Along with the nerve pinch, the Vulcan mind meld became a signature ability of Star Trek’s iconic pointed-eared aliens. It’s an expedient means to deliver plot exposition, which can be a benefit to more esoteric Star Trek scripts, and the perceived intimacy of the act can lead to strong interpersonal drama with the characters. But its origins, like a great deal of Star Trek apocrypha, were more a matter of happenstance than planning, and as it happens, the mind meld arose from a fear of misrepresenting a very human phenomenon.

The mind meld was first used in the original series Season 1, Episode 9, “Dagger of the Mind.” While Mr. Spock was originally written as using hypnosis, the producers were concerned about using this phenomena onscreen as a means of delivering key plot information. Luckily, Mr. Spock, with his alien physiology and culture, provided an elegant means to achieve the script’s required goals without wading into hypnosis, which they thought could be a huge mess.

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What Is Star Trek’s Vulcan Mind Meld?

Spock mind-melding with Picard as Data watches

Mr. Spock describes the mind meld as “an ancient Vulcan technique” that connects two minds in a telepathic link. On the most basic level, it allows communication, but it’s also an intense exchange of feelings and emotions: essentially, joining the two minds into one. It usually involves the performing Vulcan touching the subject’s face, but isn't always necessary. The mind meld requires great discipline and training to accomplish, and can have long-lasting physical and mental aftereffects. This wasn't always a negative; in Season 3, Episode 6, "Spectre of the Gun," Spock used the aftereffects to save the rest of the landing party's life.

The franchise kept the specifics nebulous in order to give the writers leeway in terms of what a mind meld could accomplish. In Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1, Episode 2, “Battle at the Binary Stars” Sarek made a long-distance mind meld with Michael Burnham, while Spock used it to preserve his soul in McCoy’s body before his death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The narrative flexibility means keeping the details of how it all works a mystery, letting the writers justify whatever they require it to do.

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Why Star Trek’s Vulcan Mind Meld Exists

Spock first used the mind meld in “Dagger of the Mind” to gain important information from Dr. Van Gelder, who suffered systemic brain damage at the hands of the episode’s villain. According to The Making of Star Trek, the scene originally had him employing the more mundane method of hypnosis, which Spock used to calm Van Gelder’s mind and extract from him the necessary details. The producers shied away from the idea for a number of reasons.

In the first case, they didn’t want to present hypnosis as medicine, which they considered irresponsible. They also had narrative concerns, since Spock hadn’t demonstrated mastery of hypnosis before and to do so now might be excessively convenient. Most bizarrely of all, the book claims they were worried about hypnotizing viewers at home, though how such a thing might happen or what might result was unclear.

Regardless, Spock’s alien background gave the creatives the perfect means to resolve those concerns. It could be medically sound in canon, since alien physiology was unknown, and was in keeping with the character’s already established traits. It worked so well that it’s been used in one form or another ever since. The worries about hypnosis, however unfounded, produced a burst of creativity that now feels utterly indispensable to the franchise.

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