Bele represents the ruling race on Cheron, all of whom have black pores and skin on their proper facet and white pores and skin on the left, whereas Lokai comes from the subjugated race, with reverse coloration. The wrestle between the 2 represents a bigger social battle, one which results in the destruction of their civilization.
The coloring and strife between the 2 natives of Cheron stands in for human racism, significantly in the USA. When Kirk (with assist from Spock and Scotty) units the Enterprise on a self-destruct sequence in response to Bele hijacking the ship, they underscore the episode’s perception that animosity between races leads to mutual annihilation.
With out query, the episode’s metaphor solely goes up to now. Whereas Bele is the clear oppressor, Kirk additionally has little sympathy for Lokai’s revolutionary discuss. After Bele releases his management over the Enterprise, Kirk takes time to scold each natives and dismisses Lokai’s name for justice in opposition to genocide as myopic bigotry. Spock listens with concern as Lokai rouses the decrease deckers together with his story, which even attracts express connections to twentieth century atrocities, and later he and Kirk share a drink with Bele.
Like X-Males comics and The Twilight Zone episodes of the identical period, “Let That Be Your Final Battlefield” typically stumbles in makes an attempt to handle points most People would moderately ignore. Nonetheless, there’s no query that the episode addresses the problem of racism head on. Furthermore, it does so by dismissing the query of violence. Throughout his dialog within the Kirk’s quarters, Spock tells Bele that solely adherence to logic saved Vulcans from their passions. The episode climaxes with Bele and Lokai coming to blows with one another, just for Kirk to beg them each to cease preventing, to no avail.
That basic TOS episode is a marked shift from the whiz-bang motion that the Part 31 trailer guarantees. Maybe, Part 31‘s explosions and laser blasts are hiding a extra nuanced understanding of social justice points, an ethical complexity that couldn’t but be addressed on community tv in “Let That Be Your Final Battlefield.” Or possibly it’s simply because the studio thinks Trekkies prefer it when stuff goes increase. Let’s hope it’s the previous.
Star Trek: Part 31 is out on Jan. 24.
