10 Most Meta Star Trek Moments
9. Bele And Lokai
In the Original Series episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, released in 1969, Bele and Lokai represent the last members of their species. They are each black on one side and white on the other, though their pigmentations are mirror images of each other. Bele says to Kirk, with a completely straight face, that he is superior as he is white on the left side and black on the right.
This simple statement highlights the utter nonsense of racial division. 1969 was the year of Woodstock and the Civil Rights Movement had gained serious attention. Lt. Uhura was seen as a strong, black, female role model, with Nichelle Nichols encouraged to remain in the show by Dr Martin Luther King Jnr himself. The bridge of the Enterprise also featured a Japanese man and a Russian man, all of whom were equal in their rights.
Star Trek was designed to show a Utopian future, with Bele and Lokai serving to remind people that it was an outdated and ridiculous idea, to judge another man or woman on the colour of their skin. It was entirely on the nose and was all the more successful for it.