What about Sybok? (Spock's half-brother)

I loved Season 1 of Disco, and I'm loving Season 2. Just a question, though: what about Sybok (Spock's half-brother)? I'm as excited as anyone to see Spock and the complex relationship between him, his father, and Michael. But if you saw the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, isn't the entire premise of this season custom-made for a character like Sybok?

- a matter of galactic proportions
- an entity of near-divine proportions (the red angel)
- visions of this near-divine entity, causing an all-consuming obsession with it

This sound tailor-made for Sybok, and while I'm not saying it's a mistake to have Spock at the center of it, could there be a way to bring in Sybok later in the season? (Assuming that it wouldn't be too crowded of a family affair between them all...) That would be a creative way to bridge the Sybok narrative with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, because Sybok kinda came out of nowhere in the original chronology. One of the great aspects of Discovery is the ability to weave it all together, so I guess we'll wait and see.

 

It's not impossible, but Star Trek V is the red headed stepchild of the TOS Star Trek film series. I just don't see them embracing that character because of the poor reception of the film overall - Gene Roddenbery all but disowned it.

 

Sybok only appeared in a bad dream. Let's forget about him.

Kor

 

I thrive on bad dreams.

And though many disapprove of it, it's still part of Trek Canon.
So Sybok is out there somewhere.

 

I'd rather them not bring up Sybok. I'd rather they not even make a hint or a reference about Sybok. It's very easy to navigate around that character. Sarek's got a fucked up family.

 

I agree that if there is a religious theme at all, then Sybok should probably at least get a mention in dialogue between Spock and Sarek, since he took off with a cult. But I'm not sure there's a real religious angle here - I'm thinking the red angel imagery ties into the Iconians, and that the events we're seeing on Discovery this season will tie into the Picard series.

Heck YES. With young Tuvok and Vorik studying together nearby. And Carol Decker playing T'Pau.

 

I would very much like a show based on the flashbacks from "Brother", with added late-teen hippy black sheep Sybok.

The thing about Sybok is he explained Sarek's shitty patenting. He wanted Spock to be extra Vulcan because he was afraid he'd be exiled as Sybok was.

Of course, Spock's backstory is undergoing a page one rewrite with the addition of a human sister, so everything's up in the air. It'd still be cool to see a version of Sybok pre-exile. Or pethaps to tell the story of his holy vision and flesh out his extraordinary powers.

 

In fairness to TFF, Gene Roddenberry "all but disowning it" wasn't unique. Aside from TMP, Roddenberry had issue with virtually every Trek film.

 

I'm Sybok fan. I haven't watched Discovery yet, but if he popped up I think I'd have to.

Tuvok is going to be revealed as the love child of Spock and Burnham at some point in season 3. Book it.

 

Whereever he is he can stay there.

 

I doubt we'll get any mention, but I wouldn't mind a regretful plea from Sarek to Spock along the lines of "I already lost one son over his fanaticism, I don't want to lose you too" followed by Spock rebuking Sarek that "Sybok is not lost, father, you just won't speak to him" which will address their own bitter estrangement.

 

[purist]
Only if done in flashback. We all know (at least all TrueFansTM know) Sarek and Spock did not speak to each other for 18 years and DSC is smack in the middle of that period.
[/purist]

 

Yup. One mention would do it. They have so many other shout-outs and fanservicey things. Which I'm ok with if they're going to go total TOS-prequel on us. (I originally thought it was just a show set before TOS.) I liked seeing the "ROYKAH" jingle bell thingy in Spock's quarters.

 

They should bring in Sybok as a Section 31 operative.

 

To be precise, they did not speak to each other "as father and son" for eighteen years, which gives us a little wiggle room, if they want to take it.

And, yeah, if we're going to continue to delve in Spock and Michael's complicated family history, I'm not sure how you can ignore the black-sheep older brother entirely.

 

I think that as a close-up look at Spock's family life, it would be unfortunate to pretend that Sybok never existed. It could be an opportunity to revamp the Sybok character in a more nuanced way, as well as tackling their sibling dynamic on a "micro" level comparable to that of the Vulcans and the Romulans.

Using TNG as a model, most recurring siblings were introduced early on (Worf's brother, Data's brother, etc.), whereas other siblings that were introduced in later season were generally for only 1 or 2 episodes (Picard's brother, Troi's sister). If they introduce Sybok as a recurring character later, it runs the risk of coming off just as random as when Sybok was originally introduced in The Final Frontier. But I think it does have potential for a more nuanced story as long as it doesn't get too crowded, whether for 1 episode or more. And I still think that this season's themes are tailor-made for him, so if they're going to bring him in, I think it would make more sense to do it sooner rather than later.