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Romulan mind melds? Romulan nerve pinch?

Maybe Telepathy is not a dominate in Vulcans that only some can do the mind Meld (it was implied in Enterprise but that may have been High Command propaganda) similarly the ridges(like Romulans) might be a different genetic trait one that is in a minority on Vulcan(which is why we don't see ridged Vulcans on Screen) but was dominate on the exile ships (which is why most Romulans have ridges)
 
NewHeavensNewEarth said:
With Vulcans and Romulans having a shared history, it's curious that the classic Vulcan-isms have no parallels in Romulan society - such as the Vulcan mind meld, the Vulcan nerve pinch, or even Pon Farr. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Are there any examples of Romulan telepathy? "Nemesis" has Reman telepathy, of course, but that begs the bigger question of where the Remans fit into the offshoots from Vulcan. Were they just the locals in the solar system the Romulans settled (who also just happened to have pointy ears and telepathy like Vulcans), or were they originally of Vulcan? Genetic divergences like that immediately conjure up images from "The Time Machine," of course, but there doesn't seem to be an in-universe explanation for why the Romulans don't have basic abilities we associate with their Vulcan relatives.

Beyond being green-blooded, the connections between Romulans & Vulcans seem superficial at best, even though reunification is seen as such a crucial issue. In the divergence, it looks like the Remans took all the cool powers with them, but still ended up under the whip of their Romulan kindred. "Live long and prosper" is not the Romulan way.
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There's another easy explanation: In the Star Trek universe, mind powers, ESP, telepathy and such make you go crazy. If you're not mentally prepared for them.

The Vulcans, with their absolute self-control, are capable of handling the immense mental stresses of mind-melds and such. Romulans though? The might physically be capable to do the same, but not mentally. A Romulan can go learn mind-melds. But they don't, because everyone that tries goes crazy.
 
Rahul said:
There's another easy explanation: In the Star Trek universe, mind powers, ESP, telepathy and such make you go crazy. If you're not mentally prepared for them.

The Vulcans, with their absolute self-control, are capable of handling the immense mental stresses of mind-melds and such. Romulans though? The might physically be capable to do the same, but not mentally. A Romulan can go learn mind-melds. But they don't, because everyone that tries goes crazy.
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Even back in TOS ITITNB, Miranda Jones needed to be trained on Vulcan to control her telepathy and for her sanity. She needed to learn not to read minds. Without control would be like people shouting at you 24/7, and eventually, you would go insane. Also, without control you project your own thoughts and emotions (like Sarek did in TNG).
MIRANDA: I spent four years on Vulcan studying their mental discipline.
MCCOY: You poor girl.
SPOCK: On the contrary, Doctor, I would say that Doctor Jones was indeed fortunate.
MCCOY: Vulcan is not my idea of fun.
MIRANDA: Joy can be many things, Doctor. On Vulcan, I learned to do things impossible to learn anywhere else.
KIRK: To read minds?
MIRANDA: How not to read them, Captain.
KIRK: I don't understand.
SPOCK: Doctor Jones was born a telepath, Captain.
KIRK: Oh.
MIRANDA: Vulcan was necessary to my sanity.
SPOCK: What most humans generally find impossible to understand is the need to shut out the bedlam of other people's thoughts and emotions.
JONES: Or of their own thoughts and emotions. I was just noticing your Vulcan IDIC, Mister Spock. Is it a reminder that, as a Vulcan, you can mind-link with the Medusans far better than I could?
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Telepaths on worlds that don't teach telepathic training would have no choice but either lock telepaths up in solitary confinement away from other people, or put them down like rabid dogs.
 
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Rahul said:
There's another easy explanation: In the Star Trek universe, mind powers, ESP, telepathy and such make you go crazy. If you're not mentally prepared for them.

The Vulcans, with their absolute self-control, are capable of handling the immense mental stresses of mind-melds and such. Romulans though? The might physically be capable to do the same, but not mentally. A Romulan can go learn mind-melds. But they don't, because everyone that tries goes crazy.
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That's kinda what I was getting at when I was talking about Sarek's Bendii Syndrome representing not only a simple breakdown of those barriers for the individual, but also suggesting how Vulcan telepathy might have operated on a normal basis in their past, contributing to the massive violence of the time.

Vulcans contained it through a philosophical approach. In VOY's episode "Random Thought," that telepathic species approached it largely from a legislative/punitive angle. Maybe the Romulans did something similar (on a grander scale) until telepathy itself was just a thing of the past.
 
My assumption is that the Vulcan/Romulan species are very weak telepaths compared, to say, the Betazoids. Hence the simple explanation is that it requires incredible concentration and mental discipline to make the very limited natural abilities they possess in to anything useful. Vulcans are prepared to put in the hours, Romulans generally are not.

As for the Remans, my headcanon is that the Romulans did indeed interbreed with a local species when they arrived in the star system. Nearly everyone in the modern Romulan population is a hybrid between the original Vulcan settlers and the Otherworlders they found when they arrived. That's where they get their forehead ridges. The Romulans practice eugenics, simply allowing those with more classical 'Romulan' features to live on Romulus while those with less desirable traits associated with the Otherworlders are cast off to Remus.

Telepathic ability is a spectrum, and while most Vulcans, Romulans and Remans are average, sometimes you get a high ability individual like the Viceroy or the Vulcan Priestess (ST5) in all three sub-species.
 
Hopefully we'll get to know more of their abilities in the new PIC series, since the focus on Romulans was always sporadic compared to some others in other series. Even in NEM, a human was the main villain, and the depth of the story telling was lacking. ST '09 was also pretty surface-level with its Romulans, and much more of the focus was on Kirk.
 
We've had a few of really well fleshed our Romulans.

Admiral Jarok, Commander Tomalak, and Senators Cretak and Vreenak and come to mind. All benefitted from excellent actors behind the makeup, but I felt both all gave an excellent and reasonably consistent view in to the Romulan psyche. Paranoid, proud, fiercely loyal but only to their own causes which sometimes align with the state, and other times do not.

As for the telepathic abilities, perhaps we'll find out more, or perhaps it will remain a mysterious difference.
 
Rahul said:
There's another easy explanation: In the Star Trek universe, mind powers, ESP, telepathy and such make you go crazy. If you're not mentally prepared for them.

The Vulcans, with their absolute self-control, are capable of handling the immense mental stresses of mind-melds and such. Romulans though? The might physically be capable to do the same, but not mentally. A Romulan can go learn mind-melds. But they don't, because everyone that tries goes crazy.
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Okay, this is pretty cool explanation!
 
Verteron said:
We've had a few of really well fleshed our Romulans.

Admiral Jarok, Commander Tomalak, and Senators Cretak and Vreenak and come to mind. All benefitted from excellent actors behind the makeup, but I felt both all gave an excellent and reasonably consistent view in to the Romulan psyche. Paranoid, proud, fiercely loyal but only to their own causes which sometimes align with the state, and other times do not.

As for the telepathic abilities, perhaps we'll find out more, or perhaps it will remain a mysterious difference.
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Yes, we got to know a handful of individuals who had 1, maybe 2 episodes, and shine they did. But how many visits did Trek take to Bajor, Cardassia, and Qo'noS - versus Romulus? Even though the Romulans go all the way back to TOS, I think there were more home visits to the Founders than Romulus, too. "Unification" provided the most in-depth perspective of everyday life there, but I've noticed that a lot of people have a special interest in PIC because it might go deeper into the Romulan storyline than we've seen yet. But too bad Romulus itself will just be a memory at that point.
 
Longinus said:
I think Katra is a backup copy of your memories and experiences which a skilled telepath is capable of creating. As Romulans generally lack telepathic skills they're unable to create such backups.
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So what you're saying is, the Data in the PIC trailer is Data's Katra in B4's body?:lol:
 
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Lord Garth said:
I've always been of the opinion that Vulcans developed their telepathy and non-violent fighting methods after the Romulans left Vulcan.

I don't even want to guess about Remans. They don't look anything like Vulcans or Romulans. There's something else there. I wouldn't put it passed the Romulans to have enslaved the Remans. They could be a different race entirely who also happens to have telepathic powers.
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What a mess ST: Nemesis made when it came to the bat people Remans??? It was as if the producers had something left from "Insurrection" and sub-planted it onto "Nemesis". Monster versions of the Romulans... why??? We've never gotten a true Romulan epic adventure; a story which truly defines them for who they are and how dangerous they might be? I thought Kirstie Alley's interpretation was spot on for me: curious, questions everything in front of her, calculating moves to make, using her vanity in an attempt to pursue a goal. All are good traits when she's on Starfleet's side but look at what those same traits explored when it's on the Romulan side? We have Sela, wonderfully played by Denise Crosby and should've been considered in these movie projects because I thought she delivered the goods on how unpredictable and how calculating the Romulans could be.

As much as Trek talk a good game about the Romulans, most of the actors who portrayed a Romulan simply played them as generic villains. As a matter of fact I thought Terry Farrell portrayed a Romulan better than most actors who played Romulans; her role playing with Sisko was far more convincing and challenging than what was to come in that overrated episode "In the Pale Moonlight".

As far as it goes the Vulcanians were more like the Hulk while the Romulans were more like Dr. Robert Banner. The mysticism and techniques the Vulcanians used were a method to subdue the chronic rage within them. Romulans never required it so telepathy and nerve pinches were not needed to handle or suppress their people.
 
STEPhon IT said:
We have Sela, wonderfully played by Denise Crosby and should've been considered in these movie projects because I thought she delivered the goods on how unpredictable and how calculating the Romulans could be.
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I'm not sure the typical movie-goer would've been familiar enough with Sela's story to make it worthwhile, but yes, I liked her as well. Whenever Denise gets asked about Sela, I don't get the impression she was a huge fan of Sela herself, but still appreciated the opportunity to be involved in Trek again. It sounds like she would've much rather explored more of Tasha's story than Sela's. I really liked "Legacy," so expanding on either character would've been nice. (But having Tom Hardy in "NEM" was one of its better points.)
 
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