ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Seven "Unification"

ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Seven "Unification"
Production Order: 7
Air Order: 7
Stardate: 45233.1
Original Air Date: November 4, 1991

I realized this week that we are stuck in the world's longest bottle show.

No guests stars, existing sets only.

Just in case that's not depressing enough for you, TNG wants to remind you that Gene Rod is dead.

This isn't the first episode following his death, as The Game was aired four days after that, but it's probably better that it landed here: they may not have had the time to add the card onto The Game, and the first of a two-parter story arc where a major character from his first show is featured in a political plot enmeshed with his final show was probably more meaningful.

Picard's Log 45233.1: "We were scheduled to do a thing, but we've been recalled to a starbase instead, and Admiral Brackett wouldn't say why over subspace channels."

Brackett, now in the ready room, tells Picard that one of the Federation's most trusted ambassadors has gone missing, and nobody knew where he went. Then two days ago, he was spotted on Romulus.
"Do you think he defected?" asks Picard in surprise.
"We'd be fucked if he did," Brackett replies. "He has hella secrets."
She shows him some crappy video stills from Romulus, and then tells the computer to zoom and enhance, because this is the future, where you can do that.

Dramatic-Ass Music! Opening credits break!

Picard's Log 45236.4: "This is... kind of tough. Like, I mind-melded with Sarek a year ago or so, and now I have to use what I learned through him to find his son."

Riker joins Picard in the Obs Lounge to tell him that they're coming up on Vulcan, that Perrin has been told of their plans, and that she'll be beaming up to the ship to talk to them.
"What about Sarek?" asks Picard.
"Too sick to travel, she says."
"Fuck me," sighs Picard. "He's dying, and I get to be the one to tell him that his son may have betrayed the Federation."
"Have you met Spock?" asks Riker.
"Just the one time."
(Ugh, he's talking about when he mentioned that he had met Spock at his wedding. Remember that little slice of not-canon that Spock married Saavik, because she was pregnant with the kid that teenage Spock had squirted into her while going through pon farr on the Genesis planet from movie 3? For some reason, they left that crap in TNG even though they decided against making that the eventual outcome. Spock is listed on Memory Alpha as being divorced... from T'Pring.)
"Do you know a lot about him from the mind-meld?" Riker continues.
"Not a lot," Picard admits. "They had kind of a strained relationship..."
"Yeah, I get that," replies Riker.
Because he does.
"Oh, hey," says Picard. "Got a B-plot for you. Starfleet found metal fragments in a box marked "medical supplies" on a Ferengi ship. Looks like they're Vulcan. Starfleet wants us to look into it."

Later in the ready room, Picard gets himself and Perrin a couple cuppas of mint tea. She seems pleased until Picard asks about Spock.
"He didn't even say goodbye to Sarek," she says.
"Do you think he was kidnapped?"
"No, he left on purpose. He wrapped up all of his affairs before going."
Picard is struggling a bit. He feels the need to tiptoe, and knows he doesn't have the time.
"Okay, look: can I ask what happened between you and Spock?"
"Nothing between us," she insists. But it's crap. "Between Spock and Sarek. They always argued, and that was fine, but then when there was the question of the Cardassians, Spock came out in opposition of Sarek publicly."
"And Sarek was offended?" asks Picard.
"No, I was offended," she corrects.
So it is between you and Spock. Quit playing games, lady.
"I'm really protective of my husband," she replies. "Nobody sees him like I do. He's wasting away in his bed, whispering to himself. He wants to see Spock, and make amends."
"Can I see him?" asks Picard cautiously.
She pauses. "If anyone else asked, no way. But you're a part of each other."

Riker goes down to one of the cargo holds to see La Forge about those possibly-Vulcan metal fragments, and holy shit, didn't Picard say these were found in "a box"? WTF kind of box was it that could hold these huge metal fragments? Also, those are not fragments, those are ship parts. You say "fragments," and it conjures up archaeologists digging up pottery the size of your pinky nail.

So the Vulcans don't know what this was, but they've figured out that it was definitely theirs and definitely made for space travel, based on the kind of metal it's made from. Sounds like it was on the Ferengi cargo ship, then that ship went down in an asteroid belt.

Down on Vulcan, Perrin has brought Picard to Sarek's chambers, where the elder Vulcan is tossing and turning on an uncomfortable-looking bed.
Picard's face is very "well, shit."

"He's like this most of the time," she tells Picard. "All emotions, all the time. I'll see if I can get him to acknowledge you." She grabs Sarek's shoulder and shakes him, yelling his name. "Sarek! Picard is here!"
"Go the fuck away," he growls back.
"Okay, I'll leave you to it," says Perrin almost cheerfully to Picard. "He'll either talk to you or ignore you."
I want to like Perrin because Sarek liked her well enough to choose her, but I don't. Fuck off, Perrin.
She leaves, and now Picard is shouting at Sarek.
The guy is having emotional health problems. Nobody said that Bendii Syndrome leads to deafness.
"Sarek! It's Picard! I need to talk to you! About Spock!"
Sarek starts telling Picard to go away at first, but the magic word here is Spock.

He rolls over. "Picard? That you? On Vulcan?"
"Yeah." Fortunately, no one is shouting now. "I need to talk about Spock. He's been seen on Romulus. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Was he going to meet someone? Did he know someone on Romulus?"
Sarek wracks his emotion-addled brain. "Um, Pardek?"
"Who is that?"
"A Romulan senator? I think they met at the Khitomer Conference? He came home all excited because he thought maybe we could open and maintain communications with the Romulans, but that's nonsense. Pardek didn't have any support in the senate, and Spock was always impressionable. He never listened."
Picard is stoked. This is pretty good info. "You think he went to meet Pardek?"
But Sarek is no longer clear-headed. "Pardek? The Romulan senator? How do you know him?"
"I've... heard of him," says Picard. "What do you think they met about?"
Sarek starts rambling. "I dunno. He never tells me anything... he used to go into the mountains as a boy and be gone for long periods of time, and I'd ask him what he was doing, but he refused to tell me. I would forbid him to go, and he would ignore me. Then I would punish him, and he would just take it. Secretly, I admired him. Very stubborn."
Sarek lays back down, and Picard realizes that that's probably all he's getting.

"Hey," says Picard quietly. "I know you struggle with him, but I also know that you love him."
"Tell him," says Sarek quietly.
He tries to make the ta'al sign, but cannot. Picard helps him to shape his fingers the right way, and makes the sign back.
"Peace, and long life."
"Live long, and... and..." Sarek turns over and begins sobbing. "Spock... my son..."
"... and prosper," Picard finishes quietly.

This show hates me

Picard's Log 45240.1: "Okay, so I gotta go to Romulus, and to get across the Neutral Zone, I need a ship that can cloak. Gonna ask my buddy Gowron. I did him a bunch of favors in the Klingon civil war, so he owes me, right?"

The E has been hailing Qo'nos for three days without an answer. Gowron is ignoring them.
"Um, speak candidly?" asks Worf. "Gowron is rewriting Klingon history, claiming that his courage and prowess won the war, and that he pretty much did it singlehandedly."
"So us showing up would be a reminder that he had help," says Riker.
"Ugh, I don't give a shit," says Picard. "I just need a fucking ship. If he won't answer, Worf, get me someone who can, like someone from the High Council?"
Worf agrees, and goes back to his station to see if he can find Picard a ride.
Data calls Picard over to the science station: he has found video footage of Pardek, the senator that Sarek mentioned. Together, they do the zoom-and-enhance on the blurry photo of Spock and another person, and discovers that the other guy in the photo with Spock is definitely Pardek.
"Do we have info on this guy?" asks Picard.
"Yeah, he's been in the Senate for about 90 years." (Holy fuck, how about some term limits, Romulus?) "He's considered to be kind of a radical by the leadership because he advocates for peace. He's thought of as a man of the people."
Picard nods. Sounds on brand for someone Spock would be friends with.
"Where can we find him when the Senate is not in session?" asks Picard.
"He represents the Krockton Segment, and has a house there," replies Data. "Also, I did some extra credit homework: He has relatives in that sector, and the Senate does not meet on the third day of the Romulan week, so he'll probably be there on that day."

"I got someone on the phone?" says Worf.
"Gowron? Someone from the High Council?"
"Nope. He's the junior adjutant to the diplomatic delegation. His name is B'ijak."
Ah. An assistant with a title, an over-inflated sense of self-importance, and little to no salary. A gatekeeper.
And that he is.
"Hey, so, the Council and Gowron are both super busy right now."

"Yeah, we've been calling for three days," says Picard, irked.
"Still busy," says B'ijak. "If you want, I can give Gowron a message for you?"
You little shit.
"Cooool," says Picard. "So this is the message to take to Gowron, leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire: Jean-Luc Picard, his Arbiter of Succession, needs a favor."
B'ijak is now curious, in spite of himself. "What kind of favor?"
"I need a cloaked ship."
And now B'ijak is laughing and being an asshole. "Uh-huh. And how would this benefit the Klingon Empire? Cuz you know he's gonna ask."
Whatever, B'ijak.
"He would earn our gratitude," says Picard smoothly. "And if he isn't able to do us this favor, then I can find... others in the Klingon Empire who would help out the Federation here, and then they would have our gratitude instead."
B'ijak looks uncomfortable.
"Also, please tell Gowron that I'm pleased to hear how well he's doing. Clearly, he's a great leader." And Picard smiles a "fuck that guy" smile.
B'ijak hangs up with signing off.

Down in sick bay, Crusher is taking scans of Picard and Data, to fit them with prosthetics so they'll look Romulan. She says altering Data's skin to be the right color shouldn't be a problem, as long as they can make him gold again later.
Riker comes in to ask Picard if he can spare a moment to see the progress that La Forge has made on those metal pieces, but Crusher tells him that it'll have to wait, because he and Data have appointments with Mott the barber to be fitted for Romulan hairpieces.
I really like this weird little scene of Crusher cheerfully measuring their heads and facial features while referring to herself as a tailor. We get to see the behind-the-scenes parts of Starfleet officers becoming spies.

It also segues nicely into Riker and Picard going back to the cargo hold.
"What we have here is what's left of a Vulcan deflector array," La Forge tells them. "It came from a ship called the T'Pau, which was decommissioned years ago, and has been sitting in a starship junkyard at Qualor II."
Worf calls: "There's a decloaked Klingon ship off our portside, compliments of Gowron."
"Oh, wow, how nice of him," says Picard. "Thank the captain of that ship and tell him that Data and I will be over shortly."
Riker says that he wants to take the E over to Qualor II to check out that B-plot, and that's how we part ways.

Picard and Data transfer over to the Klingon ship (no ship name given cuz they want to make my job harder), to meet with the captain, K'Vada. K'Vada is pissed off because he doesn't want this assignment, but would any Klingon? Really? They all appear to be pissed off to be helping the Federation, regardless of the assignment or timeframe.
"I wanna know what this mission is about!" K'Vada roars.
"Classified," says Picard cheerfully.
"You going after the defector?" he demands. "Ambassador Spock? Everybody knows he defected to Romulus."
"The mission is to take us to coordinates near Romulus," says Picard. "Can't say anything else."
"If the Romulans catch us, we could all be killed."
"Yep."
K'Vada gives the orders to start for Romulus, and I can't tell if he's still grouchy about the whole thing, or if he's been placated by the idea that they might all die playing spy games with the Romulans.
The Klingon ship and the E part ways in different directions.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

K'Vada shows Picard and Data around the ship, clearly intending for them to complain about the lack of amenities: they will be sharing quarters, as there is a lack of space.
"Cool," says Picard.
Picard's bed is just a metal slab, because Klingons don't "soften" their bodies with a pad.
"I like it that way," Picard replies cheerfully.
K'Vada seems disappointed. Clearly, he's never met Picard.
"You're gonna eat with us," he tries one last time.
"Sweet, fresh gagh! Been a long time," he smiles at Data.
Someone from the bridge calls to tell K'Vada that they're at the Neutral Zone, and K'Vada asks if Picard intends to follow through with this plan.
"Yep."
K'Vada cloaks the ship and tells them to head in. He seems confused as to how he feels about this little bald guy.

Picard would smile and tell anyone that their crappy accommodations are
presidential suite-level, because he's a diplomat. But here, he's straight-up
fucking with K'Vada.

Riker's Log 45240.6: "On our way to the junkyard at Qualor II. It's run by the Zakdorn. Trying to find out why the Ferengi had parts off a decommissioned Vulcan ship from this yard."

Worf tosses up an open line on the viewscreen, and it looks like they caught a guy off-guard, because he wasn't even looking at the screen when the line opened.
"Hi, I'm William Riker from the starship Enterprise," says Riker in a friendly voice. "I'm looking for info on a Vulcan ship, the T'pau, and I'm told it's here."
The guy turns to the camera. "Klim Dokachin, quartermaster of this surplus yard. Do you have an appointment?"

"Um, no?"
"Then you need to talk to scheduling." And Dokachin just closes out the chat.
Wow, this episode is gatekeeper-heavy.
Riker is taken aback. "Who does he think he is?" he asks Troi in surprise.
Troi is amused as hell: "The quartermaster of the supply yard with information you need."

Riker has Worf open the channel back up, and immediately mispronounces the Zakdorn's name. Good start, buddy.
"The reason I'm here is of the utmost importance to the Federation. We need access to your files and computers and things. My people can do it."
"Yeah, I don't let others into my computer system," says Dokachin stubbornly.
That's fair, I guess. If you hand your phone to your friend to show them a funny meme, and they start scrolling through your nudies, you'd be pissed too.
"Okay, your people."
"Oh. I really don't have people to spare for that activity. Wish I did."
Riker is annoyed. "Then what do you suggest?"
"Dunno. Call me back when you're in orbit." He closes out the chat again.
"Come the fuck on," sighs Riker.
Troi is still heavily amused. "He's king of his hill. You're gonna have to treat him like that."

....yaaaaay.

They hit orbit, and Dokachin comes on board.
He looks around and starts waxing poetic about how he doesn't usually get to see starships in condition this good, and they're always falling apart by the time he gets them.
"We really do need this info on the T'Pau," says Troi earnestly.
He turns and asks who she is, and she gives him her name and position on the ship.
He addresses no one in particular, and talks about Riker as though he isn't standing right there: "He probably thinks we don't get a lot of handsome women out this way, and that I'd cooperate more with someone like you... he's right."
Grins between Troi and Riker as Dokachin sits at the science station, where the E has been tied into the junkyard's computers. He locates where the T'pau is docked, and tells the helm where to go. Then suddenly he's all smiles, and asking Troi if this is her first visit to a junkyard, and how she'd be surprised at what one might find on old ships.

He starts telling her that he found a 14-foot eel in someone's locker in a freighter, and if she wants, and there's time, he'll show it to her, because he nursed it back to health, and is keeping it as a pet.
I like this guy. He's a little too full of himself, and a little too into Troi just cuz she's cute, but he did rescue an ailing animal and seems to be keeping it as a companion. Like, would I want to deal with him in real life? Hell no. But he makes for someone interesting to watch on television.
So they roll up on the coordinates, and... empty space.
"It's missing?" asks Riker.
"The fuck?" Dokachin starts frantically typing at the science station, telling them that he's never lost a ship. Also, he has each of his ships cross-categorized four ways, and he'll find that fucking ship if it kills him.
"Okay, think," says La Forge. "Was stuff stripped from the T'Pau when it came in? Things that could be used on other ships?"
Dokachin replies in the affirmative, and says that those things would be on the Tripoli.
"Great, because we have the T'Pau's deflector array laid out in pieces on our cargo hold floor," snaps La Forge.
Dokachin was not expecting this answer. He insists that he's never lost anything in the junkyard as they rush to where the Tripoli is docked.
Empty space again.
He's about to lose his mind. Up in here, up in here.
"But... we beam things to the Tripoli on a regular basis!" he splutters. "We beamed stuff here yesterday! We're supposed to beam stuff here today!"
"'kay, when are you beaming stuff to the Tripoli spot today?" asks Riker.
"Two hours?"
"Yeah, I bet someone will park themselves right there and pick up that shipment of stuff that you're beaming," guesses Riker. "Let's move into a spot nearby and shut down everything but sensors and life support so we look like a derelict."
Y'all're a pretty shiny derelict, but go on then.

Back on... K'Vada's ship, Picard and Data have reached a rest period, and Picard remarks that the Klingons probably thought it would be funny to put them both in the same quarters. Data responds that he doesn't need to sleep, so Picard should take the... shelf.
Picard lies down and turns on his side, but Data is just... standing there. The captain turns back over.
"What are you doing?"
"Going over the files I need to prepare to impersonate a Romulan."
"Oh."
But Data had turned to speak to him, so when Picard rolls back over, Data now appears to be staring at him.
"That's unnerving, Data."
"Should I stop going over the files?"

Picard simply gets up and tells Data that he doesn't need to rest, and they should just go over those files together.
K'Vada pages Picard to the bridge. When they arrive, he hands them a padd and says that they intercepted a message that might be of interest to Picard.
Picard reads off the padd to Data that Sarek has died.

Back on the E, the time has arrived for the transfer to the Tripoli.
"I see a ship on sensors," says Worf. "But they're riding without license plates. No way to tell who the hell that is."
It's fancy, too.

"It's hella loaded up with cargo," says La Forge. "Looks like weapons?"
The ship slides into the Triploi's spot, and the depot prepares to transfer stuff.
"Let's power up," announces Riker.
Lights and engines come back online, and the other ship powers up weapons, turning to the E.
"Hey," says Riker to the open channel, "this is Commander Riker of the Enterprise. You stealing Federation shit or what?"
No response. Instead, the other ship powers up phasers.
Normally, when another ship starts posturing, there's a certain sense of LOL involved, because the Enterprise packs bigger weapons, but here La Forge is like, "Um, they match us?"
Shields go up, and the E takes a few hits.
"Hit 'em with a phaser," Riker tells Worf, "but aim for their weapons systems. I don't want to do anything but knock the gun from their hands?"
Worf does as he's told, and La Forge reports that they've taken down the forward shields on the mystery ship, and one of their phaser arrays.
Then:
"Shit," says La Forge. "There's a bunch of little internal explosions, and with as much weaponry as they're carrying -"

Riker makes his best "fuck, who was that?" face, and because Picard is elsewhere, the camera does that swoop-in close-up shot of Riker instead.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Picard has put the Romulan prosthetics on himself and Data, and they sit to check out their handiwork. Picard has a little box of tools he used to do it, and I thought at first that prosthetics were done surgically, but maybe not? Is the surgery so simple that Picard was taught how to do it? Or are they glued on?
"You seem lost in thought since we got that message about Sarek," Data remarks.
"Yeah, the mission has kind of changed for me," says Picard. "I was just going to Romulus to ask Spock what the hell he was doing there, but now I also have to carry the message that his father has died. It's a weird position to be in. I know a lot about Sarek because of the mind-meld connection, and their relationship was tenuous at best."
"Won't it be easier for him, being Vulcan? I mean, won't he see it as the logical conclusion to life?"
"Not necessarily," Picard answers. "It's complicated, even for Vulcans, and recall that Spock is half-human. He's spent a lot of time wrestling with that kind of thing."

They're ready to go, but K'Vada has decided to fling some shit, telling them sarcastically that they look "sweet."
"Do you know what they'll do to you if they find out who you are?" he asks. He actually, literally hisses at Data.
"Yeah, we do," states Picard.
"Whatever. Just so you know, this assignment doesn't include rescue missions!"
They roll their eyes and follow him to the transporter room.

Hellooo, pretty matte painting!

Meanwhile, back on Vulcan...

Pardek walks into the pro-consul's office, and Neral (said pro-consul) shows him a pic of Captain Picard of the Federation and asks if Pardek knows him.

"No? I've never seen that guy before."

"I got word that he was coming here, and might be here already," says Neral. "I want you to circulate his picture around, and let the security forces know. He's probably disguised as a Romulan if he's here."

"I'm right on top of that, Rose."

Data and Picard are in the city, looking around at the buildings, and Data uses their surroundings to figure out where Pardek and Spock were photographed,the doorway to a legal intercessor's office. The name on the wall is close to Pardek's, and Data guesses that it's a relative. After knocking, then trying the door handle, Picard guesses that the office isn't open for business this early. Data's pretty sure that he knows Pardek's schedule well enough that Pardek will be there within a few hours, so they elect to go to the restaurant across the way to get something to eat.

So they go into the restaurant, and wouldn't you know it, Romulus has a Soup Nazi. She serves them some slop in a bowl and interrogates them, after Picard asks if she knows when the intercessor's office opens.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need his services. He was recommended."

"I haven't seen you here before."

Holy shit, lady. He just told you he was in the neighborhood because he wanted to talk to the guy across the way. Like, I know Data and Picard are technically spies, but she seems overly suspicious for someone serving soup at a restaurant.

"We traveled here from Rateg," Data offers.

"You don't have a Rateg accent," she insists.

Data being Data, he starts telling her that it's a myth that people from Rateg speak with a specific inflection, blah blah blah, and Picard jumps in to stop him by saying they come from just outside that city.

"Or maybe you're from security forces, come to pick up that intercessor. Is he in trouble?"

Crap, what a vulture. She seems pretty excited about the idea that she might see some action.

"Yeah, we're not security forces," says Picard.
She switches tactics so fast I get whiplash.
"Doesn't matter to me. I don't know when he opens. Eat your soup, courtesy of a loyal establishment. Jolan tru."
Ugh. I want to ask wtf is wrong with her, but I know what's wrong with her: Romulans tend to be shitty, suspicious people who churn out more shitty, suspicious people. Remember Jarok, the Romulan who defected to the Enterprise to prevent a war that was never going to happen, because his own people had been feeding him false information the whole time?
Also, jolan tru is a greeting/exit term, like "aloha." It means "find peace" or "may your day be filled with peace," but the way she spit it out, clearly she didn't mean either of those things.

As soon as she leaves, our boys notice that there are a pair of Romulans watching them in military uniforms. Are they security forces? I don't know. Those are starship uniforms, and maybe they all wear the same thing.
"I don't think we can stay here for very long," says Picard quietly.
"It's cool," says Data. "Isn't that Pardek over there?"
It is indeed. They ditch the soup, and turn to leave, but now those uniformed assholes are all up in their faces with guns. I bet that Soup Nazi is just wetting herself with excitement, preparing to gossip to all of her friends and neighbors about how she saw two spies, who were claiming to be from Rateg, hauled off at gun-point, and didn't that just serve them right?

Our boys have no choice but to go with the gun guys, who lead them into a cave.
Pardek follows them in. "We had to get you off the street quickly, Captain Picard. Romulan security  knows that you're here. You're okay, we're friends."
The two gun guys start stripping the uniforms off, and it's clear that they must have nicked those uniform coats from actual security to pull off the ruse of taking Picard and Data off the street.
"I'm on an important mission for Starfleet," says Picard. "I have to find Ambassador Spock."
"You have found him, Captain Picard."
And this magnificent mofo steps from the shadows.

This is a great episode.
Maybe you're a fan of the old show but not the new, and you find out that a beloved character from the old show is going to be on the new one, so you tune in. Maybe you weren't a fan of the new show, but decide to give it another view after this episode.
Or maybe you're a fan of the new show but not the old, but still have some respect for those older characters. Maybe based on this arc, you decide to check out the old show.
It's a nice passing of the baton, even if it didn't completely make the fandom into a melting pot. They'll do it again with the films, in 1993. It won't create that fandom harmony there, either. There will probably always be divides in the Trek fandom, based on personal tastes. TOS and TNG have very different tones, and attract different audiences, though like Doctor Who, will always encourage fans of one or the other to give a fair shake to other parts.
But let's take a look at this episode: we jump right in, feet first, by announcing that Spock will be appearing. No doubt Star Trek probably announced this to the fans ahead of the episode coming out, either telling them that a TOS character would be appearing, or that it was Spock specifically. So right away, the audience is excited. But now the writers are tasked with maintaining that excitement, especially knowing that Spock will not appear on camera. What to do? Have Picard formulate a plan to go to Romulus, a place where the audience has never actually been, to play spy games. And have him check in with another beloved old TOS character, Sarek. We've already seen Sarek on this new show, and he's developed a horrible Vulcan disease. That episode was powerfully driven by Mark Lenard, and while he doesn't star in this episode, Lenard turns in another magnificent performance as the dying Vulcan struggling with Bandii Syndrome.
The similarities between Bandii and Alzheimer's are striking, with Sarek vividly recalling his son't childhood, 100 years or more ago, but failing to realize one breath after the fact that he had told Picard about Pardek. he shakes and mumbles to himself, at times incoherent, and his trembling on his bed, in his pajamas and bare feet, give him an air of a strong man crumbling. That Picard must help him form the ta'al is not only heartbreaking, but speaks volumes about Picard, aiding an old man in preserving some dignity. You know that Sarek must perish soon, but you want his outcome to be different.
You mutter "dammit" when he dies.
Picard's story continues to be interesting after this encounter: he must still find Spock, but must now also tell him that Sarek has passed. But what of Spock? Has he defected? What is he doing? Does this spell doom for the Federation?
What is Romulus like? Will he and Data be able to pass as Romulans?
When they arrive, it seems as though the common person is just as suspicious in general as the military members that the Federation has encountered over the years. Their whole culture is based on these ideas of "trust no one."
(Something that I really like: Memory Alpha states that one of the first things that the Romulans did when splitting from the Vulcans, was to ditch the Vulcan language and develop their own. Yet, both groups have a greeting/departure term that is the same whether one is coming or going, and both means "peace" essentially. Yes, yes - you're very different.)

Another part of this episode that I love is the B-plot.
Not all B-plots are created equal, but I feel this one is pretty strong. First, the mystery of the decommissioned Vulcan ship parts on the Ferengi cruiser, in a box marked "medical supplies." Then, the mystery of the missing decommissioned ship, followed by another missing decommissioned ship: where are these ships, and who is that taking their place? And why? When the new battleship goes up in flames, it kills the leads the E crew had of finding out what happened to the T'Pau. These are all compelling reasons to tune in for the second part, and while I'm not sure this B-plot was strong enough to stand on its own as an A-plot, it does make for a solid B. I'm glad they didn't wrap this plot up with this episode, and simply have another B-plot with the second half of this episode. I'm also glad they didn't skimp on the B-plot. There have been plenty of episodes where the A-plot was interesting, but I couldn't have cared less about "what everyone else was doing." A strong Star Trek episode is made stronger with a solid B-plot.
Writer Jeri Taylor was afraid that this episode would not be successful, as people would have to wait the entire episode for one shot of Spock at the end, but I think she hit it out of the park. Qa'pla, Jeri.





Fun Facts:

- Frank Mancuso Sr, who was chairman of Paramount Pictures, suggested the idea for this arc. 1991 was the 25th anniversary of Star Trek, and it was thought that a crossover would tie the two series together nicely. Rick Berman and Nicholas Meyer worked with Leonard Nimoy to insert TNG references into Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Nimoy agreed to appear on TNG. Berman: "We structured a deal with him: he got very little, a little more than scale [union salary minimum]. But with Leonard as executive of Star Trek VI, what you had in essence was a cross-promotion. It made everybody happy."
- This was not the first Spock-on-TNG story pitched to Leonard Nimoy. In the second season, a two-parter was pitched to him called "Return to Forever," and would have been written by Tracy Torme. It fell through.
- Leonard Nimoy didn't like the idea for the first story pitched to him, and the idea of a Romulus and Vulcan reunification came up in talks between Nimoy, Berman, and Michael Piller. Nimoy liked the idea of a peaceful story arc rather than a warlike one.
- The inspiration for this episode came from the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990.

- To Michael Piller, the title also meant a unification of TNG and TOS, which he felt were separated in the minds of the fans. Rick Berman agreed: he felt that the fans saw TOS and TNG as competing entities.
- Once the story was in place, it was determined that it was too expensive to try to film as one episode, and split it, having Spock appear at the end of the first episode.
- Michael Piller wanted to write both episodes, but found that he couldn't. He gave her the first part to Jeri Taylor to write, and she remembered that part of the tough aspect of that first episode was keeping the audience's interest going when the reason they were tuning in was to see Spock, and he doesn't appear until the last moment of that first episode.
- Ronald D Moore, as a fan of TOS, gave Taylor insight into Spock, and especially the relationship between Spock and Sarek.
- A plot to kill Jeri Taylor via exhaustion: Pocket Books approached her about doing a novelization of "Unification." Wanting to break into novel-writing, she agreed. They gave her a 30-day deadline (WTF?), so she wound up writing the novelization at the same time as she was writing the script. All Unification, all the time. "It was like an endless finals week."

- Because of Leonard Nimoy's schedule, "Unification II" was filmed first.
- This was the first time that a recurring original series cast member died... permanently. Lots of main characters from TOS died, but were then brought back to life through weird sci-fi crap or life-saving measures. Here, Sarek just dies.
- Mark Lenard only read the part of the script where he had lines, and had no idea his character had died off-screen until he saw a viewing at a convention later. He wasn't thrilled, but Jimmy Doohan joked that, because it was off-screen, they could bring him back at a later date.
- Fran Bennett (Fleet Admiral Shanthi) was scheduled to reappear in this episode, but for reasons unknown, was replaced by Karen Hansel as Admiral Brackett.

- Though Brackett is labelled as a Fleet Admiral in the script, her pips seem to denote that she is a Vice Admiral instead. It is suggested that she is indeed a Vice Admiral, but calling her Fleet Admiral is about a position instead of her rank - she might actually be in charge of a fleet of ships.
- This is the first time a Star Trek episode visits Romulus.
- Sarek tells Picard that Spock would disobey him as a kid, and run off to the mountains on Vulcan. He's talking about "Yesteryear." And now I really want to binge TAS again.
- The Unification arc were the highest-rated episodes of TNG since "Encounter at Farpoint."
- Berman and Piller both thought that Part I was better than Part II. Jeri Taylor was pleased with how it turned out, saying that she thought that it might have gone sideways, as the audience was waiting "for the good stuff to happen [in part 2]." Moore thought the scenes with Sarek turned out well.
- Jonathan Frakes seems to be the dissenter here: he felt the audience was cheated, expecting Spock to show up the whole episode, and only getting that one shot at the end. He did, however, enjoy the comedic aspect of Data unintentionally staring at Picard while the captain tries to sleep.
- One of the shots of the Enterprise-D flying through a field of derelict ships is a recycled shot from "The Best of Both Worlds."
- This episode was nominated for an Emmy for Dramatic Underscore.
- The novelization of this episode by Jeri Taylor expanded on K'Vada's backstory: he was grouchy during this mission because he got into a nasty argument with his wife prior to leaving, and she had dislocated his shoulder. His ships' doctor had not done a good job healing the injury, and it was bothering him. He was also impressed enough by Data's abilities to consider mentioning to the Klingon fleet that they should think about adding androids to their ships.
- Malachi Throne (Pardek) played in three episodes of TOS, and was with Leonard Nimoy for both his first and last appearances on Star Trek television episodes: he played the voice of The Keeper on the unaired pilot "The Cage," and played Pardek in both parts of "Unification." Throne was originally offered the part of the doctor on that pilot, but turned it down because "he didn't want to play the third to the hero and his sidekick." He wanted to try out for Spock, but the part had already gone to Nimoy. He was finally offered the part of the voice of the Talosian Keeper. Later, when filming for the "envelope" portion of "The Menagerie" began, he was cast as Commodore Mendez. His voice-over work on "The Cage" was pitch-altered so that it was not obvious that Throne was playing both parts.

- Neral was described in the script as "a Romulan Bobby Kennedy." He was played by Norman Large, who will show up again as a different character in season 7, then as others in DS9 and Voyager.
- On DS9, Neral appears in a wanted poster in Odo's office, and it was made canon that he was now a wanted man. Why? Because they used his make-up continuity photo for a wanted poster.

- Neral will later be played by a different actor (Hal Landon Jr) on DS9, for reasons unknown.
- Erick Avari (B'iJik, the guy who can "give Gowron a message from Picard") has been in everything, but it's hard to recognize him under all of that Klingon make-up:

- Erick Avari will appear later as different characters on DS9 and Enterprise.


Red deaths: 0
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Gold deaths: 0
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Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
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Sassy Geordi moments: 0

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Sassy Wes Moments: 0
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Sassy Worf Moment: 0
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Sassy Riker Moments: 1
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Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 3
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Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 1
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Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
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Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 1
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Picard Maneuvers: 1
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Tea, Earl Grey:
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Mentions of the number 47:
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That's just rude, Pie