Unification

[CaptainStoner]

Just watched "Unification" (I & II) for the first time in many many years.

What happened here? I'm sure it's been discussed to death, but not by me
The best performance IMO was the Mark Lenard scene. I think when they killed off Sarek en route, they killed off the main story thread. The Romulan/Vulcan story is a good backdrop, but it runs pretty dry as a main story.
Had they kept Sarek alive, they could have kept that tension. Spock would have been torn between his duties and loyalties. And it could have culminated in a great scene with Spock and Sarek, or with some milestone of peace reached, but Spock arriving too late. They let Sarek die too soon!

 

[SchwEnt]

Yeah, I don't know, Unification just didn't work out.

I see what they were going for, an epic Vulcan/Romulan historic turning point.

This was at the time of TUC, and that was the epic turning point for the Federation/Klingons. That story worked out.
So I guess something similar was planned for the Federation/Romulans, too. But this time, Romulan treachery defeats the positive outcome that was seen in TUC.

Okay, so I get the big story they were going for.
And as TUC was a reflection of post-Soviet relations with the west, Unification's Vulcans/Romulans could be seen as a sort of reflection of then-current German unification.
But it just didn't work out all that well. Too bad.

 

[HRHTheKING]

It was a great episode, except for the pointless inclusion of Denise Crosby.

What I found odd is the Romulans making such an aggressive move against a Federation member.

Did Sela honestly believe that the Federation would tolerate Romulan invaders on Vulcan?

 

[CaptainStoner]

It was a great episode, except for the pointless inclusion of Denise Crosby.

What I found odd is the Romulans making such an aggressive move against a Federation member.

Did Sela honestly believe that the Federation would tolerate Romulan invaders on Vulcan?

I had already forgotten the Sela factor! Worst character idea of TNG in my book. Pure comic book cheese.

Yeah, I think they had their story with Sarek/Spock over the unification background. The background took over, and then the circus came to town with Sela.

 

[scorpius1701]

It was defintely a good episode with the main characters being split off from each other and out of communication, which is something that didnt happen that often but worked well here. The main problem here is the Romulan plot. It just doenst seem to make sense. It seems like a pretty blatant Romulan act of war.

 

[Nebusj]

It was defintely a good episode with the main characters being split off from each other and out of communication, which is something that didnt happen that often but worked well here. The main problem here is the Romulan plot. It just doenst seem to make sense. It seems like a pretty blatant Romulan act of war.

Timo's developed a rather satisfying alternate explanation in which pretty much all the explanations given on-screen are tossed out the window. Ordinarily, that's considered poor form in explaining the inexplicable plot or technological anomalies ... but in this case he's able to put together a justification which makes a lot more sense.

The crux of it: suppose that the Romulans actually did want the Federation to find and destroy those three ships?

 

[PhoenixIreland]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H26_LL4jZgI

I think this was a great scene where the two compare their opposite outlooks.

I never understood the whole reunification thing, I've never seen a map of the UFP but wouldn't reunification mean a segment of the Romulan Empire smack in the middle of the Federation?

I was ok with Sela as a character, there have definitely been worse villains (Shinzon) but maybe Tomalack could have filled her role as easily.

 

[HRHTheKING]

They should have mentioned that the "Vulcan Invaders" themselves, like the "Vulcan/Romulan Unificationists" were also a rogue faction within Romulan society.

That way, a Romulan invasion of Vulcan could be considered an action without the approval of the official Romulan government.

 

[JRobertson]

Aagh I had forgotten the Tasha/Sela thing ... why after being resurrected once (and very well, admittedly) in "Yesterday's Enterprise," did we see Denise Crosby again? As I recall, there was some lame plot-related reason why this particular character looked so much like Tasha. What was the rationale, exactly?

 

[Michael]

^ Sela was Tasha's daughter. After the battle at Narendra III Tasha was taken prisoner by the Romulans. She became the wife of a Romulan (in exchange for other crew members being spared from execution) and gave birth to Sela.

 

[JRobertson]

^ Sela was Tasha's daughter. After the battle at Narendra III Tasha was taken prisoner by the Romulans. She became the wife of a Romulan (in exchange for other crew members being spared from execution) and gave birth to Sela.

Oh, yeah. Nice to see the "Yesterday's Enterprise" reference, but ick. And the daughter looking exactly like the mom, with the same actress, too gimmicky.

But it was a memorable two-parter overall, had a grand feeling about it, and if the unification fizzed at the end, well the ST universe would get very boring very fast if only good things happened. So I was happy enough.

 

[cultcross]

Yes, it is a shame that Unification fell flat. Firstly it felt like a shameless plug for STVI, and secondly the underlying Romulan plot made no sense. Vulcan isn't just any old Federation member, they are co-founders. Essentially the Romulans are trying to annex a world that is almost as much the 'Federation home world' as Earth. If that isn't an open act of war, I don't know what is. And Spock's role is a considerable disservice, imho, to the character we all know and love. Given that, in-universe chronologically, this is the last time we ever see Spock, it's a shame that his last interactions with the Trek universe should be so... I don't know... naive?

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

The only thing Unification had going for it was Spock. The story itself isn't that good. Take away the cool-factor of seeing Spock again and you aren't left with much. Which is why I always thought Relics worked better as a crossover. The story of Relics would have been good with Captain Smith being recovered after 80 years, but making it Scotty enhances an already good story idea.

 

[erastus25]

^ Sela was Tasha's daughter. After the battle at Narendra III Tasha was taken prisoner by the Romulans. She became the wife of a Romulan (in exchange for other crew members being spared from execution) and gave birth to Sela.

Oh, yeah. Nice to see the "Yesterday's Enterprise" reference, but ick. And the daughter looking exactly like the mom, with the same actress, too gimmicky.

I agree that it's too gimmicky. I always tried to play it off as a Romulan plot to mess with Picard that never came to fruition. Sadly, that doesn't make sense because they would have no way of knowing about the alternate timeline. And even if they did know of the alternate timeline they would have had no reason to clone Tasha years before Picard took control of the Enterprise.

Yes, it is a shame that Unification fell flat. Firstly it felt like a shameless plug for STVI, and secondly the underlying Romulan plot made no sense. Vulcan isn't just any old Federation member, they are co-founders. Essentially the Romulans are trying to annex a world that is almost as much the 'Federation home world' as Earth. If that isn't an open act of war, I don't know what is. And Spock's role is a considerable disservice, imho, to the character we all know and love. Given that, in-universe chronologically, this is the last time we ever see Spock, it's a shame that his last interactions with the Trek universe should be so... I don't know... naive?

I have always thought that the Romulans might have been looking to declare war. Perhaps they were hoping to cause a major conflict and rather than going to war the Vulcans would agree to some type of new relationship with the Romulans.

As for Spock's role, it also makes sense to me. Spock has lived his life split between two different worlds, and as a result was in a constant struggle to find his true identity. He, of all people, would understand why some Romulans would want to unify the two peoples and finally merge the two disparate, but connected cultures - much like Spock managed to merge his two internal disparate cultural identities. The problem with Unification is that we never see a true follow up and thus one of the most important men in Federation history is left in a state of limbo. Who knows, maybe STXI will resolve some of it.

 

[Mott the barber]

Anyone else remember Klim Dokachin, the Zakdorn shipyard manager?

And the bar scene in part 2 was pretty funny when Worf started singing Klingon opera.

 

[Tralah]

It was defintely a good episode with the main characters being split off from each other and out of communication, which is something that didnt happen that often but worked well here. The main problem here is the Romulan plot. It just doenst seem to make sense. It seems like a pretty blatant Romulan act of war.

Timo's developed a rather satisfying alternate explanation in which pretty much all the explanations given on-screen are tossed out the window. Ordinarily, that's considered poor form in explaining the inexplicable plot or technological anomalies ... but in this case he's able to put together a justification which makes a lot more sense.

The crux of it: suppose that the Romulans actually did want the Federation to find and destroy those three ships?

Where can I read about this Timo's alternate explanation? It sounds really interesting!

I agree Unification's over all plot didn't really work. It did have some nice scenes though. I remember really enjoying Spock's exchange with Data about their human experiences.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

On the surface the story of "Unification" seems to get talky and fall flat, but on the level of symvolism it gets interesting. Spock came from a unification of two worlds--Sarek and Amanda. Spock learned the value of both when he mend melded with V'ger in STTMP. Having encountered the Romulan Commander in "Enterprise Incident" and mentored Saavik, I believe he saw the value of reuniting Vulcan and Romulus. Sarek seemed to object and called Spock idealistic. But when Sarek died early in the episode, I saw that as Spock breaking free to follow his own path and letting the past stay in the past. The Romulans eventually sidetracked Spock's reunification attempt but Spock chose to let that stay in the past, too, and remain on Romulus to continue the effort. Picard allowed Spock to share in a mind meld what Sarek shared with Picard--Sarek's love for his son. Despite their differences, Sarek still loved his son. Spock chose to demonstrate this love for his brethren on Romulus by continuing to reconcilate Romulus with Vulcan despite the Romulan government's disagreement. Spock probably had wonderful opportunities for his movement to gain momentum after the alliance from the Dominion War and the change in government with the Senate's fall along with Shinzon soon to follow.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

By today's standards the whole 2 parter seemed forced, TPTB should have kept Sarek alive until the end at least, IMHO.

 

[Timo]

Where can I read about this Timo's alternate explanation? It sounds really interesting!

Oh, it's more like a hobby horse than anything else. But here goes...

Why send an invasion force against a foe too mighty to be defeated? Classically, there are three reasons: to keep the enemy off balance (like with the raids at Dieppe or the fisheries of Norway in WWII), to gain the respect of potential allies (ditto), or then to get rid of unwanted elements in a formally acceptable way by forcing them to participate in a suicide attack (a theme repeated in many a medieval battle, particularly in Europe and Japan). The Romulans might have combined all three here, in a true win-win scenario.

Say, they know they have this nasty underground unification movement going. They fear losing the respect of their allies within the Star Empire and abroad. What do they do? They foster the movement, encourage it to act. They provide it with whatever it needs to conduct a peace mission to Vulcan, including vessels stolen from the Federation. They load the peaceniks in the stolen vessels and send them towards Vulcan under peace signs - with cloaked Warbirds full of troops riding in the turbulent wake of the noisy old tubs, thus perfectly hidden from the Federation border sensors.

Are the peaceniks allowed all the way to Vulcan? Good - then the invasion can commence, striking fear in the Federation and earning the admiration of Federation's enemies. Vulcan can be held for a while at the very least, with hostages taken, "political rearrangement" performed with disruptor and blade, and a permanent mark left in history. Or then the tens if not hundreds of thousands of troops in those Warbirds are a force large enough to take and hold Vulcan for good. All in the name of unification, with the peaceniks getting the brunt of the blame (although conveniently perishing in the first waves of attack).

Are the peaceniks intercepted? That's not too bad, either. The Romulans then go with the pretense that they were the invasion force, scuttle the transports, and the Federation actually cheers when two thousand dissidents are blasted to oblivion! Potential Romulan allies are still impressed with the audacity of the failed invasion attempt, and the Federation is shaken with the impact of how narrowly the disaster was avoided.

Win-win for the Star Empire, lose-lose for the Federation and its attempts at peacefully manipulating the Romulans.

The best part is, this is exactly what we were let to understand in the episode - that two thousand peace envoys would seek contact with Vulcan. The only reason we ever thought they might be armed invaders instead is because the Romulan villain said so to Picard, Spock and Data after capturing them... And clichés aside, who in his right mind would trust anything the villain says, especially when soon thereafter, an opening for escape miraculously opens..?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[WillsBabe]

by Today's standards the whole 2 parter seemed forced, they should have kapt Sarek alive until the end at least, IMHO.

Well, to be fair, even by the standards of the day, it seemed forced to me. I thought the whole thing was boring. The only bit I liked (probably predictably) was Riker playing the keyboards. At least we found out that he can play more than one musical instrument! By that stage of TNG, that was major development for his character.