This article contains references to sexual assault.
Star Trek: Nemesis There's a moment that's even more disturbing than one of the most uncomfortable scenes in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Near the end of Star Trek VILieutenant Valeris (Kim Cattrall) is revealed to be a conspirator on board in the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner). Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) forces Valeris into a mind meld to confirm his guilt and recover the names of his co-conspirators. Spock manages to get the information, but not before Valeris walks away and Spock asserts his control over her.
Most Star Trek: The Next Generation films avoided uncomfortable moments like that of Star Trek VIbut that changed with Star Trek: Nemesis. During one of Deanna Troi's (Marina Sirtis) romantic scenes with Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Riker's image is replaced by Shinzon's (Tom Hardy)while Shinzon and Viceroy Reman (Ron Perlman) launch a joint psychic attack on Troi. Deanna yells for Shinzon to stop, and pushes him, but Shinzon continues, calling Deanna "Imzadi" as Riker did, and insisting that no one will ever know Troi the way Shinzon does.
Star Trek: Nemesis' rape of Troi is even worse than Spock in Star Trek VI
Deanna Troi should have been a hero instead of a victim (again)
However, Nemesis' Troi's psychic violation is worse than Spock's in Valeris in Star Trek VI. Spock's non-consensual mind meld is hard to watch because Spock is supposed to be a herobut it is an act of desperation designed to avoid war. It's not easy for Spock to learn what Valeris knows. Meanwhile, Deanna's vulnerable, loving moment with Will, her new husband, is violated by an intruder who enjoys it - and it's not even the first time Star Trek that Deanna Troi was assaulted, physically or sexually.
Spock did what had to be done, but Deanna Troi did not need to be psychically sexually assaulted for the plot of Nemesis to work. The scene in Nemesis is filmed with brutal realism centered on Troi's pain. It only serves to establish how terrible Shinzon and the Viceroy are, after they have already demonstrated that they are the villains. As a capable empath, Troi shouldn't need Shinzon's psychic link to find him. Nemesis giving Deanna this sensationalized and unnecessary rape scene implies that Troi can only be heroic in response to being a victim first.
Why Star Trek VI and Star Trek: Nemesis Included Two Disturbing Scenes
Star Trek films' non-consensual scenes are seen differently in retrospect
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: Nemesis both included disturbing scenes as a way of pushing the Star Trek franchise even more. The first already explores elements such as Captain James Kirk's (William Shatner) racism towards the Klingons, which ends up humanizing the captain of the USS Enterprise-A. The moral question of whether Spock he must Performing a mind meld on Valeris doesn't take long; Nimoy's performance says everything it needs to. Nemesis pushed the action elements that made the previous TNG tour Star Trek: First Contact a hit with fans - but Nemesis it was a tonal failure.
Nicholas Meyer: "The scene where Spock is doing the Vulcan mind meld on Valeris to get information feels like a role-playing type of simulation to me, and it doesn't make me very happy to see it."
Star Trek VI director Nicholas Meyer lamented Spock's mind-meld scene and compared it to "simulated drowning". Given the opportunity to do it all over again, Meyer would have approached it differently. There is no such recorded repentance of Nemesis screenwriter John Logan, director Stuart Baird or producer Rick Berman. Unfortunately, it's not surprising given Berman's mistreatment of women in Star Trek. Marina Sirtis called Baird"an idiot" when asked about Nemesis at a convention in the United Kingdom. This lack of insight Star Trek: Nemesis' filmmakers is just another reason why his scene is the most disturbing.