Star Trek TNG - Season 5 - Episode 07
Star Trek TNG - 5x07 - Unification, Part I
Originally Aired: 1991-11-4
Synopsis:
Picard and Data investigate an unauthorized mission. [DVD]
Problems
- This episode lists Leonard Nimoy as Spock twice in the opening credits.
Factoids
- This episode contained an in memory of Gene Roddenberry statement at the beginning as he had just recently died.
- The junk yard special effects are a re use of the ship graveyard from Wolf 359 in TNG: The Best of Both Worlds.
- I believe this is the first time we ever get to see the Romulan homeworld.
Remarkable Scenes
- Seeing Spock's face in the Romulan photo.
- Picard mentioning his mind meld with Sarek. Good continuity with TNG: Sarek.
- Picard's scene with Sarek.
- Picard badgering the Klingon diplomat.
- The Klingon captain attempting to intimidate Picard and Picard matching his arrogance.
- The Quartermaster of the supply yard. Such great indifference.
- Picard trying to sleep on the "shelf" (as Data calls it) while Data just... stands there... I love how uncomfortable Picard was with Data just... being there for seemingly no good reason.
- Picard accusing Data of looking at him, then Data slowly turning away.
- Riker accidentally destroying the contraband ship.
- Seeing Spock at the end of the episode.
My Review
Another episode with marvelous continuity. Continuity with TNG: Sarek regarding the mind meld and the continued involvement of the characters, and continuity with TNG: Redemption regarding the Klingons' appreciation of the Federation's help in Gowron's rise to power. Finally good continuity with TOS regarding Spock's appearance. I am, however, not fond of poorly done cliffhangers, and this episode features one. It's hard to pass judgment on an episode which hasn't concluded yet, so it will suffice to say that this episode nicely sets up the second part.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
When the quartermaster of the junkyard gives directions to the location of the T'Pau, he tells the helmsman the heading and the speed of 200 kph. Which is correct, since Star Trek uses the metric system. However, when the quartermaster makes small talk with Troi he tells her about a "fourteen-foot Caldorian eel." I suppose he could be referring to an eel with fourteen feet ;)
This episode was generally entertaining, and I quite liked the scene between Picard and Sarek. But I found the setup quite contrived. Picard and Data leave their ship, call in special favors from the Klingon High Command, risk the lives of themselves and the Klingons for a dangerous mission into enemy space, and beam down into a situation with a high probability of capture. You would think they must be on some incredibly important mission for the survival of the galaxy. But no, they are just curious what Spock is doing on Romulus and want to have a chat with him. What? It was hard to be impressed by the drama when I kept wondering why they were doing all this. Talk about a dramatic turnaround from first season Riker's declaration about not letting the captain into dangerous situations. Why is Picard moonlighting as a Federation secret agent? He already has a job as a starship captain. Don't they have any real operatives on the payroll?
In answer to CAlexander's comment, I thought they made it pretty clear that this mission was of the utmost importance because they thought Spock had defected and would give all the Federation's secrets away to the Romulans.
The problem I had with the situation was that is was way too easy for everybody to do what they wanted to do on and around Romulus. For example, how did they get a picture of Spock on Romulus when it is located on the other side of the neutral zone? How did Tasha Jr. get a report that told her Picard was coming? How did the Klingon ship remain completely undetected? Picard and Data were going up and down from the planet so much, it was like they were using an elevator. It just seemed too easy. AND, if it was so easy, why didn't the Klingons just send a whole armada of cloaked ships to Romulus in the past. They could easily blow up the planet if it was so easy to move around in Romulan space.