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‘Star Trek: Picard’ turns a corner and jumps on the rollercoaster

When your narrative brakes come off, it’s hard not to be swept along..

The following article discusses Star Trek: Picard, Season Three, Episode 9, “Võx”

I’ve always found accusations that I hate Star Trek weird, since I make my love of Trek clear enough every time I write one of these reviews. Every time I watch a nü-Trek episode that I’m fortunate enough to do as part of my day job, I hope that I can genuinely talk about it with a sense of love. And so I am delighted to say “Võx” is the best episode of Star Trek: Picard ever made. It is not by any means perfect, but it’s such a leap from what’s gone before I’ve almost got whiplash.

One of the reasons that “Võx” pops is that Picard’s quality ceiling has been relentlessly low over the last three seasons. The other is that the narrative’s brakes are off, allowing events to move at something faster than a snail’s pace. If I was in a less-generous mood, I’d say a lot of this stuff could have happened earlier in the run to improve the overall pacing. One of the biggest issues I’ve had is the very visible stretching of a thin, mystery-box story over a studio-mandated ten-episode running order.

By comparison, this feels like the first free meal after two 500-calorie-only days on the 5:2 fast diet. You devour a 12-inch pizza and, since you’ve starved yourself for the last 48 hours, you feel you deserve to go out for tacos afterward. In this episode, we learn that Jack is, as Reddit clocked weeks back, the product of a union ‘twixt Dr. Crusher and Picard’s Borgified sperm. We also get a whopping retcon to the plot hole in First Contact , where Picard could hear the Borg and knew the location of the cube’s weak spot despite not being connected to the collective.

Jack decides to go off and tackle the Borg Queen (voiced by Alice Krige!) herself, while Geordi, Data and Beverley start examining the conspiracy. The Queen has already picked a Borgified name for Jack — Võx — to commence his Locutus-like transformation as part of the collective, too. The Borg and Changelings are working together – I’d love to see how that meeting went – to undermine the Federation. They’ve set up every transporter in the fleet to re-write the genetic code of the under ‘25s who pass through it, seeding them with Bio-Borg DNA. When Frontier Day happens, the collective activates its new army of drones, who also turn the newly-connected fleet into an armada.

Fleeing a Titan similarly overrun with Bio-Borgs, the TNG crew get into a shuttle while Seven and Raffi guard Shaw, who takes a phaser to the chest. He even gets a nice valediction, finally using Seven’s chosen name to put a button on his much-discussed arc. Not long after, we get the first laugh-out-loud-on-purpose moment in the series when Geordi asks Data to be more optimistic. There’s a simple, glorious pleasure in letting the endlessly-talented Brent Spiner show off his natural comedic flair in the midst of all this darkness.

The gang race back to the Fleet Museum where, again Reddit called this a month or more back, the Enterprise D has been quietly rebuilt in secret by Geordi. There’s some moments of winking at the camera as the production team head off the obvious questions. How? They pulled the saucer section from Veridian to avoid breaking the Prime Directive and cobbled together other parts from other Galaxy Class ships. Why not the E? Blame Worf, now shut up and watch with a smile plastered on your face as they sit in their old chairs. Hell, they’ve even got Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s voice for the Enterprise D computer.

We need to be careful here, because I’ve slammed this series time and again for its empty, paraphilic use of nostalgia . There are plenty of reasons why this makes no logical sense if you take the time to interrogate things. Maybe it’s because the episode moves at such a clip that there’s no time to overthink things before something else happens. Maybe it’s just the thrill of seeing these actors on this bridge, on this carpet , that the bulk of my critical thinking has been bypassed.

If I have concerns, it’s still about what Picard is trying to say . Relegating the cyberpunk elements of the Borg to make their assimilation more biological could be seen as an anti-vaccination screed. It’s hard to watch yet another TNG side character brutally die – Ro in “ Imposters ” and Admiral Elizabeth Shelby, captain of the new Enterprise F, taking two in the chest mere moments later here. There’s an argument that leaving Seven and Raffi on the Titan also sidelines the series’ two queer characters. And this subtextual mistrust of youth which was discussed a few episodes back has now been rendered very much part of Picard’s text.

But I will withhold my judgments about that until next week, when we see how those points are handled. For now, I’m going to bask in the very brief glow of my monitor, and how glorious it was when the lights on the Enterprise D bridge raised to old-school TV levels and we could actually see what was going on. The lights went up and so did the mood, and after all this time, it comes as sweet relief. Now, onward to the finale.

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Construction History Of USS Titan And More ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Behind The Scenes Details Revealed

| March 15, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 28 comments so far

The main ship for season three of Star Trek: Picard is the USS Titan-A, which has been described as a sort of refit of Captain Riker’s USS Titan. This complicated history is now being explained along with some more insights and fun bits from behind the scenes with the  Star Trek: Picard cast and crew.

Titan’s complicated construction tied to Mars Attack

We got our first clues about the new USS Titan with the official log released ahead of the season, with some more explained in the first episode, tying the ship’s origins to Riker’s Titan, seen Star Trek books and Lower Decks . We are now learning more thanks to production designer Dave Blass who shared an image showing the new Titan and Riker’s Titan during the refit process…

Here is some early concept art that we did of the two USS Titans during the refit process. It was a fun exploration of how things might have happened. Artwork by John Eaves with modeling by @_Pundus_ #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/24jThOADz0 — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 9, 2023

In that thread, Blass also shared some detailed explanations from designer Mike Okuda…

Why reuse and not just replicate? Like Dilithium, and Latinim, there are lots of materials that can’t be replicated. Sadly Voyager found this out the hard way as Nacelle components are made of a composite of polysilicate verterium and monocrystal cortenum. Can’t be replicated. 16 Years ago the Federation lost the Utopia Planitia Fleetyards, this was not just machinery, and infrastructure but raw materials that are used to manufacture ships. A disaster of that scale, caused a massive of upheaval in the starship construction process. #StarTrekPicard Even with industrial-sized replicators, reuse of large objects will often make sense. Mass equals a lot of energy, and converting it back and forth involves a tremendous amount of energy. And since no process can be 100% efficient, conversion comes at a cost. For relatively small objects, this cost is acceptable, especially compared to the cost of lugging around five years’ worth of food, or an entire inventory of spare parts. But for industrial-sized objects, there will likely be circumstances where it makes more sense to recycle instead of replicate. – Mike Okuda

The mention of the loss of the Utopia Planitia Fleetyards is referring to the Attack on Mars seen in flashbacks from season one of Picard (and Short Treks “Children of Mars”).

Attack on Mars

A closer look at Titan

Yesterday Blass shared a detailed chart from designer Doug Drexler explaining all the exterior components of the new Titan…

Lot's of questions over the last few weeks about the USS Titan NCC-80102-A. Master Starfleet Shipbuilder Doug Drexler has put this handy chart together with the tech involved in this amazing ship as a gift to the best fans in the world. #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/N2tKvdfS9N — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 15, 2023

Going inside, Mike Okuda shared some insight into the panel designs for the Titan’s transporter room.

I based the Titan's transporter room panels on the displays in the Enterprise-D transporter. Animation by Andrew Jarvis and Noah Schloss. Lead graphic designer: Geoff Mandel. Art director: Liz Kloczkowski. Production designer: Dave Blass. Star Trek Picard streams on Paramount+. pic.twitter.com/ECIPkHe7B7 — Michael Okuda (@MikeOkuda) March 12, 2023

Why holodeck works when the rest of ship is out of power

In last week’s episode, there was some fan debate about how the Titan’s holodeck had its own power that could not be shared with the rest of the ship. Blass answered critics by noting this isolated power situation has precedent from Star Trek: Voyager .

Lots of folks concerned about why the power is on in the Holodeck and not the rest of the ship. Let's take a trip to visit with our friends on the USS Voyager to learn a bit about Holodecks and power. #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/vcNMElgwL1 — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 12, 2023

More bucket

Terry Matalas returned to the subject of the Changeling’s bucket seen in episode 4 offering more explanation for it appearing just like Odo’s bucket.

Or it's stored in Starfleet replicators. If you want the plot point to work? "Actually, it's super easy! Barely an inconvenience." @theryangeorge https://t.co/mb1NK6Tlq3 — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) March 15, 2023

Last week’s episode featured space lifeforms and showrunner Terry Matalas shared the final concept design from Neville Page to get a closer look.

One of the final concepts for the Rytonian Space Babies by the brilliant @NevillePage #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/liJ77PfgM1 — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) March 15, 2023

Terry followed that up with a better look at a full rendering.

VFX rendering of the adorable Rytonian Space Babies. If anyone makes merch, please send me some! I love these kiddos. They were "delivered" (get it?!) by this group of hardworking geniuses: @jzvfx @shawnvfx @virtualbri @NevillePage #GhostVFX #StarTrekPicard #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/SqlGOArp9C — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) March 15, 2023

Celebrate Frontier Day

Frontier Day is an important celebration that has been mentioned a few times in season three, including showing some posters for the event. Blass shared a better look at these posters revealing they were designed by Laz Marquez.

Celebrate "Frontier Day" with these amazing posters by @lazmarquez I had followed him for years and knew his passion for Star Trek. I just had to wait for the right opportunity to use his work in the show. pic.twitter.com/GdJw3PCmwp — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 7, 2023

Jeri talks history with Terry

As a guest on The Talk , actress Jeri Ryan mentioned how she and Terry Matalas both got their start in the franchise at the same time way back on Voyager . Terry shared this clip on Twitter talking about how lucky he has been and what a surprise it was for her to bring it up.

How many PA gigs change your life and give you a lifelong friend? I’ve been very, very lucky. This was a cool surprise. #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/zpMzVJpgoV — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) March 12, 2023

Finally, we have a couple more bits about hair, firstly Jonathan Frakes shared an image of himself, cinematographer Crescenzo Notarile, and Michael Dorn as the finalists at “Beard Festival.”

Finalists at Beard Festival pic.twitter.com/A6x8tm4hk8 — Jonathan Frakes (@jonathansfrakes) March 14, 2023

And Terry shared a nice pic of Dorn as Worf with his hair down.

When we let his hair down… #HotWorfFriday pic.twitter.com/W17ZNUhpYo — Terry Matalas (@TerryMatalas) March 10, 2023

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Star Trek: Picard

‘Picard’ Season 2 Was Rewritten After Paramount Deemed It “Too Star Trek,” Says EP

So they recycled the old Titan into the new one. The phrasing they used in the Logs post on Instagram wasn’t very clear on that. Still doesn’t fix the scaling issue though.

I honestly would’ve rather that they used one of the STO Luna -class variants.

The Luna class titan is 454 meters long and the constitution lll class titan-a is 560 meters long the original shangri la titan savvik commanded was 295 meters long according to official size chart released by bill Krause

Those are some deep cuts into Holodeck power systems, surprised the canonistas missed that (particularly the scene with Kim, which explains how the sources are incompatible), but it seems Picard’s use of them is fairly consistent with what we’ve seen in the past after all.

I remembered them since the old AOL boards were seething with people up in arms about holodecks being on in a low power emergency.

But they’ve still never explained to me why the lights went out for Captain Proton in “Night.” ;)

I love how they have a backstory (aka: explanation) for every “inconsistancy” people have pointed out. Although I’m not looking for a discussion, all I wanna say is: they’re trying really hard to sell it, and I apreciate the effort. But that doesn’t mean I have to buy it. Some things (like the holodeck power situation) are very obvious behind the scenes reasons and not from-the-get-go thought up Trek things (even back then). Not there’s anything wrong with that, but jus admit to it. That would be less farfetched than any explanation currently served up.

Same thing with the Titans. First it was a new ship, then it was a refit (or whatever came first). Now they spun a story that kinda works for both. Okay, fine.

I’m not sure why this is a problem for anyone. This is Star Trek as it’s always been: they do things for dramatic and/or real-world reasons, and come up with justifications for it later for canon. That’s always been part of the fun of Trek, or at least, among me and my friends back in the day.

Dude. It’s just a tv show. Not real. Not real.

Not sure what your reply has anything to do with my comment, which is obviously about writing.

Can Worf’s hair get its own spinoff?

is this the first time we’ve ever seen Worf’s ears?

I think this season is the first time, yes. I’d mentioned it before, around the time they released the first promo images, and nobody refuted the observation so far.

It’s fine enough, but I would’ve preferred that they kept them hidden. It changes his looks in that it makes his his hair appear quite a bit thinner when compared to this lush AGT locks.

Glory to you…and your haircare products!

That thin-ass wig? LOL

Yeah not buying the retrofit thing. Seems like the script was never adjusted to align better with the ship design that was ultimately chosen.

Yes, that’s because they did what works best for the show, rather than what works for canon nerds, and then found the justification later. That’s the right choice!

Well it seems fairly obvious if you dig deeply enough. One, Matalas has said he is a big fan of the TOS era ships and the Titan A looks like as close of a Ship to the 1701 A as we have gotten in years. Second, and this is just IMHO, “Titan” serves 2 purposes. Obv the first is the call back to Riker’s command. But the second is that it was a named used in 12 Monkeys.

Am I the only one who finds the eyeballs on the space squids makes ’em look creepy?

Also, glad that VOY acknowledged that the Holodeck power sources are incompatible with the rest of the ship. While watching the Picard episode I remembered from VOY that the Holodecks had their own power sources (otherwise TPTB couldn’t use the Holodeck all the time), but I did not know their power sources were incompatible. I’m not a fan of VOY (find it to be written like poor fan fiction than actual good television) but that’s impressive.

I think the space babies were inspired by a Keane painting…

While I appreciate the “refit” angle and trying to make it so that the Titan is still “Rikers ship”…I think calling it a refit is a bit overly generous just like how the jump from the TOS Enterprise to the TMP “refit” is likely a little much, but at least in that case you can use your minds eye to see how the core of the ship is likely still the same spaceframe, etc.

The jump from the Titan to the Titan-A is beyond that ability given that not only is the saucer different (basically a jumbo Connie) but the bridge is completely different from what we’ve seen on Lower Decks for the Luna class also, so its clearly not the same bridge.

I can buy the warp core, engine components, computer core, etc being reused..but that doesn’t really warrant calling the Titan-A a refit..no more than saying the Enterprise CVN-65 is the same as the Enterprise CV-6 just because some components were ceremoniously reused. Plenty of ships have had components of others used to refit them (IE USS Nevada used some of the guns from the wrecked USS Arizona) but that doesn’t then replace the identity of the original ship.

Calling it the Titan-A is fine, trying to call it a refit is not, IMO.

The designation of starships with an extra letter has always been arbitrary. It’s never been consistent, and doesn’t matter.

Thats not the point I was making, but yes I know

I feel for the writers and producers. On one hand having the Titan is good for the story. On the other hand TOS movie era tech and starships are just so much cooler than their TNG counterparts. I appreciate the attempt at a compromise; I think saying it’s a new ship honouring the Titan, not a refit is the answer. All they had to do was change the jazz joke to something like “No jazz filling this ships computer banks” or “When you took her out on her maiden mission Riker, you didn’t have to upload all the jazz on this ship too. Took me a while to delete” or something. Whatever, the Titan A is cool, just wish we got to see the adventures of Saavik’s Titan

my head canon had always held that the saucer itself was salvaged from a much older ship, given the old-style phaser cannons that coexist alongside the TNG phaser strips

That Titan refit makes zero sense but yup, it’s Star Trek. They shouldn’t have made another Constitution, we already have one in SNW. Titan’s still a great model though!

This is the only thing about it that might bug me a little, particularly if we’re getting more of it, as a Titan spin-off. You’d think that, just for marketing purposes, they’d want two drastically different ships leading their shows, but there are a lot of very similar elements that, to casual non-Trekkies, might cause visual confusion at first glance.

Wow lots of awesome stuff here to dig into!!!

Honestly, I wasn’t very accepting of the notion that the Titan-A is a “refit” of Riker’s Luna-class Titan at first given how different the shape and size are between the two… However, I’m now totally convinced by Mike Okuda’s explanation!

It is now much easier to imagine that the Luna-class Titan probably suffered massive damage after its last mission (much like how the Enterprise-E ended up in Nemesis), and Starfleet probably judged that it had reached the end of its operational lifetime (which was also helped by Riker and Troi’s departure to settle on Nepenthe to take care of their dying son). However, with the destruction with the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards (which was an event I admit to having totally blocked from of my memory), shipbuilding resources are low, so it was easier to salvage pieces from the Luna-class Titan (like computer core, warp coils, and so on) and use them to complete the construction of an entirely new ship, hence the Titan-A. This would therefore explain why Shaw had to purge the computer of Riker’s jazz music and why the nacelles are “20 years old.”

The only problem is that the shipbuilding situation with Starfleet in the PIC period is still somewhat sketchy… If the destruction of Utopia Planitia hampered Starfleet’s production capacity, then how did they build so many Zheng He-type starships as seen in PIC’s season 1 finale? And if the destruction of the shipyards happened in 2385 and the Enterprise-F was launched in 2386, how did they still manage to complete the massive building of the Odyssey-class a mere year after the incident? Was the Sagan-class Stargazer therefore also built using salvaged parts from the Constellation-class Stargazer (which would explain Picard’s line but wouldn’t make much sense given how old the old NCC-2893 was)?

Star Trek's Use of Transporters, Explained

The transporter is one of Star Trek's most magical and powerful creations, but how does the technology work and where did it come from?

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Why star trek has transporters in the first place, how transporters work in star trek stories, is there any real scientific basis for star trek's transporters, is a star trek character the same person after being transported.

There are many iconic things about Star Trek , from the communicators that inspired flip cell phones to the unmistakable silhouette of the USS Enterprise . However, one of the most iconic elements of Gene Roddenberry's universe are the transporters that "beam" characters from one place to another. This technology is one of the earliest and most high-concept ideas in those early shows. Yet, it was born -- like so much in television production -- out of a need to save money. So, how does the fantastical transporter system work? If someone who wasn't a fan of Star Trek was asked to quote a line of dialogue from the show, they most likely would say, "Beam me up, Scotty."

The chief engineer of the original USS Enterprise was also the one often tasked with overseeing this complicated and sometimes dangerous process. Yet, the phrase never appears in Star Trek: The Original Series . In fact, the closest fans ever got to hearing it was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . While saying goodbye to Gillian, their 20th Century marine biologist ally, Kirk says, "Scotty, beam me up." Throughout every future iteration of the franchise, the transporter is a crucial part of the technological armaments used in the stories. While no single science-fiction concept is wholly original, the transporter is one element that's rarely copied by other storytelling universes. Doctor Who uses them, but it's often only the aliens or antagonists who have access to them, and for good reason. While it saved money for production, conceptually it complicates the series' drama.

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Looking back at Star Trek: The Original Series , modern-day viewers can be forgiven for saying it looks "cheap." Yet, during its day, the show was one of the most expensive on television, which is why The Original Series was canceled despite strong fan support. In fact, while still in development, Gene Roddenberry almost blew the budget simply researching starships. From that experience Roddenberry said, "I would blow the whole budget…just in landing the [ship] on a planet," in The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. "[T]he transporter idea was conceived, so we could get our people down to the planet fast…and get our story going by page two."

The technology also allowed the characters to only bring the props they could carry like phasers, communicators and tricorders. Anything else they needed could simply be transported to them. Len Wein, a writer on the early Star Trek comics , chided earlier writers for showing the characters with backpacks, because anything they needed was a simple beam-down away. Still, the transporter posed a problem for the production crew. It was one of many visual effects techniques that had to be invented for the series. Sure, the use of composite shots -- which allow figures to appear or disappear -- existed as long as motion picture cameras. But in Star Trek , everything had to be bigger.

In The Fifty-Year Mission , visual effects legend Howard A. Anderson talked about how they achieved the effect. They "used aluminum dust falling through a beam of high-intensity light" photographed separately. Using matte shots, they would shoot the characters, followed by a cut-out of the character with the glitter effect, and then make the effect disappear leaving an empty transporter pad. It was one of the show's simpler shots, but that, along with the sound, became a beloved hallmark of the series. Despite modern advancements, the transporter effect still has elements of the original.

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In most cases, the transporters still work the way they were intended to, namely by getting characters into the action quickly. However, they are also a source of drama. In Captain's Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , also by Gross and Altman, Roddenberry lamented about a cut scene from the (second) pilot where Dr. McCoy gives voice to his concern about using it. The line told fans "one of these days we may see a story about a transporter malfunction." When this eventually happened in The Original Series , for "regular viewers, it comes out of the blue," he said. A transporter malfunction is also how the show introduced Star Trek's infamous "Mirror Universe."

Of course, if the characters could simply be whisked out of dangerous situations with a transporter, it hurts the drama. In The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years , second-wave writer and producer Hans Beimler said they "had to break down the transporter…so that [the characters] could be in trouble." This is why there are so many "ionic storms" or stories set in deep caves. The character of Dr. Pulaski on Star Trek: The Next Generation shared Dr. McCoy's contempt for transporters, too. Yet, it wasn't always a hindrance to the storytelling.

In The Next Generation Season 6, a transporter malfunction created a double of Riker who spent years on a planet waiting for rescue. In Star Trek: Voyager , another malfunction -- in concert with an alien flower -- bonded two characters together into a new being in the episode "Tuvix." As recently as 2023, the transporters were used in Star Trek: Picard as a key element of the Borg's plan to stealthily invade Starfleet by assimilating the officers under the age of 25. This technology is about much more today than getting characters to a planet quickly and cheaply.

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It's surprising how scientifically accurate a show like Star Trek can be, even without its science consultants. In an early The Original Series episode, Captain Kirk makes reference to what sounds like a black hole, a year before the term appeared in scientific literature, according to science consultant and astrophysicist Erin MacDonald on NPR's Science Friday . Regretfully, she said the transporter is not one of those things. Beyond the massive task of disassembling and reassembling seven billion-billion-billion particles, there are the laws of physics to contend with, namely the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

The scientific concept states there is an incalculable measure of uncertainty in measuring and locating a particle at any given time. Star Trek sometimes takes liberties with real physics. MacDonald noted the depiction of gravity waves in Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery was depicted inaccurately because it was more visually appealing. It is a television series, after all. Still, Star Trek tries to account for these things. In certain episodes when transporter "technobabble" is required, there's an element called a "Heisenberg Compensator." This accounts for the uncertainty, but asked how it works, all MacDonald can say is "very well, thank you."

There are more recent elements that are equally scientifically preposterous, especially the "pattern buffer." This is a memory storage device that holds a transporter "pattern." In The Next Generation , Scotty is found alive decades after his disappearance inside one. Strange New Worlds used the concept, too. Dr. M'Benga used it to store wounded Starfleet officers in the Klingon war and, later, his own daughter who had a degenerative disease. It makes for great fiction, but it's not real science. In fact, there is a massive debate about whether the transporter kills each person who goes through it.

This Underrated Star Trek Series Has the Franchise's Best Pilot

In Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4 , the inventor of the transporter, Dr. Emory Erickson visits the ship for an experiment that's a secret plan to save his son, lost in a transporter accident. During the episode, he dismisses out-of-hand the idea that the transporter "kills" the people who use it. However, it's not so easy to dismiss. The transporter breaks down the physical structure of a person to the smallest particle and then rebuilds them in a different location. There is an argument to be made that they are not the "same" person who went into the machine. Instead, they are a new being who possesses the same matter and memories, or in Will and Thomas Riker's cases, two people with the same matter and memories.

With this philosophical question, there is no clear answer. Dr. Erickson is convinced the idea is nonsense, but Star Trek: Picard proved it's not so beyond the pale. The Starfleet officers had their DNA rewritten with biological Borg elements they didn't have before. Dr. Crusher notes the "bio-filters" should've caught it. These filters are supposed to be able to remove contaminants and pathogens an away team might pick up on an alien planet.

While the transporter is reassembling a person's particles, it can and does change them when required. This is a fan-debate for which there is no clear answer, nor should there be. For Star Trek's purposes, however, the people who are transported aren't killed in the process. The one exception is the people in Star Trek: The Motion Picture whose molecules were scrambled by beaming aboard the refitted USS Enterprise . Despite Roddeberry's desire for his universe to hew closely to real-world science, Star Trek 's transporters are its most magical technology.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

How ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Created the High-Tech Bridge of Its Newest Starship

By Scott Mantz

Scott Mantz

• ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Team Built a ‘Museum Quality’ Enterprise D to Make Things as ‘Cinematic as Possible’ 10 months ago
• How ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Resurrected an Iconic Set 12 months ago
• How ‘Babylon’s’ Cocaine-Snorting Opening Sequence Came Together 1 year ago

In just about every way, the third and final season of “Star Trek: Picard” is both about looking back and moving forward. In addition to reuniting the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise from “The Next Generation” for the first time since 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis,” it also features a new starship on which most of the action takes place: the U.S.S. Titan, first seen in animated form on “Star Trek: Lower Decks” and now refit as a Neo-Constitution Class Starship.

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When it came to designing the interior of the Titan, Blass recruited veterans from “The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine” – senior illustrator Doug Drexler, scenic art supervisor Michael Okuda and video playback supervisor Denise Okuda, all from Herman Zimmerman’s production design team – but also Sean Hargreaves, who designed the sleek new U.S.S. Enterprise seen briefly at the end of 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond.”

To that extent, Blass literally had the best of both worlds. “I think that the starships in the ‘Star Trek’ universe are as heroic as the captains who sat in those seats,” he says. “So, when we were bringing the production crew together, I wanted to bring the best designers from all of ‘Star Trek’ together on one project.”

The Bridge was 46 feet wide, big enough with integrated lighting to accommodate the show’s complex shooting needs. As Blass explains, “The bridge of the Titan is only 12 feet bigger than the Enterprise-E [from ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’] and we were shooting with multiple cameras, so it had to be wide enough to get all the widescreen view shots without picking up the other cameras. And we designed the Titan with bigger consoles so the Bridge would light itself because, with our very limited timeframe, we couldn’t completely relight the set for every single take.”

But it wasn’t just how the Titan looked; it was how it sounded. “It was important for us to go back into the archives and dig out everything from ‘The Next Generation’ series and movies,” says Matalas. “There would be new sounds, and there would be updates, but you’d have a blend. So, even though visually you’re seeing Dave’s sets, the sounds are evoking all of those feelings that should be in your DNA if you love the older shows.”

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Picard’s Massive Villain Return Actually Fixes A First Contact Plot Hole

“I can hear them.”

In the penultimate episode of Picard Season 3 , the show’s biggest twist redefines not only the entire season but one of the most epic conflicts in Star Trek canon. Although the primary villain this season has its origins in Deep Space Nine , it turns out that somebody else has been pulling the strings. But the return of this specific villain isn’t just a twist for the sake of it. Instead, a very old mystery from 1996 has finally been solved. Here’s what that huge twist from Picard Season 3, Episode 9 means, plus some clarification from showrunner Terry Matalas about a very specific floating head.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Picard Season 3, Episode 9, “Vox.”

Early in the episode, the mystery of what’s behind the “red door” in the mind of Jack Crusher reveals the unthinkable: Jack has the Borg in his blood!

Turns out Jean-Luc Picard accidentally passed down what Data calls “dormant biological Borg adaptations.” Although the Prime Universe Borg was (mostly) defeated by Janeway in the Voyager finale “Endgame,” it turns out the original Borg evolved in a new way, which allows assimilation via Jean-Luc’s altered genetic code. The entire Changeling plot was specifically designed to slip Picard’s old Borg code into every Starfleet transporter and give everybody a piece of Borg in their body. Meanwhile, Jack — as Jean-Luc’s son — inherited a huge chunk of this genetic tech; which, has turned him into an unwitting transmitter; exactly what the ailing Borg Queen (Alice Krige) wanted all along.

First Contact set up this Picard twist in 1996

Picard could hear the Borg...way back in First Contact.

Although Jean-Luc Picard was rescued from the Borg Collective in the 1990 TNG episode ‘The Best of Both Worlds Part 2,” we later learned that he retained an ability to “hear” the Collective in the mega-popular 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact . In that film, Picard was able to sense the Borg, and thus, give Starfleet the ability to destroy one specific Borg Cube. But, at that time, we never knew why he had this superpower. Because Jean-Luc never faced the Borg again, it’s taken this long to actually solve this mystery.

In “Vox,” Data and Geordi explain that the genetic alterations that the Borg made to Picard’s DNA turned him into a “receiver,” of Borg communication, while Jack is a “transmitter.” Jean-Luc realizes the significance of this revelation, saying that it “was why I could still hear them after I was assimilated.” Data adds that Picard’s “body” was the thing that could still hear the “voice of the Collective.”

Who controlled the Changelings for the Borg?

Turns out this is the Borg Queen, too.

Throughout Picard Season 3, Vadic’s handler appeared as a mystery floating face, who some fans have dubbed “meathead.” We later learned this was not a Changeling at all. Although some fans might miss this detail, that floating face was, in fact, the Borg Queen all along. When directly asked the identity of the floating face that bossed around Vadic, Picard showrunner Terry Matalas told Inverse “ That’s the Borg Queen.”

“ That’s the Borg Queen.”

Although “Vox” drops a lot of info that seems to change everything about Picard Season 3, all the clues have been there. The Changelings have been messing with the transporter since Episode 4 and Commander Ro told Picard she didn’t trust the transporters back in Episode 5 . In Episode 7, we learned that Vadic busted out of Daystrom Station on her own, and it was at that point she discovered the dormant Borg Code within Picard. In this episode, we learned that the Changelings wanted to weaponize the dormant Borg Code, and the Borg Queen was happy about the team-up.

As Beverly Cruhser says, “Cleary the Changelings have been working with the Borg since the beginning.”

Later, the Borg Queen clarifies this alliance slightly, saying to Jack that the Borg-Changeling team-up was “the vindication of both our species to take everything back from those who live like shattered glass.” Like the Borg, the Changelings have a kind of shared hive minds in their Great Link. Also like the Borg, they have a huge beef with the Federation. Both groups also view individualized humanoid consciousnesses as basically ridiculous.

This episode also makes it clear that the Borg Queen could not have stuck all this Borg genetic code into Starfleet’s systems without the help of the Changelings. This suggests the Borg Queen might be in worse shape than we know. In “Vox,” we don’t even see her face, and her ship seems badly damaged. Clearly, the Borg Queen was desperate enough to enlist the help of the Changelings.

But, that doesn’t mean all of our questions have been answered. Going into the massive Picard Season 3 finale, the vengeance of the Borg feels nearly complete. Unless, of course, one last starship can save the day.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams on Paramount+ .

This article was originally published on April 13, 2023

• Science Fiction

The Untold Truth About Star Trek Transporters

According to Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), "transporting really is the safest way to travel" in the "Star Trek" universe. Having your atoms disassembled by a computer, beamed to another location, and then reassembled certainly does sound like an efficient (albeit terrifying) mode of transportation and practically everyone in the 24th century gets around with transporters.

La Forge even claims there have only been two or three transporter accidents in the past 10 years — but if that's true, then the 24th century must have a very different definition of the word "accidents." From age regression to accidental cloning, the U.S.S. Enterprise alone has had multiple bizarre transporter malfunctions in just its first seven years of service.

The problems get even weirder when you look at all the transporter accidents in the original " Star Trek ," " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ," " Star Trek: Voyager ," and other "Trek" TV shows and movies. While some of these effects can actually be beneficial, you may want to read this article on the untold truths behind "Star Trek" transporters before calling out that old refrain: "Beam me up, Scotty." Because after your journey, there's a good chance you won't like how you get put back together.

Transporters Exist Because of Low FX Budgets

According to "The Making of Star Trek," franchise mastermind Gene Roddenberry originally wanted to shoot scenes of the Enterprise landing on alien planets, but this proved too expensive. Even building models of shuttlecrafts was too time consuming, and the crew needed an alternative when filming began.

To get around the problem, the special effects team created a teleportation effect for the crew to explain how they arrived on a planet's surface in the "Star Trek" pilot episode "The Cage." The transporter became very popular and influenced many episodes, causing all the later TV shows and movies to use it even as their FX budgets increased substantially. Thus, a special effect created for budgetary reasons ended up having a major real-world effect on pop culture.

Transporters Run on Glitter and Alka Seltzer

Ask a Trekkie how transporters work, and you might receive a technical explanation of the physics involved in disassembling and reassembling a person.

Well, guess what? In reality, transporters can run on anything from glitter to Alka Seltzer. According to " Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ," the special effects team created the first transporter effect by turning a slow-motion camera upside down, filming grains of aluminum powder dropping in front of a black background, and using the footage to create the "shimmer" effect between shots of the actors and the clean background. In later episodes, they created different transporter effects by filming  dissolving Alka Seltzer tablets and later glitter swizzled in a jar full of water.

More recent "Trek" movies and TV shows use computer effects. Today, practically  anyone can create their own Star Trek transporter effect with basic video editing software and some computer-generated effects. Even so, it's telling that one of the most iconic special effects in science fiction history was accomplished using materials anyone could buy at their local drug store.

People Suffer From Transporter Phobia

By the 24th century, millions of people travel by transporter every year. Even so, there are plenty of people who hate this mode of travel and do everything they can to avoid stepping onto a transporter pad.

In "The Next Generation" Season 6 episode "Realm of Fear,"  Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) confesses he suffers from "transporter phobia" and suffers a panic attack when asked to beam down to a planet while plasma field disturbances adversely affect the transporter. As it turns out, his fears are justified, and he sees worm-like creatures in the transporter's matter stream that turn out to be human beings trapped in mid-transport.

People with transporter phobia may be ridiculed in the 24th century, but Barclay's actually in good company. Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) famously hated transporters and insisted on using shuttlecrafts whenever possible. 

During the "Star Trek: Enterprise” television series, the original Enterprise crew also preferred using shuttles and only allowed themselves to be beamed up during emergencies. Considering all the horrible transporter malfunctions that would occur over the next two hundred years, this was very smart behavior.

Transporters May Technically Kill You Every Time You Beam Down

Transporter accidents have killed people in many gruesome ways. In " Star Trek: The Motion Picture ” (1979), memorably, some new officers experience a transporter malfunction and re-materialize as a semi-living mass of flesh that mercifully doesn't live for very long.

When you get down to it though, "Star Trek" transporters may very well murder every single person who uses one. According to multiple official explanations, including the one found in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual," transporters scan a person's body, convert said body into a matter stream, store those particles in a pattern buffer, send them to their destination via an energy beam, and then put those particles back together in the original configuration.

Many fans argue that this basically means a transporter kills you and only reassembles a copy of your body and mind. This idea is given credence by the fact that transporters don't have to use your original atoms to reassemble you, but can use any available atoms, leaving your original atoms floating somewhere in space.

This is similar to the " Ship of Theseus " thought experiment (famously  referenced in "Wandavision" ), which questions whether a person or object is still themselves once all the original components are replaced. The Star Trek graphic novel "Forgiveness" does claim that transporters manage to send your soul via the energy stream, which would indicate that transporters don't really kill you. That being said ... they kind of do.

Transporters Make Death Irrelevant

Transporters may or may not kill you, but having a computer advanced enough to scan and store a complete pattern of your body, mind, and memories actually makes death irrelevant. In the episode "Lonely Among Us" from Season 1 of "Next Generation," for instance,  Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) merges with an alien entity and beams off the ship, apparently destroying himself.

However, the Enterprise crew later realize that they can get Picard back by reversing the transport and reconstituting Picard as he was before the alien possessed him. This Picard is the same person in every respect, although he lacks the memories of when he and the alien entity were one, indicating he's an earlier version of Picard built from new atoms.

Oddly, this means a transporter can bring back anyone who dies from a mission just by saving their physical and mental patterns in the pattern buffer and reconstituting them after the original dies. The new version would lack the memories of that mission (including the memory of dying), but this would be a small price to pay for getting a chance to bring people back from the dead on demand. The only downside might be accidentally duplicating someone who isn't dead yet — which actually happened to one hapless crewman on "Next Generation."

Transporters Are Cloning Machines

Season 1 of the original "Star Trek" produced one of the show's weirder episodes with "The Enemy Within," where a transporter accident splits Captain Kirk (William Shatner) into a "good" but weak-willed Kirk and an  "evil" Kirk prone to overacting  (or at least, more overacting than Shatner normally did). As it turned out, both sides of Kirk needed to merge back together to form a whole personality, and Spock and Scotty were able to re-integrate them.

At least Kirk managed to pull himself together. A generation later, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) wasn't so lucky when, on the "Next Generation" Season 6 episode "Second Chances," he learned he was unknowingly split into two exact duplicates thanks to a transporter accident while he was a lieutenant. While one Will Riker continued his career in Starfleet and rose to the rank of Commander, the other Riker (also Frakes) was marooned on an alien planet for eight years until the Enterprise rescued him.

From that point, things got even weirder. Lieutenant Riker decided to go by his middle name "Thomas" and start a new life. He joined a group of Maquis dissidents, then used his genetic pattern to pose as Will Riker and steal the U.S.S. Defiant in the "Deep Space Nine" Season 3 episode "Defiant." Later, he got caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Cardassian labor camp. Meanwhile, Commander William Riker continued to advance in his career and eventually became captain of the U.S.S. Titan. Wow, talk about an identity crisis.

Transporters Are Gene Splicers

David Cronenberg's classic 1986 remake of "The Fly"  showed how an early transporter (or "telepod") could accidentally splice someone's genetic code with an insect if it happened to be inside. By the 24th century, transporter gene splicing accidents have become somewhat prettier, but no less ethically disturbing.

In the "Voyager" Season 2 episode "Tuvix," Lieutenant Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ), Neelix (Ethan Phillips), and an alien plant get merged together in a transporter accident thanks to the plant's enzymes. The resulting hybrid being (played by actor Tom Wright) possessed their memories and called himself "Tuvix." Over time, Tuvix formed  relationships with the crew and came to see himself as a unique being (and looked at Tuvok and Neelix as his parents), resisting attempts to reverse the fusing process. However,  Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) forced him to go through the process anyway, effectively destroying him .

While the moral dilemma of forcing Tuvix to revert back to two beings made for some good drama, it almost seemed unnecessary. Since the transporters can effectively clone people, as they did with William Thomas Riker, why couldn't Voyager have simply made a copy of Tuvix and then separated one of them back into Tuvok and Neelix? Tuvix would have probably been more amenable to that idea.

Transporters Are A Fountain of Youth

Transporters might be able to reassemble you in exactly the same physical condition you were in at the moment of beam out ... but what if you don't want to be put back together as an out-of-shape middle-aged man or a dying woman?

No problem! As multiple "Star Trek” episodes have shown, the transporter can make you any age you want. In the "Next Generation” Season 6 episode "Rascals," a transporter accident removed key sequences in the crew's DNA, causing them to rematerialize as 12-year-olds, albeit with adult minds and memories. Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) later restored the missing sequences and returned the kids to adults, but she indicated that the regressed crewmembers could have simply grown up the normal way instead.

Okay, but say you don't want to restart your life as a preteen and go through puberty a second time? That still wouldn't be an issue. In the Season 2 episode "Unnatural Selection," Doctor Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) was stricken with a disease that accelerated her aging. To save her, the Enterprise used the transporter to re-code her DNA back to normal with a previous bio-pattern that put her back to her regular age.

Of course, since you could store bio-patterns of yourself every time you use the transporter, you could restore yourself to any age or physical condition — including how you looked during your twenties after spending months working out at the gym. Who needs a day spa when you've got a transporter?

Transporters Redefine How Childbirth Works

Starfleet doctors are some of the best medical professionals in the business. Not only can these specialists perform delicate surgery on multiple alien species, they're trained to use their advanced medical equipment to improvise in dangerous situations, leading to some ... well, innovative solutions.

In the "Deep Space Nine" Season 4 episode "Body Parts," Doctor Bashir (Alexander Siddig) was on a shuttle with Major Kira (Nana Visitor) and Chief O'Brien's pregnant wife Keiko (Rosalind Chao). When an accident endangered the lives of Keiko and her unborn son, Bashir decided to use the transporter to transfer the fetus into Kira's womb. Kira ended up carrying the infant to term, resulting in some weird moments for the O'Brien family.

This bizarre incident was motivated by  Nana Visitor's real-life pregnancy , which the writers decided to work into the show after Visitor feared her character might need to be written out. Oddly enough, while "Star Trek" science consultant André Bormanis didn't think such an operation would be scientifically possible, he later admitted that fifteen years after the episode aired,  the idea of a fetal transplant was being studied and could become a reality .

Transporters Can Turn You Into A Living Ghost

Why was Geordi La Forge so confident that transporters were safe? Probably because he suffered a transporter accident that should have killed him in the Season 5 "Next Generation" episode "The Next Phase," only to learn he wasn't really dead. The story had La Forge and Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes) waking up on the Enterprise after a transporter malfunction, only to learn nobody could see or hear them and that they could walk through solid matter.

Ro believed the two of them died while being beamed up, but La Forge was skeptical, and learned a Romulan molecular phase inverter transformed them into "out of phase" versions of themselves. Luckily, he was able to get a message to Data, and the Enterprise reverted them to their solid states.

Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) suffered a more embarrassing version of this ghost-transformation in the Season 1 "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "Much Ado About Boimler." While helping an engineer test the transporter, Boimler was turned into a transparent, glowing version of himself that gave off a "transporter" sound. 

When his crew found him too distracting, they shipped him to "The Farm," a medical spa where all incurable "Star Trek" victims go. The Farm turned out to be a great place, but when Boimler reverted to normal, he was shipped back. Considering the Farm is basically a day spa with attractive nurses, maybe being a transporter accident victim wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Transporters Can Replace Cryogenic Freezing

There's been a lot of cinematic speculation about how cryogenics freeze a person into stasis, possibly allowing them to be revived years or even centuries later. In the movies, everyone from  Austin Powers to  Captain America to  Doctor Evil have attempted it, with varying success.

Well, guess what? In the "Trek” universe, you don't have to bother with messy cold storage. Just store your pattern in the transporter buffer of your ship and wait for someone to re-materialize you. 

That's what Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) did for himself and his crewmate when their ship crashed on a Dyson sphere in the "Next Generation” Season 6 episode "Relics." While his friend's pattern degraded too much for him to be revived (guess Scotty wasn't that much of a miracle worker), Scotty was taken out of storage 75 years later by the crew of the Enterprise-D.

Oddly enough, in the rebooted Kelvin timeline, an alternate Scotty lost Admiral Archer's beagle Porthos in a transwarp beaming experiment. However, in the IDW comic book "Star Trek" #12, Scotty brought Porthos back, showing that animals can also be kept in stasis for extended periods of time. Undoubtedly, this technology will someday revolutionize how our kennels operate.

Transporters Are Time Machines

"Trek" time travel is usually a dramatic event. In "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," Kirk and his crew went back to the 20th century by getting a stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey to perform a "slingshot" maneuver around the sun, creating a time warp. The effort nearly destroyed the ship, but it got the job done.

Of course, if you don't have the movie budget — er, starship — to perform such a feat, just use the transporter. In the "Deep Space Nine" Season 3 two-part storyline "Past Tense," a transporter accident involving temporal altering chroniton particles sent Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks), Doctor Bashir, and Lieutenant Commander Dax (Terry Farrell) to the 21st century where they accidentally interfered with a key historical event, threatening to erase their future.

Meanwhile,  Chief O'Brien (Colm Meany) and Major Kira managed to use a limited supply of chronitons to travel through time and locate their missing crew members. They ended up briefly visiting 1930, and even swung by 1967 to get flowers from some hippies, before finally hitting the right date. 

Such tech would be greatly refined by the 29th century, when the Federation included fleets of "timeships" in Starfleet that possessed temporal displacement drives and temporal rifts to travel through time, allowing them to  essentially beam people to any point in history.

Transporters Can Take You to Alternate Realities

As if ending up in the wrong place isn't bad enough, some transporter accidents can place you in an entirely different universe — and not a very fun one at that. 

In the classic Season 2 "Star Trek” episode, "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk and several other crew members re-materialized in a " Mirror Universe " where the benevolent Federation was the planet-conquering "Terran Empire." Kirk and his crew needed to pretend to be their evil counterparts, since any traitors to the empire would be placed in "agony booths" of torture that made folks wish they were dead.

Meanwhile, the Mirror Universe versions of Kirk and his crew appeared in the "Prime" Star Trek universe and were thrown into the Enterprise's brig. Fortunately, the two crews managed to switch places, with the "Prime" Kirk making the "Mirror" Spock consider reforming the Terran Empire.

While this appeared to be a random transporter accident, by the 24th century, Mirror Universe engineers managed to upgrade their transporters to allow people to crossover to the "Prime" universe at will. This led to multiple episodes in "Deep Space Nine" where mainstream characters visited the alternate reality and even formed friendships with some of their Mirror Universe counterparts.

People Have Faked Their Deaths via Transporter Accidents

Want to know how common transporter accidents really are? As it turns out, one Romulan spy felt this sort of death was so prevalent in Starfleet that she staged her own transporter death.

In the "Next Generation" Season 4 episode " Data's Day ," a Vulcan ambassador (Sierra Pecheur) apparently died in a transporter accident even though the equipment appeared to be functioning perfectly. Data (Brent Spiner) investigated, discovering bits of organic matter that arrived in transport were replicated, leading him to deduce that the "Vulcan" ambassador was actually a Romulan spy who used the Enterprise to rendezvous with her people and had the replicated material of her "dead body" beamed onto their ship to fake her cover identity's death.

While the spy's deception was discovered, not every Starfleet crew has people like Data or Doctor Crusher who can investigate so thoroughly. Given this, maybe transporter accidents really aren't so common. Perhaps, most of them are perpetrated by people who just want to start a new life.

Screen Rant

Riker's doppelganger is still a big star trek unanswered question.

Former Maquis Ro Laren’s return to Starfleet suggests there’s still hope for Thomas Riker, so where is he in Star Trek: Picard season 3?

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 5, "Imposters".

The return of Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 5, "Imposters" raises further questions about the whereabouts of Thomas Riker (Jonathan Frakes), William Riker's doppelganger. Tom Riker was the result of a freak transporter accident that cloned a young Lieutenant Will Riker prior to serving aboard the USS Enterprise-D. After deciding to continue his Starfleet career, under the name Thomas Riker, Will's doppelganger eventually grew disillusioned with Starfleet and joined the Maquis, hijacking the USS Defiant to launch an attack on secret Cardassian shipyards.

Interestingly, in Ro Laren's final Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Preemptive Strike", it was Will Riker who made no attempt to apprehend Ro when she joined the Maquis. There's an implication, therefore, that Will Riker did have sympathies with Star Trek 's Maquis traitors . Those sympathies were more pronounced in Thomas, who was sent to a Cardassian prison for his actions while in command of the stolen Defiant. If Ro Laren was able to join Starfleet Intelligence after serving time for her Maquis crimes, then surely Thomas Riker could have had a similar opportunity.

RELATED: Star Trek Can Still Team Up Riker's Doppelgangers (With A Twist)

Ro Laren's Picard Comeback Didn't Answer Thomas' Question

The fact that Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) refused to believe that Ro was a member of Starfleet Intelligence implies that the status of some former Maquis hasn't been widely reported. Arriving aboard the USS Titan-A to apprehend Jack Crusher (Ed Speelers) and interrogate Picard and Riker, Ro doesn't provide any further information about other former Maquis becoming Starfleet again. It's likely that, as a Federation rather than a Cardassian prisoner, Ro Laren had an easier transition back into Starfleet, similar to how former Maquis, Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), was assigned to the USS Voyager after serving time in a Federation penal facility.

As the majority of Ro's scenes in Star Trek: Picard involve her and Jean-Luc discussing the extent of the Changeling conspiracy, there likely wasn't time for her to mention whatever happened to Thomas Riker. Actor Jonathan Frakes had wanted Tom Riker to be freed from prison to assist in the liberation of Cardassia Prime during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's final season. While that never happened, Picard 's Changeling plan is clearly rooted in the rogue schism seeking vengeance for the indignities of the Dominion War. As a prisoner of the Cardassians, Thomas Riker's fate feels like a loose thread from the end of the Dominion War that could finally be resolved in the remaining episodes of Picard season 3.

Will Thomas Riker Appear In Star Trek: Picard Season 3?

The surprise return of Ro Laren in Star Trek: Picard season 3 does suggest that other big surprises are on the way. Thomas Riker could be one of these surprise returns, especially given Jonathan Frakes' fondness for the character's sole DS9 appearance. In "Defiant", Thomas Riker infiltrated Deep Space Nine by pretending to be his more famous doppelganger, Will. Given that Picard season 3 has now established a massive Changeling infiltration of Starfleet, the return of Will Riker's transporter clone could prove to be one suspicious doppelganger too many.

Will Riker's son, Thad Riker has been a key part of his story in Star Trek: Picard season 3, as Will reconciled the existential crisis and nihilism brought about by his son's tragic death. With Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Lore (Brent Spiner) still to return, it feels like Will's story has been resolved to make space for these other TNG characters. Sadly, this makes it unlikely that Star Trek: Picard season 3 will bring back Will's transporter clone. However, Thomas Riker's fate post-Dominion War and liberation of Cardassia Prime has huge narrative potential for other, future Star Trek shows.

MORE: Star Trek Picard Season 3 Episode 5 Ending Explained

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

How Star Trek's Transporter Effect Actually Worked

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One of the first memories I have of adult television is watching the cast of the original "Star Trek" beaming down to a planet in the transporter. I don't know which episode it was, but I do remember asking my dad how they did that, and could we go to Disneyland that way. In the days of CGI characters and the ability to film entire movies and TV shows in front of a green screen, it's hard to remember what even a small effect like the "Star Trek" transporter conjured up in our brains. (I still think of it while driving through LA traffic.)

What I didn't know as a kid, and frankly, up until now was how the show created the effect. According to an article on Inverse , The Anderson Company (run in the 1960s by Darrel Anderson and Howard A. Anderson) created it in a very simple way, with "aluminum powder and old-school compositing."

"Here's how it worked: First the person or persons being transported were filmed standing in position. Then they stepped out of frame while the camera captured an empty set. What was then needed was a "mask" of the figures being beamed — essentially an outline of them. A further element required was the glittering or beam effect (this is where the aluminum powder came in). It was photographed separately by dropping the powder from above and lighting it with an intensive light against a black background."

Beaming Ourselves Up

It might seem primitive these days, but someone had to come up with it. Maybe you've even used something like this in your own home movies. A number of years ago (via Vice ), PBS Digital Studio's Joey Shanks showed fans how to create this effect by themselves for their own films. I highly recommend watching the video. It's really cool! It also explains how the effects changed over the years. For instance, they took out the freeze frame effect once the feature films were being made, and they added light beam effects to add drama later on.

Shanks told Vice: 

"From my research it started with them using aluminum silver shavings, and just dropping it in front of the camera, backlighting it with a really sharp spotlight and shooting it at 120 frames-per-second and then compositing it into the scene. Then I learned that they started messing around with Alka Seltzer, with glitter, a lot of different forms of liquids and particles in tanks. Just to show the audience this technique it's super simple — even getting a lava lamp that has little glitter particles, you can pretty much create the exact same look they did originally."

Could We Ever Have a Real Transporter?

The effect is super cool, but we can't do that yet, obviously. Will we ever be able to? "Star Trek" has certainly influenced technology with things like flip phones and touch screens.  StarTrek.com had an article  in 2014 about a discovery that might bring us closer to a real life transporter — in theory. In an experiment at Delft University in the Netherlands, scientists were able to transport a few matter particles three meters. It's not exactly sending a red shirt down to a planet as cannon fodder, but it's pretty cool. The article goes into detail about how it all works (and I'm no scientist, fascinated as I am by it all), but in basic terms, you have to know all the tiny details about something is built and calculate how to move it over a distance, from the atoms out. The atoms have to be rebuilt in exactly the same way somewhere else. Here is a little info from the article to help give you an idea of what we're talking about:

"'If you believe we are nothing more than a collection of atoms strung together in a particular way, then in principle it should be possible to teleport ourselves from on place to another,' says Professor Ronald Hanson, who led the experiment at Delft. Such a day remains far in the future for sure, but Hanson's statement does suggest one further snag that could complicate travel by Transporter — are we just a collection of atoms?"

I spoke to Rod Roddenberry, son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, President of Roddenberry Entertainment and executive producer of "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard" about his thoughts on the transporter technology. He said:

"I don't fully recall my first memory of the Transporter technology on screen, but I remember thinking that it was certainly amazing. Transporters represented our control of the atom, similar to the replicators, which allowed us to rearrange atoms in any order thereby creating anything whether it be sustenance, books for education, or rare minerals and metals. This technology would change our perceptions of value and we would no longer see value in material items. Having this ability to create literally anything would over time realign our thinking to find value in more immaterial concepts such as thoughts and ideas. My hope is we will see a future where we recognize and revere what is truly most unique in our world which are the thoughts and ideas of our fellow human beings."

'A Murdering Clone-Maker'

I also spoke to planetary physicist Dr. Kevin Grazier, science consultant on a number of television series and feature films, and co-author of the " Hollyweird Science " series of popular science books who explained:

Even if you could store the titanic amounts of energy needed to transport a person, perform the necessary data management and storage, and overcome quantum effects like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I still think that if it was possible to place a carbon atom here, a calcium atom there — all in precise relative positions — that the all those atoms would bond in exactly the same way as they were in the original source material. So, I think that if you stepped on one transporter pad, what would appear on the other pad is a huge puddle of organic sludge with the identical bulk chemical composition as the now-deceased Captain Busch. [Author's note: That's me and yikes!] The transporter is great narrative tool to keep writers from having to spend time landing their starship or dispatching a shuttle to a planet week to week, but I'm with Doctor McCoy in believing that the transporter is, at best, a murdering clone-maker.

By the way, Dr. Grazier does expand on the energy and data storage calculations in Chapter 7 of the first "Hollyweird Science" book. 

So, would you want to have one of these? Do you think we'll ever get there? Let us know @slashfilm !

Transporter room

• View history

An NX-class transporter alcove

A Constitution -class transporter room

A Galaxy -class transporter room

A Luna -class transporter room

The transporter room was part of a starship or space station which was specially outfitted to transport lifeforms and small, inanimate objects. This room included a transporter chamber with a transporter platform .

The number of transporter rooms varied per ship or station, the main criteria being the ability to evacuate all personnel within a specified time . All key components which were needed for transport were fitted in this room and the one just below.

Some starships, such as the NX-class Enterprise NX-01 , did not have a transporter room. The area surrounding the transporter was instead situated between two corridors to which the transporter alcove was directly adjoined, on either side. ( ENT : " The Andorian Incident ")

A transporter room was usually manned by a transporter chief . Miles O'Brien was the senior transporter chief for much of the USS Enterprise -D 's service. Transporter room three was O'Brien's preferred room. As he left to take up his post on Deep Space 9 , Jean-Luc Picard told him it would not be the same without him. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation ; DS9 : " Emissary ")

Although Deep Space 9 was equipped with at least five transporter rooms, Ops had its own transporter. ( DS9 : " Dramatis Personae ", " Things Past ") The DS9 Ops transporter was also used, several times, to effect a doorway to the mirror universe . ( DS9 : " Through the Looking Glass ", " Shattered Mirror ", " Resurrection ")

Captain Benjamin Sisko referred to the transporter room of the USS Defiant as the "transporter bay". ( DS9 : " The Way of the Warrior ", " To the Death ", " Broken Link ")

Constitution -class transporter rooms occasionally had food synthesizers . ( TOS : " Tomorrow is Yesterday ", " This Side of Paradise ")

• 1.1 USS Enterprise NCC-1701
• 1.2 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D
• 1.3 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E
• 1.4 USS Voyager
• 2 Gallery of transporter rooms
• 3.1 Background information
• 3.2 Apocrypha
• 3.3 External links

Rooms and uses [ ]

Uss enterprise ncc-1701 [ ].

Constitution -class starships, such at the Enterprise , had at least four transporter rooms. ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion ")

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D [ ]

Galaxy -class starships, such as the Enterprise -D, had at least twenty transporter rooms. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Transporter Room 1 was located on Deck 6, Room 1654. ( TNG : " Brothers ") It served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") For Decks 1 to 4, mass evacuation occurred via the cargo transporters. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

In 2364 , Lieutenant Natasha Yar requested Commander William T. Riker 's presence in Transporter Room 1. His presence was needed for an inspection of an unidentified item being beamed in from a surface station on Haven . With Riker present, a Betazoid gift box materialized on the transporter pad . Later, Counselor Deanna Troi , when entering the room, expressed dismay at the sight of the gift box. ( TNG : " Haven ")

In 2366 , this transporter room was used in an attempt to transport Roga Danar from the brig to an Angosian police shuttle . He managed to escape the transport attempt while making himself appear to have been lost in an explosion. ( TNG : " The Hunted ")

Transporter Room 2 was located on Deck 6. It also served as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 5 to 10. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") In 2368 , Cadet Wesley Crusher was beamed over to the USS Merrimac from this room. ( TNG : " The Game ")

Transporter Room 3 was located on Deck 6, Room 2054. It also served as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 5 to 10. This was Chief O'Brien's favorite transporter room on the ship. ( TNG : " 11001001 "; DS9 : " Emissary ") Propulsion expert Kosinski and his companion, The Traveler , were beamed aboard the Enterprise -D from the USS Fearless into this room. Greeting the visitors were Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, and Chief Engineer Argyle . ( TNG : " Where No One Has Gone Before ")

After speaking with Doctor Beverly Crusher and Counselor Troi about a brain graph of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2364 , Commander Riker requested the computer for a location of the captain. The computer located the captain's last position as Transporter Room 3. Before Riker could order a shutdown of transporter controls, Picard, under the influence of the thought maker , had beamed to his prior command, the USS Stargazer . ( TNG : " The Battle ")

After a rescue-and-recovery team led by Commander Riker and consisting of Lieutenant Commander Data and Lieutenant Geordi La Forge had located survivors, led by the Klingon officer Korris , aboard the freighter Batris , Captain Picard ordered Lieutenant Yar to this room to greet the away team . For the retrieval of the away team, plus three Klingons, she operated the transporter controls. ( TNG : " Heart of Glory ")

After Commander Riker was encased in a force field on Minos , Captain Picard asked the transporter chief of this room if he had a lock on the away team. He replied that he had a lock on two members of the team, but not Riker. After conferring with his senior officers, the captain and Doctor Crusher beamed down to the planet 's surface from this room. ( TNG : " The Arsenal of Freedom ")

In early 2365 , Data authorized the transporter chief, Miles O'Brien, to transport samples of plasma plague from 'aucdet IX into Cargo Deck 5, a cargo bay situated in the stardrive section of the Enterprise -D. Later in this room, in orbit of Science Station Tango Sierra , O'Brien transported the samples from the bay into a contained area on the space station . ( TNG : " The Child ")

After a terrorist bombing at the Lumar Cafe on Rutia IV in 2366 , Captain Picard ordered the transporter chief to target Dr. Crusher, Lt. Cmdr. Data, and Lt. Worf , and prepare for an immediate beam-up. However, before the transportation could take effect, Crusher was kidnapped by the Ansata .

A few days later, in a brazen attack on the Enterprise -D, the Ansata planted a bomb on the main reactor chamber . Captain Picard ordered the transporter chief to lock onto the explosive device and beam it out into space . As the bomb had sensor jamming technology , the chief couldn't complete the order. It was only when Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge removed the bomb from the chamber with a laser cutter and placed his communicator on the bomb that the transportation could take effect. As per the chief engineer's instructions, the bomb materialized five kilometers off the starboard nacelle , where it exploded harmlessly. ( TNG : " The High Ground ")

Upon the chance discovery of an one-man spaceship crashed on a planet in the Zeta Gelis star cluster , a medical triage team led by Riker, and consisting of Dr. Crusher, Lt. Cmdr. Data, and La Forge, were beamed near to the crash site by the transporter chief in this room. ( TNG : " Transfigurations ")

While trapped in a temporal fragment in 2369 , the Enterprise -D beamed several Romulans on board. The away team, including Captain Picard, Deanna Troi, Data, and Geordi La Forge tried to find out what happened and beamed on board the Enterprise -D. Picard ordered Troi to go to sickbay , Data to main engineering , and himself to Transporter Room 3, where he found Worf and two security officers who beamed three Romulans on board. ( TNG : " Timescape ")

Transporter Room 4 also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") In late 2364 , a rescue-and-recovery team led by Commander Riker and consisting of Dr. Crusher, Data, and Yar beamed from this room to Vagra II in an effort to rescue survivors of a shuttle crash. ( TNG : " Skin Of Evil ") In 2366, this room was also used to beam Roga Danar on board from an escape pod . ( TNG : " The Hunted ")

Transporter Room 5 served as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") In 2365, Chief Miles O'Brien was assigned to this room. He transported Jean-Luc Picard, Deanna Troi, and Worf to Ramatis III . ( TNG : " Loud As A Whisper ")

Transporter Room 6 also served as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") In 2364, the transporter chief for this room reported a transporter console malfunction to the bridge . The malfunction was later attributed to an entity found in the Beta Renner cloud . ( TNG : " Lonely Among Us ")

Transorter Room 7 also served as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Transporter Room 8 was located on Deck 12. ( TNG : " Coming of Age ") It was used for mass evacuation of Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ") In 2364, Wesley Crusher , on his way to the Starfleet Academy entrance exams , was beamed to Relva VII from this room. Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and Lieutenant Yar wished him well, and his mother , Dr. Crusher, gave him a hug expressing her pride and love. Later, the four officers greeted Admiral Gregory Quinn and Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick of the Judge Advocate General as they beamed in from the planet. ( TNG : " Coming of Age ")

Transporter Room 9 was also used as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Transporter Room 10 was also used as a mass evacuation transporter for Decks 6 to 16. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Transporter Rooms 11-14 were used as mass evacuation transporters for Decks 17 to 28. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Transporter Rooms 15-20 were used as mass evacuation transporters for Decks 29 to 42. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E [ ]

In 2373 , transporter room 3 beamed the crew of the USS Defiant aboard when the ship's life support system failed. Later, the away team including Captain Picard, Data, and Beverly Crusher was beamed from this transporter room to Bozeman , Montana . ( Star Trek: First Contact )

USS Voyager [ ]

The USS Voyager had at least three transporter rooms.

In 2372 , Transporter Room 2 was used to retrieve samples of an irregular comet , only to beam aboard Quinn , a member of the Q Continuum . ( VOY : " Death Wish ") Later that year , Kathryn Janeway requested that engineering shunt available power to transporter room 2 in order to retrieve Tom Paris . ( VOY : " Investigations ")

In 2371 , two Vidiians were beamed to transporter room 3, where Captain Janeway met them. ( VOY : " Phage ")

Gallery of transporter rooms [ ]

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

The script of TOS : " The Cage ", the first Star Trek pilot episode; described the transporter room by stating, " Completely unlike any other station on the Enterprise , the Transporter Room is heavily shielded. " The script then continued by describing several of the room's contents, which were generally far different from those seen in the episode's final version. These included a strange device dominating the room, a "glassed-in" transporter chamber hovering over the device, and a hooded viewing screen that the transporter operator could peer into to determine where the transporter subject was being beamed to.

The first scenes ever shot for Star Trek were originally set to be in the Enterprise 's transporter room. The set was on Stage 16 of Desilu 's Culver City lot. However, the filming schedule was changed and the very first scene shot was actually in Captain Pike 's quarters. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 43-46) [1]

The TOS transporter room set was situated on Desilu Stage 9. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 17 , p. 13) According to Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 17 , p. 13), the set was never redressed, during production on the series, and Robert H. Justman noted, " Common sense mandated leaving this one alone. " According to The Star Trek Compendium (4th ed., p. 40), however, the set was redressed to serve as the Enterprise 's chapel in the episode " Balance of Terror ".

The Enterprise transporter room was featured in a stock animation cell often used in Star Trek: The Animated Series , with Scott operating the transporter. ( The Best of Trek , p. 100)

The transporter room underwent a slight redesign for the ultimately abandoned series Star Trek: Phase II . In August 1977 , while the updated set was due to be constructed on Paramount Stage 9 , Joe Jennings began work on re-envisioning the room. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , p. 37) Some conceptual illustrations of the revised transporter room were created by Mike Minor . ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 63) On 8 September 1977 , producer Robert Goodwin sent a memo to Gene Roddenberry which included the statement, " The shell for the transporter room is being built. Soon Mike Minor will have sketches ready for you to approve on the look of the new transporter room. " ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , pp. 43-44) In a March 1978 interview, Susan Sackett reported the transporter room as having an "orange motif." ( Starlog #12) The writers/directors guide for Phase II included the statement, " We assume there are various Transporter Rooms through the vessel, " and suggested that the Enterprise 's chapel be a redress of the transporter room set. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , pp. 93 & 94) Similarly, the first-draft script of " In Thy Image " proposed that Phase II 's regular transporter room be redressed to serve as the transporter room of another starship in that story, the light cruiser Delphi . ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , pp. 210 & 214)

A wall section of the Enterprise 's transporter room that was built for Star Trek: Phase II went on to be used as part of both the starship's sickbay in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , and the ship's transporter room in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . ( text commentary , Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (The Director's Edition) DVD ; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission , p. 33) Following its reuse in the latter film, the same set piece additionally appeared in the Galaxy -class transporter room of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the Intrepid -class transporter room of Star Trek: Voyager . ( text commentary , Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (The Director's Edition) DVD )

More than any other set in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , the Enterprise transporter room fascinated the film's production designer, Harold Michelson . ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 91) He designed the revamped appearance of the room for the film, situating the transporter operators in a shielded control compartment in an attempt to convey the extraordinary energies involved in the transporter's operation. ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 164; The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , pp. 91-92) The set for The Motion Picture 's transporter room was built on Stage 9. ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 95) The floor of that transporter room included a segment consisting of many complex conduits, which was actually a sheet of vacuum-formed plastic, the shape of which was reused as wall panels in the Enterprise -class Mark IV bridge simulator in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . ( text commentary , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (The Director's Edition) DVD ) For The Motion Picture , the appearance of the transporter room's complex of machinery was enhanced by cinematographer Richard Kline , using some eerie-looking lighting. ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 92) Following production on The Motion Picture , the set for the film's transporter room was planned to be stored "indefinitely." ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , p. 214)

The set for the Regula I transporter room used part of the Klingon bridge set from Star Trek: The Motion Picture . ( Starlog #60)

For Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , the set for the transporter room of the Enterprise was situated on Paramount Stage 9 . ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 14, No. 3, p. 11)

The Enterprise -D transporter room under construction

The Galaxy -class transporter room was designed by illustrator Andrew Probert and production designer Herman Zimmerman , who deliberately echoed the layout of the TOS transporter room to appease hardcore fans of the original series. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 19 , p. 40)

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , the transporter room was a redress of the Enterprise -D's transporter room from TNG. ( text commentary , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  (Special Edition) DVD )

The fact that no transporter rooms were aboard runabouts used on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was one of multiple factors that led to the conceptual invention of the USS Defiant . At a point when no transporter room had yet been designed for the ship, Herman Zimmerman foresaw that, as story lines warranted them and the producers budgeted for them, transporter facilities would be added to the set for the vessel. ( Cinefantastique , pp. 108 & 97) A Defiant -class transporter bay was thereafter introduced in DS9 : " Meridian ".

The Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual states that the Intrepid -class USS Voyager has only two transporter rooms, as opposed to the three such rooms established in canon. [2] The Intrepid -class transporter room was built on virtually the same space previously occupied by the equivalent room for TNG's Enterprise ; both were on Paramount Stage 9. ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 1 , pp. 68-69) Production Designer Richard James kept the floor and ceiling, though he redesigned everything else to conform with the other Intrepid -class interior sets, almost entirely changing the "look" of the transporter room. Commented Michael Okuda , " You can still see the bloodlines… same nose, same ears… the same family genes. " A set of construction blueprints for the Intrepid -class transporter room set was illustrated, initially dated 8 June 1994 but revised on four subsequent occasions in that month. The wood had been recycled through usage in sets for various earlier starships. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager , pp. 244 & 245) The set was repainted and redressed to represent a Sovereign -class transporter room in Star Trek: Insurrection . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., p. 341))

The NX-class transporter alcove was situated on Paramount Stage 18 . ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 107 , p. 20)

For the alternate reality Enterprise , the transporter room was specifically designed to elicit a sense of exit from the ship. " The transporter room has an airlock feeling, it's physically separated in case something goes wrong, " concept artist Ryan Church commented. " It felt functional that way. " ( Star Trek - The Art of the Film , p. 104) For the film Star Trek , the transporter room set was built on Paramount Stage 15 . ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 145 , p. 76) The set was one of several which, after production on the Star Trek film wrapped, were disassembled into segments that were stored away until Star Trek Into Darkness entered production, when the set pieces were polished, rebuilt and tweaked. " In the transporter bay, we changed the effect of the glass pieces that ring that bay, " said Production Designer Scott Chambliss . " I wasn't terribly happy with how it looked on film in the original one. " ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 172 , p. 68) For Star Trek Into Darkness , the transporter room set was built on Sony Stage 15 . [3]

Under the aegis of DIS Season 1 Production Designer Todd Cherniawsky , a concept illustration of the Walker -class transporter room was created for the first season of Star Trek: Discovery , as was a concept drawing of the Crossfield -class transporter room. (" Designing Discovery ", DIS Season 1 DVD and Blu-ray special features)

Apocrypha [ ]

In The Worlds of the Federation (p. 16), the USS Moscow 's transporter room is said to have been the site of the first transporting of a Human. The book also describes that transporter room as being located at the UFP Aerospace Museum-Smithsonian Annex and a "recent acquisition" there.

External links [ ]

• Transporter room at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Transporter room at Wikipedia
• 3 Ancient humanoid

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Published Mar 24, 2023

RECAP | Star Trek: Picard 306 – The Bounty

Another day, another intergalactic incident.

StarTrek.com

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Picard.

In the previous episode , Dr. Beverly Crusher discovers the Changelings have evolved in a way that allowed them to produce blood-like plasma and replicate internal human organs, while Commander Ro Laren alerts Admiral Picard that their infiltration goes far deeper than anyone knew, compromising Starfleet at the highest level. However, that investigation would cost Ro her life, but not before she gave Picard a fighting chance by slowing down the U.S.S. Intrepid .

In Episode 6 of Star Trek: Picard , “ The Bounty ,” now on the run, Picard and the skeleton crew of the U.S.S. Titan must break into Starfleet’s most top-secret facility to expose a plot that could destroy the Federation. Picard must turn to the only soul in the galaxy who can help – an old friend.

• Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Jean-Luc Picard
• Jack Crusher
• Seven of Nine (Annika Hansen)
• Raffi Musiker
• William Riker
• Sidney La Forge
• Matthew Arliss Mura
• James Moriarty
• Geordi La Forge
• Alandra La Forge
• Daystrom Android M-5-10
• Deanna Troi

• Alpha Quadrant
• U.S.S. Titan -A
• Daystrom Station
• Athan Prime
• Fleet Museum

In the Alpha Quadrant, the U.S.S. Titan ’s transponder beacon, floating in space, is surrounded by the U.S.S. Intrepid along with two additional Federation starships. Elsewhere, the Shrike appears before another beacon. Aboard the massive vessel, a frustrated Vadic is informed that the Titan is shedding decoy transponders and jumping to warp at infrequent intervals. However, time is of the essence as Frontier Day is 72 hours away.

Rallying her crew, Vadic echoes their frustration of their brothers and sisters of having to wear the faces of the Federation each day. The Shrike captain promises a future of unity, rest, and silence as the lifeless bodies of their enemies burn across space; however, before that, they require vengeance. She orders her crew to provide the names and locations of every known associate and colleague of Jean-Luc Picard, past and present. Vadic promises to “scorch the earth under which he stands, and the night will brighten with the ashes of the Federation.” There, the Changelings will rise.

Aboard the Titan , Beverly Crusher shares with Jean-Luc Picard that their son Jack Crusher has been plagued with visions, waking nightmares, and erratic bursts of aggression. After she did a micro-neural scan on Jack, the results conclude a terminal diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome, which he inherited from Jean-Luc.* She’s given him some medication and a neuro-inhibitor to temper the hallucinations. Following Beverly’s advice to not burden himself and unburden Jack instead, Jean-Luc heads to the holodeck to find his son.

In the 10 Forward holo-program, Jack has several drinks and invites his dad to “celebrate” that he’s not crazy, just broken, masking the anger and pain he feels. He asks Picard how he survived it, to which honestly remarks, he didn’t, hence the positronic body. Forcing himself to push their relationship away, Jack comments that his mother tried for so long to shield him from being collateral damage in the life of Jean-Luc Picard, but perhaps he was “doomed” before he was even born.

Commander Seven alerts Picard that their guests have arrived on the Titan — Worf and Raffi Musiker. A long overdue reunion, Worf notes how it’s been over 11 years since he last saw his former captain. Raffi informs Picard, as well as Beverly, Captain Riker, and Seven, that Worf has been meditating, to which the Klingon explains that the most advantageous battle stance is being one within oneself. Pivoting to serious matters, Worf urges they all must ensure that Commander Ro Laren ’s death was not in vain, to protect both Starfleet and her kin.

In the Observation Lounge, Worf and Raffi state their old enemies, the Changelings, have re-emerged as a threat from the wake of the Dominion War. There were scars and shame on both sides, including the Federation’s retaliation with Starfleet-made virus.** Though, Starfleet did deliver the cure to the Great Link on the Changeling homeworld, they had weaponized a few zealots in the process. Raffi notes that Ro believed their plans involve Starfleet’s Frontier Day. With no leads, they must return to the scene of the crime — Daystrom Station, home to Starfleet’s most off-the-books tech. Vadic stole a handful of classified weapons from Daystrom including a portal device that was used to attack the Titan and a Starfleet recruitment center, which merely served as a distraction. To identify Vadic’s main stolen weapon is to get a hold of Daystrom’s project manifest, which has its own complications due to its heavily redacted nature. However, the raw data should be on a computer in Daystrom’s primary vault. Worf cautions that the vault is protected by an astonishingly lethal A.I. system, capable of thinking and adapting. They fortunately have acquired a key that should temporarily disable the system. This missing weapon is central to the entire Changeling conspiracy, and it’s the only way they can regain their freedom and save Starfleet.

Worf, Raffi, and Riker volunteer for the mission, with the Titan dropping out of warp to beam them inside Daystrom as they hide behind a small moon. Unfortunately, two starships arrive, having found them, confusing Shaw as they’ve dropped their transponders and didn’t trigger any alarms. Lt. Mura informs command that he’s unable to lock on Worf, Raffi, and Riker’s signal to beam them back; they’re blocked by the other ships’ transport inhibitors. Ensign La Forge notes those are vessels are Eschelon -class, mid-model starships with a traceable payload that will be able to track the residual ionic energy as they flee. Picard alerts Riker that they’ve been discovered and are unable to get to them. Hatching a new plan, Picard tells La Forge to set a course for Athan Prime while the crew at Daystrom has less than an hour before the arrival of manual Starfleet Security.

[ RELATED : Daniel Davis on the Return of the Dastardly James Moriarty ]

On their own, Riker, Worf, and Raffi navigate Daystrom Station where they come across many nefarious tech pertaining to Section 31, including the Genesis II device, the body of U.S.S. Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk, and a genetically-modified Tribble. Daystrom’s A.I. system scans Riker, Worf, and Raffi as infrared images and pulls up the profile for Riker, as it glitches while generating a security response. Suddenly, a holographic crow flies overhead Raffi’s head and lands in the room. The A.I. system begins activating security measures. Worf locates the station’s mainframe when a musical note from a violin blares loudly. The station shakes and vibrates from the acoustic energy of the cacophony of tones. With the lights out, a voice declares, “I think, therefore, I am.” When the emergency lights come on, the trio is confronted by Professor James Moriarty*** and his antique pistol.

The Titan arrives at Athan Prime, which Picard states is the home of the Fleet Museum, which houses every legendary starship. Shaw orders Ensign La Forge to hide among the other ships, which she respectfully disagrees with, as the Fleet Museum hails them. On-screen, they’re met with the Fleet Museum’s director, a furious Commodore Geordi La Forge . With no pleasantries, he commands Picard to power down all non-essential systems, immediately. Taken aback, Picard pleads that they need his help.

[ RELATED : LeVar and Mica Burton on Making Star Trek: Picard A Family Affair On- and Off-Screen ]

Commodore La Forge and his other daughter Ensign Alandra La Forge beam aboard the Titan , with Picard, Seven, Beverly and Jack Crusher, and Sidney present in the Transporter Room to greet them. Geordi admits he debated the virtues between a curt, professional handshake or a comfortable, but long overdue hug. He embraces Beverly, then acknowledges Picard and an apprehensive Sidney. Picard attempts to introduce his son to Geordi, who cuts him off, stating that he’s in the middle of a third memo to Starfleet objecting to the gathering of the entire fleet in one location for Frontier Day while voicing the displeasure that the hundreds and thousands that pass by will notice the one that doesn’t belong — the Titan . He demands a place to talk with Picard, exiting, with the admiral and Seven following. Alandra greets her sister and promises to do what she can with their “impossible” father. Jack lingers back to commiserate on the noticeable tension between their fathers with Sidney, who admits she has not been on the best of terms with hers lately.

In the Observation Lounge, Jean-Luc and Geordi discuss the situation at hand as Alandra stands nearby. Geordi chides his former captain for turning fatherhood into “an intergalactic incident” with Starfleet and the Changelings. The commodore is incensed that Picard managed to rope Worf and Riker into this and now would ask him to break them out of Starfleet’s most classified facility. Picard pleads with him to just clone their ship’s transponder signal, to which Geordi states he’s unable to do it without randomized security codes, plus, every ship in the fleet is now fully integrated. Even if they dropped a transponder signal, it would not matter as the Titan itself is a beacon and it would alert its fellow ships when it got near; that’s how they managed to find them.

[ RELATED : Android Ancestry: Examining the Soong-Type Line ]

The two Starfleet ships continue to sweep Daystrom Station as our crew stand before Professor Moriarty. The 19th Century figure fires live rounds, which does damage, with Worf and Raffi retaliating with phaser fire. They are unable to harm his holographic nature with their shots going through him. In response, another violin tone blasts through the corridor as our crew seeks cover. Riker notes it’s not the same self-aware Moriarty they encountered from their time aboard the Enterprise -D. The professor notes he’s unable to get the maddening melody out of his head; realizing Riker begins to whistle the last refrain of “Pop Goes the Weasel,” recalling how he shared that tune decades ago with another dear friend who dreamt of crows,**** aspired to thwart Moriarty with the intellect of Holmes, and couldn’t whistle “worth a damn.” With that, Moriarty, uttering “marvelous,” finds relief and disappears while the Security Chamber opens. Upon entering, the crew discovers an aged but familiar tech — another Soong-type android .

On the Bridge of the Titan , Jack slides into the captain’s chair next to Seven as she scrolls through the ships stored at the museum. The young Crusher impresses Seven with his ability to identify the Defiant , the New Jersey , and his “personal favorite,” Kirk’s Constitution -class, Enterprise . Studying him, Seven notes that’s a lot of historical knowledge for someone who “doesn’t give a damn about Starfleet.” The commander then pulls up the U.S.S. Voyager , her home where she was reborn.***** Jack now sees that she misses her former family, longing for connection, but alone. She states that he is his father’s son, sharing his knack for annoying “poetic drive-by observations,” that helps a person feel seen. Jack is curious and flattered by the favorable comparison.

At Daystrom, Riker deduces the A.I. system wasn’t trying to harm them; it wasn’t trying to communicate with them. This android is not their Data; Raffi notes that this android is a hybrid — synthetic with android interface. Following the lift of the Starfleet ban on synths, it appears they co-opted Altan Soong’s unfinished research after his passing. Raffi uncovers a holographic recording of Soong’s project log. In the new golem, the synthetic android in their presence, he sought to leave behind the best Soong he could; combining bits of Lal, B-4, Lore, and Data, in the hopes that in its totality, someone will rise to be the best of them. However, Soong died before the projects completion, with the integration effort failing; all personalities within the vessel remain at odds.

Geordi wants to help his old friends, but he lays out the two scenarios he sees. Best case, he’ll be court-martialed. Worst case, a compromised Starfleet will come after his family. Jean-Luc appeals that they’re facing a life-or-death scenario, which Geordi counters it’s always life-or-death when it comes to Picard. It was fine back in the day when he himself chose to put his life on the line under his command, but he now rebukes his old captain for knowingly put Sidney’s life in grave danger aboard the Titan . Geordi reflects on the difficulty he had with his daughter Sidney, calling out her stubbornness. He questions if she got it from his wife or himself, regretful that he always wanted to impart the best parts of himself onto his kids. Thinking of Jack’s recent diagnosis, Picard shares that he’s been reminded that they are not in control of what they pass on. As much as he wants to, Geordi can’t help his old friend and protect his family.

Sidney steels herself in preparation of a tense conversation with her father. Geordi states that he and Picard have come to an agreement — Sidney will remain at the museum with him, and Jean-Luc will officially state that she was an unwilling participant — much to her incredulity. She pleads that the galaxy is at stake; recalling all of her dad and Picard’s adventures where they stood up for what’s right. Vulnerable and frustrated, Sidney sees their issues stemming from the two of them being different; that she’s not Alandra, who pursued an engineering path like him. He's built amazing things, and she just wanted to fly them. She believes he took that as a rejection of him, but she always thought it brought them closer together. He would believe in this cause if he believed in her . The commodore pleads with her to consider how he and Alandra felt when the Titan went missing and now as she jeopardizes her life and career. With tears, Sidney argues she’s on the run with her crew, calling them her family, something he had taught her. She’s not scared to step up and help them; he is.

On the Bridge, Sidney tells Alandra she’s staying with the Titan as Picard and Seven seek out Shaw to strategize their course of action as time is running out for their friends at Daystrom. Jack is delighted by the news, telling Alandra that her sister has wonderfully flown them out of the mess he’s created on more than one occasion. He then asks the sisters how well they know the museum and how they feel about minor larceny.

The Titan begins to rattles and phase. Readings detective massive bursts of EM radiation when the ship is suddenly fully cloaked. Furious, Geordi accuses Picard of stealing the tech from his Bird-of-Prey, the HMS Bounty , as Picard pleads, he would never deceive him, let alone steal from him. Both fathers suddenly realize this was the doing of their children. The commodore states that removing the cloaking device automatically tripped the alarm system; Starfleet is on its way. This act violates several Federation treaties, to which the admiral retorts, put it on his tab. In the nacelle control room, Jack and Sidney rush to install the ancient Klingon cloaking device to the ship as the Titan continues to phase in and out. As the device sparks, Geordi and Alandra arrive to help, but issues a strong demand for Jack to stay away from his daughter.

Worf, Riker, and Raffi realize that the experimental Soong android isn’t protecting Daystrom’s manifest; it is the manifest. As they attempt to access his files, alarms blare as Starfleet Security attempts to access the vault. The crew have officially run out of time. Picard sends a transmission to the crew at Daystrom that they’re on their way; however, they will only have 90 seconds to avoid Starfleet detection as the ship is cloaked. Riker states they’ll be taking “Data” with them. However, pulling the android offline will bring security systems down. To ensure they make it on the Titan , despite Worf’s protests, Riker rushes into the corridor with his phaser drawn in order to buy his friends an opportunity of escape. Geordi and Jack greet Worf and Raffi in the transporter room and learn that Riker was captured, saving them. Worf tells Geordi that while they lost one friend in battle, they gained another, before revealing the “Data” android they took from Daystrom.

As a pensive Picard sits in the lounge, Jack heads in to offer his apologies about Riker and for being a prick at the bar who says things he can’t take back. He remarks that he does have a few virtues, he believes he got from his mother, but there are other traits, such as bravery, loyalty, and wisdom beyond his years, which he never knew where he got them. Perhaps his father gave him more than just some disease, maybe he gave him those good traits as well, surprising and comforting Picard. Meanwhile, in Sickbay, as he analyzes the Soong-type golem, Geordi expresses that he's not angry at Sidney; he’s disappointed in himself for not doing what his younger self would have done. He’s proud of her.

Worf, Beverly, and Picard join Geordi, all gathering around “Data.” Picard remarks that this is difficult for him; he’s watched Data twice now. Geordi corrects him saying those were Data the android; this is Data… the something else . Beverly marvels at the almost human positronic body. Geordi cautions he can reboot him, but all the personalities have yet to be integrated, and he can’t completely isolate Data despite the personality partitions; he’s unsure of who will emerge. Flipping the switch, the golem awakens, processing, and slowly turns to the commodore, before questioning in a familiar voice, “Geordi? Captain?” Geordi and Picard are overcome with emotion, wondering if this is their Data. Confused, he expresses uncertainty as there are many voices within this Daystrom Android M-5-10. He cycles through the present personalities — Data, Lore, B-4, Altan Soong — before projecting an image of what the Changelings stole from Daystrom — a stasis chamber with the human remains of Jean-Luc Picard.

Aboard the Daystrom Station, three Starfleet officers flank a bloodied and beaten Riker, demanding the location of Picard and his son. The captain defiantly refuses. The main abuser powers up his phaser and holds it to Riker’s forehead before turning around and firing at the two other officers. The lieutenant stands facing Riker again, revealing itself a Changeling, as it morphs back into an amused Vadic. Taken aboard the Shrike , Riker discovers that Vadic has also taken his wife Deanna Troi prisoner to ensure his cooperation.

* “ Maps and Legends ” – While Picard is in excellent health, he’s alerted to an abnormality in the parietal lobe in his brain that could become a problem. He was already aware of this possibility in the alternate timeline of “All Good Things…,” where he’s diagnosed and suffers from Irumodic Syndrome.

** “ Broken Link ,” “ When It Rains… ,” and “ Extreme Measures ” – As the Dominion threat continues to grow, Section 31 secretly injected Constable Odo with a morphogenic virus, intended for genocide, that he inadvertently passed onto to the Founders when he temporarily joined with the Great Link before receiving judgement for his crimes of killing another Changeling. Dr. Julian Bashir is able to find the cure to the virus, curing Odo… and the Founders, ending the Dominion War.

*** “ Elementary, Dear Data ” – The sentient version of Professor James Moriarty was created after Data and Geordi attempt to create a challenging Holmes -style holoprogram and inadvertently create someone capable of defeating Data .

**** “ Birthright, Part 1 ” – Data experiences a vision of his “father” and creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, and imagery including a crow.

***** “ Scorpion, Part II ” – Seven of Nine’s first appearance. The U.S.S. Voyager forms an alliance with the Borg Collective to defeat Species 8472. Aboard its starship, following a series of harrowing events, the crew severs Seven’s link to the Borg Collective.

• "Pop Goes the Weasel"

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Star Trek Just Inched Closer to Its Biggest Movie Mistake Yet

The new Star Trek movie has a release date, but an origin story completely misses the appeal of Trek films.

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As much as we love them, the Star Trek movies have their share of mistakes. God stealing a starship, John Harrison revealing himself as Khan, McCoy shaving off his beard in The Motion Picture . But it looks like the movie franchise is about to outdo them all.

Paramount has officially added the next Star Trek movie to its 2025 release schedule. According to TrekCore , the project currently called Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will begin production this year, with Seth Grahame-Smith writing and Toby Haynes directing. The film will take place decades before the 2009 Star Trek reboot from J.J. Abrams .

And it’s a terrible idea.

First of all, there’s the question of the timeline logistics of the film. Although one would assume that the film will occur in the Kelvin Timeline, the alternate universe in which Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Beyond take place, the Kelvin timeline branched from the Prime Timeline when the Romulan Nero went back in time and destroyed the USS Kelvin, killing George Kirk and setting James T. Kirk’s Enterprise adventures on an alternate course.

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Because Nero destroys the Kelvin on the day of Kirk’s birth, that means that there was no Kelvin timeline a few decades before most of the events of the 2009 movie. So what the heck is the origin story going to be about? Is it about the origin of the Federation? We already saw that on Enterprise , which takes place a century before The Original Series . Is it about the Enterprise before Kirk? We got that in the first two seasons of Discovery and in Strange New Worlds .

To be sure, these entries didn’t completely mine all the possible stories of the era, but that generation has received so much attention already. Between movies, TV shows, and all of the non-canon novels and comics, fans have seen plenty of looks at the early days of Starfleet, the Federation, and especially the USS Enterprise.

That’s even true of some of the best current Star Trek series. While Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have a lot of fun putting new twists on familiar ideas, they offer little new to the larger tapestry of Star Trek stories. Contrast those in-jokes to learning about Janeway looking for her one-time Voyager shipmate Chakotay on Prodigy , or seeing a mature Seven of Nine take the Captain’s chair at the end of Picard . Look how much better Discovery became after launching into the undiscovered country of the 32nd century instead of filling gaps (or making new gaps) in the TOS era.

These constant returns to the past violate the basic premise of Star Trek . Sure, some of the best Trek entries involve trips to the past. But the core mission of the franchise is about moving forward, boldly going into a future we can only imagine in the present. Viewers don’t want to see a past that’s already been explored so thoroughly over the last few decades. We want to see how this universe has progressed, how the actions of Kirk, Picard, and the other Captains have affected the universe in ways good and bad.

In short, a Star Trek origin movie is wrong headed, mining nostalgia and references instead of seeking out new life and civilizations.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

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