously as Beil explains Loki's inferiority is one of the great moments of TV history. A- for the episode.

The remastering had a nice selection of FX shots, but the TV airing of the episode cut a huge chunk out of the episode...maddening! A, for the remastering.

RAMA

 

[Mallory]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Kegek said:
Blatant is an understatement. There are times Star Trek does social commentary, and there are times it repeatedly knocks you upside the head with its message.

Considering that the Southern school district I was in at the time didn't even begin desegregation until 1970 (under a Federal court order) the episode had some real life significance in at least some parts of the country when it originally aired. That said, I tend to agree that it was a bit heavy-handed, even then.

 

[Cyrus]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

The episode did take a dig at the south with the "Cheron is in the southern part of galaxy" comment.

 

[Wingsley]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

LTBYLB should be taken as a time capsule of sorts. We're looking at what a network TV drama could get away with in late 1968/early '69. Let's face it: this ep was conceived, shot and aired in the same time frame of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy as well as the uprising over Vietnam, and the skin-of-his-teeth election of Nixon over Humphrey and Wallace.

I saw an ep of DRAGNET a few years ago on TV Land. The ep was about the LAPD setting up a command center to deal with the uprising following King's death. I also remember an ep of ADAM-12 that dealt with racial tensions. I remember "Webb TV" as fondly from my childhood as I do TREK. Still, LTBYLB is the best of the late-60's TV meditations on race, at least the ones I've seen.

I agree it was high-strung. Then again, it had to be in the time frame it was made and first aired.

And yes, that self-destruct sequence was fun. That's another time capsule moment for me, from back when so many people feared the growing significance of technology and computers in our lives. You have to hand it to TREK's makers: this was made back in an era when something less capable than my iPod would've filled a room, and yet their strangely musical AI metaphor still works to this day, and probably will 40 years from now.

 

[Hambone]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Flukie said:
The fast zoom-in zoom-out on the red alert indicator always cracks me up for some reason.

Since "The Riddler" was in the episode, the director decided to pay homage to "Batman".

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I found the male "camel-toes" too distracting. Gorshin, keep your frank (and beans) off camera.

LTBYLB is a prime example of Trek just being a vehicle for social comment first and entertainment a distant second. Kirk and Co. just being put through paces for a blatant morality play in which they aren't even the stars. Reminds me of TNG's SYMBIOSIS and some other, well, mostly sucky episodes.

Trek at its best works social/political commentary into compelling, but more subtle, stories that utilize the cast well (TNG's Drumhead). Just having assholes come aboard the ship for the crew (representing we the audience, more or less) to judge is pathetic. One can forgive TOS for it, almost, but not in the spin-offs.

 

[Wingsley]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

MeanJoePhaser said:

Trek at its best works social/political commentary into compelling, but more subtle, stories that utilize the cast well (TNG's Drumhead). Just having assholes come aboard the ship for the crew (representing we the audience, more or less) to judge is pathetic. One can forgive TOS for it, almost, but not in the spin-offs.

Interesting comment. Good point.

I would add, though, that TNG suffered from much the same problem. Poor writing often resulted in the same shortcomings as LTBYLB. "The Drumhead" was much better, no doubt about it, except for the ending. The end of that ep in the briefing room was pretty sledge-hammerish.

 

[Forbin]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

I've always thought the makeup could have been a little less if they'd made Loki and Beale marked like pinto ponies - one white with black patches, one black with white patches. It'd be a bit more organicly natural than a hard straight line down the middle.

 

[Red Ranger]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Peeps,

Well, it's true that LTBYLB's message is delivered in a somewhat heavy-handed fashion. But I think it's true we should look at it in the context of when it was made -- at the height of the Civil Rights-era struggle in the 1960s, and amid the background of the Vietnam War.

I also agree that the best line underlying the stupidity of racism is when Bele reveals that the basis of his folks' claim to superiority is that he's black on the right side.

Had they chosen to use two different colors, say red and blue, it would've been less obvious. But I think the audiences of the day needed the metaphor to be a bit more obvious.

Of cours, the destruct sequence is one of the great all-time scenes, so much so that they brought it back for TSFS.

I did notice in the ep how they cut Lokai and Bele imagining their planet's buildings burning then empty. I missed that, as I always liked that part.

Since I only caught half of the ep, I didn't see the remastered shuttlecraft. I thought they did a decent job of showing the decimated planet from orbit, though.

Red Ranger

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

Wingsley said:
I would add, though, that TNG suffered from much the same problem.

Yes, I know, all later Trek suffered from it now and then...that's why I said it was more forgivable in TOS than in the spin-offs, where one would expect they'd have learned what works and what feels forced-fed. TNG's "The Drumhead" being an example of something that worked fairly well, and "Symbiosis" being LTBYLB with an anti-drug message (the Symbiosis aliens even have the Cheron's electro-powers!).

 

[Kegek]

Re: Star Trek-RM: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield… Grade/D

MeanJoePhaser
Yes, I know, all later Trek suffered from it now and then...that's why I said it was more forgivable in TOS than in the spin-offs, where one would expect they'd have learned what works and what feels forced-fed.

By that logic, the original Star Trek should have learned how to do tell a good message that doesn't feel too much of a morality play based on around six centuries of experimentation in the English language.

It's the first Star Trek show, but it wasn't exactly working in a vaccuum. Writers have, do, and will continue to make poor decisions.

Forbin said:
I've always thought the makeup could have been a little less if they'd made Loki and Beale marked like pinto ponies - one white with black patches, one black with white patches. It'd be a bit more organicly natural than a hard straight line down the middle.

'He's got most of his black on the right side' doesn't have the same kind of ring. I think the rigid lines work very well, personally.