this interpretation the phrase apparently tells Gort that Klaatu considers escalation unnecessary (stand down and return home). Fantastic Films explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in the 1978 article "The Language of Klaatu". In the article Tauna Le Marbe, the magazine's Alien Linguistics Editor, attempts to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the film. Le Marbe's literal translation was "Stop Barbarism, (I have) death, bind;" 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 original, recalled a conversation he had with Edmund North, saying North told him, "...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 "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.'" In accepting the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1998, Director Robert Wise closed his remarks by saying, "...I'd like to say 'Klaatu barada nikto', which, roughly translated tonight, means 'Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.'" Popular culture references In the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, one of Jabba the Hutt's employees is "Barada", a member of the "Klatooinian" species, both the character and the species being references to the phrase. In the Star Wars universe there is also a species called "Nikto". In the 1992 film Army of Darkness, Ash Williams must recite the phrase in order to safely retrieve the Necronomicon. Later in the film he must recite it again to travel back to his time period. In David Ives' one act play The Universal Language, itself a part of a collection of one act plays called All in the Timing, the character Don teaches a language called Unamunda which he touts as a language for all peoples. His first and only student Dawn, frustrated