A Look at Unification (Next Generation)

[@zephyr8072]

Picard: “Why would Spock be drawn to Romulans.” Sarek: “No idea. It’s not as if there was a Romulan bird of prey commander who looked exactly like me who may be Spock’s real father after some double date confusion.” Picard: “What?” Sarek: “NO YOU’RE ILLOGICAL!”

[@myriadmediamusings]

It would be extremely stupid but also amusing if Beta canon were to establish that Romulan commander as being some relative or cousin of Sarek. Wouldn't be the first time, given how Gul Macet from TNG in Beta canon would be revealed to be a cousin of Gul Dukat.

[@JosephDavies]

@@myriadmediamusings Some writers just can't help themselves, no matter how silly an idea is.

[@dupersuper1938]

@@myriadmediamusings Or how Sela looks just like her mother, all the Soongs look alike, Picard's Romulan majordomo looks exactly like her ancestor, Kirk sure looked like his brother by the time the latter died, Picard looked like his nephew when he was a kid...

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

Or maybe have him be on an undercover mission ​@@myriadmediamusings

[@simplegarak]

Don't forget the TOS episode where Spock really hit it off with a Romulan commander.

[@ReaverLordTonus]

Sela: "and this is the android ive come to respect in battle." Data: "and your mother came to respect in bed." Picard and Spock: "OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

[@Thraim.]

I'm just glad that Leonard Nimoy seemed to have made his peace with the role of Spock before he died.

[@Robizoid]

Agreed.👍

[@steelgriffin7716]

The exchange can hit really hard sometimes. "Well... Sometimes... fathers and sons..." "Understood."

[@fredrikcarlstedt393]

We are in great luck that the Ferengis did not became the viillains of TNG .Because, can you just picture Picard and Data in Ferengi masks and costumes ?

[@petrus4]

I remember the scene with Spock and Data sitting side by side. It probably only lasted for around three seconds, but it was completely silent. There was a very strong sense that the people shooting it knew that to add anything else to it, even including music, would only lessen the gravitas of it. In hindsight it was also strange that that image...two men sitting together...could evoke the level of reverence that it did.

[@dm121984]

I think you are misremembering. Spock and Data have a small but characterful conversation about how Data has the total lack of emotion Vulcans strive for, and Data points out how Spock with his human side had the emotional capacity that Dara strives for.

[@petrus4]

@@dm121984 I think you're right.

[@baerdred]

Picard's right eye is 0.004 _what_ higher than his left?!? 0.004 centimeters? 0.004 kilometers?!?! I must know!!!!

[@magnusprime962]

Lightyears

[@baerdred]

@@magnusprime962 😮

[@jamesabernethy7896]

I've said before that these reuploads with cleaned-up sound is a great way to catch ones that I may not have seen in a while or missed the first time around. Full of humour but with a lot of fantastic observations. Though not in this episode himself, Sarek's presence is still felt. Mark Lenard's performances cannot be spoken highly enough of. An interesting observation of the nods to Star Trek VI in the dialogue, it's easy to forget about the crossover periods of Star Trek production. IV was made the year before TNG started and V was also made turning the TNG run.

[@vrenak]

Mark Lenards last scene in Star Trek was superb, well written, acted, and the music just underscores it perfectly.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Great episode. RIP Mark Lenard and Leonard Nimoy.

[@captainjellicoe1701e]

I do like that the Vulcan ships that they stole kind of look like earlier prototypes of a Romulan warbird

[@marshallhuffer4713]

The Klingon captain is played by Stephen Root from Office Space, Dodgeball, and King of the Hill.

[@thunderphoenix440]

Nuts how the ripples from this episode spread all the way out to the Abrams reboot.

[@marshallhuffer4713]

As Spock melds with Picard and learns about how Sarek truly felt, Picard learns new things about Spock ranging from the time aliens removed his Vulcan DNA and he became full human to the time the Enterprise and a Klingon ship encountered an anomaly that caused the crews of both ships to break out in song and dance.

[@Jokie155]

Picard's uncontrollable mania in 'Sarek' was him having to listen to 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins' on repeat.

[@Robizoid]

As good as I think this two parter with Spock as guest of honor was, I still think the single episode featuring Scotty a year later was better. I still would like to know whatever became of Sila?

[@dupersuper1938]

According to the comics and Star Trek Online, quite a lot...

[@edwardbloecher4563]

You beat me to rhe punch Rob! Lol While I did enjoy this episode I also think the episode Relics with Scotty was far more fun and a better episode.

[@edwardbloecher4563]

​​@@dupersuper1938 Didn't she marry Lewis Creed and move to Maine? Lol JK a little Stephen King reference is always fun.

[@KiltedCritic]

In addition to being in Star Trek Online, she had a decently sized role in the game Star Trek Armada from 2000, and a promotion to Admiral.

[@zephyr8072]

According to Star Trek Online, Romulus blowing up is all Sela's fault. Guess you can't say she's an underachiever.

[@josiaharaki7310]

What the heck were they thinking with Tasha Yarr? They killed her off unceremoniously, brought her back to give her a better send-off, then went back and decided, nah, she survived her last stand and instead spent the rest of her life as a sex slave until her own daughter ratted her out for attempting to escape.

[@mikegates8993]

I think what they were thinking was "we want to work with the actress more and it would probably confuse people if we used her for a different character since she used to be a recurring character" Which if that was the case, is very stupid.

[@magnusprime962]

@@mikegates8993Thankfully Babylon 5 would learn from this. When they wanted to reuse a great actor whose original character had run his course, they just put him in a bunch of alien makeup and made a new character.

[@Aezetyr]

14:30 re: Okona... I got bad news for you Chuck, though yes I realize the original review was released before Prodigy. I'm no horticulturist; at 21:29 that looks to me like an orchid. Which if I am not mistaken is created by combining two incompatible species into one healthy organism. I could be wrong though.

[@Neddyhk]

The Romulans have a “Thwarting” kink. Picard’s clone was originally made for some Romulan general so he could be thwarted all day in the comfort of his home… and when it was discovered he covered by saying it was an attempt to replace Picard… then when no one was paying attention he shipped the clone off to Remus - because he couldn’t bear to kill such a beacon of thwarting.

[@yvonnehanafee1392]

your final statements about the hype definitely ring true-I watched this story years later, completely divorced from the hype and loved it. I had no idea Spock was coming back, there he was, and this seemed like a reasonable place for him to go.

[@CybershamanX]

This had BETTER be important! I was watching Red Dwarf clips! Specifically Lister trying to teach Kryten to lie! 😉

[@zephyr8072]

You taught him that? That’s terrific! You two should audition for What’s My Fruit.

[@CybershamanX]

@@zephyr8072 🤣

[@sureshmukhi2316]

Very good review!!! I look forward to watching more.

[@Ferox2121]

Unification is a good 2-parter. I dit not watch it on the original premiere, of course, so the fact that it was mostly an advertisemt for Star Trek VI was toltally lost on me. Still nice to see Spock in TNG - and showing us the long life that Vulcans have. The Romulan plot is borderline stupid however. Trying to annex a whole planet with only a few thousand troops is hubris tenfold. And not to mention that Vulcan is one of the founding members of the federation, lying in the heart of their territories. These troops would have been defeated quickly and then the Romulans would face a two front war against the Federation / Klingon alliance.

[@Future_Vantas]

For all of Discovery's faults it was nice that they showed that Spock's efforts did bear fruit.

[@WDC_OSA]

I agree, I think Unification III was the highpoint of season 3. A story that followed up on this episode was long overdue, especially because the only thing we got for a while was ROMULUS ASPLODE.

[@myriadmediamusings]

Oh yeah I agree the Unification III story can be counted in the very small win pile of DIS.

[@BintyMcFrazzles]

I really like the episode. It's not in my top 10, but I do enjoy it. Mark Lenard and Patrick Stewart are great together, if only too brief. Some great scene chewing here!

[@thebaccathatchews]

Three ships and a couple thousand soldiers vs a whole planetary defense force. Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale.

[@mikegates8993]

Yeah, 2000 people to invade a planet with comparable technology to them might be the worst case of this I've seen in Star Trek. Even Voyager not understanding how far the ship travels over the course of the series might not be as bad as this.

[@boobah5643]

@@mikegates8993 But you don't understand! They're *key* locations! With less sarcasm: on a planet full of people who at least pretend to believe the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Seems obvious that the Romulans would have lost to culture shock even if the invasion force had 'succeeded.'

[@hariman7727]

>.> Okay that Rick and Morty clip is one of the gems from that show. (The other is "Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer.", and maybe one or two other moments.) This episode was good, but not as memorable as other episodes. I remember liking it, but it doesn't stand out.

[@marcherwitch9811]

the thing with rick and morty is that the main two are annoying and grotesque .. but the scifi is sublime! the cityscapes al9ne are just beautiful and the worldbuilding marvellous...

[@myriadmediamusings]

Another one I wish I had watched back on initial airing and also wish I was a Trek fan of that period, especially with Trek VI being my favorite Trek film. I can only imagine the massive buzz and excited synergy with TNG at its height of popularity, the return of Spock, and the final TOS movie.

[@TheCameronsanderson]

It came out when I was kid, and I can’t stress how freaking AMAZING it was.

[@jamesmaybrick2001]

@@TheCameronsanderson Yup it was immense. I bought it on VHS before it had aired. It was profound. To see Spock and Data and Co all sharing the same screentime when reruns of TOS were still on was just a heady time to be fan. And thankfully no internet no spoil it or whine about it. Just magic.

[@KiltedCritic]

Only unfortunate thing was in true 90s TV fashion, they teased a lot for future, to then follow-up on none of it ever again. Not even a line of mention in Star Trek Nemesis.

[@zephyr8072]

Even today you can’t go wrong with more Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Though I suppose the insufferably stupid Romulan plot does diminish the second part.

[@lynngreen7978]

funny how those Vulcan ships look like mini-warbirds

[@wilkoufert8758]

I still don’t get why they didn’t do a rehash/continuation of this for Gernerations. Poor Denise Crosby

[@THATGuy5654]

Man, this particular version of the Romulan outfit just looks so damn silly. It's one of the rare instances when fashion can take me out of a narrative.

[@henkman00]

This story indeed had more potential. on the audio commentary track for Star Trek IV Leonard Nimoy stated that he figured they would ask him to return again. it sounds like he wanted to continue this story. they never called him.

[@noblehelium3794]

I didn't realize Sarek married not one but two humans.

[@KiltedCritic]

Guess he just likes'em illogical.

[@hariman7727]

Dude has a type. That type ain't vulcan.

[@dupersuper1938]

Controversial? Every one I knew loved it.

[@lynngreen7978]

There is also Spock's wife. The one he married that time Picard met him. EU says Saavik. It also says Okona is now working for SI, with Lcdr Sam Lavelle and Lt Naomi Wildman.

[@dupersuper1938]

Maybe he got divorced, or she died, or she's super understanding, or he's gonna' have lots of 'splainin' to do when he gets back...

[@TF2CrunchyFrog]

Saavik was a traitor to the Federation. Spock never married her. The Expanded Universe novels contain a lot of BS. The women Spock was supposed to marry in the TOS era was T'Pring, but that wedding never happened because T'Pring wanted to marry another Vulcan man and Spock agreed. The Prime Timeline spock never married.

[@lynngreen7978]

@@TF2CrunchyFrog Picard met Sarek "at his son's wedding." Does Sarek have *more* children we never heard about?

[@dupersuper1938]

@@TF2CrunchyFrog "a traitor to the Federation"??? What in the world are you talking about?

[@dupersuper1938]

@@TF2CrunchyFrog Also, prime timeline Picard says prime timeline Spock did get married.

[@vservo1149]

The pew pew ship name joke was funny. I laughed

[@CybershamanX]

Wasn't the Ferengi initially supposed to be Quark? I forget the specifics... 🤔

[@BrianS1981]

You're thinking of the five lights episode with David Warner.

[@CybershamanX]

@@BrianS1981 Ah! Thanks! 😎

[@zephyr8072]

@BrianS1981 THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS.

[@xp7575]

​​​@@BrianS1981the 5 lights torture episode involved the Cardassians, not the Ferengi

[@justin8894]

Logical.

[@thENDweDIE]

14:33 As in Thadiun Okana..??

[@bthsr7113]

An interesting story... whose potential for the setting's future was lost... Though frankly, it probably could not have been allowed to succeed with how things played out and would have played out without the nova. The Klingons become Federation Allies. The Ferengi have joined the Federation. The Borg are handled. The Dominion was brought to the table. The Orions are being softened. Cardassia isn't even a regional power anymore. That's a pretty good sense of finality with old guard foes, and creating new worthy antagonist cultures... that's hard. Mind you, I'd have rather seen Romulans show up rather regularly as members in good standing with Star Fleet than as an underclass doing manual labor for Federation Brass.

[@bthsr7113]

8:31 Ahh hah ha ha ha ha....

[@gailseatonhumbert]

Berman was nasty and Nimoy would not be doing this for him under any circumstances. Nimoy was a much bigger figure in Hollywood than Berman and they wanted Nimoy to direct the first TNG movie which he would not do under Berman's rules. Remember even saying the word Spock was not allowed by Berman and Roddenberry for years on TNG including the earlier Sarek episode. Nimoy agreed to this appearance merely because he was the Executive Producer of the Star Trek VI movie.

[@dupersuper1938]

But...they did say Spock in Sarek...

[@magnusprime962]

Do you have a source for this?

[@KonElKent]

Couple things: I very much appreciate and enjoy our host's commentaries on Star Trek, and more often than not agree with his views. Therefore, even allowing for hyperbole, I must push back against calling Star Trek V an "unmitigated disaster". I'm NOT going to try and convince anyone that it's actually good, and it was undeniably a poor performer relative to the series overall and Paramount's expectations in the wake of the fourth film, but it DID make it's way into the black at the worldwide box office (if barely, and I'm using the usual benchmark of "Hollywood Accounting" of ~2x the production cost) and was a major player on the Home Video market when VHS and LaserDisc sales and rentals were really becoming a larger element of a film's overall takings. Second, the overall arc of Spock and Sarek's relationship from Journey to Babel through at least The Voyage Home (and there's nothing in Part VI to show change) is one of reconciliation. What the hell happened in the intervening +/- 70 years to have all of that be lost?!

[@Tolly7249]

Damn you were downright prescient.

[@xp7575]

Russia invaded & began occupying Ukraine 10 years ago in February of 2014, this video came out 6 months later in August of 2014 bro, there is NOTHING prescient about discussing history

[@Tolly7249]

@@xp7575 There's no need to be rude, some of us don't have perfect date recollection. I thought events happened a year later than they did, it happens.

[@xp7575]

@@Tolly7249 I didn't say ANYTHING rude

[@boobah5643]

I just thought it was odd to note the date, since the Crimean annexation was current then, and the sequel was current when the video was retooled for KZbin.

[@magnusprime962]

@@xp7575The all-caps of nothing in your first comment does come off as rude. It appears as though you’re trying to rub it in that OP had the dates wrong. I assume that’s not what you meant, but it is how it appears to others.

[@ilexgarodan]

Ouch. That Ukraine/Crimea/Russia statement hits a bit harder, after the past two years.

[@alfje5492]

Don't worry, when the orange guy gets in again, he'll solve it in 24h... by immediately giving in to his good bud Vlad!

[@xp7575]

It's been going on for 10 years, not just 2

[@zosowon]

he was on that romulan meth

[@lynngreen7978]

Unification might have worked better as the season finale

[@Q80Warlock]

They couldn't do that because the episode was just part of The Undiscovered Country's promotional campaign by Paramount.

[@pearsegallagher9832]

algorithm comment

[@TheZetaKai]

Engagement reply.

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

Hacking into the nsa with an iPhone. Some guy hacked Rockstar with an android phone a Roku and a smart TV web browser.

[@pocketheart1450]

Okana sucked on TNG, but he was great on Prodigy.

[@Mainframev1976]

I'm sorry but everytime this one comes on I watch something else. Just has never done it for me.

[@rf159a]

Star Trek V was a flop because Shatner directed it. He needs to stay an actor, not a director!!

[@Dream0Asylum]

Admittedly, the premise and execution were flawed - though the studio slashing the budget mid-production didn't do it any favors.

[@toddfraser3353]

There were other issues too. Granted a better Director could make due with the limitations dropped on them and still create something much better. Often being better than with having full say.

[@rf159a]

Thank you I agree about that too.@@Dream0Asylum

[@rf159a]

I just feel Bill is a better actor than director. Leonard had the skill to do both!!@@toddfraser3353

[@louisthompson8642]

Romulus and Vulcan unifying was a dumb idea. It's so out of nowhere & just doesn't follow what we know of either side. It's illogical

[@john1701q]

The idea of Unification goes against the ideal of IDIC. Romulans should do what Romulans want to do, and the same for Vulcans. Why should Romulans give up thousands of years of their own cultural identity?

[@toddfraser3353]

However the Romulans want to fully take over the Vulcan culture and replace it with their own. Much like how ever Free Country will still have laws that restrict ones personal "Freedom" to murder those who they don't like. The Vulcans are generally accommodating to many different cultural differences the Romulans have, however not their desire to conquer.

[@digitaljanus]

Because both peoples are better able to live long and prosper together in peace than apart in hostility. They retain diversity but in a new combination.

[@TF2CrunchyFrog]

@john1701q blathered about "cultural identity" I _loathe_ people like you and their agenda that advocates for close-minded tribalism and cultural isolationism and a cult of cultural superiority under the guise of "diversity". Amazing how you managed to completely misunderstand what IDIC is about, starting with that it's about _species._ Cultures have always evolved and changed. Those that don't, calcify and _die._ Here's a truth, honey: _Some traditions and cultures suck._ There's nothing holy about "cultures". *The ancient Vulcans, before the split even happened, decided to follow the philosophy of Surak because they had realized their "culture" of the time sucked and would lead them to disaster. Those that wanted to keep their wars and petty squabbles, took a spaceship and left. But now here you are, argueing that thousands of years later, any Romulans who **_want_** to also follow the teachings of Surak and leave Romulus should be denied that choice and for ideological reasons be forced into a straightjacket of what you think "Romulan culture" is.* Wow, what a piece you are. You sound _exactly_ like the type of religious/ethnic fundamentalists who believe their precious "culture" must not be "contaminated" by any contact with others and demand ethnic segregation! Like the Muslim fundamentalists who blew up ancient Buddhist statues. Or the ultra-orthodox Israeli fundamentalists who've been openly saying for years that all "unclean" non-Jews and all liberal Jews who want peaceful coexistence should be _killed_ by a theocratic state the fundamentalists yearn for... back to the bronze age days of cult leader Moses who ordered his followers to genocide other tribes, who escalated from killing the men and taking all virginal girls as slaves, to killing men, women and children and slaughtering the lifestock and burning anything that had been touched by the "unclean". Or in fact those stupid Vulcan fundamentalists of Archer's time the script writers of Star Trek: Enterprise wrote in, who were willing to murder people to prevent a half-Vulcan child. Diversity, indeed. (eyeroll)

[@TF2CrunchyFrog]

@@toddfraser3353 That was a Romulan military plot. But the episode _Unification_ makes it very clear that there's a growing number of civilian Romulans who have decided for themselves that they also want to follow the teachings of Surak. Just because their ancient ancestors many thousands of years ago decided to stick to their warlike tribaslist ways and leave Vulcan to settle on a distant planet and start an empire, doesn't mean their descendants are bound to that. Yes, those Romulands yearning for peace will likely have to leave Romulus and go to Vulcan because the Romulan regime as it is at the time of the episode would not tolerate them. But just a few years later, the Dominion War will cause a peace treaty & alliance between the Romulan Empire and the Federation against the common enemy. It would have been interesting if there had been a post-DS9 series that explored if this gave a boost to Romulans who wanted to end their people's isolationism and paranoia.

[@sureshmukhi2316]

How does unification go against IDIC? IDIC means there is uniity in diversity. That's like saying integrated schools, businesses is against IDIC. IDIC is integration and unification.