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 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. 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.
Read more about this topic: Klaatu Barada Nikto
Famous quotes containing the words usage and/or film:
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)