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Transporter (Star Trek)
Encyclopedia
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek
universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy
pattern (a process called dematerialization), then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter (rematerialization). The term transporter accident is a catch-all term for when a person or object does not rematerialize correctly.
According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry
's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode "The Cage
". The transporter special effect, before being done using computer animation
, was created by turning a slow-motion camera upside down and photographing some backlit shiny grains of aluminium powder that were dropped between the camera and a black background.
Gene Roddenberry in 1964 had not seen The Fly
upon his first draft of "The Cage", but it was brought to his attention, and this is how the transporter was considered.
According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual
, the three touch-sensitive light-up bars on the Enterprise-D's transporter console were an homage to the three sliders used on the duotronic transporter console on the original Enterprise in The Original Series.
In August 2008, physicist Michio Kaku
predicted in Discovery Channel Magazine that a teleportation device similar to those in Star Trek would be invented within 100 years.
episode "Daedalus
", the transporter was invented in the early 22nd century by Dr. Emory Erickson, who also became the first human to be successfully transported. Although the Enterprise (NX-01)
has a transporter, the crew does not routinely use it for moving biological organisms. (Captain Jonathan Archer
once said that he wouldn't even put his dog through it.) Instead, they generally prefer using shuttlepods or other means of transportation before falling back on the transporter if no other means of transportation were possible or feasible. The capability is very rare; in "The Andorian Incident", the Andorians, whose technology is far superior to Starfleet's in many regards, are explicitly stated not to possess the technology, and in "Chosen Realm", a group of alien religious extremists who hijack the ship is unaware of it to the point that when Archer, choosing himself when their leader insists on sacrificing a crew member, takes the captain at his word when told that the device disintegrates matter rather than teleporting it. The crew aboard the 23rd century USS Enterprise
frequently use the transporter. By the 24th century
, transporter travel was very reliable and "the safest way to travel", according to dialogue in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode "Realm of Fear
".
According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
episode "Homefront
", Starfleet Academy
cadets receive transporter rations, and the Sisko
family once used a transporter to move furniture into a new home.
Despite its frequent use, characters such as Leonard McCoy
and Katherine Pulaski
are reluctant to use the transporter, as the characters express in the Next Generation episodes "Encounter at Farpoint
" and "Unnatural Selection
", respectively. Additionally, Reginald Barclay
expresses his outright fear of transporting in "Realm of Fear", where he states "One atom out of place and, POOF!, you never come back. It's amazing people aren't lost all the time." Chief O'Brien
responds by saying "I've been doing this for 22 years, and I haven't lost anybody yet".
claims that the devices transport objects in real time, accurate to the quantum level
. The episode "Realm of Fear" specifies the length of a transport under unusual circumstances would last "... four or five seconds; about twice the normal time". This calculates the length of a typical transport as between 2 and 2.5 seconds and possibly less. Heisenberg compensators remove uncertainty from the subatomic measurements, making transporter travel feasible. Further technology involved in transportation include a computer pattern buffer to enable a degree of leeway in the process. When asked "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" by Time
magazine, Star Trek technical adviser Michael Okuda
responded: "It works very well, thank you."
According to The Original Series writers guide, the effective range of a transporter is 40,000 kilometers, although thick layers of rock can reduce this range (TNG: "Legacy"). The TOS episode "Obsession" however, appears to indicate that the Transporters maximum range, during that time period in Star Trek history, is actually around 30,000 kilometers. Transporter operations have been disrupted or prevented by dense metals (TNG: "Contagion"), solar flares (TNG: "Symbiosis"), and other forms of radiation, including electromagnetic (TNG: "The Enemy"; TNG: "Power Play") and nucleonic (TNG: "Schisms"), and affected by ion storms (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"). Transporting, in progress, has also been stopped by telekinetic powers (TNG: "Skin of Evil
") and by brute strength (TNG: "The Hunted"). The TNG episode "Bloodlines
" features a dangerous and experimental "subspace
transporter" capable of interstellar distances and the Dominion
had the ability to transport over great distances (DS9: "Covenant"). The 40,000 kilometer limit is also referenced in ENT: "Daedalus
".
Starfleet
transporters from the TNG era onward include a device that can detect and disable an active weapon (TNG: "The Most Toys
"), and a bio-filter to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an individual in transport (TNG: "Shades of Gray
"). The transporter can also serve a tactical purpose, such as beaming a photon grenade or photon torpedo to detonate at remote locations (TNG: "Legacy
", VOY: "Dark Frontier"), or to outright destroy objects (TNG: "Captain's Holiday").
Whenever a person or object is transported, the machine creates a memory file of the pattern. This has been used at least once in every Star Trek series to revert people adversely affected by a transport to their original state.
Various episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager have introduced two anti-transporter devices: transport inhibitors and transporter scramblers. Inhibitors prevent a transporter beam from "locking on" to whatever the device is attached. Scramblers distort the pattern that is in transit, literally scrambling the atoms upon rematerialization, resulting in the destruction of inanimate objects and killing living beings by perverting them into masses of random tissue; this was gruesomely demonstrated in the DS9 episode "The Darkness and the Light".
Transporter operations can also be curtailed when either the point or origin and/or the intended target site is moving at Warp velocities. In the TNG episode, "The Schizoid Man", a "long-range" or "near-warp" transport was required as a Transporter beam cannot penetrate a Warp field. In order to deposit an away-team on the planet Gravesworld while at the same time responding to a distress signal, the Enterprise would only drop out of Warp drive just long enough to energize the Transporter beam. Geordi LaForge personally performed the delicate operation, which involved compensating for the ship's relativistic motion. After materializing, one of the away-team members commmented that for a moment she thought she was trapped in a nearby wall, to which a colleague replied, "For a moment, you were." In later stories ("The Emissary" and "The Best of Both Worlds"), it was confirmed that the Transporter would work at Warp only if the sending and receiving sites were moving at equal velocities.
The transporter is susceptible to unusual anomalies and environmental conditions that can cause unexpected results. An unknown magnetic ore created a physical duplicate of Captain Kirk (TOS "The Enemy Within") and an enhanced beam attempting to transport Lt. Riker through an unstable atmosphere 'reflected' and split into two identical beams, creating a physical duplicate that remained undiscovered on the planet's surface for eight years (TNG: "Second Chances").
when a malfunction in the transporter sensor circuits resulted in insufficient signal being present at the Enterprise
end to successfully rematerialise the two subjects, and Starfleet
were unable to pull them back to where they had dematerialised from. The transporter system attempted to rematerialise what little signal was available, and despite the efforts of Kirk
and Scotty
, the system failed and both subjects vanished from the transporter pad. Kirk
, visibly shaken by what he has witnessed asks "Starfleet, do you have them?", to which the response is made "Enterprise, what we got back didn't live long, fortunately".
By the time of The Next Generation
, transporter technology has advanced considerably, meaning that accidents are now remote, if not near impossible. In fact, in the episode "Realm of Fear", Geordi La Forge
states that there have been no more than 2-3 transporter accidents in the preceeding 10 years. Reference is also made to the advancement of transporter technology in the same episode, where Chief O'Brien
states that each individual transporter pad has four redundant scanners, and that in the event a scanner fails the other three will take over.
In the Voyager
episode "Tuvix", a transporter accident combines both the physical and behavioral aspects of Lt. Tuvok, Neelix, and a plant into a single being.
or planetary defense shields, there are instances of this "rule" being broken through a technobabble
solution (TNG: "The Wounded
", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") or disregarded by the show's writers (VOY: "Caretaker
").
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
, Vice Admiral James T. Kirk
and Lieutenant Saavik
carry on a conversation during rematerialization. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
, Dr. Gillian Taylor jumps into Kirk's transporter beam during dematerialization, and rematerializes without any apparent ill effects,except for a tongue-lashing from Admiral Kirk. This is probably due to the "annular confinement beam", a component of the Transporter mentioned in the various television episodes, which serves to keep patterns separate from one another. In the same movie, Mr Spock is beamed in a cloaked ship while walking.
According to the TNG Technical Manual, the transporter cannot move antimatter
, but in the VOY episode "Dark Frontier
" Voyager transported a live photon torpedo equipped with antimatter onto a Borg ship. The TAS episode "One of Our Planets is Missing" has the Enterprise beaming a chunk of antimatter into a stasis box.
In the original series, beaming to and from the transporter chamber was a necessity. This is explained in the TOS episode, "Day of the Dove". Spock and Scotty had said that doing a site-to-site transport, as they are referred to on the show, on board the ship could be risky. They could "beam into a deck" or an inanimate object and get stuck there. However, there are apparently safeguards in place to prevent people from being beamed into hostile environments such as under water and into lava pits, although it is possible to override this safety feature; for example, in the TOS episode "And the Children Shall Lead", two security guards are beamed into open space. In the following series, however, the actual transporter room seems to become mostly obsolete, the actual equipment notwithstanding. Characters are shown activating the transporter from ordinary consoles and beaming from place to place without apparent trouble. The main operator can likewise send those in transport anywhere with ease. A possible explanation for this is put forward in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, where such site-to-site transports would probably use twice as much energy as would be required for transport to or from the transporter room itself, since the subject would have to be beamed to the transporter, stored, then shunted to their destination. In addition, the six circles on the platform are generally used as targets for the subjects to stand on, but they do not appear to represent any limitation of the hardware to six or fewer people. People have been transported carrying others, in a coffin style transport, and once animals, hay, and other inanimate objects.
Although never seen, dialogue in "Deep Space Nine" indicates the existence of portable transporters, though the Next Generation episode "Timescape" features emergency transporter armbands (although these may have served only to activate a remote transporter). To confuse things more, "Star Trek: Nemesis
" featured the prototype "emergency transport unit". Tom Paris uses a portable transporter in the VOY episode "Non Sequitur".
For special effects reasons, in TOS, people generally appear immobilized during transport, with the exception of Kirk in the episode That Which Survives. However, by TNG, characters can move within the confines of the transporter beam while being transported, although this is rarely shown.
to perfectly recreate the average-sized U.S. adult male human being down to the quantum level on a computer—specifically, 2.0057742×1045 bits (see Bekenstein bound
for the basis for this calculation).
Today a common 1 Terabyte
device can store about 1012 bits.
This figure represents the lower bound of information capacity necessary for the Transporter on Star Trek starships to function—enough capacity to teleport
one person. Obviously, several times this information capacity would be necessary to teleport several people.
" refers to the transporter device, which was often operated by Montgomery Scott
during the original series. The phrase was never uttered by anyone in the original series, although "Scotty, beam me up" was spoken by Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. On the special edition DVD of Star Trek IV, the text commentary provided by Micheal and Denise Okuda (co-authors of The Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future) indicates that this was the only time anyone came close to that catchphrase.
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
pattern (a process called dematerialization), then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter (rematerialization). The term transporter accident is a catch-all term for when a person or object does not rematerialize correctly.
According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode "The Cage
The Cage (TOS episode)
"The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series science fiction series. It was completed in early 1965 , but not broadcast on television in its complete form until the autumn of 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler...
". The transporter special effect, before being done using computer animation
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, was created by turning a slow-motion camera upside down and photographing some backlit shiny grains of aluminium powder that were dropped between the camera and a black background.
Gene Roddenberry in 1964 had not seen The Fly
The Fly (1958 film)
The Fly is a 1958 American science-fiction horror film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell , from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan...
upon his first draft of "The Cage", but it was brought to his attention, and this is how the transporter was considered.
According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual
Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual is a paperback reference guide detailing the inner and other workings of the fictional Federation starship Enterprise-D and other aspects of technology that appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.Authored by Rick Sternbach...
, the three touch-sensitive light-up bars on the Enterprise-D's transporter console were an homage to the three sliders used on the duotronic transporter console on the original Enterprise in The Original Series.
In August 2008, physicist Michio Kaku
Michio Kaku
is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, the co-founder of string field theory, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science...
predicted in Discovery Channel Magazine that a teleportation device similar to those in Star Trek would be invented within 100 years.
History
According to dialogue in the Star Trek: EnterpriseStar Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
episode "Daedalus
Daedalus (Enterprise episode)
"Daedalus" is the name of the 86th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. "Daedalus" first aired on January 14, 2005, on the American television network UPN...
", the transporter was invented in the early 22nd century by Dr. Emory Erickson, who also became the first human to be successfully transported. Although the Enterprise (NX-01)
Enterprise (NX-01)
The Enterprise is a fictional starship in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise. It is commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer.-History:...
has a transporter, the crew does not routinely use it for moving biological organisms. (Captain Jonathan Archer
Jonathan Archer
Jonathan Archer is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He is the protagonist of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, where he is played by Scott Bakula...
once said that he wouldn't even put his dog through it.) Instead, they generally prefer using shuttlepods or other means of transportation before falling back on the transporter if no other means of transportation were possible or feasible. The capability is very rare; in "The Andorian Incident", the Andorians, whose technology is far superior to Starfleet's in many regards, are explicitly stated not to possess the technology, and in "Chosen Realm", a group of alien religious extremists who hijack the ship is unaware of it to the point that when Archer, choosing himself when their leader insists on sacrificing a crew member, takes the captain at his word when told that the device disintegrates matter rather than teleporting it. The crew aboard the 23rd century USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, is a fictional starship in the Star Trek media franchise. The original Star Trek series depicts her crew's mission "to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before" under the command of Captain James...
frequently use the transporter. By the 24th century
24th century
The 24th century of the anno Domini era will span from January 1, 2301–December 31, 2400 of the Gregorian calendar. Unlike most century years, the year 2400 is a leap year, and the first century leap year since 2000....
, transporter travel was very reliable and "the safest way to travel", according to dialogue in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode "Realm of Fear
Realm of Fear (TNG episode)
"Realm of Fear" is an episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the second episode of season 6.-Overview:"Realm of Fear" primarily focuses on Reginald Barclay's paralyzing fear of the transporter.-Plot:...
".
According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
episode "Homefront
Homefront (DS9 episode)
"Homefront" is an episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the eleventh episode of the fourth season. It is rated 4.3/5 on the official Star Trek Website.- Plot :...
", Starfleet Academy
Starfleet Academy
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet Academy is where the future's recruits to Starfleet will be trained. It was created in the year 2161, when the United Federation of Planets was founded...
cadets receive transporter rations, and the Sisko
Benjamin Sisko
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Early life and career:...
family once used a transporter to move furniture into a new home.
Despite its frequent use, characters such as Leonard McCoy
Leonard McCoy
Leonard "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books,...
and Katherine Pulaski
Katherine Pulaski
Commander Katherine Pulaski, MD; played by Diana Muldaur, is the replacement chief medical officer for Dr. Beverly Crusher during the second season of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:...
are reluctant to use the transporter, as the characters express in the Next Generation episodes "Encounter at Farpoint
Encounter at Farpoint (TNG episode)
"Encounter at Farpoint" is the first episode of the science fiction television program Star Trek: The Next Generation It was written by series creator Gene Roddenberry and directed by Corey Allen....
" and "Unnatural Selection
Unnatural Selection (TNG episode)
"Unnatural Selection" is the 33rd episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:The crew of the Enterprise encounters a Starfleet supply ship where everyone has died from rapid aging...
", respectively. Additionally, Reginald Barclay
Reginald Barclay
Lieutenant Reginald Endicott "Broccoli" Barclay III, played by Dwight Schultz, is a recurring character in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation...
expresses his outright fear of transporting in "Realm of Fear", where he states "One atom out of place and, POOF!, you never come back. It's amazing people aren't lost all the time." Chief O'Brien
Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is Chief of Operations in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before DS9, he appeared as a recurring transporter chief in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
responds by saying "I've been doing this for 22 years, and I haven't lost anybody yet".
Capabilities and limitations
The television series and films do not go into great detail about transport technology. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical ManualStar Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual is a paperback reference guide detailing the inner and other workings of the fictional Federation starship Enterprise-D and other aspects of technology that appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.Authored by Rick Sternbach...
claims that the devices transport objects in real time, accurate to the quantum level
Quantum level
Quantum levels are fixed levels with a logarithmic, descending quantum pattern in the visible spectrum of light that can be observed through a spectrometer while looking at intense flows of electricity through the various halides on the periodic table in a vacuum tube...
. The episode "Realm of Fear" specifies the length of a transport under unusual circumstances would last "... four or five seconds; about twice the normal time". This calculates the length of a typical transport as between 2 and 2.5 seconds and possibly less. Heisenberg compensators remove uncertainty from the subatomic measurements, making transporter travel feasible. Further technology involved in transportation include a computer pattern buffer to enable a degree of leeway in the process. When asked "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, Star Trek technical adviser Michael Okuda
Michael Okuda
- Work in Star Trek :In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This led to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props...
responded: "It works very well, thank you."
According to The Original Series writers guide, the effective range of a transporter is 40,000 kilometers, although thick layers of rock can reduce this range (TNG: "Legacy"). The TOS episode "Obsession" however, appears to indicate that the Transporters maximum range, during that time period in Star Trek history, is actually around 30,000 kilometers. Transporter operations have been disrupted or prevented by dense metals (TNG: "Contagion"), solar flares (TNG: "Symbiosis"), and other forms of radiation, including electromagnetic (TNG: "The Enemy"; TNG: "Power Play") and nucleonic (TNG: "Schisms"), and affected by ion storms (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"). Transporting, in progress, has also been stopped by telekinetic powers (TNG: "Skin of Evil
Skin of Evil (TNG episode)
"Skin of Evil" is the 23rd episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:A vicious and powerful creature toys with an away team sent to rescue a downed shuttlecraft containing Deanna Troi.-Plot:...
") and by brute strength (TNG: "The Hunted"). The TNG episode "Bloodlines
Bloodlines (TNG episode)
"Bloodlines" the 174th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:Bok, a vengeful Ferengi from the first season episode "The Battle," returns to enact revenge on Picard, by killing the son Picard never knew he had.-Plot:The episode begins with Bok...
" features a dangerous and experimental "subspace
Subspace (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, subspace is a feature of space-time which facilitates faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace obeys different laws of physics...
transporter" capable of interstellar distances and the Dominion
Dominion (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek universe, the Dominion is a ruthless and militaristic Gamma Quadrant state consisting of many different races. The Dominion wages war on the United Federation of Planets and its allies in the late 24th century, acting as an antagonist in the TV show Star Trek: Deep Space...
had the ability to transport over great distances (DS9: "Covenant"). The 40,000 kilometer limit is also referenced in ENT: "Daedalus
Daedalus (Enterprise episode)
"Daedalus" is the name of the 86th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. "Daedalus" first aired on January 14, 2005, on the American television network UPN...
".
Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
transporters from the TNG era onward include a device that can detect and disable an active weapon (TNG: "The Most Toys
The Most Toys (TNG episode)
"The Most Toys" is a 1990 episode from the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:The episode involves Lieutenant Commander Data being kidnapped by an obsessive collector, who leads the Enterprise crew to believe that Data was killed in a shuttlecraft...
"), and a bio-filter to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an individual in transport (TNG: "Shades of Gray
Shades of Gray (TNG episode)
"Shades of Gray" is the last episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Plot:During a routine geological survey on Surata IV, Commander William Riker is accidentally struck by a sharp thorn growing on a vine plant. The away team immediately beams back to the U.S.S...
"). The transporter can also serve a tactical purpose, such as beaming a photon grenade or photon torpedo to detonate at remote locations (TNG: "Legacy
Legacy (TNG episode)
"Legacy" is the 80th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:In this episode, the officers of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise-D encounter Ishara Yar , the sister of their former shipmate Tasha Yar...
", VOY: "Dark Frontier"), or to outright destroy objects (TNG: "Captain's Holiday").
Whenever a person or object is transported, the machine creates a memory file of the pattern. This has been used at least once in every Star Trek series to revert people adversely affected by a transport to their original state.
Various episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager have introduced two anti-transporter devices: transport inhibitors and transporter scramblers. Inhibitors prevent a transporter beam from "locking on" to whatever the device is attached. Scramblers distort the pattern that is in transit, literally scrambling the atoms upon rematerialization, resulting in the destruction of inanimate objects and killing living beings by perverting them into masses of random tissue; this was gruesomely demonstrated in the DS9 episode "The Darkness and the Light".
Transporter operations can also be curtailed when either the point or origin and/or the intended target site is moving at Warp velocities. In the TNG episode, "The Schizoid Man", a "long-range" or "near-warp" transport was required as a Transporter beam cannot penetrate a Warp field. In order to deposit an away-team on the planet Gravesworld while at the same time responding to a distress signal, the Enterprise would only drop out of Warp drive just long enough to energize the Transporter beam. Geordi LaForge personally performed the delicate operation, which involved compensating for the ship's relativistic motion. After materializing, one of the away-team members commmented that for a moment she thought she was trapped in a nearby wall, to which a colleague replied, "For a moment, you were." In later stories ("The Emissary" and "The Best of Both Worlds"), it was confirmed that the Transporter would work at Warp only if the sending and receiving sites were moving at equal velocities.
The transporter is susceptible to unusual anomalies and environmental conditions that can cause unexpected results. An unknown magnetic ore created a physical duplicate of Captain Kirk (TOS "The Enemy Within") and an enhanced beam attempting to transport Lt. Riker through an unstable atmosphere 'reflected' and split into two identical beams, creating a physical duplicate that remained undiscovered on the planet's surface for eight years (TNG: "Second Chances").
Transporter accidents
Aside from external influences causing disruptions in the normal operations of transporters, the technology itself has been known to fail on occasion, causing serious injury or usually death to those being transported. This was demonstrated in Star Trek: The Motion PictureStar Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...
when a malfunction in the transporter sensor circuits resulted in insufficient signal being present at the Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
end to successfully rematerialise the two subjects, and Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
were unable to pull them back to where they had dematerialised from. The transporter system attempted to rematerialise what little signal was available, and despite the efforts of Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
and Scotty
Montgomery Scott
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott is a Scottish engineer in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by James Doohan in the original Star Trek series, Scotty also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics", and in numerous...
, the system failed and both subjects vanished from the transporter pad. Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
, visibly shaken by what he has witnessed asks "Starfleet, do you have them?", to which the response is made "Enterprise, what we got back didn't live long, fortunately".
By the time of The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, transporter technology has advanced considerably, meaning that accidents are now remote, if not near impossible. In fact, in the episode "Realm of Fear", Geordi La Forge
Geordi La Forge
Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge is a regular character in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and its feature films, played by LeVar Burton...
states that there have been no more than 2-3 transporter accidents in the preceeding 10 years. Reference is also made to the advancement of transporter technology in the same episode, where Chief O'Brien
Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is Chief of Operations in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before DS9, he appeared as a recurring transporter chief in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
states that each individual transporter pad has four redundant scanners, and that in the event a scanner fails the other three will take over.
In the Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
episode "Tuvix", a transporter accident combines both the physical and behavioral aspects of Lt. Tuvok, Neelix, and a plant into a single being.
Technological and Scientific restrictions
While several characters have asserted that transporters cannot transport through a ship's shieldsShields (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, shields refer to a 23rd and 24th century technology that protects starships, space stations, and planets from damage by natural hazard or enemy attack...
or planetary defense shields, there are instances of this "rule" being broken through a technobabble
Technobabble
Technobabble , also called technospeak, is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords, esoteric language, specialized technical terms, or technical slang that is incomprehensible to the listener...
solution (TNG: "The Wounded
The Wounded (TNG episode)
"The Wounded" is the 85th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.-Overview:In this episode, the crew of the Federation Starfleet Starship USS Enterprise cooperates with the Cardassians to track down another Starfleet vessel, the Nebula-class USS Phoenix,...
", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations") or disregarded by the show's writers (VOY: "Caretaker
Caretaker (Voyager episode)
"Caretaker" is the first episode of Star Trek: Voyager. It was originally shown as one double-length episode, but has been split into two parts for repeats...
").
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
, Vice Admiral James T. Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
and Lieutenant Saavik
Saavik
Lieutenant JG Saavik is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. She first appeared in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan played by Kirstie Alley. Robin Curtis took on the role after a salary dispute caused Alley to drop out of the sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock...
carry on a conversation during rematerialization. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
, Dr. Gillian Taylor jumps into Kirk's transporter beam during dematerialization, and rematerializes without any apparent ill effects,except for a tongue-lashing from Admiral Kirk. This is probably due to the "annular confinement beam", a component of the Transporter mentioned in the various television episodes, which serves to keep patterns separate from one another. In the same movie, Mr Spock is beamed in a cloaked ship while walking.
According to the TNG Technical Manual, the transporter cannot move antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
, but in the VOY episode "Dark Frontier
Dark Frontier
"Dark Frontier" is a feature length episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the 15th and 16th episodes of the fifth season. This episode originally aired as a feature-length episode that was later broken up into two parts for reruns in syndication...
" Voyager transported a live photon torpedo equipped with antimatter onto a Borg ship. The TAS episode "One of Our Planets is Missing" has the Enterprise beaming a chunk of antimatter into a stasis box.
Although never seen, dialogue in "Deep Space Nine" indicates the existence of portable transporters, though the Next Generation episode "Timescape" features emergency transporter armbands (although these may have served only to activate a remote transporter). To confuse things more, "Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek Nemesis is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Stuart Baird, written by John Logan , and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the tenth feature film in the Star Trek franchise, and the fourth and final film to star the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next...
" featured the prototype "emergency transport unit". Tom Paris uses a portable transporter in the VOY episode "Non Sequitur".
For special effects reasons, in TOS, people generally appear immobilized during transport, with the exception of Kirk in the episode That Which Survives. However, by TNG, characters can move within the confines of the transporter beam while being transported, although this is rarely shown.
Scientific note
It has been calculated that about 1045 (2150) bits is the number of bits of information requiredOrders of magnitude (data)
An order of magnitude is generally a factor of ten. A quantity growing by four orders of magnitude implies it has grown by a factor of 10000 or 104. However, because computers are binary, orders of magnitude are sometimes given as powers of two....
to perfectly recreate the average-sized U.S. adult male human being down to the quantum level on a computer—specifically, 2.0057742×1045 bits (see Bekenstein bound
Bekenstein bound
In physics, the Bekenstein bound is an upper limit on the entropy S, or information I, that can be contained within a given finite region of space which has a finite amount of energy—or conversely, the maximum amount of information required to perfectly describe a given physical system down to the...
for the basis for this calculation).
Today a common 1 Terabyte
Terabyte
The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...
device can store about 1012 bits.
This figure represents the lower bound of information capacity necessary for the Transporter on Star Trek starships to function—enough capacity to teleport
Quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation, or entanglement-assisted teleportation, is a process by which a qubit can be transmitted exactly from one location to another, without the qubit being transmitted through the intervening space...
one person. Obviously, several times this information capacity would be necessary to teleport several people.
In popular culture
The famous catchphrase "Beam me up, ScottyBeam me up, Scotty
"Beam me up, Scotty" is a catchphrase that made its way into popular culture from the science fiction television series Star Trek. It comes from the command Captain Kirk gives his chief engineer, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, when he needs to be transported back to the Starship Enterprise.Though it...
" refers to the transporter device, which was often operated by Montgomery Scott
Montgomery Scott
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott is a Scottish engineer in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by James Doohan in the original Star Trek series, Scotty also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics", and in numerous...
during the original series. The phrase was never uttered by anyone in the original series, although "Scotty, beam me up" was spoken by Admiral Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. On the special edition DVD of Star Trek IV, the text commentary provided by Micheal and Denise Okuda (co-authors of The Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future) indicates that this was the only time anyone came close to that catchphrase.
See also
- Personal identity
- Physics and Star TrekPhysics and Star TrekThe science-fiction media franchise Star Trek has borrowed freely from the scientific world to provide storylines. Episodes are replete with references to tachyon beams, baryon sweeps, quantum fluctuations and event horizons...
- ReplicatorReplicator (Star Trek)In Star Trek a replicator is a machine capable of creating objects. Replicators were originally seen used to synthesize meals on demand, but in later series they took on many other uses.-Origins and limitations:...
- Quantum deportation
- Quantum energy deportation
- DeportationDeportationDeportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...