Sir Patrick Stewart was reportedly not interested in joining Star Trek: The Next Generation before he was persuaded by his manager to take the well-paying job. Though the actor seemed like a fish out of water initially, he never phoned it in with his performances and gave the character of Jean-Luc Picard a whole new dimension.
Despite his wonderful performance in the show, the actor never received an Emmy nomination, let alone an award for his role in Star Trek: TNG. In fact, many of the cast members have been denied the prestigious award despite giving amazing performances. One episode that proved the Emmys’ hate for sci-fi is the season 3 episode, ‘Sarek’.
Sir Patrick Stewart’s Performance In Star Trek: TNG’s ‘Sarek’ Deserved An Emmy
The Emmys have always been biased against sci-fi and fantasy shows as opposed to true dramas. Even after so many decades, the prestigious awards ceremony rarely honors the genre that has millions of fans around the world. Even at its peak, Star Trek: TNG was only nominated for technical awards and rarely for writing and acting.
While there have been many memorable performances by Sir Patrick Stewart, one of his best was in the season 3 episode ‘Sarek’. The actor encounters Mark Lenard’s Sarek from The Original Series in the episode and finds him to be suffering from Bendii Syndrome, an Alzheimer’s-like degenerative disease, which telepathically affects the rest of the crew.
The episode sees the two mind-meld in order to make it easier for Sarek to attend a diplomatic conference, and Picard takes on centuries worth of trauma from Sarek. One scene in which he expresses his regrets is particularly regarded by fans as one of his best performances. Fans said (via Reddit),
Unfortunately, the Emmys and Academy Awards seem to despise science fiction for some reason. That’s why I think we have the Saturn Awards.
-W3DJS
I think about this episode daily as I work with elders with dementia, many of whom were as accomplished and vital as Sarek. It’s a reminder not to assume the mental capacity you have now will be with you until the end.
-LizardBoyfriend
Stewart is a phenomenal actor and his ability to switch between emotions in that scene is amazing
-Hour_Amphibian_6613
The episode is widely regarded among the best of Star Trek: TNG and Stewart’s performance in particular has been praised by critics and fans alike.
While He Won No Emmys, Patrick Stewart Wanted Brent Spiner To Win For An Episode
Sir Patrick Stewart is one of the most accomplished actors and has been nominated for multiple Emmys and Golden Globes, though none of them were for Star Trek: TNG. The actor’s performance in episodes like ‘Inner Light’ and ‘Sarek’ has impressed fans enough to campaign for a nomination, but they went in vain.
However, the legendary actor believed that his co-star and Data actor Brent Spiner deserved to win the award for his performance in the episode ‘The Offspring’. The episode sees Data building his own android Lal and trying to raise her as a human but fails as she dies by the end of the episode. Stewart wrote in his memoir ‘Making it So’ (via Slash Film),
Brent Spiner’s performance is staggeringly good — he found new depths to his character’s Pinocchio-like predicament of being a human invention who wishes to become human. It’s a major injustice to me that Brent has never won an Emmy for playing Data, not to mention the androids Lore and B-4 and the bizarre Soong family of mad scientists.
Spiner too was never nominated for an Emmy and only received the Saturn Award for Lifetime Achievement along with the rest of the ensemble cast.
Star Trek: TNG is available to stream on Paramount+.
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