Sybok appears poised to return to Star Trek with Strange New World.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is doing a great job exploring the characters from the original pilot of Star Trek that didn’t get a lot of love following the re-working of the series. As fans know that the first pilot of Trek didn’t make it to air originally as intended, and was instead chopped up and inserted into the two-part episode The Menagerie.
Captain Pike and Number One were given a second life on Strange New Worlds that they were expected to get in the original franchise. Not only that, but characters like M’Benga also got a shot on the series to get more flushed out as well. So it’s not surprising that Strange New Worlds seemed poised to bring back yet another character who wasn’t given much air time; Sybok.
Sybok was introduced in earnest in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as a religious zealot who didn’t suppress his emotions and instead used his Vulcan abilities to make people relieve their worst pain, and then cure them of that suffering.
Sybok’s character really did have potential
Making Spock a man who suppressed his emotions and opened himself up to logic and reason, while turning Sybok into a being who thrived off the emotions of others is a brilliant way to bring the character into the fold and show the juxtaposition of both men.
Making Sybok a religious leader of sorts was a brilliant move and one that wasn’t as common as you’d think. The show largely dealt with larger-than-life aliens, military leaders, or spies of some sort. Yet, with Sybok they went with a different approach and it was a great idea, just poorly executed.
Star Trek V would’ve done well to focus more on Sybok’s impact on the people he “helped”, and how they’d protect him from the Federation. While focusing less on the idea of discovering “God”. Showing the depth of their devotion and how easy it is to fall in line with such a powerful and charismatic person would’ve been a perfect way to build the film; especially on a tight budget.
Hopefully, Strange New Worlds really highlights the cult aspect of Sybok’s character because that would be a truly interesting thing to dive deeper into.