Summary
An official trailer for theStar Trek: Section 31movie dropped this week, and there was a lot going on in the two-minute video. There was so much packed into the short trailer, that it was easy to miss all the little details. But there was one detail early in the trailer that fans ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesdefinitely didn’t miss.
About eight seconds into the trailer, after panning around a swanky, lounge-style nightclub, the camera settles on the very distinctive face of an alien. One side of their face is black, and the other side is white. This particular species of alien hasn’t been seen inStar Treksince the third season ofTOS, in the polarizing episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.”
Lokai and Bele, The Cheron Civil War
In that episode, the crew of the Enterprise discovers a stolen Federation shuttlecraft, and beams aboard the alien thief, whose face is black on the left side and white on the right side. When he awakes in sickbay, he says his name is Lokai, and thanks the crew for saving him. However, he refuses to tellCaptain James T. Kirkwhy he stole the shuttlecraft.
As the crew sets a course for Starbase 4, where the stolen shuttle originated,Ensign Chekovsays the sensors are detecting an invisible ship headed straight for the Enterprise. When the pilot of that ship beams aboard, the crew notices that he also has a black and white face. But his face is white on the left side and black on the right side.
This alien says his name is Commissioner Bele, and he’s the “Chief Officer Of The Commission on Political Traitors” on Cheron. He explains that he was following Enterprise because he was tasked with catching Lokai, who led apolitical revolutionon Cheron. When they arrive in sickbay, Lokai challenges Bele’s narrative. He explains that his people are kept as slaves by Bele’s people, and that his revolution was a fight for his people’s freedom. Lokai requests asylum, claiming he’s fleeing persecution.
Captain Kirk, sensing the volatile political situation, says that he and his crew won’t get involved in their affairs. They will take both the aliens to Starbase 4, and the Starfleet officials there can deal with the whole situation. However, soon after his crew sets a course for Starbase 4, they lose control of the ship’s computer. Bele appears on the bridge and reveals he’susing mind-controlto commandeer the ship, and he’s completing his mission to take Lokai back to Cheron to face the consequences of his actions.
After attempting to regain control of the Enterprise in every way they can think of,Kirk and Spockdecide that they have to force Bele to give them back the controls. So, they initiate a self-destruct sequence. Bele gives up control of the ship, and the crew sets a course for Starbase 4 again, insisting that the Starfleet Command will help them resolve their dispute.
While the Enterprise heads back, Bele and Lokai explain their version of the situation to the crew members, trying to convince them to take a side in their conflict. Many of the crew members are baffled by the deep hatred that exists between Bele’s people and Lokai’s people. They’re essentially the same, except that the colors on their faces are on different sides. The crew can’t understand why this minor difference has led Bele’speople to subjugateLokai’s people.
Once they reach communications range with Starbase 4, Captain Kirk gets in touch with Starfleet Command and explains the situation. Since they have no treaties with Bele’s people or Lokai’s people, Starfleet Command concludes they have to have a hearing on Starbase 4 before Bele can take Lokai back to Cheron
Bele is enraged by this answer. After centuries of pursuing Lokai, he refuses to take the chance that Lokai will begranted asylum. So, Bele regains control of the ship by force and sets a course for Cheron.
When they finally arrive, the ship’s sensors reveal that there are no life signs on the planet, and all the cities have been completely destroyed. Apparently, acivil warbetween Bele’s people and Lokai’s people destroyed the entire planet and left everyone dead. Instead of sharing their grief for the loss of their entire species, Bele and Lokai fight.
Kirk begs them not to let their hatred destroy them like it did their planet. But they can’t. They fight their way through the ship, beam down to the surface, and continue their doomed battle.
TOS Takes on Racism
Gene Roddenberry,Star Trek’screator, was a liberal Humanist, and one of the reasons he createdStar Trekwas to address the social issues of the day without being censored. Because the show was sci-fi, he could get away with themes that wouldn’t be allowed in a typical drama.
“Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” was an obvious, some say ridiculously obvious, allegory aboutracism in the Civil Rights era. According toStarTrek.com, the response to the episode, at the time, and since, has been wildly mixed. It’s one of thoseStar Trekepisodes people have strong, polarized opinions about. Trekkies either love the episode, calling it a progressive and ahead of its time story about the destructive nature of racism, or they absolutely hate the episode, saying that the overbearing message was a clumsy attempt at examining racism and other systems of oppression.
Theuser reviews on IMDBconfirm that, to this day, the episode is just as polarizing.
Other TOS Aliens in “Star Trek: Section 31”
The black and white alien in theStar Trek: Section 31trailer appears to be one of Bele’s people based on their coloration. Since both Bele and Lokai’s people were apparently wiped out in their planet-wide war, this alien’s existence could mean one of two things.
One scenario is that Bele won the battle with Lokai and went on to father a child, continuing his species. Though he must have fathered that child with an alien of another race, unless the second possible scenario occurred. Some of Bele’s people escaped the planet before their species was wiped out. Since they were the oppressor class and more privileged, it makes sense that some of them could access methods of escape. Hopefully, the movie won’t just gloss over this alien’s presence, and instead provide an answer to how its species survived.
Bele’s descendant isn’t the onlyTOSalien featured inStar Trek: Section 31. Themain cast will also includea Deltan, like Lieutenant Ilia inStar Trek: The Motion Picture, and a Chameloid, like Martia on Rura Penthe inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Though they both look human in their character shots, there’s much more to Melle, the Deltan, and Quasi, the Chameloid, than meets the eye.
There aren’t any otherTOSaliens in the trailer, it’s possible more will show up throughout the movie. To find out how all theTOSspecies fit intoStar Trek: Section 31’sstory, fans will have to stream the movie on Paramount+ on January 24th.
