Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek’s more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it’s simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield.
Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they’re soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk’s stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation.
The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a 2026 perspective. Throughout the episode, each character gives their case to Kirk in order to win their debate. Their planet has been divided for centuries, A bizarre amount of centuries, but still….
Bele’s argument is that Lokai comes from a race of savage brutes who must be controlled. Lokai’s stance is fighting for a long, long overdue equality. When the episode was written, the racial divide in the United States was at a boiling point and the simplicity of the make up choice – jet black and pearly white – may seem heavy handed and no mistake. Especially with costuming choices being so basic that both characters have the same clothes, but one has ‘bling’ to show their superiority as the ruling class.
Whats fascinating about it all is how the reaction is framed. While there’s a certain assumption in how each side is presented – Lokai on the lower decks and Bele with the officers – Spock and Kirk are somewhat baffled by it all. “It is obvious to the most simple-minded that Lokai is of an inferior breed.” Bele would tell Kirk, while explaining that while Charon’s are white on one side and black on the other, Lokai was the wrong way round. All of his people are white on the right side. Which apparently, is the wrong side.
Kirk staring in confusion at a people who are white on one side, black on the other, split right down the middle, seeing each other as different is a bizarre scenario. This, the captain on TV in the 1960’s with his leading crew being an alien, an African on comms, a Japanese helmsman and a Russian navigator, baffled by the delineation between black and white. It said a lot. And that these two sides of the same coin were continuously fighting to the death just on a subtle – or to the audience, far from subtle – difference being framed as an unrecognisable conflict you couldn’t understand was what helped make Star Trek stand out on using the alien to speak about reality.
It’s over the top. It’s obvious. It’s absurd. Thats exactly the point. And one day, maybe the message will be heard….
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