"Star Trek" Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jud Taylor

Writers:

Oliver Crawford (teleplay)
Gene L. Coon (story)

TV Series:

"Star Trek" (1966)

Original Air Date:

10 January 1969 (Season 3, Episode 15)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Enterprise encounters two duo-chromatic and mutually belligerent aliens who put the ship in the middle of their old conflict.

Plot Keywords:

Federation | Space | Starship | Computer | Vulcan

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Frank Gorshin	...	Bele
Lou Antonio	...	Lokai
James Doohan	...	Scott
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
George Takei	...	Sulu
Majel Barrett	...	Nurse Chapel

Runtime:

USA:60 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

Archive stock footage of World War II-era London, England burning was shown, superimposed on the fleeing scenes of Lokai and Beele.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: A large string/wire is clearing visible supporting the shuttle model as it enters the Enterprise hanger bay.

Quotes:

Bele: You... vicious subverter of every decent thought. You're coming back to pay for your crime!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

All together now, Ebony and Ivory,together in perfect DISharmony

Let's not get too carried away with the sublimity of the message in this episode. It's awfully cartoonish and contrived...makeup clownish etc.. Think about it. They used Frank Gorshin to get this message across. Gorshin, apart from being one of the best impressionists ever, has probably never spent a serious minute in his entire life. He was The Riddler in the old Batman TV Series - and practically played himself to do it! He's always a gas. Always up to some gag. This had to have been at least partially tongue in cheek, this episode. I can hardly look at Gorshin without smiling ... wondering where the gag is going to show up next. Everything about both the half colored characters was played over the top by both actors. Gorshin just made the other guy look more serious because he's so impossibly over the top all the time anyway! Of course everyone else in the episode played it very straight. Not sure why. There could be many possible explanations. But choosing Frank Gorshin for getting a serious social statement across to people just can't be 100% for real. That guy can't not be (way) the top - in anything. Watch it again. Watch Gorshin. He's crazy, man! It just comes through the screen.