Klaatu barada nikto

Klaatu barada nikto
Script of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) showing the phrase Klaatu barada nikto
Character	Klaatu (first) Helen Benson (second)
Actor	Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal
First used in	The Day the Earth Stood Still

"Klaatu barada nikto" is a phrase originating in the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. The humanoid alien protagonist of the film, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), commanded Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) that, were anything to happen to him, she must say the phrase to the robot Gort (Lockard Martin). In response Gort relented from destroying the Earth and resurrected Klaatu from death.

Usage in the film

Edmund H. North, who wrote The Day the Earth Stood Still, also created the alien language used in the film, including the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto". The official spelling for the phrase comes directly from the script (as shown in the above image) and provides insight as to its proper pronunciation.

The phrase was never translated in the film and neither Edmund North nor 20th Century Fox ever released an official translation.

Toward the end of the film, Klaatu is pursued by the military with orders that he be taken dead or alive. He tells Helen Benson his concern about Gort and requests she memorize the phrase, saying "There's no limit to what he can do. He could destroy the Earth... If anything should happen to me you must go to Gort, you must say these words, 'Klaatu barada nikto', please repeat that."

Shortly after, Klaatu is shot and killed. While Klaatu's body is being put in a jail cell, Gort, knowing he has died, begins dissolving the thick polymor cube that now encases him; with his heat-ray he disintegrates the two night Army guards standing watch. Helen Benson watches this but still approaches Gort; just as he is about to do the same to her she utters, "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto. Klaatu barada nikto." Gort then picks up Helen against her will and takes her inside the spaceship and then silently retrieves Klaatu's lifeless body from the jail cell; once again inside the spaceship he brings Klaatu back to life using the alien technology.

Usage in 2008 remake

In the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, this line was added at Keanu Reeves' insistence as he wanted to speak the famous line.

Helen Benson never learns the phrase in the remake. Instead, Klaatu uses it near the beginning of the movie to shut down Gort after he was shot, and again (highly distorted and barely audible) at the end when he touches the sphere and stops the destruction of the earth. Although the line is not in the English subtitles, it can be heard.

Interpretation

Because there is no official translation of the phrase, there has been speculation about what it means; a few notable attempts have been made to determine the phrase's meaning:

Philosophy professor Aeon J. Skoble speculates the famous phrase is a safeword that is part of a fail-safe feature used during diplomatic missions, such as the one Klaatu and Gort make to Earth. With the use of the safe-word, Gort's deadly force can be deactivated in the event the robot is undesirably triggered into a defensive posture. Skoble observes that the theme has evolved into a "staple of science fiction that the machines charged with protecting us from ourselves will misuse or abuse their power." In this interpretation the phrase apparently tells Gort that Klaatu considers escalation unnecessary.

Fantastic Films magazine explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in a 1978 article titled The Language of Klaatu. The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as their "Alien Linguistics Editor," attempts to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the film. In the article the literal translation for Klaatu barada nikto was "Stop Barbarism (I have) death, bind" and the free translation was "I die, repair me, do not retaliate."

The documentary Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor examined the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" with some of the people involved with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Robert Wise, director of the film, related a story he had with Edmund North saying North told him, "Well, it's just something I kind of cooked up. I thought it sounded good."

Billy Gray, who played Bobby Benson in the film, said that he thought that the message was coming from Klaatu and that, "barada nikto must mean... save earth". Florence Blaustein, widow of the producer Julian Blaustein, said North had to pass a street called Baroda every day going to work and said, "I think that's how that was born." Film historian Steven Jay Rubin, recalled an interview he had with North when he asked the question, "What is the direct translation of Klaatu barada nikto, and Edmund North said to me 'There's hope for earth, if the scientists can be reached.'"

Popular culture references

• "Klaatu barada nikto" has been used extensively in popular culture. The Robot Hall of Fame describes the phrase as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction" and Frederick S. Clarke of Cinefantastique called it "the most famous phrase ever spoken by an extraterrestrial."

• Two instances where the phrase is used as a command are the films Toys and Army of Darkness. In the film Toys, the character Leland Zevo speaks the phrase to stop a rampaging robotic sea creature he calls the "Seaswine".

• In the film Army of Darkness of the Evil Dead series Ash has to speak similar words in order to retrieve the Necronomicon but fails to remember it properly ("Klaatu... verata... n... Necktie. Nectar. Nickel. Noodle."). In the end he speaks the words again after consuming a potion, allowing him to return to his era. The words were altered from their original use because their meaning was unclear in the original. The phrase is also referenced in the video games Poker Night 2 by Telltale Games on the side of the unlockable Army of Darkness chips. Also in UnEpic by Ninagamers Corp., as a spoof to the Army of Darkness movies you have to say the words before grabbing the Necronomicon. The main characters utters it the same way Ash originally did by forgetting the final word, coughing and stating "...There I said the words."

• In 1968, on the show The Monkees, during the episode "The Monkees Watch Their Feet", Micky Dolenz (as an Alien Robot) uses a secret coding "Klaatu Barada Nicto" to enter a spaceship that has landed at the beach near by their beach house.

• The phrase has also been used humorously, as is the case when Senator Alan K. Simpson's office used it. The June 7, 1994, edition of the now-defunct supermarket tabloid Weekly World News reported that 12 U. S. Senators were aliens from other planets, including Simpson. Then-Senator Simpson's spokesman Charles Pelkey, when asked about Simpson's galactic origins, told the Associated Press: "We've got only one thing to say: Klaatu barada nikto."

• In the 1982 film Tron, the words "GORT, KLAATU BARADA NIKTO" can be seen on a large sign posted in character Alan Bradley's cubicle (to be seen between 27:14 and 27:28).

• In the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi two of Jabba the Hutt's skiff guards reference this phrase: one guard is an alien of the Nikto species named Klaatu, and another is an alien of the Klatooinian species, named Barada.

• The phrase was used in an off-hand fashion by Commander John Crichton in the T. V. series Farscape, in the season 4 episode "I Shrink Therefore I Am".

• Protagonist Charlie Baker speaks the words in the play The Foreigner by Larry Shue (who misspells Klaatu's name). At first Charlie, a meek proofreader for a science fiction magazine, tells a friend, "I sometimes wonder whether a science-fiction magazine even needs a proofreader. Does anyone really care whether there is one K or two in "Klaatu, barada, nikto"? Later, he uses the phrase as part of a tirade against a superstitious Ku Klux Klansman who is threatening to lynch him:

"You—dare—to—affront—me? I, who have lain in wait, lo, these many centuries for such a night as this! ... I, child of Hrothgar and of Moloch! I, whom the Old Ones have given suck, to rise now from the forest mold and smite thee! Klaatu! Barada! Nikto! ... You dare to sneer at me! You—puny earthling!"

• In the Rocko's Modern Life episode "The High Five of Doom", Heffer says the phrase to Filburt, who he thinks is an alien.

• In To boldly flee the fourth year anniversary of That Guy with the Glasses, The Nostalgia Critic says "Klaatu barada...whatever" to a mysterious figure who has saved him from death during a spaceship battle.

• In the Firefox web browser, the about:robots page is an easter egg containing a small number of robot references, with the page title reading Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!

• In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers," Donatello & Rocksteady were abducted by an alien family by these names. Klatu(Father), Barada(Mother), and Nikto(Son).

• In Disney's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Diane Szalinski becomes possessed by an ancient mummy princess after translating a druid stone to English after saying Klaatu Barada Nikto.

• In the Two and a Half Men episode "My Doctor Has a Cow Puppet," a sleepwalking Alan says to Charlie "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto" before returning to his bedroom.

• In the Armor Games flash game "Kingdom Rush", when you upgrade the magical defense tower from an "Adept Tower" to a "Wizard Tower" it shouts out the phrase as a battle cry.

• In the game Sam & Max Hit the Road, When going to Savage Jungle INN, you can talk to Evelyn Morrison and ask a question. In the dialog, Sam say : "Is that the one where the alien says "Klamdo Barrreta Nimno"?.

• In the 1986 Film "Chopping Mall" It was used by one of the males retrieving a pack of a cigarettes at a bathroom vending machine. When the male shows the badge to the robot for authorization he says "Klaatu barada nikto."