Eh, I know there's some criticism of Unification out there, but I thought the basic storyline of Vulcan-Romulan reunification was strong enough---and epic enough---to bring back Spock easily. I know they were too self-conscious about using TOS as a crutch, but they should've had more confidence in their own show to bring Spock back a second (and possibly third if the storyline warranted). They had already laid the groundwork with the unification angle, so the fact that they did NOT use him again after Unification was more distracting than it would've been if they brought him back. It wasn't, in my opinion, a forced or unnatural thing to bring Spock back for Unification. They did a good job of making it organic. Oh well.
Well I remember just tuning in and a TNG episode was on and they had gone back in time and TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES was merged in with thier show......
Totally agree. Not following up Unification with at least another episode (whether or not Spock was in it, but should have had Spock, IMHO) was one of TNG's most missed opportunities. Ironically, they did a better job with how they handled Sarek, than they did with Spock, when it comes to guest stars from TOS. I remember back before Generations even came out thinking that Generations was going to have Spock in it and revolve around the Vulcan/Romulan reunification movement somehow, and I was hoping Kirk would be tied into it somehow. It obviously didn't, so I held out hope for the other movies doing something with it. Then we had FC, which I liked, and Insurrection, which I didn't, but neither with an update on Spock's unification movement. When Nemesis was in post production and I heard about Romulans being in it, I thought "Finally! they are coming back to Spock's story line." I was so disappointed neither Spock, or Sela for that matter, were even mentioned. Like it was said, we didn't get spock until 2009, which I thought was done well, BTW, but still no unification updates. While I was glad to finally see Spock (prime) in Star Trek 2009, that sadly was the final nail in the coffin for any update or follow uo the unification movement. We just kind of have to infer it didn't take root. The instant Romulus blew up, I was like, well "That is that!" But at least Romulus's destruction was intrinsic to the plot and pretty much the whole reason the events (and alternate timeline) Star Trek 2009, so I wasn't upset at the Abrams team for that at all. It was at least a good sendoff for Romulus, anyway. If I was upset about anything, it was that the Berman team missed their chance to revisit the Spock unification plot line.
I think one problem with revisiting the reunification project, and this is one of my several issues with "Unification I and II," is that it turned out to be just another one of Sela's half-baked, guaranteed-to-fail schemes. I guess uniting with the Duras sisters wasn't that bad of a scheme, but the whole lurking in shadows and lack of subtlety detracted from it. I don't think she ever turned up again, thankfully.
I think a couple of things work against "Unification". The inclusion of Denise Crosby made the entire thing laughable and the story overall was incredibly flat. I think a stronger story might have had Spock running some type of underground railroad between Romulus and Vulcan. Where he was smuggling persecuted Romulans to Vulcan and secretly integrating them into Vulcan society. With that being said, I think it would've been impossible for "Unification" to ever live up to the hype of having Spock.
I like your underground railroad idea. Who knows? That might have made a better episode. One ting though, what was wrong with having Crosby in it? didn't hate that. Was it that you just don't like Sela, or something else?
As I've gotten older, I've gotten increasingly less forgiving of Sela to the point where I *do* think her character was a misfire. Now that I think about, it might've worked better without Denise Crosby in the role. Fortunately, she was not in the series very long. She was the weakest point of Redemption and Unification. I thought the other Romulan with the massive underbite (for years, I thought of this guy whenever I thought of Romulans) and Pardek were solid villains, (though I might be slightly biased since I liked seeing Malachi Throne again).
In general, I just don't think the Romulans were ever utilized to their full potential. Sela could have potentially been a solid villain, but I don't think her two appearances were enough to really flesh her out. As far as we know, she's still out there somewhere doing Romulan things. She could have been given a role in "Generations" working with Lursa and Betor. She could have been given a role in "Nemesis" in place of that other Romulan commander. Her character arc was never fully realized, and she could have easily been replaced with another random Romulan without any damage to the stories being told.
I dunno, I thought Sela came off as incredibly cheesy. Here's Denise Crosby playing her own daughter. Her performance wasn't very subtle either, twisting a mustache, chewing scenery. I think the concept might've worked better with another actress, or if they toned down Crosby's "BWAHAHAHAHA" attitude. But by the end of Unification, the damage was done and I think the writers/producers probably saw that the character was not coming off as well as was hoped and so she was abandoned. I agree with you on one thing: The Romulans were never really utilized well in TNG. There were hints here and there of cool maneuverings, but nothing ever came of it. Now that I think about it, the Romulan-Vulcan unification could've easily created more opportunities for Romulan conflict, but they were probably afraid of copying the Federation-Klingon theme from TUC and they were obviously scared of bringing Spock back.
Well that's okay. There's nothing wrong with mustache-twirling villains. And it's not like she's one dimensional. We know alot about her, her connection to Yar, and all that.