I know this episode is dedicated to G.R., but was it meant to be a season finale and aired early because of his death? The reason I ask is because it seems to be a spectacular episode more in line with a finale rather then just an episode in a season.
No, it's dedicated to Gene because he died while it was being filmed. It was supposed to air exactly when it did because it was meant to create advance publicity for "Star Trek VI". The two halves were filmed in reverse order to accommodate Nimoy's schedule.
Actually, Unification was shot two months before Roddenberry's death. They were filming Hero Worship when he died. Unification was the first (well, second) episode to air following his death, hence the dedication card. The Game aired four days after his death, but there probably wasn't time to add a dedication.
Yes, "Unification" aired in the November sweeps period, as I recall, nowhere near the end of the season. "Unification" aptly aired inlate 1991, the 25th anniversary of Star Trek.
And it was hyped in the regular press at the time...Spock was coming to TNG! I was always of the impression that the episode (particularly the first part, which had to tease things along anyway) went out of its way to be a "special" episode in an effort to draw in viewers who might have been watching just because of Spock's much-hyped appearance.
I think it was all tied up to the hype surrounding both the 25th anniversary of Trek and the coming release of TUC. Then, of course, Roddenberry died, and they added the dedication. I was a teenager when the show aired, and I remember a lot of anticipation and then the excitement of the show finally airing. Seeing it in reruns recently for the first time in years, I was actually struck by just how boring it is, especially part two.
The episodes definitely haven't aged well but I did a face palm when Sela doesn't even know what size her office is. I liked the Sarek scenes, the scene with the Qualor II dockmaster, the scene where Picard and Data first come aboard the Klingon ship and the scene on the Klingon ship with Spock and Data. Which is about ten minutes out of the two episodes.
I remember being very disappointed in "Unification". And facepalming when the ridiculous bowl cut/shoulder pads look extended even to the Romulan soup lady.
I found it underwhelming at the time as well. And the foreshadowing of STVI was misleading...you'd think Spock had been responsible for some terrible tragedy, like Kirk's death.
^ Wasn't he, though? If Spock had been on the Enterprise-B instead of Scotty or Chekov, he could have thought of some other strategy to save the El Aurians and the ship without Kirk havin' to go down to the bowels of the ship to do something manually. If only he had accepted that invitation instead of bein' pen pals with a junior senator from Romulus!
Well, he did trigger a conspiracy that led to the death of Gorkon, near all-out war between the Klingons and Federation, and the near-deaths of Kirk and McCoy. Were it not for Kirk surrendering, Spock's peace mission would have ended in millions of deaths.
Actually, it wouldn't have been any different on the ENT B, seeing as Spock was supposed to originally be in "Generations" and his lines were in the end simply mouthed by other characters.