Klaatu barada nikto

[MickinMD ★]

Long before we sci-fi nuts knew "Qapla!" was Klingon for "Success!" we knew "Klaatu barada nicto" were words in a space alien language.  I even played in a chess tournament in the '70's where that was the name of the tournament!

I woke up early, channel surfed and there it was: The old black-and-white movie classic I hadn't seen in years, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), starring Michael Rennie as space alien Klaatu and Patricia Neal as Helen Benson, the earth woman who helps him!

I  had to watch it!  The climax begins when Klaatu tells Helen to say to his giant robot Gort who was guarding his spaceship:

"Helen, if anything happens to me, go to Gort and say, 'Klaatu barada nikto.'"

Apparently women in 1951 could run for blocks in high heels and only two guards, that Gort vaporized, were assigned to guard a spaceship on the Mall at D.C.!

Apparently, those three alien words translate to, "Don't turn the Earth into a burned out cinder, carry Helen into our flying saucer, lock her in a room, locate and get me, Klaatu, carry me back to the saucer and revive me." or maybe it's just "Code nicto for Klaatu," and Gort was programmed to do the rest.

 

[maddmaxx ★]

It pains me that I knew this phrase and it's origins on sight.

[jsharr ★]

3 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

It pains me that I knew this phrase and it's origins on sight.

Klaatu barada ditto.

[Wilbur ★]

Holy crap you guys are old!   

[Randomguy]

I always wondered what that meant.

I like her sexy shoes, but the scared look was too scared.

[MickinMD ★]

12 hours ago, Randomguy said:

I always wondered what that meant.

I like her sexy shoes, but the scared look was too scared.

The robot had just vaporized two army guys.

Patricia Neal was a great actress, a little before my time when she was young and pretty (born in 1926, two years younger than my mother who was a big fan of hers), who starred in a lot of pictures opposite leading men including John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and Gary Cooper, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1963 for playing a worn-out housekeeper in the movie Hud.

In 1965 she had a stroke that left her slightly paralyzed, including part of her face, but she worked hard with cutting-edge therapy and surprisingly recovered.

In 1968 she was nominated for another Oscar.

She did a TV movie in 1971, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971); where her role as Olivia Walton was the inspiration for the TV Series, The Waltons.

She died in 2010 at age 84 from lung cancer: she had been a heavy smoker.