“Klaatu barada nikto”
Translation: Wear the damn mask!
In the final scene of The Year the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu stands next to his robot Gort on the ramp of his spaceship and addresses the audience of scientists and ordinary men and women from around the United States. He tells them that if their foolishness enables the virus to cover the planet, Earth will be destroyed.
“I am leaving soon, and you’ll forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day, and the threat of contagion by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all, or no one is secure. Now, this does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made guidelines to protect themselves and hired scientists to follow them. We, of the other planets, have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of viruses. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the people that support it. For our scientists, we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets in spaceships like this one and preserve health. In matters of pandemics, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first signs of disease, they act automatically against the aggressor, passing out masks for all to wear. The penalty for ignoring their recommendations is too terrible to risk. The result is we live in well-being without illness or economic collapse, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression of disease, free to pursue more profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your illness, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: wear the damn mask, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.”
With that, the spaceship rises from the baseball field somewhere in DC, hovers over the Whitehouse for a while, just to make a point, and then disappears into the clouds.
Some credit goes to The Day the Earth Stood Still, (1951). Still, the best movie that ever was! Nailed it.
