Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sarek

Although he would not appear until the third season in 1990, the seeds for Sarek's return in The Next Generation had actually been planted as far back as 1988, when writer Marc Cushman pitched a story idea to Gene Roddenberry for Sarek coming out of retirement for one final mission, whilst secretly dealing with a debilitating illness. Roddenberry, at the time wanting to avoid crossovers so TNG could stand on its own merits, liked the idea but wanted Sarek excised in favour of a new character, thus the idea was shelved.

Although Roddenberry later came around to the idea of a crossover, to the point where he was having meetings with original actor Mark Lenard, it wasn't until producer Michael Pillar took on the reigns that the idea would resurface. Picking up Bushman's original script and inserting the Vulcan back into the narrative, the writing team devised the degenerative Bendii Syndrome as the Ambassador's secret affliction.

The episode would prove bittersweet for the production crew, as the events would sometimes mirror the real life health struggles of the much loved Roddenberry, who had taken a step back from production following a massive stroke at the end of season 2.