Sarek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sarek | |
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| Species: | Vulcan |
| Gender: | Male |
| Home planet: | Vulcan |
| Affiliation: | United Federation of Planets |
| Posting: | Vulcan ambassador to the Federation |
| Rank: | Ambassador |
| Portrayed by: | Mark Lenard |
Sarek is a Vulcan character in the Star Trek fictional universe. Mark Lenard performed all of the appearances of Sarek in the Star Trek films and television programs, with the exception of a flashback in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in which Jonathan Simpson played a younger version of the character (Mark Lenard did provide the voice-over). Sarek is the father of original series regular, Spock.
[edit] History
A legendary Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, Sarek was born in Terran year 2164 to Skon and a never-identified Vulcan woman. (Skon's father, Solkar, was the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth.)
Sarek was married twice during the course of an illustrious career that was taught in Vulcan and Federation history classes well before Sarek's death at age 203. Prior to his first marriage, he was involved with a Vulcan priestess, T'Rea, with whom he had one child, Sybok. He later married Mr. Spock's mother, a human named Amanda Grayson. After her death, he married Perrin, another human, who survived him.
Sarek's accomplishments were many, and included the Coridan admission debate in 2267 before the UFP Council, early Klingon treaties, and his incredible 93-year effort to bring about a Federation-Legaran treaty. Contrastingly, his personal life was stormy, even for a Vulcan. T'Rea bore Sarek his first son, Sybok in 2224. At some point T'Rea died and Sybok came to live with Sarek, his stepmother, and his half-brother Spock. Sybok would later be banished from Vulcan for rejecting his logical upbringing and encouraging others to follow him in his futile attempt of religious awakenings.
Sarek's second son, Spock, entered Starfleet Academy. Sarek opposed the decision, and the two were estranged for years. Following an Enterprise mission where Spock helped save Sarek's life, father and son reconciled.
After Spock's apparent death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan it was Sarek who went to Rear Admiral Kirk to ask him to bring Spock's body and Dr. McCoy — who was holding Spock's katra, or living essence — back to Vulcan. At first Sarek assumed that Kirk had Spock's katra, but a mind-meld with Kirk proved that this was not the case. It was only the video recordings of the engine room that proved McCoy carried the katra. In the meantime Spock's body had been regenerated by the Genesis Device. Kirk brought Spock's body and Dr. McCoy back to Vulcan. Sarek then asked for fal-tor-pan to be performed, and Spock's body and his katra were then rejoined. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Shortly after Spock's resurrection, Sarek traveled to Earth in order to intercede on behalf of then Rear Admiral Kirk and the remainder of the Enterprise crew, who had violated orders to rescue their comrade Captain Spock. He remained on Earth when an alien probe approached Earth seeking answers as to why it lost contact with humpback whales. Kirk went back in time and recovered two humpback whales. Sarek was the first to spot the Klingon Bird-of-Prey as it made planetfall near Starfleet headquarters. Later, after the Probe had left Earth orbit, Sarek witnessed the session in which the Federation Council pronounced judgement on Kirk, and reduced him in rank to Captain. Afterward, he had a private discussion with his son in which he admitted his son had done well in his life with a group of friends of rare caliber. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).
Sarek's next appearance in a Star Trek movie was in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Here Sarek is shown participating in the Khitomer Conference, which was where the first diplomatic breakthroughs with the Klingons took place. This would also be Mark Lenard's final appearance in the role of Sarek; Sarek's appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation were filmed before this movie.
Sarek continued to work as an ambassador and negotiator for the United Federation of Planets for more than a century. Some of his activities in this timeframe have been explored in non-canon novels.
Spock and Sarek would continue to argue from time to time after Amanda's death (Spock did not approve of Sarek remarrying). During debates regarding the Cardassians, Spock would publicly criticize Sarek's position. While Sarek did not react and himself did not appear offended by Spock's criticisms, his third wife Perrin was deeply offended by them.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Sarek", set in 2366, he was discovered to have Bendii syndrome, an incurable degenerative disease of the mind, somewhat similar to Alzheimer's disease, that resulted in him being unable to control his emotions. In order to complete the Legaran negotiations, Sarek entered into a mind-meld with Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D. Sarek was able to use some of Picard's emotional strength to complete the negotiations; in return, Picard received (and later retained) elements of Sarek's memory and even some Vulcan abilities such as knowledge of the Vulcan nerve pinch. Because of this mind-meld, Picard became the second Captain of a starship named Enterprise to be shown on screen entering into a mind meld with Sarek.
Sarek then retired to Vulcan where he continued to fight the Bendii syndrome for two more years. He ultimately lost his battle against the disease. Shortly before his death, he met one final time with Captain Picard. Sarek provided Captain Picard with valuable information as to why Spock went to Romulus. As a final request, Sarek asked Picard to tell Spock that he loved Spock. A short while later, Sarek died in 2368. ("Unification"). Picard later offered Spock the chance to touch what he and Sarek shared in their mindmeld.
In Star Trek books written by William Shatner, it is learned that Sarek had not actually been suffering from Bendii syndrome. Instead Sarek had been poisoned in a manner which made him appear to have Bendii Syndrome as part of a conspiracy. When these same conspirators tried to poison Spock in a similar manner, their complicity in Sarek's death was also discovered. These books are, however, considered non-canon.
[edit] Chronology
Sarek appeared in the following episodes and films:
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (filmed after the TNG episode Sarek)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
Mark Lenard also appeared as a Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror" and a Klingon captain in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, becoming the first actor to play a member of all three of Trek's original major alien races.
Mark Lenard died on November 22, 1996 of multiple myeloma. This would preclude any further appearances of the character, unless either Sarek appears as a younger man played by another actor or archival footage is used.
[edit] External links
- Sarek article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Startrek.com
- Mark Lenard at the Internet Movie Database
- Mark Lenard at TV.com
