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| Let That Be Your Last Battlefield |
| Production Number |
70 |
| Air Date (US) |
1969-01-10 |
| Season |
3 |
| DVD Disc No. |
4 |
| Rating |
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Cast:
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard H. McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Walter Koenig as Pavel Andreievich Chekov
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
Guest Cast:
Lou Antonio as Lokai
Frank Gorshin as Bele
Creative Staff:
Director: Jud Taylor
Teleplay By: Oliver Crawford
Story By: Lee Cronin
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| Description |
The U.S.S. Enterprise intercepts a stolen Federation shuttlecraft which contains a humanoid named Lokai. Taken aboard the ship, Lokai tells the crew he is from the planet Cheron, and asks for asylum on the U.S.S. Enterprise. His most distinctive feature is that he is half black and half white, starkly separated down the middle of his body.
The U.S.S. Enterprise tracks another vessel, pursuing at great speed. The ship's only passenger beams on board and is discovers to be another humanoid from Cheron. The difference in this man, Bele, is that his black and white skin is reversed from Lokai's. Bele claims to be Cheron's chief officer sent out to bring in political traitors, and has been pursuing Lokai. The more the two men are aboard the starship, the more Kirk realizes that the basic problem between them — and their entire race, apparently — is their opposite color. Tiring of their bigotry, Kirk decides to ignore the two guests and concentrate on his original mission; to decontaminate the planet Ariannus, plagued with a bacteria that endangers billions of lives.
When Bele takes control of the U.S.S. Enterprise in a desperate attempt, Kirk sets the ships auto-destruct sequence instead of allowing the hijacking to continue, and the alien returns command to the captain. However, once planet Ariannus is decontaminated, Bele takes back his control over the starship and leads it back to Cheron. What they find is a long-dead planet, annihilated by their interracial bigotry. Lokai beams down to the surface to escape Bele, who follows. The U.S.S. Enterprise leaves them on the surface, to decide their own fates.
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| Trivia |
Actor/impressionist Frank Gorshin (Bele) gained popularity as the Riddler from the Batman TV series, but he made one of his first appearances in the 1957 sci-fi film Invasion of The Saucer Men.
This episode's self-destruct sequence was later reprised by director Leonard Nimoy for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. |
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