#sybok's band of weirdos

[marlinspirkhall]

please tell me more about sybok never existing?

I apologise that I can't get a "read only" on mobile, maybe I'll wait until tomorrow to post this from a computer.

Extended Star Trek Universe:

- Sybok is never mentioned in Discovery? We see Michael being introduced to the other members of the household, so where is Sybok? You'd have thought he'd have interacted with her in at least some capacity, and, if the reason he's never mentioned is that he's already left to start his Emotional Cult™ that the VSA would have made some allusion to this when rejecting Michael from the VSA.

- Sarek in Discovery: "I am not prepared to lose both of our children in one day" (I know the counter point to this is "Ah but he was talking about He And Amanda's children," but there's evidence that Sybok was raised by Amanda (some star trek book has a picture of a letter he sent her as a young child when his biological mother died and he went to live with Sarek)

- "Ah, Marlin," you say, "If there's evidence that Sybok sent a letter to Amanda as a child, then surely you've contradicted your own point? He must exist, canonically."

- You are too clever an opponent and I concede the argument.

- EXCEPT:

- Star Trek V deliberately references dreaming, unreality and dream sequences many times (yeah I know shatner's the screenwriter, so it's flimsy evidence). Here we go:

Common things people do while dreaming:

- Symbolic representation of Overcoming Obstacles (Captain Kirk is Climbing A Mountain. Not only that, he's free-climbing)

- Flying unaided (Spock's rocket boots)

- Anxieties revealed (Kirk: "I need a shower". Spock: " Yes". Kirk: *looks crestfallen*)

- Loved Ones betray you/Are angry with you (Sulu, Uhura and Chekhov all fall sway to Sybok's persuasion. This is a symbolic representation of Kirk feeling upset that the Enterprise crew have told him to go to therapy, jealously that therapy has worked for them, fundamental misunderstanding of how 'easy' he perceives their recoveries to be compared to his/as an outsider looking in)

- Being Chased (Sulu: "Captain, come back!" This also represents anxieties about getting older and the inevitability that Kirk's going to lose his command (again) to retirement)

- Inability to move your legs due to sleep paralysis & therefore resorting to flying to help escape a pursuer who's about to catch up to you (see: Rocket Boots. I'm a rocket man, and it's gonna be a long long time-)

- Unfamiliar/Exaggerated/Labyrinthine architecture (Scotty: "I know this ship like the back of my hand" *immediately walks into a beam*, when Kirk/Spock/Bones ascend through the central tunnel, they zoom past a greater number of deck numbers than the Enterprise actually has)

- Things Chasing You can teleport to your location instantly (Despite taking a shortcut, as soon as Kirk tries to send a distress call, Sybok and Sulu burst in on them)

Conclusion:

Kirk is undergoing hypno-therapy. We see him working back through layers of his own trauma, finally reaching the core of his own issues at the climax of the movie. In The Conscience Of The King, we can see that Kirk believes he's resolved his trauma relating to Tarsus IV, so it's not quite as active a part of his subconscious reality at first. Sybok represents the voice of the hypnotherapist, which he initially resists. He first has to be "Captured" (called back to the Enterprise, taken to the brig by Sybok, escaping the brig, captured again) before we see him in familiar surroundings, somewhere he feels safe: his quarters on The Enterprise. Here, finally, he begins to open up: Sybok asks Kirk, "Spock" and "Bones" to open up about their trauma.

Kirk, the active dreamer, still resists, but his subconscious manifests his own trauma- relating to the death of a parent- as Bones'. It's unlikely that Kirk's parent died in the same way Bones described, but it is likely that Kirk feels some manner of grief over it. Plus, the first draft of The Conscience Of The King had Kirk's father being killed by Kodos (This is negated by Star Trek 2009, where Spock says George Kirk "lived to see Kirk become Captain of The Enterprise," but the point still stands: regardless of the cause, it's devastating to lose a parent at any age, and an individual is capable of feeling guilty even if they died of natural causes).

Next up, we have what Spock represents. Everyone always points out how nonchalant Spock is when Sybok creates a visual (mis)representation of Spock's birth (and the fact that it takes place in a cave- I apologise for pulling a Freud on you, but that's WOMB symbolism, babyyyyy), and Spock's response is that he resolved that trauma already. This is true. So why the hell would it get shown otherwise?

Because Kirk still has anxiety that Spock's going to leave him again. He did it before, when he underwent Kolinhar, and Kirk spent The Search For Spock trying to get him to remember aspects of their relationship which he'd forgotten, and you can see how he's hurt by this.

But Spock (and Bones) stand by him.

Finally, they pilot The Enterprise to "the centre of the Universe", I.e, Kirk's deepest trauma. The big one. Tarsus IV.

"What does God need with a Starship?"

Kirk, finally, confronts "God". Or, rather, he's asking a huge, existential questions. There's a bit of 'if there's a god he'd have to be pretty cruel to let Tarsus IV evil in general happen' in there and also some other stuff, but Kirk essentially concludes that: yes, God is evil, and promptly kills him. This really represents the shock of finding Kodos alive in The Conscience Of The King. Having no use for therapy anymore now that he's resolved all his issues (ha), Sybok is promptly zapped.

Oh, what's this? Kirk has a little more trauma to resolve? Yeah it's not like he lost a son in the previous movies or anything.

He tells Spock "I lost a brother, once", then we have what's, essentially, a t'hy'la speech, (Yeah Spock's your brother... And your lover, and your friend.) and "We're A Family" and lots of fluffy good stuff. Then they go back to the campfire and sing Life Is But A Dream again, because this film isn't subtle.

Ergo, Sybok- at least, Spock's brother, Sybok- doesn't exist.

Also, note how Kirk's not quite as angry with the Klingons in this movie as he is in the next? His rage is suppressed for now, because "Not In Front Of The Klingons" obviously represents: Maybe Don't Give Out Free Info To The Klingons That We're Married, but he's still in grieving for his son, because there's only so much you can cover in one therapy session, no matter how good Sybok claims to be.