 Mark Jones and Lance Parkin , in their book Beyond the Final Frontier : An Unauthorised Review of Star Trek , wrote that " Sarek " " could have simply pressed fanboy buttons " , but was actually " a moving story of a great man brought low by old age and illness " . They praised Lenard , but thought that Stewart " steals the show with an extraordinary performance " . Chris Gregory , in his book Star Trek : Parallel Narratives , suggested that <unk> syndrome as seen in this episode " has echoes of Alzheimer 's disease " . James Van Hise and Hal Schumer , in The Complete Trek : The Next Generation , compared the plot of " Sarek " to that of the The Original Series episode " Day of the Dove " . They described " Sarek " as " excellent " and said that it was " exciting and emotional , with real conflicts overcome by real people " . They added that " TV doesn 't get much better than this . " 
