What exactly IS the neck pinch?

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Graham Kennedy
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What exactly IS the neck pinch?

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Here's a question... what exactly is the neck pinch?

In TOS, I always had the impression that it was a telepathic thing. Vulcans touched your face to mind meld with you. I figured that they did that because they generated a weak telepathic field around their fingers, and touching your head brought that within range of vital parts of the brain and nervous system - like plugging a lead into a port on a computer.

I then further theorised that touching other points on the neck and shoulder let them access other parts of the nervous system, which allowed them to induce unconsciousness.

This is find and dandy, and works well... though it has some implications.

For instance, you should not necessarily be able to NP different species in the same way. You should have to learn a different NP technique for at least some species - for some touching other body parts may be required. And for some it shouldn't work at all.

All well and good. But if that was so then it should also be something that only Vulcans can do. And it isn't. In Unification 2, I believe Data neck pinches Sela. Bang goes the idea that it's a telepathic thing. The neck pinch must be some sort of "Vulcan martial arts" move...

But that makes it somewhat odd that it works on different species... even animals (Spock even NPs an alien horse in ST V). All of these just happen to have some pressure point in the same part of their bodies?

I am thinking of writing this up as an article for the site. Do we have any other data points to consider? Specifically I'd love examples of a neck pinch working differently, or not working on some species, or being done by any non Vulcan, or any dialogue about it. Any interesting NP facts, basically.
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Post by Captain Seafort »

"The Enterprise Incident" - Spock's "Vulcan Death Grip" was a nerve pinch, but it involved grabbing Kirk's face, rather than the usual neck/shoulder pinch.

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"Starship Mine" - Picard applied the standard pinch to one of the terrorist aboard the Enterprise.

"Kir'shara" - Archer used the pinch while possesed by Surak's katra.
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Post by Mikey »

I know it's out-of-universe, but I chalk it up to one of Roddenberry's "make the Vulcans godlike" moments. :wink:
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Post by Monroe »

Maybe it cuts blood off to the brain stem causing unconciousness. Though it works bit too fast for that.
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Post by Sionnach Glic »

I think the best bet is that the Vulcan is just using it's strength to seriously screw with a nerve of some sort, causing the individual in question to collapse into unconsciousness.
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Post by Duskofdead »

Mikey wrote:I know it's out-of-universe, but I chalk it up to one of Roddenberry's "make the Vulcans godlike" moments. :wink:
Prior to Suran's philosophy of logic, the neck pinch was referred to in Vulcan society as the "sure thing"; slang referring to its use in pon'farr-gone-bad situation utility. After the introduction of logic, the neck pinch became a standard procedure for nonviolent apprehension of criminals; the implementation was quick because, logically, the sex offenders locked up were already practiced at the method and thus the natural choice to become law enforcement officers.
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Post by Graham Kennedy »

I seem to recall seeing in a documentary that Nimoy invented the neck pinch. It was in The Enemy Within... the script had Spock knocking the evil Kirk out conventional style, but Nimoy figured that was a bit lowbrow for the Vulcans, and suggested that Spock have some cold, clinical way of rendering a person unconscious. He showed Gene, who liked it, and the rest is history.
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Post by Graham Kennedy »

Oh, here's one... when McCoy was carrying Spock's katra, he was NOT able to do the neck pinch. And in fact the security guy seemed more amused than anything when he tried, as if it was laughable that he might be able to do it.
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Post by Monroe »

Maybe its an electric impulse that causes people to go into an unconcious state. Would explain why Data and Vulcans can do it. Cause vulcans' brains may be able to make that kind of impulse. Would also explain why not every Vulcan can.
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Post by Graham Kennedy »

But when Archer was carrying Surak's Katra, he did a neck pinch on somebody.
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Post by Tsukiyumi »

For the record, there really are pressure points on humans that can be attacked to cause pain, involuntary reactions, or even paralysis. I find it highly doubtful that these types of nerve clusters would be in the same place on nearly every species, though.
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Post by Captain Seafort »

GrahamKennedy wrote:But when Archer was carrying Surak's Katra, he did a neck pinch on somebody.
I remember hearing somewhere that strength is required to impliment the nerve pinch, although I can't remember where. This may explain why Archer was able to pull it off, while McCoy (who was somewhat older and out of shape) couldn't.
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Post by mwhittington »

I think it's a nerve pinch. If you remember, Data was able to do it as well, and he's not a telepath, nor did he house a katra. I think it was in Unification, or one of the eps with Tasha Yar's daughter.
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Post by stitch626 »

while McCoy (who was somewhat older and out of shape) couldn't
Hilarious scene. :lol:
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Post by Blackstar the Chakat »

Maybe it's some sort of martial arts technique that creates a shock through the actual nerves, rather then the nervus system itself. One of the things we've seen in almost if not all species is the ability to feel sensations on their skin, like pain. The 'nerve pinch' could send this 'pinch' through the nerves that way rather then a specific point. The neck/face area may be the best locations in general as they tend to be near the brain which tends to be in the head.
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