Klaatu barada nikto
Encyclopedia
"Klaatu barada nikto" is a phrase originating from the 1951 science fiction film
The Day the Earth Stood Still
. "Klaatu
" is the name of the humanoid alien protagonist in the film. Klaatu (Michael Rennie
) commanded Helen Benson (Patricia Neal
) that, were anything to happen to him, she must utter the phrase to the robot
Gort
. In response, Gort relented from destroying the Earth and resurrected Klaatu from death.
, 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 image) and provides insight in 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. This has led to speculation over what the phrase meant. One gets a sense of its meaning by analyzing the context in which it was used.
Toward the end of the film, Klaatu is pursued by the military with orders that he be taken dead or alive. Klaatu 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 removes himself from the plastic encasement and kills two guards. Helen Benson visits Gort outside the spaceship and just before Gort attacks her, she says, "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto. Klaatu barada nikto." Gort takes Helen inside the spaceship then retrieves Klaatu's lifeless body from the jail and brings him back to life using the alien technology aboard the ship.
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.
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 an article titled The Language of Klaatu written in 1978. The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as their "Alien Linguistics Editor," attempted to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the movie. 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.'"
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."The phrase has seen repeated use throughout the years in many different media, which has kept it alive in popular culture. Many of these uses have little to do with its original usage as a command.
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 film quotation appears to have influenced the massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Wizard 101 from KingsIsle Entertainment
, where students in the "school of ice magic" encounter the phrase "Klaatu, Verata, Nictu!" during their training.
In an episode of the TV show Jimmy Neutron, Carl Wheezer utters the phrase.
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."
Another humorous use was by James Garner playing Jim Rockford in the television series The Rockford Files
. In episode 100 (titled "Local Man Eaten by Newspaper"), Jim says the line as he is confronted by a seven foot tough guy.
There are numerous "cameo appearances" where the phrase is snuck in — without any context — to pay homage to the original film.
Approximately 26 minutes into the 1982 film Tron
, the words are seen posted on a sign hanging in Alan Bradley's cubicle.
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 also appears in an Easter egg
of the web browser Mozilla Firefox
3 (as well as some other browsers using Mozilla's Gecko layout engine), as the title of the page about:robots.
The Toronto band Klaatu was named for the phrase. http://www.klaatu.org/
Alice Cooper utters the words at the end of the song "My Stars" from his 1972 album School's Out
.
In the 1999 film "Galaxy Quest" the aliens (Thermians) are from the Klaatu nebula.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 1951 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and written by Edmund H. North based on the short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates. The film stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, and Hugh Marlowe...
. "Klaatu
Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Klaatu is the humanoid alien protagonist in the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake. Klaatu is famous in part because of the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" used in the classic film and its re-use in the Bruce Campbell cult comedy film Army of Darkness, as well...
" is the name of the humanoid alien protagonist in the film. Klaatu (Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
) commanded Helen Benson (Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
) that, were anything to happen to him, she must utter the phrase to the robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
Gort
Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Gort is a fictional humanoid robot in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake.In the original short story "Farewell to the Master", on which the two films are based, the character was called Gnut.- 1951 depiction :...
. In response, Gort relented from destroying the Earth and resurrected Klaatu from death.
Usage in the film
Edmund H. NorthEdmund H. North
Edmund Hall North , was an American screenwriter who shared an Academy Award for "Best Original Screenplay" with Francis Ford Coppola in 1970 for their script for Patton....
, who wrote The Day the Earth Stood Still, also created the alien language
Alien language
Alien language is a generic term used to describe a possible language originating from a hypothetical alien species. The study of such a hypothetical language has been termed xenolinguistics, although alternative terminology such as exolinguistics has found its way into use through the medium of...
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 image) and provides insight in to its proper pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
.
The phrase was never translated in the film and neither Edmund North nor 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
ever released an official translation. This has led to speculation over what the phrase meant. One gets a sense of its meaning by analyzing the context in which it was used.
Toward the end of the film, Klaatu is pursued by the military with orders that he be taken dead or alive. Klaatu 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 removes himself from the plastic encasement and kills two guards. Helen Benson visits Gort outside the spaceship and just before Gort attacks her, she says, "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto. Klaatu barada nikto." Gort takes Helen inside the spaceship then retrieves Klaatu's lifeless body from the jail and brings him back to life using the alien technology aboard the ship.
Usage in 2008 remake
In the 2008 remakeRemake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film)
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 2008 science fiction film, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name. The screenplay is based on the 1940 classic science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates, and the 1951 screenplay adaptation by Edmund H...
, this line was added at Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
' 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, people have speculated 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
Safeword
A safeword is a code word or series of code words that are sometimes used in BDSM for a submissive to unambiguously communicate their physical or emotional state to a dominant , typically when approaching, or crossing, a physical, emotional, or moral boundary...
that is part of a fail-safe
Fail-safe
A fail-safe or fail-secure device is one that, in the event of failure, responds in a way that will cause no harm, or at least a minimum of harm, to other devices or danger to personnel....
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
Fantastic Films
Fantastic Films was a US film magazine specializing in the genres of science fiction and fantasy.-Publication:Fantastic Films began regular publication in 1978 under the banner of Blake Publishing Corp. Issue no...
magazine explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in an article titled The Language of Klaatu written in 1978. The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as their "Alien Linguistics Editor," attempted to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the movie. 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
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
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
Billy Gray (actor)
William Thomas "Billy" Gray , is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,...
, 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
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Julian Blaustein
Julian Blaustein
Julian Blaustein was an American film producer.Born in New York City, Blaustein graduated from Harvard University in 1933. He spent a year in flight training at the Randolph Air Force Base before heading to Hollywood, where he became a reader in the story department at Universal Pictures. He...
, 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 FameRobot Hall of Fame
The Robot Hall of Fame was established in 2003 by the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is designed to honor both achievements in robotics technology and robots from science fiction that have served as creative inspiration in robotics...
describes the phrase as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction"and Frederick S. Clarke of Cinefantastique
Cinefantastique
Cinefantastique was a horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor Frederick S. Clarke...
called it "the most famous phrase ever spoken by an extraterrestrial."The phrase has seen repeated use throughout the years in many different media, which has kept it alive in popular culture. Many of these uses have little to do with its original usage as a command.
Two instances where the phrase is used as a command are the films Toys and Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
. 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
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
of the Evil Dead series
Evil Dead series
The Evil Dead is a trilogy of horror films created by Sam Raimi. The films focus on the protagonist, Ashley "Ash" J. Williams, played by Bruce Campbell, who deals with "deadites", which are undead antagonists created by the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. The film series has since expanded into other...
, Ash has to speak similar words in order to retrieve the Necronomicon
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
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 film quotation appears to have influenced the massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
Wizard 101 from KingsIsle Entertainment
KingsIsle Entertainment
KingsIsle Entertainment is a video game developer based in Austin and Dallas, Texas. The company was launched in February 2005, with perhaps the best known of its recruits being Tom Hall, co-founder of id Software and Ion Storm and J...
, where students in the "school of ice magic" encounter the phrase "Klaatu, Verata, Nictu!" during their training.
In an episode of the TV show Jimmy Neutron, Carl Wheezer utters the phrase.
The phrase has also been used humorously as is the case when Senator Alan K. Simpson
Alan K. Simpson
Alan Kooi Simpson is an American politician who served from 1979 to 1997 as a United States Senator from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party. His father, Milward L. Simpson, was also a member of the U.S...
's office used it. The June 7, 1994, edition of the now-defunct supermarket tabloid Weekly World News
Weekly World News
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become...
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
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
: "We've got only one thing to say: Klaatu barada nikto."
Another humorous use was by James Garner playing Jim Rockford in the television series The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
. In episode 100 (titled "Local Man Eaten by Newspaper"), Jim says the line as he is confronted by a seven foot tough guy.
There are numerous "cameo appearances" where the phrase is snuck in — without any context — to pay homage to the original film.
Approximately 26 minutes into the 1982 film Tron
Tron
-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...
, the words are seen posted on a sign hanging in Alan Bradley's cubicle.
In the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
, two of Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
'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 also appears in an Easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
of the web browser Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
3 (as well as some other browsers using Mozilla's Gecko layout engine), as the title of the page about:robots.
The Toronto band Klaatu was named for the phrase. http://www.klaatu.org/
Alice Cooper utters the words at the end of the song "My Stars" from his 1972 album School's Out
School's Out (album)
School's Out is the fifth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1972. The album's title track has remained a staple song in Alice Cooper's live setlist and receives regular airplay on many "Classic Rock" radio stations....
.
In the 1999 film "Galaxy Quest" the aliens (Thermians) are from the Klaatu nebula.