Star Trek TOS Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. S3 E15

Synopsis:
The Enterprise encounters a shuttle reported to be stolen from Starbase 4.  Tractoring it onboard, they discover a single occupant who is unusual because of the pigmentation of his skin.  He appears to be divided directly down the middle, with half of his face being white and the other half black.  He gives his name as Lokai.  Kirk questions him about stealing the shuttle, but he remains unresponsive and unrepentant.

Back on the bridge, an invisible ship is being tracked, which eventually deposits another visitor on board named Bele, also half black and half white.  Bele identifies himself as a commissioner in pursuit of Lokai, who is a political refugee.  He demands that he and Lokai be taken immediately to their planet, Cheron, where Lokai is sentenced to be executed.  Kirk refuses because of an emergency mission to the planet Arrianus.  Bele uses the power of mind to take control of the ship, and Kirk threatens to destroy the Enterprise using the self-destruct mechanism until Bele relinquishes control.

Again in command, Kirk re-directs the ship back to Arrianus where Scotty and the bridge crew are successfull in decontaminating its atmosphere.  With this completed, Kirk directs that the ship return to Starbase 4, but Bele insists that they communicate with Starfleet about Bele's request to travel to Cheron.  When Starfleet refuses, Bele again takes control with his mind, this time deactivating the self destruct circuits in the main computer.

Arriving at Cheron, Spock reports that all humanoids have been killed.  The entire species of black and white humanoids has been wiped out except for the two on the Enterprise.  After fighting with each other on the ship, the two Cherons beam themselves down to the planet to continue their struggle on the surface of the planet, the only two people alive.



Analysis

The two characters of Bele and Lokai, locked in eternal struggle, eternal pursuit; neither able to overcome the other nor be swayed by their arguments.

The characters are very skillfully created.  While our immediate sympathies were with Lokai, the pursued, the one who seems to be oppressed by the other, Bele. Bele seems to assert superiority based entirely on the pattern of his skin color, something that the audience instinctively recognizes as racism, and so we question his right to take Lokai prisoner.  We are further convinced that he’s bad, when he takes over the Enterprise and refuses to abide by the Starfleet directive.

However, the writers gave Lokai some equally unsympathetic scenes as well:  quick to take offense at Kirk’s questioning, quick to justify his own bad behavior (in stealing the shuttle), quick to condemn the Enterprise crew for not immediately flocking to his side when he urges them to kill Bele.

In the end, the show condemns each of them as being lost to their own hatred.  It shows the hopelessness of their situation with the condition of their home planet, where everyone has died. And it suggests that the two of them are destined to continue this struggle for eternity.  The chase scene running in circles around the lower decks of the ship serves as an allegory for their entire 50,000 years of existence, something they are destined to repeat down on the planet.

As a piece of social commentary, this was interesting if a little heavy handed.  I think it is brilliant that the superficial differences between them were intended to be so subtle that Kirk and Spock, and I would guess the audience as well, did not even notice until Bele specifically pointed them out, "I am black on the right side...  Lokai is white on the right side.  All of his people are white on the right side." I remember the moment of this reveal as electrifying in its triviality.  (Now, of course, the episode is so well known that the revelation is lost.)

I think it's a mistake to consider this a direct allegory of 60's racism, however.  That's too simplistic and does a disservice to the story.  The writers made the decision to create a distinctly different world that is not a direct parallel to the American civil rights era, and this gives them the freedom to tell a slightly different story for Lokai, with a different conclusion. In fact, we are never given confirmation that either of their stories are entirely accurate.

The problem was that there was very little actual story involved.  The message was conveyed almost entirely through dialogue, with dueling speeches between Bele, Lokai, Spock, and Kirk.  Instead, we were given extended and largely meaningless procedural scenes to fill the remaining time:  tracking the incoming ships, activating the self-destruct mechanism, purifying the planet Arrianus, Spock narrating their positions on the lower decks and eventual exit from the ship. Each of these was action without purpose, without tension, without story.  It’s like someone telling a science fiction story without actually understanding science fiction, and what makes it meaningful.

Equally annoying is that old favorite of The Original Series, the hyper-powerful species; one that is immortal and travels in an invisible ship that easily transports through the Enterprise’s shields, a species that can take control of the ship using their will alone, and repel phasers with an impregnable personal shield. The problem with these super powers is that they don’t allow the story to focus on the science fiction, on the physical mechanics of what is happening.  They don’t allow the crew to employ their knowledge and training to resolve the situation.  Instead, either Kirk attempts to argue with the antagonist, or the alien wanders off on its own as was the case in this story.

The story denied the crew agency.  Other than Kirk’s threat of self-destruction, which was eventually rendered moot, nothing the crew of the Enterprise did had any effect on the outcome of the story.  Once again, they were mere observers as the two aliens drove the action and engaged in their struggle.  Eventually, the Cherons got what they wanted and were delivered to their own planet, after which the Enterprise simply flew away leaving them to their own fate.

There are other minor continuity problems with this episode which stem from the director not really caring about them.  The most obvious of these is that the primary method to combat a hijacked ship is to stop the engines.  Ship design should have this as an integral component.  A hijacked ship should be dead in the water.

I also can't help but wonder where Lokai was, when Bele was taking over the ship with his mind.  If there are nothing but superficial differences between them, and Lokai was so adamant not to return to Cheron, it seems that he should have struggled with Bele for control of the ship.   Lokai's quiescence at that point was puzzling. 

In addition, when Spock comes upon Cheron, he describes bodies lying in the cities, but the vegetation and wildlife beginning to encroach on its borders.  I think the writers didn’t have a clear picture of what happens to bodies left out in the open, which would have been long decayed or scavenged by the wildlife, unless the final destruction came mere days before. Yet it takes years for vegetation to begin to encroach on a developed city, not weeks.

It is an important moment because Spock’s narration is the lasting image left in our mind – the fate of this planet of hate, and its two remaining occupants.  But it’s a conflicted image that doesn’t make sense.  Did the Cherons, after having been gone 50,000 years, miss their civilization’s downfall by a few weeks?  Are the burning buildings that appear as images to the running Cherons visions of what is happening on the planet? Or maybe they are simply a reflection of the hatred burning in their minds.

 Story element references:  In The Enemy Within S1: E5, Kirk is split into two halves by a transporter accident. and in The Alternative Factor S1: E27 the two versions of Lazarus are committed to an eternal struggle where neither can die and neither can win.  This is very similar to the struggles of the two left on the planet Cheron.


The Bottom Line :  They have some interesting characters and an exciting premise about racial hatred but no actual story to take place in that premise.  The Cherons come on board the Enterprise, travel to Cheron, and leave.  That's really all that happens.

Rating: 2 out of 5