Spock & TOS in TNG

[EnriqueH]

I just finished watching Unification and I remember back in the 90s that I hoped that Spock would be making another appearance in the 24th century again.

I was disappointed it didn't happen, particularly after Unification.

Do you guys think Rock Berman and co. were intimidated by reusing Spock?

I can understand why they chose to avoid going near TOS the first few seasons, but I thought Spock's appearance in TNG came naturally and was not forced.

His exclusion from future episodes made it seem deliberate. I don't think there was ever a Romulan appearance or episode that came after that didn't immediately bring memories of Spock into my mind. Where is Spock? Is he ok? How's the reunification thing going? Is it making progress?

Surely, they could've found an organic way of fitting him into either TNG or DS9? (I can kinda understand why they avoided putting him in the TNG movies. His appearance could be perceived as relying on TOS.)

I enjoyed Unification, despite its flaws, but I'm disappointed Spock never boarded the Enterprise.

 

[Melakon]

In "Face of the Enemy", the writers toyed with the idea of making Spock one of the people being smuggled out of Romulus, and then at the end saying "Spock didn't make it."

 

[EnriqueH]

That would've been so lame.

 

[Melakon]

Yes, they decided they couldn't kill such an important character off screen.

 

[at Quark's]

Yes, they decided they couldn't kill such an important character off screen.

Ah, so the dividing line for that must fall somewhere between Spock and Trip ...

 

[Tosk]

I did like Ben's rumor that Spock was still out and about in Lower Decks though.

 

[BillJ]

Yes, they decided they couldn't kill such an important character off screen.

Ah, so the dividing line for that must fall somewhere between Spock and Trip ...

Yep. Spock is important to the franchise, Trip, not so much (and I like Enterprise).

 

[sonak]

the Spock appearance in "unification" was somewhat motivated by TUC and the 25th anniversary. I think it was understood that it wasn't going to be repeated. The episode wasn't even that great.

 

[inflatabledalek]

Yeah, Nimoy did it to promote the film (and took a lot less money as a result) I'm sure Berman and co would have been delighted to have him back again for the odd one off but if the actor doesn't want to do it what are they gonna do?

 

[EnriqueH]

the Spock appearance in "unification" was somewhat motivated by TUC and the 25th anniversary. I think it was understood that it wasn't going to be repeated. The episode wasn't even that great.

Yeah, Nimoy did it to promote the film (and took a lot less money as a result) I'm sure Berman and co would have been delighted to have him back again for the odd one off but if the actor doesn't want to do it what are they gonna do?

Actually, Nimoy said he waited for the TNG people to call him back for a future episode but they never did.

I think that was in the Star Trek IV commentary with Shatner, if I remember correctly.

The TNG people were fools not to use him again.

Don't get me wrong: It's a TNG show, so I'm not saying Spock needed to show up all the time or anything, but I thought the ending of Unification begged for a follow up.

It took Abrams to finally do the smart thing and bring back Spock.

 

[Lance]

Yeah, "Face of the Enemy" sets itself up as a pseudo sequel to "Unification", even name-checking Spock in the plot (albeit a plot full of twists, turns, plots and counterplots), which makes it all the weirder that they didn't tap Nimoy himself to get involved even if it was only for a one-scene cameo.

As long as they could sell it to Nimoy that it was important to the plot structure, as well as being a development of his character, then I think he'd have been up for such a cameo. It would have been nice to have seen Picard seek clarification of Spock's apparent message directly from the man himself.

I get the impression that Rick Berman was always dubious about leaning on the old crew too much. He is said to have been uncertain about the idea of bringing Scotty back as well. Which is ironic, because by all accounts it was *his* dumbass idea to make Star Trek: Generations a torch passing exercise between Kirk and Picard, and we all know how that turned out.

 

[RoJoHen]

Don't get me wrong: It's a TNG show, so I'm not saying Spock needed to show up all the time or anything, but I thought the ending of Unification begged for a follow up.

I do believe that the Unification storyline deserved a follow-up, even if Spock wasn't in it. Bringing Vulcans and Romulans together seemed like too big a story to just disappear the way it did.

 

[EnriqueH]

I get the impression that Rick Berman was always dubious about leaning on the old crew too much.

Yeah, I get that impression too. Like it would be bad publicity to use Spock again as if critics and audiences were like, "Oh, TNG is using Spock because the new characters aren't as cool." or something like that.

I thought it was perfectly acceptable, in-universe, to revisit Spock now and then.

Like RoJoHen said:

Bringing Vulcans and Romulans together seemed like too big a story to just disappear the way it did.

 

[Memory Alpha]

Since a very ancient McCoy and also Scotty made it on Picard's Enterprise, it's a shame that Spock and Kirk did not. I never found Unification to be the most believable episode, but it was cool. I would have liked to have seen a Spock appearance in Season 6 plus another in Season 7, and I would have been cool with Spock being smuggled out in "Face of the Enemy," but the Romulan angle could have continued. Nemesis, then, could have dealt with a change of power that would have been actually interesting and believable as opposed to what it ended up being. You wouldn't want Spock "taking over" TNG, but another appearance or two would have been enjoyable and might have added to the continuity.

 

[RandyS]

the Spock appearance in "unification" was somewhat motivated by TUC and the 25th anniversary. I think it was understood that it wasn't going to be repeated. The episode wasn't even that great.

Yeah, Nimoy did it to promote the film (and took a lot less money as a result) I'm sure Berman and co would have been delighted to have him back again for the odd one off but if the actor doesn't want to do it what are they gonna do?

Actually, Nimoy said he waited for the TNG people to call him back for a future episode but they never did.

I think that was in the Star Trek IV commentary with Shatner, if I remember correctly.

The TNG people were fools not to use him again.

Don't get me wrong: It's a TNG show, so I'm not saying Spock needed to show up all the time or anything, but I thought the ending of Unification begged for a follow up.

It took Abrams to finally do the smart thing and bring back Spock.

Which, ironically, was the one time it shouldn't have happened.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Tracy Torme pitched an idea that would've brought Nimoy on TNG in the second season. As Torme puts it in a Starlog interview:

I devised a time travel story in which we had two Spocks — the movie era Spock and the Spock from our [TNG] era — on the ship at the same time. It was called "Return to Forever," and I would have LOVED to do that show. But, talks with Leonard fell apart right as I was finishing my outline, so it didn't happen. It's a shame, but I would love to dig that that story out someday and try to do it again. Leonard Nimoy would have been wonderful in it, and I think that some fans who still feel having a new series is blasphemous would have had some of those feelings erased.

(from Starlog 143, pg. 30)

 

[borgboy]

I do find it disappointing that Spock's Reunification story wasn't followed up on, with or without Spock, although not to use Spock again when they could've is such a wasted opprotunity. I'd have loved to have seen Spock on DS9 for one episode - outside of the Tribble episode, which was just using old footage with limited interaction between the casts.

 

[EnriqueH]

Yeah, you would think that Vulcan-Romulan unification is a pretty big deal. I can't believe it was wasn't given a proper follow up.

 

[borgboy]

I'd love to see the novels follow it up post Romulus's destruction. Maybe some of the surviving Romulans would relocate to Vulcan.

 

[Mojochi]

Do you guys think Rock Berman and co. were intimidated by reusing Spock?

No, I think they were intimidated by reusing Nimoy, & I'm not saying Nimoy is intimidating, but his impact on Star Trek certainly is

Yeah, Nimoy did it to promote the film (and took a lot less money as a result) I'm sure Berman and co would have been delighted to have him back again for the odd one off but if the actor doesn't want to do it what are they gonna do?

Actually, Nimoy said he waited for the TNG people to call him back for a future episode but they never did.

The way I see it is that they didn't have any specific problem having guest appearances by the TOS people, which is why Doohan shows up the very next season, but take a look at the difference in episodes. Doohan's was just a tossed together one-off. Whereas, Spock's was a fairly involved two-parter, that even wheeled in his geriatric old father, & that doubled as a PR play for TUC, which is why Dorn shows up in TUC as a Klingon conspicuously named Colonel Worf as attorney for Kirk's the defense.

I'd say what they found to be a burden was the TOS catalog. They wanted to make their own stories, & didn't want to be penned in by countless hours of other main characters & their history

You can't do a story about Spock where he's not important or only as important as the TNG characters. His history dwarf's everything they've done. He's the most important guy in the room in any scene they make at that point, except that he's not a star of their show, which is unfortunate for those of us that see it all as one franchise

It's sad, because it clearly isn't Nimoy. He'd eventually come back to a small appearance on tv with Fringe. So obviously he was open to it. Had they come up with something worthy of Spock, then I don't doubt that he'd have done it, but that's a considerable investment of time & effort. Personally, I'd think it would be worth it to pull him out again with something that seemed recurring like Delancie had with Q, even if they only did it once more, given they only went 2 more seasons

They didn't want to invest that much into Spock. They'd only want to invest as much as they offered Doohan, which isn't good enough, & everybody knew it

He's Spock for f### sake. He IS Star Trek, not a guest spot