![]() This episode was almost like the new crew of the Enterprise was giving the TOS era a huge hug.įor fans like me, who literally grew-up watching TNG, the episode “Sarek” represented my parents' generation trying to find their way in the brave new world. At the time, TNG was shy of being too referential to The Original Series. If you dust-off your Next Generation Blu-rays, you’ll find a great special feature in which writer/producer Ira Steven Behr talks about fighting tooth and nail to get that specific reference in the final shooting script. For one thing, this episode marked a huge shift that allowed The Next Generation to more overtly reference The Original Series, that heartfelt second when Picard - working through Sarek’s emotional grief - blurts out “Spock!” with a tear in his eye. The entire episode is fantastic, but the mind-meld between Picard and Sarek, and the ensuing scene in which Picard experiences Sarek’s emotions, are literally some of the greatest emotional rollercoasters in all of Star Trek. Who else could he trust with his own sanity? Picard is not related to Kirk by blood, but for Sarek, Picard is, on some level, a descendant of Kirk. Does Sarek trust Picard instantly, because he had previously put his trust in other Enterprise captains? It seems only logical. The crew of the Enterprise-D might not be Sarek’s direct family, but let’s face it, they’re close enough. The writing of “Sarek” is wise enough to remind us that people afflicted with conditions that affect their brains aren’t the only victims the family suffers, too. When someone so strong becomes less so, it feels like a physic attack on the emotions of everyone involved. Sarek’s mental breakdown sends telepathic waves through the crew of the Enterprise, leading to anguish and fights, but any family who has struggled with a declining parent or grandparent knows this metaphor isn’t that far off. In these moments, I remembered Sarek, and - beyond just helping with the pain- the concept of this episode also helped me to contextualize my sympathy for my father. When my own father was dying of liver cirrhosis nearly a decade ago, I was told the toxins in his blood caused hepatic encephalopathy, which effectively meant that he literally was in no kind of control of his behavior. For anyone who has a loved one with Alzheimer's, has seen a parent deal with a severe stroke, or has any experience with dementia, the themes of “Sarek” will be tenderly familiar. He’s contracted a rare Vulcan disease bendii syndrome, which, by all accounts is an attack on his personhood. What’s going on?Īs the episode unfolds, we learn, painfully, that Sarek is not himself. ![]() His aides tell Picard not to disturb Sarek with fun stuff like invitations to Mozart recitals, and, within moments of inspecting his new conference room, Sarek throws a fit, and basically tells everyone they have no idea what they’re doing. Sarek is a victim of his own success, which means, even before he beams aboard in the at the beginning of the episode, he’s already isolated from the other characters. In this way, the episode almost speaks directly to the audience - we know Sarek is Spock’s dad, we know he was a huge deal in the “Journey to Babel” and the classic films, but for the crew of the Enterprise-D, he’s just a really famous ambassador they’re trying not to offend. Like Bones walking the corridors of the Enterprise-D with Data in “Encounter at Farpoint,” Sarek is surrounded by a bunch of people who couldn’t possibly remember what he was really like when he was younger. It’s easy to feel sorry for Sarek in the opening moments of this episode. ![]() And, it entreats us to think hard about how those people remember us. “Sarek” is meditative study about our sympathies for our parents and grandparents. ![]() But, 30 years later, this episode is wonderful not just because of its blending of The Original Series with The Next Generation it’s more profound than that. When Sarek and Picard mind-melded in “Sarek,” episode 23 in season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was a major crossover event for fans of the ‘60s series. For a brief moment, Jean-Luc became a deeply sad, estranged parent, by proxy. Just a few episodes before Jean-Luc Picard was forcibly assimilated into the Borg Collective, on May 14, 1990, we saw him weather a very different trauma.
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