Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Sarek"
tly...@heights.cit.cornell.edu
episode, "Sarek". Proceed further only with EXTREME caution.
I mean it. Duck.
Flawless. Simply flawless.
There were disappointments, mind you, but no flaws that I could see. I'll gush
on a bit more after a synopsis, for those who really want to know what hap-
pened:
The Enterprise takes on Ambassador Sarek at Vulcan, with his new human wife
Perrin, his aide Mendrossen (also human) and his young Vulcan aide, Sakkath.
Sarek, before retiring, plans to finish his one final mission: negotiating a
treaty with the Legaran people. His aides seem overanxious to assure his pri-
vacy and seclusion, and Sarek himself seems a little cranky, but all is
basically well.
However, strange outbreaks of violence begin to plague the crew. Wesley and
Geordi start yelling at each other after setting up the conference room.
Riker, O'Brien and others get caught in a barroom brawl at 10-Forward. Bev
slaps Wesley for no good reason. And, tellingly, when Sarek attends a Mozart
recital, Picard actually sees him CRY.
Bev and Troi find this: the outbreaks began almost to the minute when Sarek
and company beamed on board. Furthermore, they theorize (correctly) that Sarek
himself is the cause. It turns out that he is suffering from Bendai's Syndrome
(sp?), a rare malady that afflicts extremely old Vulcans. He is slowly losing
emotional control. For now, Sakkath has been covertly keeping it in check, but
the stress of this mission makes that impossible, and the condition is ever
worsening. Picard is put in the unenviable position of having to confront
Sarek with this news (after getting past Perrin and the others). He does this,
and Sarek is finally forced to accept it, after nearly going mad with rage. It
looks like the mission will fail, as the Legaran will not accept any diplomat
other than Sarek.
One risky solution is attempted: Picard mind-melds with Sarek. It provides
Sarek with the few hours' stability he needs to conclude his negotiations, but
in the meantime Picard must face the full fury of Sarek's long-suppressed
emotions (including his never-admitted love for Spock and Amanda). The mission
succeeds, and Sarek returns to Vulcan to face an honorable retirement, but no
cure for his disease.
Well, it was simple enough to synopsize briefly. Now, here are some reflec-
tions and comments:
I truly wish I could SPEAK, rather than write, my review of this. No print
will ever convey the emotional force this show (particularly the last quarter
of it) possesses. I'll do my best, but keep my all-too-human weakness in mind.
It was wonderful to see Mark Lenard again. I've always enjoyed the jobs he's
done for Trek (never having seen him in anything else, I can't comment): first
as the Romulan Commander, then as Sarek, and, of course, the Klingon commander
in ST:TMP, but we've seen Sarek the most. I almost think I could see other
actors in the roles of the TOS "principals" before I could see someone else
playing Sarek. He seems, well...just so COMFORTABLE in his role. It fits him.
My respect for his acting has also shot up, specifically for this reason:
After the mindmeld, he comes on to the bridge, and says to Riker, "Number One,
please inform the Legaran that Sarek of Vulcan is on his way...". He put just
enough of Patrick Stewart's inflections and mannerisms in there that you could
truly BELIEVE their minds were linked, particularly when you saw Patrick Stew-
art give a convincing job of a very disturbed Vulcan. Mr. Lenard is not com-
pletely typecast to play an emotionless alien. Both in Sarek's own rage and
Sarek's Picardisms (is that a word?), he stretched himself. Very well done.
Let me not forget to praise the other guests on the episode, either. Joanna
Miles did a good job as Perrin; I could well believe that this is a woman Sarek
could marry, despite the obvious anguish it must cause him to be married to
another Terran. Rocco Sisto, in addition, also did a marvelous job as Sakkath,
especially in the one scene where Data confronts him with the assistance he has
been lending Sarek, where he is forced to choose between his loyalty to Sarek,
and his duty to the Federation. (William Denis was okay as Mendrossen, but if
there was any weak link, he was it.)
The show looks like it may be leading into a deeper relationship for Picard and
Bev Crusher. She comes along to monitor the mind-meld, and ends up giving a
shoulder to cry on to a sobbing Jean-Luc Picard. I saw a tenderness in that
moment which I've never really believed before, even in the Picard-Crusher
scene in "Allegiance", which was about the only highlight of that show. I
don't know if they're going to carry this trend forward, but it'll be interest-
ing to find out.
The sudden violence was rather believable, and fortunately did NOT become a
focus of the episode. We saw three quick scenes which illustrated the problem
for us, and then cut to the cause, which is where the emphasis truly lay.
(And, of course, I've wanted to see a bar brawl on the Enterprise-D ever since
reading _Strike Zone_. :-) )
I said at the beginning that although there were no flaws I could find, there
were some disappointments. I'll cover that, after a few more quick miscellane-
ous goodies:
--O'Brien not only had some lines, he had a whole SCENE (he was one of the
people who started the fight). I repeat my earlier instruction: GIVE HIM A
FIRST NAME!!!! :-)
--Some nice attention to continuity. They mentioned Sarek's involvement in
bringing Koridan (sp??) into the Federation back in "Journey to Babel", among
his other accomplishments. Also, during the argument between Geordi and Wes-
ley, Geordi's falling in love with Leah Brahms came up for the second time in
three episodes. (I'm starting to think we may see that plot come back eventu-
ally.) Also, just to bore you further with a list, when the Mozart recital was
shown, Data was playing the violin in it. Good attention to detail.
--Picard refers to Amanda in the teaser as Sarek's first wife. This completely
invalidates the birth of Sybok in my book (though I'm sure some members of the
audience will disagree), and thus re-establishes my claim that "Star Trek V:
The Final Frontier" never existed. :-)
--Splendid music, particularly during the mind-meld and Picard confronting
Sarek with the truth about his disease.
Now, to the disappointments:
1) The obvious. I would like to have seen Spock, or at least some mention
made of trying to contact him. It's obvious why they couldn't do that, howe-
ver: first, Nimoy costs too much money; and second, they couldn't make any
reference to Spock (except his past, which they did mention) without pinning
themselves down to what his status is, and thus what they can do in future
films, if any. Given that, I'm even surprised the line about Picard first
meeting Sarek at his son's wedding made it in, since it means Spock's still a-
live about 25 years or so before TNG. (I say 25 years because Picard was a LT
then, and has been a Captain for quite some time...and no, Perrin looked too
young to have a son who is now in at least his mid-forties.)
2) I wouldn't have minded seeing the Legaran, which we never do, but again,
the conference was NOT the focus of the story, and to show the Legaran would
given undue focus to them.
Well, I've rambled on enough. Just one last point: this was credited "From an
unpublished story...", etc. This is only the second time we've seen a show
made from an unpublished story--the other was "The Emissary". With that kind
of record, maybe they should use more unpublished stories.
And now for something completely numerical:
Plot: 10. They'd written themselves to an unhappy ending, and they managed to
get out of it.
Plot Handling: 10. I knew something was wrong with Sarek before I came in,
and I was still baffled as to what the hell was going on.
Characterization: 10, for lack of a 58.
Technical: 10. Great music and cinematography (particularly with some nice
close-ups of Picard and Sarek), and workable Treknology.
TOTAL: 10. I think that's the first full 10 I've given since "Yesterday's
Enterprise". Certainly, it's the best show I've seen since YE (and, in some
ways, even more powerful).
NEXT WEEK: A rerun. Of "The High Ground". But, it's only one week.
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy Major)
BITNET: H52Y@CRNLVAX5
INTERNET: H5...@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
UUCP: ...!rochester!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!h52y
"I am returning to Vulcan within the hour and I would like to take my leave of
you."
jhc0...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
The acting was superb... Especially Sarek (Mark Lenard) and Picard
(what's his name?..sorry), done in a brilliant Shakespearean tradition.
When Picard was in the throes of agony and when Sarek was "emotionally"
defending his health, was as excellent a performance as one will see on
tv. Also, that second vulcan was a fascinating and alluring character.
BUT, IMO, that's all the show had going for it. It had one of the most
boring story lines I ever saw. The story offered no suspense, tension
or conflict. Only the performances brought any life into an otherwise
boring show.
A couple thoughts on the bar fight:
1) It's about time.
2) The fighting was better choreographed and realistic than
the ususual boxing style, jaw punching tradition of TOS
3) Woman's lib in Star Trek! Gone are the days of miniskirts
coming up to her a....butt bringing meals and log entries
Was I imagining things or was a woman wailing away on a guy
during the bar fight in the background?
Later, Jason
WEISSMAN, DAVID
>
> 3) Woman's lib in Star Trek! Gone are the days of miniskirts
> coming up to her a....butt bringing meals and log entries
> Was I imagining things or was a woman wailing away on a guy
> during the bar fight in the background?
>
> Later, Jason
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
No Jason, you were not imagining things. The bar fight scene did include
a background scene where a female crewperson seem to be beating the stuffin'
out of some guy.
Did you see the nice clean hit Riker took in the face by the guy in the
blue uniform (hey, isn't blue Medical!). Having your doctor inflict pain
is an interesting concept...
Dave Weissman
GSFCMail/X.400
Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA
Windsor A. Morgan
>
> Also, that second vulcan was a fascinating and alluring character.
his facial features) and came off (to me) as if he were a Human playing
a Vulcan. What's that? He was a Human playing a Vulcan? Well, you know
what I mean :-).
>
> Was I imagining things or was a woman wailing away on a guy
> during the bar fight in the background?
>
It's about time. (Now if it was the other way around as well, things
would have been perfect. Equal fights and all that.)
'Verily, there be no leader as wise as the Vision!'
Windsor Morgan (mor...@astro.psu.edu OR N...@PSUVM.BITNET)
Department of Astronomy
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Paul Schinder
>In article <5600...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>, jhc0...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu says:
>>
>> Also, that second vulcan was a fascinating and alluring character.
>I thought that the second Vulcan was awful! He seemed too emotional (in
>his facial features) and came off (to me) as if he were a Human playing
>a Vulcan. What's that? He was a Human playing a Vulcan? Well, you know
>what I mean :-).
Wait a minute. You're talking about Sarek's chief of staff, right?
Did anyone else beside me think that he was, in fact, human? Saketh's (?)
Vulcan ears were readily apparent, but I didn't notice whether the
chief of staff had them or not (and I tried). He acted too emotionally
for a Vulcan.
--
Paul J. Schinder
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University
schi...@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu
Ralph P Carpenter
Sarek's Chief of Staff (Mr. Mengroza?) WAS definitely a human.
The Ambassador, like tribbles, enjoys having these Earthers around
him.
--
| Ralph P Carpenter | InterNet: Ral...@acc.fau.edu | Blake's 7: |
| Sr Programmer/Analyst | Carp...@SerVax.Bitnet | The |
| Florida Atlantic Univ | Ci$: 74015,644 GEnie: Ralpho | Motion |
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Greg Smith
>
>Wait a minute. You're talking about Sarek's chief of staff, right?
>Did anyone else beside me think that he was, in fact, human? Saketh's (?)
>Vulcan ears were readily apparent, but I didn't notice whether the
>chief of staff had them or not (and I tried). He acted too emotionally
>for a Vulcan.
>
What I coudn't understand though was why didn't Sarek perform 'the meld'
with Saketh (or whatever) instead of with Picard. Would that not have
brought him more stability then melding with a human?
I guess I don't fully understand the process. It seemed that they maintained
their own consciousness as well as the others. This means that Picard's
negotiating skills were not the first requirement for Sarek, as he would
still have his own skills. The primary reason then was emotional control.
Or is there a problem with two Vulcans performing a mind meld?
And what if Sarek performed a mind meld with a large fish indigenous to the
oceans of earth? Would he have a Tuna meld?
>
>
>
>
>
>--
>Paul J. Schinder
>Department of Astronomy, Cornell University
>schi...@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu
--
************************* :-(GO BLAZERS!!!) ************************
Greg Smith ..!uunet!sequent!gsmith
Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. (503) 526-4364
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allen P Haughay Jr
>In article <10...@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> schi...@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu (Paul Schinder) writes:
>>
>What I coudn't understand though was why didn't Sarek perform 'the meld'
>with Saketh (or whatever) instead of with Picard. Would that not have
>brought him more stability then melding with a human?
>
Sarek did not meld with Saketh because he was 'young and inexperienced'.
In doing this mind exchange, he used Picard's control and negotiating
skills to bolster his own. Perhaps Picard being human and dealing with
emotions, he would be better prepared to handle Sarek's intense emotions.
It was also indicated that Saketh could only partially support Sarek's
failing control, and that Picard was virtually unaffected by Sarek's
telepathic free-floating anger projection.
Skip
Aaron Sherman
>
> with Saketh (or whatever) instead of with Picard. Would that not have
> brought him more stability then melding with a human?
>
Sarek (being as emotional as he was) was pissed with sakath. Thus, he would
not want to subject himself to more of sakath's interference. Whereas, Kirk,
er... Stubing....er... Picard was offering support instead of manipulation.
I get the feeling that, during their discussion of how dangerous the proccess
would be, Sarek was probing Picard's mind to find out how stable he was. It
shouldn't be ignored that Sarek just needed a crutch, not someone with
emotional control as strong as his.
-AJS
--
ashe...@dino.ulowell.edu or asherman%c...@swan.ulowell.edu
"That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is."
ccm020@deneb
>Did you see the nice clean hit Riker took in the face by the guy in the
>blue uniform (hey, isn't blue Medical!). Having your doctor inflict pain
>is an interesting concept...
blue (medical) and guys in yellow (engineering/security/?)...Could these
same kinds of conflicts still be occurring in the 24th century? Such as
programmers vs. engineers, or white collar vs. blue collar. A little bit
of insight into the affiliations of the crew...maybe they stick to their own
groups. Anyway, something to think about.
Not as good as "Yesterday's Enterprise," though...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Bates | "When you wet the bed, first it is warm,
amb...@ames.arc.nasa.gov | then it gets cold." -- Patrick Stewart
or ccm...@deneb.ucdavis.edu | "Are you calling my flower a dilletante?!?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon Taunter
>>with Saketh (or whatever) instead of with Picard. Would that not have
>>brought him more stability then melding with a human?
>>
>
>Sarek did not meld with Saketh because he was 'young and inexperienced'.
>In doing this mind exchange, he used Picard's control and negotiating
>skills to bolster his own. Perhaps Picard being human and dealing with
>emotions, he would be better prepared to handle Sarek's intense emotions.
>
>It was also indicated that Saketh could only partially support Sarek's
>failing control, and that Picard was virtually unaffected by Sarek's
>telepathic free-floating anger projection.
>
>Skip
I do not believe that the above is a satisfactory explaination. Sarek did not
need Picard's negotiating skills, he needed strength to bolster his mind. Sarek
told Picard that Vulcan emotions would be intense so, should the mind-meld
occure, Picard would be inexperienced in this aspect. Besides, 'young and
inexperienced' is relative. Vulcans have about twice the life expectancy
of humans so a young Vulcan is not really that young. All Vulcans have
emotions so Saketh would not be experiencing something new.
It seems obvious who was the better candidate for the mind-meld; a headblind
human or a trained Vulcan telepath.
--
y...@wam.umd.edu
y...@eng.umd.edu
Dan Quayle is so dense, he absorbs neutrinos.
Greg Smith
>
>Sarek did not meld with Saketh because he was 'young and inexperienced'.
One would expect young and inexperienced, by vulcan standards, to be quite
superior in emotional control when compared to even an old, and
experienced human. Its not even a good comparison.
>In doing this mind exchange, he used Picard's control and negotiating
I still think that Sarek's own negotiating skills were exactly what was
needed for the negotiations, not Picard's. Therefore again all he
required was control.
>skills to bolster his own. Perhaps Picard being human and dealing with
>emotions, he would be better prepared to handle Sarek's intense emotions.
>
>It was also indicated that Saketh could only partially support Sarek's
>failing control, and that Picard was virtually unaffected by Sarek's
>telepathic free-floating anger projection.
WRONG! whoops...sorry I got carried away. I guess I've been reading to
much r.a.s lately. Maybe I should go back to A-Team reruns to mellow
out for a while. :-)
ahem...What I meant to say was Saketh was 'partially' supporting Sarek
without the benefit of a meld, and without Sarek's knowledge! (Agreed Sarek
was a little distracted)
Also Picard had been at least somewhat affected by the projection. All
we saw was the heated exchange between Picard and the human smirk on
the bridge, of all places, but there could have been more.
I only wish he had ended the confrontation with 'Wipe that silly smile
off your face Riker, before I wipe it off for you'.
>
>
>Skip
John Jung
In article <1990May21.0...@wam.umd.edu> y...@wam.umd.edu (Dragon Taunter) writes:
>>[Sarek didn't mindmeld with Saketh because he was "young and inexperienced.
>>Also, melding with Picard bolstered his own negotiating abilities.]
>[Sarek didn't need Picard's negotiating abilities. Vulcans also age
>differently, so maybe "young and inexperienced" isn't the same.
>It seems obvious who was the better candidate for the mind-meld; a headblind
>human or a trained Vulcan telepath.
But maybe the fact that Saketh _was_ a telepath was the reason why Sarek
didn't meld with him. Remember that Saketh was only helping Sarek keep his
emotions in check, and even then the ship's crew was affected. Regardless of
how "young and inexperienced" Saketh was, I sincerely doubt he could handle all
of Sarek's emotions at once and without any help.
By melding with Picard, there was a form of damage control. No matter how
intense the emotions were, only Picard would be affected and not the whole
crew. You couldn't get the same guarantee by having Sarek meld with Saketh.
John
Andrew Lindh
> Sarek's Chief of Staff (Mr. Mengroza?) WAS definitely a human.
> The Ambassador, like tribbles, enjoys having these Earthers around
> him.
yes he IS human!
And who is Spock's wife????
--
Andrew Lindh, a student at the University of Hartford -- Computer Science
BITNET: LI...@HARTFORD.bitnet INTERNET: li...@uhasun.uofh.edu
UUCP/Usenet: li...@evecs.uucp ---- When will I grduate???
NOTE: All views here are MINE!!! Not the schools or thoes of anyone else!
Tom Frauenhofer
>Did anyone else beside me think that he was, in fact, human? Saketh's (?)
>Vulcan ears were readily apparent, but I didn't notice whether the
>chief of staff had them or not (and I tried). He acted too emotionally
>for a Vulcan.
I don't think he was Vulcan. Was I the only one who thought that he looked
like John Sunnunu (sp?)?
--
Thomas V. Frauenhofer ...!rutgers!rochester!kodak!swamps!!frau!tvf *or*
...!uunet!atexnet!kodak!swamps!frau!tvf (tvf@frau, tvf@cci632)
"What's a gourmand? I'll tell you, he's a P-I-G pig!"
- Justin Wilson
Tom Frauenhofer
>And who is Spock's wife????
Mrs. Spock.
Bob Myers
>blue uniform (hey, isn't blue Medical!). Having your doctor inflict pain
>is an interesting concept...
I think that blue denotes the same division it did in TOS - Sciences.
Medical was/is a part of that division. I always thought that the only
that that had changed was that Command and Engineering/Ship's Services had
swapped colors. On the other hand - why does Data wear gold (as does
anyone who happens to be filling in for Wesley at Con)? One would think
that Con and Ops were roughly equivalent to the former navigator and helm
positions, which always USED to be filled by Command officers. Worf I can
understand - Security would most definitely be under Ship's Services.
Bob Myers | "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but
myers%hpfcla@hplabs. | most of the time he will pick himself up and continue."
hp.com | - Winston Churchill
Benjamin R. Sklar
*In article <19...@crg5.UUCP> gsm...@crg5.UUCP (Greg Smith) writes:
*>In article <10...@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> schi...@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu (Paul Schinder) writes:
*>>
*>What I coudn't understand though was why didn't Sarek perform 'the meld'
*>with Saketh (or whatever) instead of with Picard. Would that not have
*>brought him more stability then melding with a human?
*>
*
*
*Sarek did not meld with Saketh because he was 'young and inexperienced'.
*In doing this mind exchange, he used Picard's control and negotiating
*skills to bolster his own. Perhaps Picard being human and dealing with
*emotions, he would be better prepared to handle Sarek's intense emotions.
*
*It was also indicated that Saketh could only partially support Sarek's
*failing control, and that Picard was virtually unaffected by Sarek's
*telepathic free-floating anger projection.
*
*
*Skip
You forget the scene, on the bridge, before Picard goes to speak with Sarek;
where Picard and Riker start arguing mildly, moving up to screaming at each
other.
Ben the Bezerk
#include <standard_disclaimer.h>
Mary E. Leibach
sk...@sun.udel.edu (Allen P Haughay Jr) writes:
>Sarek did not meld with Saketh because he was 'young and inexperienced'.
>In doing this mind exchange, he used Picard's control and negotiating
>skills to bolster his own. Perhaps Picard being human and dealing with
>emotions, he would be better prepared to handle Sarek's intense emotions.
I also got the idea that being a Vulcan, Saketh would have gotten an
overload of emotion like Picard, and unlike Picard, would have
probably lost control and projected it all over the place like Sarek
was doing. I would imagine that any telepath or empath on the ship
would have similar problems. Picard was overloaded with emotions, but
being a non-psi, they stopped with him. Just a thought.
-Mary