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Klaatu barada nikto
Character Klaatu (first)
Helen Benson (second)
Actor Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal
Created By Edmund H. North
First Used In The Day the Earth Stood Still
"" is a phrase originating from the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). "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.[1]
“ 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. ”
—Klaatu
In the 2008 remake of the movie, Helen Benson never learns the phrase. Instead, Klaatu uses it near the beginning of the movie to shut down Gort after he was shot, and again at the end when he touches the sphere and stops the destruction of the earth.
No translation of the phrase was stated in the film. Philosophy professor Aeon J. Skoble speculates the famous phrase is a safeword that is part of a fail-safe feature used during the 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 mistakenly 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".[2] In this interpretation, the phrase apparently tells Gort that Klaatu considers escalation unnecessary.
The Robot Hall of Fame describes the phrase as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction"[3] and Frederick S. Clarke of Cinefantastique called it "the most famous phrase ever spoken by an extraterrestrial."[4]
Subject: Re: Klaatu barada nikto 
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