The Romulan Conquest Of Vulcan

Star Trek · The Next Generation · s05e08 · Unification II
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Star Trek · The Next Generation · s05e08 · Unification II Thanks for clicking, thanks for watching, hope you got what you came for. BuyMeSomeBeans: ko-fi.com/tjwparso / paypal.me/tjwParsoTV Intro Audio: Star Trek TNG: s03e06 'Booby Trap' & s03e12 'The High Ground' Outro Music: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZnXlGaYitp0hKM , kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6aWXpuhYtWLqa8 & kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYu6goCsfbOCpKs Discord: discord.gg/2PAjZf8TeV Twitter: twitter.com/tjwparso Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/tjwParsoTV

[@tjwparso]

As Long As Possible kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3qygZ6JbpmHh7M He Wrapped Up All Of His Affairs Carefully kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZSYlH2ajduiaqM His Emotions Have Taken Over kzbin.info/www/bejne/bInZl5msi5hnnZI I Punished Him, He Endured It kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5iYgHRolKtmpLs They Would Have Our Gratitude kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3-lm6CFq7KShs0 They're Not Removable Are They Data? kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZS0anajfMyBsNE He's King Of His Particular Hill kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5K2fGeinJ52nsU I'm Sure The Klingons Found It Amusing kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zp_Kgnl4a89-i7M It's Gonna Blow kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIG8ZIWYm9NogbM Some Romulan Beauty Might Take A Liking To You, Lick That Paint Right Off Your Ears kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmXHe5mdZbR6d7M Cowboy Diplomacy kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGPMaH1tiJyge7c I Am Going To Attempt To Penetrate The Romulans... kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4O8iKeui5VofZo Romulans Are Passionate People kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaOsln-qe7h_fJY He Always Cleaned Up After Himself kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6K1aGZ_jbB8i8k Permit Me To Withdraw kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn3Fh4GvoJ19ZtE I Have Been Unable To Penetrate... No Regrets kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJLMaKhqiJhraZI I Never Learned To Speak Hypothetical kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4vEnIxul9B3Y7c The Romulan Conquest Of Vulcan kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2bOan-Qls9qmsU I Hate The Logic kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3a5pZ-oe5aUmqc Drop Your Weapons kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYSsi5yvmrF-r6s I Offer You The Chance To Touch What He Shared With Me kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5vXmaipq8efesk

[@danieldickson8591]

I really appreciate how Spock breaks down Pardek's betrayal. No anger, no hurt, not even expression of resentment or disappointment. Just dispassionate recitation of facts.

[@Romulan2469]

He has the emotions because of his human half, but he suppresses them.

[@darthparallax5207]

He lacks anger because of his wisdom but any human *or* Vulcan would be sad. It is *logical* to be upset at *betrayal*, which is one reason the premise of Unification was......far-fetched.

[@darthparallax5207]

He is hurt he is sad he is disappointed. He is not as surprised as he thought he would be. If he resents anyone or thing he only resents himself for not seeing it sooner, putting it together like a detective in hindsight, but too late, only after the crime is committed can it be discovered how it was done. He has many emotions and he is not mastering all of them. But he knows enough that anger is one it would not help even his human half to dwell on.

[@jonsmith5058]

@@Romulan2469You act like full Vulcans don’t also have emotions. They do, they just use extreme discipline to supress them. I’m not even really a Star Trek fan and know this. If they lacked emotion at all they wouldnt need to go through any training as they do nor ever ‘lose control’.

[@nnthayer]

"The message did employ the proper coded sequence." " ... yeah, I'm sure it did." Everything by the book, but Riker senses something's wrong. Ain't nothing as valuable as a first officer's intuition

[@wjzav1971]

That's because Picard would not send such a message. He would be cautious about Romulan tricks and never tell the Enterprise from afar what to do unless there was a damn important reason. Picard would rely on Riker to make the correct decisions.

[@darthparallax5207]

It's simpler than that. Picard is obviously potentially capable of human error. The Romulans have what is known in the trade as "lack of plausible deniability". The fact we are doing anything at all involving any Romulans whatsoever in any way, shape, or form means that everything is suspicious until proven credible. When you're starting revolutionary underground political parties and people in the room are all highly ranked, you account for the sheer competence of rank: They know that faking a legitimate looking message is within the skill capabilities of the Romulans. It's kind of like if China sent out a very carefully formally worded announcement that meant serious things in international court promising that they definitely aren't going to annex Taiwan. But then didn't actually stop building warships or anything like that. "OK. Nice letter. Too bad you guys are fucking liars." All the words are fine and they are all just words. There's no physical proof whatsoever that they've even met any trustworthy Romulans. Those Romulans who seem innocent do not have any look of influence. (the boy. He seems fine. But is he a pro consul? No he is not.) A message means less than nothing when the nature of the diplomatic mission requires physical proof of more than they've got just to even stop being on red alert. It doesn't take a first officer of the Enterprise, Velma from Scooby-Doo could figure out this one is fishy lol. It is a serious disadvantage for the Romulans that they acquired a reputation.

[@TheZetaKai]

Those Vulcans alphabet blocks are strange toys for a Romulan child to have played with as a child. That kid would have ended up in a dissident movement of some kind, sooner or later.

[@teleportedbreadfor3days]

Obviously his parents knew how to tell him to keep a secret

[@davfree9732]

@@teleportedbreadfor3days If anyone asks they are dice and your a nerd playing Battles and Betazoids.

[@teleportedbreadfor3days]

@@davfree9732 lol

[@ErokCherokee]

Sela, " And this is the android I've come to respect in battle" Data, "And your mother in bed" Picard, "Damn" Spock, "Not bad"

[@spar0035]

I never bought that an invasion force of only 2,000 troops could take over a whole planet nearly equal in technology.

[@robertsoyka1822]

Especially since it is a homeworld with a population in the Billions. And the Vulcans are considered among the best soldiers in the Federation due to their discipline and physical strength... But perhaps their task was not to conquer the planet on their own, but to disrupt orbital defense and transporter scramblers in a commando raid. Preparing the ground to land a second, larger wave of soldiers in cloaked ships (For example the cloaked warbird that later destroys the ships). Warbirds are larger than galaxy class ships and could easily transport tens of thousands of soldiers. And they could provide extreme levels fire support from orbit, if planetary defenses are down.

[@TentaclePentacle]

2000 on the vulcan ships the war birds shadowing them carry more, and it would only be the first wave.

[@jonathancampbell5231]

Even if they did somehow pull it off, they are conquering a planet that is deep inside Federation space. This would be like Russian troops successfully taking over Chicago- congrats, now what? You've just isolated your army in the middle of hostile territory.

[@taeurus]

As pointed out above, it was just the first wave. She outlines pretty clearly the initial troops are just to establish a beach head like Allied forces did at Normandy in WWII. The Romulans were planning for the long game.

[@hansolo631]

Yea this was a massively silly plotpoint. The romulans intended to hold the 2nd most important federation planet with 2,000 troops in a rusty transport ship. I assume romulus and vulcan are in the same stellar neighbourhood to some extent, because they managed to reach romulus in their ships thousands of years ago - but it's still absurd. Also I don't understand how these races in thousands of years of galactic activity were usurped by humanity within like, a century. Makes zero fuckin sense. Human plot armour in media

[@cobaltbuster4907]

Such an interesting parallel set up in this episode. A half vulcan versus a half romulan.

[@taopilot2669]

A cloaked base wouldn't work on Galornden Core, Data said in "The Defector" that it would be visible because of all the distortion.

[@JM.TheComposer]

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[@sunkat2337]

Spock sees thru everything. His logic keeps him honest. I wish I could do that.

[@aggressiveattitudeera887]

So do I.

[@leeeastwood6368]

get a good scriptwriter!

[@Dowlphin]

@@aggressiveattitudeera887 It is not logic that keeps one honest, but love, heart, courage. The intellect can easily create perfect (self-)deceptions. It is a mere tool that needs to be tempered, balanced. Truth and lie can look absolutely identical. It is the heart that guides the mind towards the authentic one. It only works in a team.

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

@@Dowlphin Very true. It took Spock _Decades_ to learn that lesson, and to grow into the person we see in this episode. If you want to be like Spock, don't just cultivate your sense of logic and clear thinking, Also cultivate your sense of Wisdom. 🖖

[@Dowlphin]

@@TheNoiseySpectator There is that persistent fandom theme with Spock to only associate him with what distinguishes him from humans, not acknowledging his human half. Which is kinda telling, because that is what a mind imbalance would do: Discriminate. Analysis over synthesis. THE theme about Spock is indeed the exploration of the duality, not intellect worship. But I also know this habit from MLPFiM where the characters are deep and diverse but some people only want to see clichées.

[@RandomAmerican3000]

2:16 I can't help feeling that Spock saved Pardok here. Pardok's response was one of resignation rather than triumph. It didn't seem as if Selar(?) knew he was in on the plan.

[@Tigerkaya]

Damn never thought of it like that. Great point!

[@BigJon410]

No, I think it is more like his eighty year career as a agent provocateur just ended.

[@Tigerkaya]

For me I thought I saw it one way, the To Milan senator gains Spocks trust for years than betrays him. Having this perspective is an interesting avenue to consider.

[@seriascannain6675]

@@Tigerkaya Perhaps he wanted to maintain his position and authority and betrayed his friend for his own personal gain!

[@teleportedbreadfor3days]

Re-examining this, I think that’s exactly what happened. I wonder if Selar secretly returned to Spock’s side. Having a new place in the still-militaristic Romulan government probably helped Spock’s quest, too

[@Evil0tto]

Sela: "The Romulan conquest of Vulcan." Picard: "Pfft, oh sorry, you're serious? How many ships do you have? Do you have the millions of troops it would require? Fleet support? I don't think you've thought your cunning plan through."

[@pyrioncelendil]

Huh, it actually bears a lot of similarities to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the obvious exception that the Romulans had enough self-awareness to realize they'd lost.

[@spazemfathemcazemmeleggymi272]

​@@pyrioncelendil ah Ukrainian propaganda, my favorite thing to gush about when watching Star Trek🤦‍♂️

[@darthparallax5207]

Putin may strategically win the war on the ground but as he has lost in the court of public opinion the best he can get is something like America's supremacy over Vietnam: Nobody cares and they will consider him a loser no matter what he accomplishes. Besides whether the war is justified which is even more loaded an issue, it is controversial enough to ponder winners and losers. Reality and Image both matter, and Putin has lost Image at least if not also Reality.

[@bridgecross]

I forgot, what was her plan for the Romulan conquest of Vulcan? Vulcan is part of the Federation and deep within Federation territory. Conquest by force would have meant fighting every member of the Federation, and even after victory it would have take half the Empire just to defend Vulcan from liberation attempts.

[@johnbertrand7185]

Always had a great deal of respect for Nimoy the way he played Spock on the series and in the movies and TNG. It so easily could have been a one-note character but he brings so much depth and dignity to the role. RIP 1931-2015

[@ReaverLordTonus]

Sela "...and this is the android I've come to respect in battle" Data "and your mother came to respect in bed." Spock and Picard: "OHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

[@Robert_Douglass]

Qazh...... Except I think Spock and Picard would have reacted to such an uncharacteristic burn more with raised eyebrows. In their case, though, a raised eyebrow is louder than any number of astonished shouters.

[@TheBandit025Nova]

Sela: Oh that’s right my mom needed a Sex toy and Riker played for the same team

[@joshuaweston6531]

We get an undercover mission to Romulus, the return of Spock and Denise Crosby! How did I not ever see these episodes when I was younger? Even with her limited screen time, Sela was so good!

[@studinthemaking]

I I always wondered if that romulan senator was stringing Spock along for the entire 80 years!

[@SirCraigius]

Capturing the planet of one of the founding members of the Federation wouldn’t go unchallenged. It would have let to full scale war between the Federation and the Romulans. And the Klingons might have stepped in to help the Federation too, especially given their hatred for Romulans.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

That or the pacifist Federation probably would be like "maybe a forced unification is for the best". Remember at this time the Federation would rather give up worlds than fight a war. Even a core world.

[@Wenchework]

Think thats why the romulans sopported the Duras as it would litterly put an allianse with the klingons and federation not likely to happen as the civill war would make the klingons unable to offer help or allianse and if Duras won the allianse with federation never happend so pretty high and secure chanse to take when the romulans had planned to invade Vulcan and federation

[@bwg4608]

Probably. Though this is just a little more than a year after Wolf 359 and just a few months after the Klingon Civil War, so this is probably the weakest the Federation-Klingon alliance ever was against the Romulans.

[@FrauIndian]

@@TheMrPeteChannel No. The Federation would not stand by and allow a forced alliance of a founding member. There are also Vulcan colony worlds that would come to the aid of the Vulcan homeworld.

[@FrauIndian]

@@TheMrPeteChannel NO forced reunification on Vulcan's end. Humans FORGET Vulcans at their core are warriors. They KNOW how to fight. There is still a Vulcan security force. I believe they call it the Vishar.

[@aggressiveattitudeera887]

1:42. As seen in Season 5, episode 1: "Redemption, pt.II".

[@JimsEvilTwin2]

Worf: “Sir, a coded subspace signal from Romulus. It’s the Captain.” RIker quotes message: “Oh beans, lots of beans lots of beans lots of beans, yeah...” Worf: “The message did employ the proper coded sequence.”

[@misterlau5246]

Tasha Jr. Returns 🖖👋

[@maryhlad7501]

Her name is Commander Sela.

[@misterlau5246]

@@maryhlad7501 I didn't remember at that time 😅😅😅😅

[@whitleypedia]

For as cunning as the Romulans are supposed to be, this plan makes absolutely no sense.

[@wyattmann8157]

I never thought the "Conquer Vulcan" plan made much sense. Seems very far-fetched that the Romulans could pull it off...

[@NealX_Gaming]

I love how the Romulans are seemingly OK with acts of aggression that would clearly be considered declarations of war against the Federation, and the only reason all-out war doesn't break out is simply because their preemptive strike plot gets foiled by the Enterprise. At which point both sides just shrug and go back to staring at each other across the Neutral Zone.

[@ICU2B4UDO]

A Romulan kid gives a Vulcan adult letters for spinning a Dreidel!! 😂

[@MultiRokusho]

It’s weird when you see romulans in TOS compared to TNG and they just went all in with the puffy shoulder pads and bowl cuts even for women.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

And Neanderthal Brow ridges. I glad they reduced them.

[@Enkarashaddam]

Now that I think about it, the plan really is quite terrible. If they had succeeded it would have plunged the Romulans into war with Federation. Which, if they just wanted to do that to begin with, invading Vulcan would be unnecessary.

[@KoenDC]

It was supposed to be a swift takeover. Take over key offices on Vulcan, then dig in. A Romulan special military operation. The Romulans would then organize a sham referendum in which the Vulcans would by overwelming support choose to 'Vlexit' the Federation. The Federation response would be chaotic since worlds generally don't leave, especially founding members. But they'd have no choice but to accept, and start an arduous process of negotiation with the Vulcans and Romulans.

[@joshuahudson2170]

@@KoenDC It's Vulcan. Nobody will believe the sham election. But it won't get that far. The might of the Federation will be upon them within hours; and unless they've pulled quite the diplomatic fast one the Klingons a few days later. Or had you forgotten; they lost the war with Earth two centuries ago before the Federation; this time there's no hope of victory.

[@jonathancampbell5231]

@@KoenDC So the plan depends on the Federation being morons who don't find Vulcan suddenly announcing it is leaving to join the Romulan Star Empire and forbidding any Vulcans or anyone visiting Vulcan from staying or leaving or having any outside communications but the new government assures everyone that everything is okay and this action had 99% approval from the Vulcan citizenry to be the least bit sus, huh?

[@scotthamp384]

I wonder what Tasha would have thought about how her half-breed daughter

[@ericmcconnaughey2782]

The kid with the dice was familiar. Anyone know what else he's been in?

[@pyrioncelendil]

Vidal Peterson. Also played Rugal in DS9 season 2 ep "Cardassians."

[@Caracajou]

Romulans = Vulcans gone bad.

[@dilloncrowe1018]

Am I the only one who hates that the modern writers for Star Trek blew up Romulus? And THAT was the end of the Romulan Empire? After this episode, I was waiting for a sort of Star Trek collapse of the Berlin Wall, type situation that reunifies the Romulans and Vulcans, with a bit of the 1991 Soviet Coup detat mixed in, but no, they just did the Chernobyl thing again, except WAY less interesting.

[@norrinzelkarr8572]

Man, I hope Tasha found a second career as a voice actor. It's excellent.

[@Columbariusify]

I always thought these aliens are intelligent beings in full meaning of it. Yet they are just as humans.

[@pyrioncelendil]

If you recall the Enterprise episode "Fusion" introducing the V'tosh Ka'tur, "Vulcans without logic," the Romulans are the natural conclusion of that line of thought. They're the faction that "marched under the raptor's wings" during Vulcan's Time of Awakening, lost the ensuing conflict, packed their shit up, and left.

[@Columbariusify]

@@pyrioncelendil As sf story goes we were lucky we came on vulcans first

[@pyrioncelendil]

@@Columbariusify Simply by virtue of proximity, yeah. If Sol was a neighboring system to Romulus, they'd probably have wiped us out and colonized Earth long before we emerged from the medieval era.

[@Columbariusify]

@@pyrioncelendil But you are forgetting benefits of living in dilithium mines and working together with Remans under Romulan heel and whip compared to space research guided by wisdom and beauty of subcommander T'Pol. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5W9eHiuiJWSf9Usi=iRcyRwUrlQpLrONB P.S. Sorry for my bad English!

[@arthurgangnon3504]

did they not think it was weird, having the enterprise security officer also be a romulan officer?

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

It's her "daughter" from another timeline.

[@pyrioncelendil]

This is how you declare that you're not a Trekkie without declaring that you're not a Trekkie. "Yesterday's Enterprise." Remember that episode? Tasha Yar in a timeline where the Federation is losing a war of attrition to the Klingons, that timeline's Picard sends Tasha back with a time-displaced Enterprise-C to defend the Klingon colony of Narendra III from Romulan attack. The defense is successful in the prime timeline, but in the episode "Redemption part 2" Sela reveals the alternate Tasha was captured by the Romulans, became the consort to a Romulan general, and had a half-Romulan daughter. Sela. Tasha attempted to escape captivity with a young Sela, but Sela viewed it as being taken away from her home, so she called out for help, Tasha is killed, Sela's loyalty is noticed, she's a shoe-in for membership in the Tal'Shiar.

[@GDKF0238]

Who gives a fuck if they’re a Trekkie? Go outside.

[@VintageYakyu]

Oh, the drama!

[@eddieschwab864]

This goes back to the two-parter with the Klingon Civil War in Redemption pt 2, but how the hell did Commander Sela know that the USS Sutherland had Data in command??

[@Eddie42023]

I always wondered what old Bing would think of his daughter.

[@gregquinn7817]

I think she was his granddaughter.

[@Eddie42023]

@@gregquinn7817 I just checked, you're right.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

She was a playmate

[@ronaldredmond3308]

Denise Crosby was Bing Crosby's grand daughter not his daughter.

[@gatordelt5]

Nice.

[@LifelessTooth]

Cela: "And this is the Android I've come to respect in battle." Data: "I copulated with your mother.""

[@ronaldredmond3308]

I wish I can find the whole episode. If I remember it was a 2 part episode. I love the battle between half Vulcan, Spock vs half Romulan, Sela. Did they continue this story line in one the Star Trek on line games?

[@pratikhazari3701]

Something like this should've been a movie to be honest instead of a two-parter. They could have gone so much deeper into the lore.

[@Art-Dean]

Beans!

[@BillHawkins0318]

So the romulans didn't defeat the Vulcans when they blew their entire planet up in the movie. On the different timeline . This can only mean with Endless Possibilities that I am rich and good-looking someplace else . ❤ it's Valentine's Day . I can't wait to tell my wife the good news

[@LuxMachaera]

Wouldn't the conquest of the home world of one of the founding members of the federation cause a devestaring war with the federation?

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Sela's mad.

[@jerseykaari]

"And this is the android I've come to respect in battle ..." What battle???? You were sneaking around in the dark and all Data did was shine a flashlight on you and hit you with the equivalent of a Nerf gun, then you turned tail and ran away. Jesus, the whole Sela character storyline ridiculously sucks.

[@hello-ox5rf]

The plan was insane too. 3 unarmed ships with a handful of romulans will get to vulcan and... take over an entire planet? I feel like I'm missing something lol they'll have billions of people and thousands of ships to fight and the largest power in the galaxy sitting between them and reinforcements

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

What battle? Remember part two of Redemption, when Data was in command of that tiny Nebula class starship, and he found a way to illuminate the tachyon residue clinging to Selia's cloaked supply ships?

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

@@hello-ox5rf Absolutely! ⭐⭐⭐ But, Selia would have killed hundreds of millions trying it.

[@jerseykaari]

@@TheNoiseySpectator That's exactly the event I was referring to, there was NO battle. Sela and her convoy were trying to sneak across the line under cloak, data just shined a proverbial flashlight on them, the torpedoes had the same effect as a Nerf gun, and the Romulans turned tail and ran away and never came back. Data indeed exposed their treachery, and brilliantly so, but there wasn't anything even remotely close to a skirmish, let alone a battle. "Respect in battle" was a rather moronic line from a rather silly character.

[@Shiirow]

a battle doesnt always require the firing of a gun, a strategic battle of two commanders trying to outmaneuver each other is still quite valid.

[@danieljackson1272]

Is the guy who plays Pardek Gary Chalk?

[@joshuahudson2170]

LOL what's she thinking? One ship will not prevail against Vulkan, in the heart of the Federation only sixteen light years from Earth. They'll be swimming in starships in hours.

[@Deadpool_64]

Swarming in starships? Picard could barely scrape together 20 ships for the blockade, and half of those ships were basically falling apart. This is during the time where Starfleet’s fleet was kind of a joke. Their dedication to exploration left them so vulnerable.

[@joshuahudson2170]

@@Deadpool_64 Advantage of being near Earth. It''ll be like battle of Wolf 359 again, but without something as strong as the Borg to deal with the fleet.

[@ultramaximusreviews]

Yea I'm sure it did LOL

[@wcg19891]

Isn’t that the chick in voyager?

[@engasal]

Denise Crosby's voice is so sexy

[@curiousgeorge5992]

Wow, now I get it, Turd-0 s sibling, by whatever timeline happenstance!!!🙄

[@z1az285]

while i loved this episode, the invasion armada made zero sense. did the Romulans really think vulcans had no armed forces? ships like the d'kyr or superior? planetary defense sustems? That was a ridiculous assumption