Star Trek_Racism

[TheDNVS]

O snap! Star Trek dropped the humanitarian BOMB!

[culayta]

Thats Frank Gorshin (RIP) as the original Riddler!

[talkindurinthemovie]

BLACK WITH WHITE STRIPES RULEEEEE!

[mehja1]

This episode makes a simple but brilliant point against racism by highlighting the stupidity of the concept.

Star Trek rules!

[InweTaralom]

Frank was an excellent actor, and it's too bad he died.

[67joka]

And i bet that black asianand other races that have racist people in their race didnt either

[67joka]

And i bet alot of black asian and other races that have racist

[Seattlecarnut]

I've known people who refuse to listen to the other. I don't believe that it's a matter of inability to listen, but the refusal to listen.

[worldslinger81]

I bet most of the white racists watching this at the time tottally didn't get it.

[StargateMunky]

damn those left handed people KILL THEM!!1

[Bopskuchi]

Uhura is the baddest piece of ass to Hit the Galaxy.

[JayEey]

Will Israelis and Palestinians end up like Biel and Loki? Fighting until the last member on either side.

[FonedykSosajedi]

@JayEey Bele and Lokai.

[sunnchilde]

@JayEey I think you're right. This reminds me of a similar argument on "Babylon 5" when Kosh says to G'kar "And will you continue until there are no more Centauri and no more Narn? If both sides are dead, no one will care who was right and who was wrong. It no longer matters who started it, G'Kar, it only matters now -- who is suffering."

[dream6cold6code6]

this segment punches close to home in the 1960's perspective of racial issues, being a time that emotional states were over throwing logical analysis of a multi-cultural society, society of the 1960's USA would draw a fine line between white and black, rather than seeing society and human life as...human life!

racism is clearly not solved nor has it much evolved past these problems causing social destruction as we know to our pearl today. emotions have value but require balance with logic.

[writergarrett]

Brian: "Wait wait wait. Did you just pronounce white 'WH-ite'?"

[writergarrett]

"Yes, yes Uhora we get the picture. Now shut the fuck up and let the men talk."

[Charmolution]

WHITE RIGHT SIDE POWER!

[777jonah888]

One of my all time favorite TOS episodes....................Fa­ntastic and socially redeemable. I bet it made fans of the late sixties rethink predudice.

To this day I have found Trekies to be the most open minded, intelligent people I have ever met.

Great upload.............

[Attila226]

Everyone knows that the SATs are biased against those that are white on the right side and black on the left.

[MrCuntyballs2U]

Black and White bastard!

[SpinDizzyMR]

@MrCuntyballs2U

At the end of this episode, the people on their home planet had all somehow killed each other and left their infrastructure intact.

Since they all looked alike except with inverted colours, I'm guessing someone invented just mirrors, they all looked into it, and one half said "take that you half black half white niggers!" and stabbed themselves, and the other half went "take this you half white half black honkys!" and also stabbed themselves.

Wiping out the population.

[workstrength]

This is a great example of how racism could be look at. Roddenbury was good at taking modern social concerns and redoing them in a future setting. The Wrath of Khan is full of classic literature plot similarities. It would have been interesting if they explained that Loki was from say a southern hemisphere on their planet where Biel was from the north. In today's racial divisions, ours could be a lot more complex than a world with just these two.

[Kalinack]

Right side black meng! LOL

[Greatherlorre]

All i hear is the obama campaign.

CHANGE.

[translucentorb]

What a stupid looking alien, I'd be racist against those aliens no matter what side of their faces are white and black.

[hypnodance]

Did anyone notice that Lokai and Bele were also very rigid in their opposing views, very "black-and-white" in their thinking? :)

[EmpireLS56KW]

1:43 Now wait a minute Riddler! LOL

I like this episode Let that be your last battlefield

Do you suppose that’s all they had, sir?

No, but its all they have left.

[ihavelupusSLE]

this has always been the episode i remembered the most since a little girl. star trek is fantastic

[afro747]

Even if all non-whites were killed as Neo-Nazis seek to do, people will still find a reason to hate e.g. the hatred in Northern Ireland has been so great that 21 walls were built there to separate the people. But, they all look-a-like to me.

[blooberblabber]

@afro747 we are gettin better tho, give it 30-40 years this whole sectarianism thing will be over, i have loads of friends on from both communities and im not the only one, its a matter of time. you want a conflict, the isreal palestinian one is the biggest, and the one to watch, israel has nukes and gaza is run by hamas terrorists, its gonna be a while before that ends!

[afro747]

@blooberblabber - In this age, you will always some issue because of the sinful nature within man.

[CCCW]

Sad to see that, 53 or so years after this episode, racism is still as abundant, and that this ignorant, small-minded and stupid way of thinking is still existent in almost every community.

Racism is stupid, just stop it. This episode made this point before most of the people commenting in this thread were even a glimmer in their parent's eyes, and it still hasn't come across

[dxearlmarc]

I remember watching a blooper real back in the early 1970's tht Frank Gershwin, had did a Jimmy Cagney, and even Burt Lancaster impression when he used the transporter! It was a riot, to hear him do many different voices saying "engergize"! It was a hoot!

[leeason1]

OH MY GOD I can't believe how many morons here think that race is just skin color. So Black people's brains are 10% smaller measured by MRI scans but that must just be my imagination right?

[schmoborama]

@leeason1

WHO THE FUCK SAID IT'S ONLY SKIN COLOR DUMBFUCK? You're the fucking moron.

Now go and cherry-pick some more stats off of your Klan site, and ignore the fact that you're physically INFERIOR.

[CCCW]

@leeason1

jesus christ, try to get your information from somewhere else than nazi forums next time.

[Ulrna]

When it comes to the physiological differences, they are not as large or drastic as you describe them here.

Though the size of the neurological tissue itself may differ, it is impossible to conclude what kind of effect (if any noticeable) this may have on the subject.

Most of the Human brain is actually used for sensory, motoric and autonomic functions, in other words; The Human brain has for too much on its mind to think clearly.

[blooberblabber]

@leeason1 it is ur fucking imagination!! that simply isnt true! youre a racist bastard! look into it, barack obama's half brother mark ndesandjo, google it bitch!!! the reason why africa is so shit is because of the white man living there, setting up the apartheid regime and condemning blacks as savages simply because they hadnt the same level of technology. oh and it took millions of years for humans to evolve its gonna take more than 50000 years for a specific race to de evolve! nigga please!

[suemorphplus2009]

The real racism in Star Trek occurs with the idea that people who are mixed-race are inherently stuck with bad lives. Not always true, it really depends on the family and their acceptance on the matter. Second, they portray species as monocultural. Perhaps that would happen over millenia, but in the real world, any given race or ethnicity usually has many religions and cultures amongst the people in it. Races are also not monolithic, there are many subsets of white, asian, black, etc.

[scotpens]

@suemorphplus2009 Planets where the entire population is a single race, has a single culture, one language, one religion, one or two distinctive personality traits, etc., are common in science fiction. It's a trope called the "Planet of Hats," and it's a device used by writers to comment on human society.

[mattachine]

LOL @ having to turn the intercom switch on and off!

[IzzyCraft]

2:18



[tribunalfunk]

I always found it rather sad and odd that there were NEVER a race of brown-skinned, coily-haired "aliens" portrayed in any series of Star Trek...you know, like Earth's "black" people. Sure, we had Guinan on TNG, and the black chick that was kicking it with the commander on DS9, but you know what I mean people. All the fly black actresses of the 70's...and yet we get caucasoid "alien" bimbos everytime in TOS. Uhura was the only sister holding it down, with props to afro mama in the blue dress.

[MagicAlDF]

@tribunalfunk There was a very early TNG episode called "Code of Honor" where the planet of the week, a 1940s Hollywood stereotype of a vaguely sultanate-like society, was cast entirely with black actors at the whim of the director. The results were embarrassing. Gene Roddenberry fired the director but it was too late to change anything. So, yes, Star Trek did a "black planet" but seriously screwed it up.

[schmoborama]

Perfect example of how stupid racism is.

[leeason1]

@schmoborama Yeah, because race is just skin color right? It's not like 50,000 years of separate evolution made ANYTHING else change right? JUST skin right? LOL.

[schmoborama]

@leeason1

?

are you saying this is not a good example of how stupid racism is because they don't mention other minor differences?

Or are you saying that racism is not stupid?

[leeason1]

@schmoborama I'm saying that race is NOT JUST SKIN COLOR.

Fucking moron, why do you think Africa looks like shit? Because it's populated by low IQ Blacks, that's why!

[Ulrna]

@leeason1 IQ and Culture are two very different things, and you are talking about Culture or rather your own view of Culture based on your perspective and social or demographical understanding.

Social intelligence is often misunderstood in many parts of the World mostly through European culture. Very few people of any culture will transcend through the border of rhetoric and propaganda and seek their own knowledge.

[afro747]

@Ulrna "IQ and Culture" is the right answer. But, the true guts of it are very embarrassing for most "blacks" to admit to. Unfortunately, this leaves the door open to the stupidity argument of the Nazis.

What am I talking about? . . . Blackness is a negative concept which influences the attitudes of most blacks to varying extents -- leaving us biased against the black condition & against other blacks. This can & does undermine personal motivation, trust, loyalty, community. That our problem.

[afro747]

@Ulrna Asians have their own type of whiteness. Japan gave a good example of this in WWII: fierce national ethnic loyalties, hight levels of in-group trust, positive even arrogant views of self & their own. . . . . Most browns, & much more so blacks have no type of whiteness. . . . . Blackness leaves many of us in a very dog-eat-dog condition - biased against & envious of each other. . . . . But, not all or their never could have been a Civil Rights Movement.

[KingofKlubs]

the irony is of course that thoughout the other star trek franchises, there are occasional, yet consistant, examples of mild racism expressed by humans towards other alien races.

[EdwardRommel]

Capt Kirk: ..."you're black on one side and white on the other"

Commisioner....."I am black on the right side"

Kirk....."I fail to see the significant difference"

Commisioner...."Lokai is white on the right side...all of his people are white on the right side"

[Bladewing10]

A very great commentary on racism. "His people are white on the right side." Brilliant!

[duende667]

the expressions by both nimoy and shatner in this scene tell you that that the view expressed by the alien are generally mocked by both,he's shot down easily by spocks opinion that through his experience such ideals "only led to destruction"

[Penfold8]

I wonder if the writers of this episode got their idea from Dr. Suess and the Star Bellied Sneetches?!

[SakuraSymphony]

2:40 hahaha

..all i can say...WORD !

sooo funy

[gregorija1]

Yeah, that's Frank. Search here for his celebrity impressions- his Burt Lancaster is one of the best!!

[rayjr62]

@gregorija1 I saw Frank perform in concert at Harrah's Lake Tahoe several years ago. It was one of the most brilliant performances I ever saw. Frank was a massive talent. . . and Lou Antonio (who played Loci) was no slouch either. Lou went on to become a great television and movie director.

[misterbizzones]

Is that Frank Gorshin?

[solidkingcobra]

and this is why Star Trek is awesome.

[wummyscummy]

"with all the subtly of of a cannonball." That was pretty funny!

[DConS81]

One thing I always found troubling was that the black and white sides of the face always gave an impression that the face did not seem linear....the black side of Biells(sp?) face seemed to make everything seem off comparred with the white side.....but only from a front view do my eyes seem to see it

[sunnchilde]

The 'white on one side, black on the other 'was used to exemplify the inconsequential difference between Commissioner Biel and Loki. His insistence that black "on the right side" was inherently superior to those who were white on the right side is entire basis for his argument.

His stated beliefs are clearly absurd and serve to illustrate to 1960s audiences which other prejudices of their own might also be fallacious.

Don't forget the time that this story was written.

[leeason1]

@sunnchilde LOL, are you saying that race is just skin color? Yeah I guess that explains why no White man ever ran the 100M in under 10 seconds until just this year. Moron. Obviously racial differences exist beyond skin color. Blacks for one, have IQs FAR lower than Whites, Asians, and Jews.

[leeham991]

@sunnchilde

I think the story still stands up today.

I watched this episode recently and it did very well to show how ridiculous it is to treat people based on such minor differences.

[rcroton]

Fantastic. The design of the Cheronish (or whatever it is, Cheron Native is a shite name) shouldn't work, but it totally does.

[scotpens]

I always thought the half-black, half-white greasepaint looked silly -- is any real humanoid species going to be colored like that? -- but I suppose it works in a theatrical way, given the content of the episode. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" was dull and preachy. The message was rammed home with all the subtlety of a cannonball.

[RobertMfromLI]

It also allowed the social commentary to pass by the idiot censors and network heads of the time - the same ones who wanted the "colored" (one of the words they used) woman off the bridge and out of a position of rank.

It was a very clever way to slip this past the obviously not so bright networks and censors - as well as not beat people over the head with it too directly (yet be clear enough that they got the message).

[scotpens]

At the time, there really wasn't any significant network objection to Lt. Uhura's presence on the Enterprise, except perhaps for a few local-station yahoos in the South. It was the actress Nichelle Nichols herself who wanted to leave the show after the first season because she felt her character wasn't being given enough to do. She changed her mind after a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King convinced her that simply being there on the bridge was an important statement.

[Ltbird]

Sometimes it takes a cannonball to break through thick skull.

[scotpens]

How about Cheronians, Cheronis, Cheronese, Cheronites, Cheroners, or just Cherons? (Like Vulcans -- same name for the planet and its inhabitants.)