Since Leonard Nimoy's Spock introduced Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) by hitting him. Nimoy felt that Spock, and Vulcans, would have a more dignified way of rendering someone unconscious than a bonk on the head.
The Vulcan Nerve Pinch works by applying pressure to a specific area at the base of the neck, immediately rendering the recipient of the pinch unconscious. Although Vulcans are the species that perfected the technique, a few others have managed to learn how to perform the Nerve Pinch, with various levels of effectiveness. Some humans learned the move from their Vulcan friends, while others perfected it after sharing a mind meld or katra with a Vulcan. The Nerve Pinch seems to require a combination of strength and technique that is difficult to master.
8 Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart)
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 18 - "Starship Mine"
Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Release Date
- 1987 - 1994-00-00
- Network
- Syndication
- Showrunner
- Gene Roddenberry
Cast
Jean-Luc Picard
Commander William T. Riker
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 7
In Star Trek's take on Die Hard, Captain Jean-Luc Picard channels his inner John McClane to take on a group of would-be thieves aboard the USS Enterprise-D. With the Enterprise scheduled to undergo a dangerous decontamination process using a baryon sweep, the entire crew must evacuate the ship. However, as Picard is about to leave, he encounters a man named Devor (Tim Russ), who claims to be performing last-minute maintenance.
Tim Russ would, of course, go on to portray the Vulcan security chief Lt. Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager, who employed the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on numerous occasions.
When Devor tries to attack Picard from behind, Picard fights back, using a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to disable Devor. Picard questions Devor when he awakens, but the mercenary refuses to talk. Although Picard does not mention where he learned to perform the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, he presumably gained the knowledge after his mind meld with Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 23, "Sarek."
7 Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner)
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 8 - "Unification, Part II"
Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5's "Unification" two-parter brought Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) face-to-face with Captain Picard. When the Captain of the Enterprise is sent to search for the missing ambassador, Picard discovers that Spock has taken on a "personal mission of peace" to reunify the Romulan and Vulcan peoples. "Unification" also sees the return of Sela (Denise Crosby), the half-Romulan daughter of Lt. Tasha Yar, whose plan of Romulan conquest is ultimately thwarted by Picard, Data, and Spock.
Data also uses a Nerve Pinch to take out a Reman guard in Star Trek: Nemesis.
In the second half of "Unification," Data uses the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to knock out Sela, prompting Spock to respond: "Not bad." Ambassador Spock had demonstrated the Nerve Pinch earlier against a Romulan guard, which is where Data likely picked up the technique. Data also uses a Nerve Pinch to take out a Reman guard in Star Trek: Nemesis. With his superior strength and access to any research on the topic, it's not particularly surprising that Data can perform the Nerve Pinch as well as Vulcans.
6 Constable Odo (René Auberjonois)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1, Episode 5 - "Babel" & Season 4, Episode 12 - "Paradise Lost"
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Release Date
- 1993 - 1999-00-00
- Network
- CBS
- Showrunner
- Michael Piller, Ira Steven Behr
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 7
As the ever-reliable Security Chief aboard Deep Space Nine, Constable Odo used his detective skills and Changeling abilities to maintain law and order on the station. He used a Vulcan Nerve Pinch at least twice on screen. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 episode, "Babel," Odo employed the technique to incapacitate a Markalian named Asoth (Bo Zenga), to prevent him from force-feeding bad Kohlanese stew to Quark (Armin Shimerman).
Constable Odo's 10 Best Star Trek: DS9 Episodes
Constable Odo's best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes showcase the search for his origins, his clashes with the Founders, and his love for Kira.
Odo performed another Nerve Pinch in DS9's "Paradise Lost," using the move to take out a Starfleet security officer and break Sisko out of prison. There was a behind-the-scenes reason for this particular use of the Nerve Pinch — the DS9 production team had run out of money for the CGI used to create Odo's Changeling effects. While it's never stated where Odo learned how to do the Nerve Pinch, he is particularly observant and his Changeling abilities likely make it easier to perfect the technique.
5 Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan)
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 6 - "The Raven"
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Star Trek: Voyager
- Release Date
- January 16, 1995
- Network
- UPN
- Showrunner
- Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga, Kenneth Biller
- Directors
- David Livingston, Winrich Kolbe, Allan Kroeker, Michael Vejar
- Writers
- Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor
Cast
Kathryn Janeway
Chakotay
- Seasons
- 7
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount Plus
Star Trek: Voyager's "The Raven" focuses on Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine, who has begun the process of relearning how to be human. When she begins experiencing strange dreams, Seven finds herself drawn to a particular moon, and she steals one of Voyager's shuttles to get there. Lt. Tuvok pursues Seven, beaming over to her shuttle, where a fight ensues. Seven uses a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to render Tuvok unconscious, insisting that she is a Borg.
It's rare in Star Trek to see a non-Vulcan render a Vulcan unconscious with the nerve pinch.
Tuvok later awakens and accompanies Seven to the moon's surface, where they find the wreck of her parent's ship, the Raven. In the fight with Tuvok on her shuttle, Seven more than holds her own against the Vulcan, suggesting her Borg implants significantly enhance her strength. Seven could have learned how to perform the Nerve Pinch after her Borg collective assimilated a Vulcan, and her strength likely renders the Pinch more effective.
4 The Doctor (Robert Picardo)
Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 4 - "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy"
In Star Trek: Voyager's "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy," Robert Picardo's Doctor imagines himself as an Emergency Command Hologram who takes command of Voyager when the rest of the crew is incapacitated. In one of his daydreams, most of Voyager's senior officers are assimilated, forcing the Doctor to defend himself against them. He employs a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to take down Tuvok, while Seven looks on adoringly.
The Doctor then singlehandedly destroys the Borg ship using the imaginary photonic cannon before he is brought back to reality by the real Voyager crew. This use of the Nerve Pinch only occurs in the Doctor's daydream, making it unclear whether the Emergency Medical Hologram could actually perform the technique. The Doctor has the medical knowledge to understand how the Nerve Pinch works, though, and his nature as a hologram could make him stronger than average.
3 Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula)
Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4, Episode 9 - "Kir'Shara"
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Star Trek: Enterprise
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2005-00-00
- Showrunner
- Brannon Braga
- Directors
- Brannon Braga
Cast
-
John Billingsley
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 4
The third episode in a three-part Vulcan story arc, "Kir'Shara" follows Captain Archer, Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), and T'Pau (Kara Zediker) as they search for an ancient Vulcan artifact called the Kir'Shara. The Kir'Shara contains the writings of Surak (Bruce Gray), the father of Vulcan civilization, and its recovery by T'Pau's Syrrannite group eventually led to the reformation of Vulcan society.
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While carrying the katra (or soul) of Surak, Captain Archer performs a Vulcan Nerve Pinch on one of the Vulcan Imperial Guards who have been pursuing him. T'Pau remarks that Archer's "technique has improved," implying that he has been practicing. This suggests that the Nerve Pinch requires a precise force applied to a particular spot and that it's very difficult for humans to master the technique.
2 Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green)
Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 1 - "The Vulcan Hello"
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Star Trek: Discovery
- Release Date
- 2017 - 2024-00-00
- Showrunner
- Alex Kurtzman
- Directors
- Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jonathan Frakes
Cast
-
Rekha Sharma
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 5
In Star Trek: Discovery's premiere episode, "The Vulcan Hello," Commander Michael Burnham mutinies against Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). With the USS Shenzhou facing off against a Klingon ship, Burnham insists that they should attack first, but Georgiou disagrees. When Georgiou confronts Burnham about contradicting her in front of the crew, Burnham refuses to stand down.
Captain Georgiou's Mirror Universe counterpart, Emperor Georgiou, had one of Star Trek: Discovery's best character arcs. Michelle Yeoh is reprising the role as the star of the Star Trek: Section 31 film.
Burnham then uses a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to render Georgiou unconscious, before returning to the bridge and taking command. Burnham's Nerve Pinch did not keep Georgiou down for long, however, and the captain soon confronted Michael on the bridge. Having been raised on Vulcan, Michael could have been practicing the Vulcan Nerve Pinch since childhood, but her use of the technique proved far less effective than most Vulcans.
1 Alternate Universe Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 3 - "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- Release Date
- May 5, 2022
- Network
- Paramount+
- Showrunner
- Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
Cast
Captain Christopher Pike
Spock
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 3
- Where To Watch
- Paramount Plus
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's time travel episode, Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) finds herself trapped in 21st-century Toronto with an alternate universe version of Captain Kirk. As La'an and Kirk work together to determine what has changed in the timeline, they seek out transportation. Kirk then uses a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to disable a erby and steal his car.
Captain Kirk also learned how to make Vulcan plomeek soup.
When La'an questions where he learned the technique, Kirk responds that he spent six months in a Denobulan prison with a Vulcan cellmate. Since La'an and Kirk speed off quickly, it's unclear how long the car's owner remained incapacitated or even if he was truly rendered unconscious. Still, Kirk proves that a human can learn to do Star Trek's Vulcan Nerve Pinch in a relatively short amount of time given the right circumstances and a good teacher.
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