10 More Classic Star Trek Episodes Based On Real-Life Events

In the 1960s, with the Civil Riots movement in full swing, and events like the Watts and Selma riots in the news, Star Trek decided to weigh in on the issue of racism. Fortunately, they came out against it, but that's almost the only thing this episode does right.

The Enterprise picks up two aliens, Bele and Lokai each of whom are made up to look like half mime, half minstrel show singer. Although it's almost immediately obvious that the two are mirror images of each other, this is supposed to be a big reveal later, as the reason why they hate each other and all their kind so much. While the crew twiddles their thumbs, Bele and Lokai return the Enterprise to their home planet, only to find that their civilization has been wiped out by racial infighting. Bele and Lokai beam down to continue the fight, while Kirk moves on to the next adventure.

The worst sin of this episode is its sledgehammer-like subtlety. Just in case the half-black/half-white makeup doesn't make the point crystal clear, Kirk actually states that Bele and Lokai's planet is in the southernmost half of the galaxy. You'd never know from this one that Star Trek started out as a show that took its audience seriously.

In addition, precious little actually happens in this episode. Battlefield is a half hour story padded out to a full hour, which is why it had been languishing in the files for two years, unused until they were desperate for scripts.

Another problem is that the conflict between Bele and Lokai is such a deeply personal one that it obscures the point that they're supposed to hate each other for the impersonal reason of their racial differences.