Torture

Torture is a process by which one exacts mental or physical cruelty upon another person for purposes of either interrogation or revenge for a past crime. Sometimes, a torturer commits acts out of sheer sadism. The process of torturing someone usually takes place over a prolonged period of time.

In most cases, the person being tortured is confined to a small space with restricted movement, allowing the torturer the ability to more efficiently torment them. In some circles, aggressive forms of interrogation conducted by military or law-enforcement agencies could be construed as acts of torture, and has given rise to controversy and scandal over the years.


 * Babylon 5: An alien being known as a Soul Hunter came aboard the Babylon 5 station where it sought out the Minbari ambassador known as Delenn. He captured Delenn and brought her back to his ship where he strapped her down to a table. He wanted revenge against the Minbari for actions that occurred during the Earth-Minbari War and used a special device in an effort to drain away Delenn's soul.


 * Farscape: On Farscape, the mad Sebacean known as Durka once spent 100 cycles routinely torturing his prisoner, the Hynerian Dominar Rygel XVI. In another episode, Scorpius captures John Crichton and has brought to his Gammak base where he tortures him in the Aurora Chair.


 * Star Trek: In the 1994 feature film Star Trek: Generations, the Klingon Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor torture USS Enterprise Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge in order to get information from him about the ship's engineering systems.


 * Star Wars: Lando Calrissian betrays Han Solo and his friends to the Empire. Solo is taken away and painfully tortured by Stormtroopers using strange mechanical devices. Later, he tells Leia that the guards didn't even ask him any questions.


 * V: Members of the 5th Column operating out of New York City capture Sarita Malik, whom they discover is actually an alien Visitor disguised as a human. When conventional interrogation methods fail to yield any useful information, they resort to physical torture, even to the point of slicing open her skin, to reveal her reptilian scales beneath.