Sarek
|
|
Sarek is a Vulcan character in the fictional Star Trek universe. He was played by Mark Lenard in all his appearances with the exception of a flashback in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in which a younger version of Sarek was played by Jonathan Simpson.
A legendary Vulcan ambassador for the Federation, Sarek was born in Terran year 2164 to Skon and an as-yet-unnamed Vulcan woman. (Skon himself had a famous father, Solkar, who was the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth).
Sarek was married three times over an illustrious career that was being studied in school well before his death at age 202. Firstly to Sybok's mother T'Rea, a Vulcan priestess; secondly to Spock's mother, a human called Amanda Grayson; and finally to another human, Perrin.
Sarek's accomplishments were many, including 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 - but in contrast his personal life was stormy, even for a Vulcan. Sarek rarely saw his first son, Sybok, who was born in 2224 by a Vulcan princess, his first wife who died shortly after the delivery.
He was father both of Sybok and, more famously, of Spock.
Sarek opposed his son, Spock, entering Starfleet Academy, and this led to a number of years of estrangement. Following Spock's resurrection (as seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), father and son reconciled.
Sarek continued to work as an ambassador and negotiator for the United Federation of Planets for more than a century. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Sarek", set in 2366, he was discovered to have Bendai's 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 a negotiation that he had been working on for some 90 years, Sarek entered into a mind-meld with Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-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.
Sarek then retired to Vulcan where he continued for fight the Bendai's syndrome for two more years, before dying during the events of "Unification" (TNG) in 2368.
Sarek appeared in the following episodes and films:
- Star Trek: The Original Series:
- Star Trek: The Animated Series"
- "Yesteryear"
- 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
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- "Sarek"
- "Unification" Part 1