Enterprise encounters two humanoid aliens with a deep rooted hatred for each other.
I enjoyed this for the excellent, (albeit subtle as a neutron bomb) social message, the visuals, and two memorable guest performances.
It is an episode much derided for preachy moralising and there is no escaping that fact. William Shatner once described it as "a beautiful concept, without shaking a finger" and I wondered if he saw a different version to the one I did. That being said I remember watching it as a child and the message had a big impact on me because I understood it. It is just as much about hatred caused by social class divisions as it is about race. For that reason I will always have fond memories of Bele and Lokai.
Frank Goshin was known only to me as the Riddler back in those days and he is the reason I kept watching until the end. Looking at it now, both he and Lou Antonio stand out a mile from the regular cast with their performance levels. Antonio in particular is fantastic in a number of scenes. They are the real stars of the 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' and make it worth watching.
The regular characters go along for the ride but do little apart from preach and look down their noses in smugness at how much better life is in the Federation. Spock has a strong moment where he lays out Vulcan's aggressive history and Leonard Nimoy is typically cool and straight with his delivery. Kirk has one big moment with the self destruct sequence and then swaggers around in his chair like an alpha male lion.
Easily the best scene is when Bele reacts to being told how similar he and Lokai are in appearance. The last time I watched it was the first time since childhood and I still remembered that moment.
I like the visuals. The makeup jobs on Goshin and Antonio are two of the most memorable in the franchise. Most of the cinematography, aside from the red alert sequence, is great and contains many inventive shots.
It is far from perfect. I don't think there was a need for them to have superpowers. The story would have been much better if it just focused on exploring and philosophising more about the reasons why so much hate exists, rather than waste time on Bele trying to take control of the ship. Also, the scenes where they endlessly run around the Enterprise as the main cast commentates on their behaviour is just tedious.
I enjoyed this for the excellent, (albeit subtle as a neutron bomb) social message, the visuals, and two memorable guest performances.
It is an episode much derided for preachy moralising and there is no escaping that fact. William Shatner once described it as "a beautiful concept, without shaking a finger" and I wondered if he saw a different version to the one I did. That being said I remember watching it as a child and the message had a big impact on me because I understood it. It is just as much about hatred caused by social class divisions as it is about race. For that reason I will always have fond memories of Bele and Lokai.
Frank Goshin was known only to me as the Riddler back in those days and he is the reason I kept watching until the end. Looking at it now, both he and Lou Antonio stand out a mile from the regular cast with their performance levels. Antonio in particular is fantastic in a number of scenes. They are the real stars of the 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' and make it worth watching.
The regular characters go along for the ride but do little apart from preach and look down their noses in smugness at how much better life is in the Federation. Spock has a strong moment where he lays out Vulcan's aggressive history and Leonard Nimoy is typically cool and straight with his delivery. Kirk has one big moment with the self destruct sequence and then swaggers around in his chair like an alpha male lion.
Easily the best scene is when Bele reacts to being told how similar he and Lokai are in appearance. The last time I watched it was the first time since childhood and I still remembered that moment.
I like the visuals. The makeup jobs on Goshin and Antonio are two of the most memorable in the franchise. Most of the cinematography, aside from the red alert sequence, is great and contains many inventive shots.
It is far from perfect. I don't think there was a need for them to have superpowers. The story would have been much better if it just focused on exploring and philosophising more about the reasons why so much hate exists, rather than waste time on Bele trying to take control of the ship. Also, the scenes where they endlessly run around the Enterprise as the main cast commentates on their behaviour is just tedious.