Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Memory and the Past

The men and women of Enterprise have rough relationships with their pasts. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, we find out that "Bones" McCoy is haunted by difficult decisions he made when his father was deathly ill. Spock is tortured by the shame he felt when Vulcan peers bullied him for his human heritage. Even Kirk has bad stuff buried in his past, though he has no interest in sharing the specifics with us. One thing this film shows is that we all carry the weight of our pasts.

Questions About Memory and the Past

1. How do Sybok's and Kirk's perspectives on the past differ?
2. Does McCoy manage to make peace with his past? Explain your answer.
3. What is the significance of the visual design of Spock's memory of his birth?
4. How do Spock's memories of Sybok affect the way he treats him in the present, and vice versa?

Chew on This

While Sybok thinks that the past must be fixed, Kirk believes that it must be learned from.

Although McCoy might not have fully made peace with his past, he has started down the road to recovery.