Sarek
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| Sarek | |
| Species | Vulcan |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Home planet | Vulcan |
| Affiliation | United Federation of Planets |
| Posting | Vulcan ambassador to the Federation |
| Rank | Ambassador |
| Portrayed by | Mark Lenard Jonathan Simpson Ben Cross |
In the fictional Star Trek universe, Sarek is a Vulcan ambassador, and father of Spock. He was portrayed by Mark Lenard. Jonathan Simpson played a younger Sarek in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, although Lenard provided the voiceover. Ben Cross will play Sarek in the upcoming eleventh Star Trek film.
The character appears in the original Star Trek series, the animated series, four Star Trek movies, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and numerous Star Trek novels and comics.
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[edit] History
A legendary Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, Sarek was born in 2165 [1] to Skon and a never-identified Vulcan woman. His grandfather, 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 his death at age 203. Prior to his first marriage, he was involved with a Vulcan princess, T'Rea. Sarek later married a Human, Amanda Grayson. After Amanda's death, he married Perrin, another Human, who survived him.
Sarek's accomplishments were many, and included the Coridan admission debate in 2267 before the Federation 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. 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 James T. Kirk to ask him to bring Spock's body and Dr. Leonard 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 McCoy back to Vulcan, where 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 Kirk and the remainder of the Enterprise crew, who had violated orders to rescue 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 planet-fall near Starfleet headquarters. Later, after the probe had left Earth's orbit, Sarek witnessed the session in which the Federation Council pronounced judgment on Kirk and permanently demoted him to Captain. Afterward, Sarek had a private discussion with Spock 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 was in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Here he 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; 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 Federation for more than a century. Some of his activities in this timeframe have been explored in novels. Sarek and Spock 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, Sarek was discovered to have Bendii syndrome, an incurable, degenerative disease of the mind that resulted in him being unable to control his emotions. In order to complete the Legaran negotiations, he entered into a mind-meld with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and was able to use Picard's emotional stability 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 (although Kirk held the rank of Admiral and was not in command of the Enterprise at the time of his mind meld).
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, Sarek met one final time with Picard and provided him with valuable information as to why Spock went to Romulus. As a final request, Sarek asked Picard to tell his son that he loved him. A short while later, Sarek died in 2368. ("Unification") Picard later offered Spock the chance to touch what he and Sarek shared in their mind-meld.
In books written by William Shatner, it is stated 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. However, not all actually take Shatner's works as canon, so this could be disputed.
[edit] Appearances
Sarek appears 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
- Star Trek
[edit] References
- ^ Sarek gives his age as 102.437 in "Journey to Babel".
[edit] External links
- Sarek article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Perrin article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Startrek.com article on Sarek
