is star trek transporter possible

Star Trek: Instantaneous Matter Transport

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"Beam me up, Scotty!"

It's one of the most famous lines in the "Star Trek" franchise and refers to the futuristic matter transportation device or "transporter" on every ship in the galaxy. The transporter dematerializes entire humans (and other objects) and sends their constituent particles to another destination where they are perfectly reassembled. The best thing to come to personal point-to-point transportation since the elevator, this technology seemed to have been adopted by every civilization in the show, from the inhabitants of Vulcan to the Klingons and Borg. It solved a multitude of plot problems and made the shows and movies iconically cool.

Is "Beaming" Possible?

Will it ever be possible to develop such technology? The idea of transporting solid matter by turning it into a form of energy and sending it great distances sounds like magic. Yet, there are scientifically valid reasons why it could, perhaps, one day happen.

Recent technology has made it possible to transport—or "beam" if you will—small pools of particles or photons from one location to another. This quantum mechanics phenomenon is known as "quantum transport." The process does have future applications in many electronics such as advanced communication technologies and super-fast quantum computers. Applying the same technique to something as large and complex as a living human being is a very different matter. Without some major technological advances, the process of turning a living person into "information" has risks that make the Federation-style transporters impossible for the foreseeable future.

Dematerializing

So, what's the idea behind beaming? In the "Star Trek" universe, an operator dematerializes the "thing" to be transported, sends it along, and then the thing gets rematerialized at the other end. Although this process can currently work with the particles or photons described above, taking apart a human being and dissolving them into individual subatomic particles is not remotely possible now. Given our current understanding of biology and physics, a living creature could never survive such a process.

There are also some philosophical considerations to think about when transporting living beings. Even if the body could be dematerialized, how does the system handle the person's consciousness and personality? Would those "decouple" from the body? These issues are never discussed in "Star Trek," although there have been science fiction stories exploring the challenges of the first transporters.

Some science fiction writers imagine that the transportee is actually killed during this step, and then reanimated when the body's atoms are reassembled elsewhere. But, this seems like a process that no one would willingly undergo.

Re-materializing

Let's postulate for a moment that it would be possible to dematerialize—or "energize" as they say on screen—a human being. An even greater problem arises: getting the person back together at the desired location. There are actually several problems here. First, this technology, as used in the shows and movies, seems to have no difficulty in beaming the particles through all kinds of thick, dense materials on their way from the starship to distant locations. This is highly unlikely to be possible in reality. Neutrinos can pass through rocks and planets, but not other particles.

Even less feasible, however, is the possibility of arranging the particles in just the right order so as to preserve the person's identity (and not kill them). There is nothing in our understanding of physics or biology that suggests we can control matter in such a way. Moreover, a person's identity and consciousness is likely not something that can be dissolved and remade.

Will We Ever Have Transporter Technology?

Given all the challenges, and based on our current understanding of physics and biology, it does not seem likely that such technology will ever come to fruition. However, famed physicist and science writer Michio Kaku wrote in 2008 that he anticipated scientists developing a safe version of such technology in the next hundred years.

We may very well discover unimagined breakthroughs in physics that would allow this type of technology. However, for the moment, the only transporters we're going to see will be on TV and movie screens.

Edited and expanded by Carolyn Collins Petersen

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Beam me up Scotty: German scientists invent working teleporter, of sorts

New system destructively scans objects transmits them through encrypted communications across any distance and rebuilds it the other side

Teleportation has been the holy grail of transport for decades, ever since Mr Scott first beamed up Captain Kirk and his crew in the 1966 opening episode of Star Trek . Now the technology may have been cracked in real life … sort of.

Scientists from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam have invented a real-life teleporter system that can scan in an object and “beam it” to another location.

Not quite the dematerialisation and reconstruction of science fiction, the system relies on destructive scanning and 3D printing .

An object at one end of the system is milled down layer-by-layer, creating a scan per layer which is then transmitted through an encrypted communication to a 3D printer. The printer then replicates the original object layer by layer, effectively teleporting an object from one place to another.

“We present a simple self-contained appliance that allows relocating inanimate physical objects across distance,” said the six person team in a paper submitted for the Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction conference at Stanford University. “Users place an object into the sender unit, enter the address of a receiver unit, and press the relocate button.”

The system dubbed “Scotty” in homage to the Enterprise’s much beleaguered chief engineer, differs from previous systems that merely copy physical object as its layer-by-layer deconstruction and encrypted transmission ensures that only one copy of the object exists at any one time, according to the scientists.

Real-world applications are pretty short for this kind of destruction and reconstruction. But the encryption, transmission and 3D printing objects could be key for companies wishing to sell goods via home 3D printers, ensuring only one copy could be made per purchase – effectively digital rights management for 3D printed objects.

Those looking to cut their commute by simply beaming into the office will have to wait at least another decade or two.

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In honor of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2, a tour of the physics

Regina G. Barber

Berly McCoy

Rebecca Ramirez

Season 2 of the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered June 15 ( streaming on Paramount+ ). So today, Short Wave boldly goes where many, many nerds have gone before and explores the science — specifically the physics — and the science- fiction of Star Trek . Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber chats with two Trekkie physicists about why they love the franchise. Astrophysicist Erin Macdonald is the science consultant for Star Trek , and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist and author of the book The Disordered Cosmos .

This episode, the trio discusses the feasibility of warp drive, global cooperation and representation and how the transporters that beam crew members from the surface of a planet to the ship might be breaking fundamental laws of physics. They end at the galaxy's edge — and discuss why its portrayal in Star Trek might be problematic, scientifically.

Space is vast – it takes years for real spacecrafts to travel within our solar system! In Star Trek, characters zip around the galaxy in their starship vessels thanks to warp drive, which let spaceships travel faster than the speed of light. But physics puts a speed limit on anything with mass. These objects have to move slightly slower than the speed of light, which itself has a speed limit. So what's the loophole here?

According to Erin, good ol' suspension of disbelief isn't necessary because, "the math checks out." For that reason, it's one of Erin's favorite pieces of sci-fi in the series. Spacetime is the three dimensions we humans are used to living in, plus time. The universe is situated in the four dimensional fabric of spacetime, with heavier objects "pulling" that fabric down more than lighter — or, weightless, in the case of light — objects. So, spacetime itself could be a loophole to this speed limit. Erin says that to bypass the cosmological speed limit of light, you could simply, "build a bubble of space time around your ship, and then that pushes you faster than the speed of light. " This is the various warp speeds . One bubble for warp 1, another bubble around that first bubble for warp 2 and so on.

Of course, Erin and Chanda both point out that using spacetime in this way requires an extraordinary amount of energy — well beyond what humans are capable of at this moment in time.

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 is a classic sci-fi adventure

Transporters.

It would be great to teleport to work, as Star Trek characters do thanks to their transporters. Upside? No traffic. Downside? The fear that once you've been broken down into particles and beamed across the city, you might not be rearranged in the right order.

In order for a transporter to work, users would have to know both where a given particle is and its velocity. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to a well known physics conundrum, the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle . Star Trek plugs this plot hole with something they call a Heisenberg Compensator that is connected to their transporter mechanics. How it works is never explained. All we need to know is that, in the Star Trek universe ... it does!

So, transporters require a little more suspension of disbelief than warp drive — or good-humored humility if you're Chanda. "I don't think transporters will ever be a thing that we can do. But I always say that it's important for me as a scientist to be humble, and so it may be that there is some science beyond the uncertainty principle that we are just not aware of at this point," she quips.

Galactic Barrier

Warp drive can get ships to light speed and faster in the Star Trek world but space is still HUGE. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years across so, even at Warp 9, it would take the Star Trek crew years to travel the galaxy. It's pretty rare that any starship gets near the edge of our galaxy, but in the 1960s, Star Trek writers had the crew arrive at the " galactic barrier ." According to the show, this barrier doesn't let communication signals through, is dangerous and gives characters " strange energies ."

Chanda says that the impenetrability of signals is what winds her up most about this fake barrier. "But we see other galaxies all the time, and those are signals," she says. "We see radio observations. We see across the electromagnetic spectrum."

These three sci-fi concepts barely scratch the surface of what "science" — and science — Star Trek uses throughout the series . There's so much physics we didn't cover — and so there will be much more science to dissect in the future.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts .

Questions about the "scientific" underpinnings of other pop culture? Email us at [email protected] . We'd love to hear from you!

This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Katie Daugert. Josh Newell engineered the audio. Johannes Doerge is our main legal duderino.

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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.

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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.

The Transporter: Are We There yet?

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Cite this chapter

• Mark E. Lasbury 2  

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The transporter is perhaps the most iconic of all Star Trek technologies. How is it possible that a person or thing can be in one place and then be in another, without ever having been anywhere in between? Believe it or not, teleportation isn’t just a science fiction concept, it has been done in real life—the record is 143 miles. However, current teleportation successes have sent quantum information or light or perhaps a single atom; it is going to take significant work to make transporting a person possible. Before science can scatter our atoms across the galaxy, several issues will need to be overcome. The problem of patterning every atom or subatomic particle in an object will need to overcome certain physics constraints, namely the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Patterning will also require much more computing power than we can currently muster. Fortunately, quantum computing and new observation techniques are making inroads into both of these problems. Finally, the issues of energy will need to be overcome; energy input to destroy or build matter at the origin and destination, and the energy released by manipulating subatomic particles and atoms via fusion or fission reactions when rematerializing a transported object. Believe it or not, progress is being made in those areas as well.

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I signed on to this ship to practice medicine, not to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget . —Dr. Leonard McCoy TOS: Space Seed

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Lasbury, M.E. (2017). The Transporter: Are We There yet?. In: The Realization of Star Trek Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40914-6_8

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Is the Higgs boson the first step to a 'Star Trek' transporter?

A century after Albert Einstein came up with his theories of relativity, a constellation of Global Positioning System satellites is orbiting Earth, making practical use of his ground-breaking understanding of time.

If the discovery of the Higgs boson particle pans out , will even more mind-bending technologies result?

Theoretically, it's possible, says Arizona State University physicist Lawrence Krauss; but practically, it's unlikely.

PHOTOS: When the World Went Higgs Boson Crazy

"If you could manipulate the Higgs field locally, you'd have a great 'Star Trek' device. You could make objects disappear. It'd be a great weapon, a great magic trick — if you could put things back together again," Krauss told Discovery News.

But how would you tweak the field, which is believed to be responsible for giving matter its substance?

"It's possible if you were able to heat up some region to something like a billion, billion, billion degrees, then in that region, the Higgs field would probably go away. Of course, by the time you heated things up to a billion, billion, billion degrees, everything would be gone anyway," Krauss said.

Consider the Star Trek transporter, a staple of science fiction for converting matter into energy, beaming it at the speed of light to a new locale, then reassembling the bits into their previous form.

Theoretically, manipulating a Higgs field would be one way to turn a person into energy and make them "disappear." The hard part would be putting them back together again.

PHOTOS: Rapturous Applause for Higgs Boson Scientists

"The only reason why the particles around us, and that make us up, are bound is because of the Higgs field," Krauss said. "They have mass. If the Higgs field were to go away, then the particles would all of a sudden move at the speed of light.

"If I could manipulate a Higgs field, that would be a first step in making a transporter, but the only way I know of to manipulate the Higgs field is to heat the whole thing up to such an incredible temperature that it's not surprising you'd disappear anyway," he said.

Time travel is another theoretical prospect.

"If you were able to manipulate a Higgs field over a large region so that it had energy, it would be gravitationally repulsive. It would cause that region of the universe to accelerate and move things apart faster than light, which is pretty neat," Krauss said.

Scientists believe a similar scenario is what happened early in the universe's history.

"The existence of Higgs makes it clear that you can get something from nothing. A Higgs field can produce space and time itself," Krauss said. "But it's hard to imagine a Higgs technology."

ANALYSIS: Higgs Field Makes a Cameo on 'Eureka'

Turning Einstein's theories into practical use with GPS was different because engineers didn't have to manipulate gravity, just understand it.

GPS works by precisely measuring the time it takes for signals from various satellites to reach a receiver. The satellite clocks, however, freed from Earth's gravity, are physically moving faster than clocks on the planet's surface.

"Without the proper application of relativity, GPS would fail in its navigational functions within about two minutes," physicist Clifford Will, now with the University of Florida, wrote in an article titled "Einstein's Relativity and Everyday Life," posted on the American Physical Society website.

The beauty of the Higgs research, added Krauss, is that it just explains why we are here.

HOWSTUFFWORKS: What Exactly is The Higgs Boson?

Do Star Trek Teleporters Actually Kill You? Here’s the Science

By: Author Brad Burnie

Posted on Published: October 15, 2020  - Last updated: August 26, 2022

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If you’ve watched the TV show Star Trek: Enterprise , then you’ve heard the concerns the crew had about the teleporters (known as transporters) in the show. These concerns were that the transporters weren’t safe for humans to use because they dematerialize your atoms. That sounds like it would essentially kill you, right?

Creators of Star Trek haven’t confirmed transporters kill you. However, based solely on the science, transporters do kill you. These teleportation devices take scans of the molecules in your body, store them in the pattern buffer, convert them into energy, and then beam them to the desired location.

Let’s take a look at the science behind these teleporters and how they are meant to work.

The Science of Teleportation – Star Trek Style

The transporter /teleportation devices in the Star Trek universe have been a hot topic of debate since they were introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series . There are many characters of the franchise who have a fear of using the machine. This fear may actually be warranted.

Throughout the franchise, viewers have been given snippets on how the futuristic technology works. There have been books written by the show’s art departments and creators. However, these nuggets of information aren’t always the most realistic.

The science of the teleporter is no different. In fact, the very nature of what the device does isn’t possible if you consider everything it does and real-life physics. According to the official Star Trek website, the transporter will convert a person into energy , send that energy to your desired location, and then reassemble that person back into matter.

The transporters do this by ripping apart your atoms and molecules. Now, real-life physics and biology would suggest that to be an impossible thing to do without killing the person in the process. So, based on that, these transporters in Star Trek do, in fact, kill you. 

However, many fans believe that since the human’s consciousness is retained after the body is reassembled that you aren’t actually dying. This poses a morality question on whether or not we should use the transporters in the first place. 

Let’s take a look at the actual process below to see how humanity can be okay with this potential murder device.

The Transporter Scans Your Body

The overall aspect of the first part of the transporter process is pretty simple. The machine takes a scan of your body, right down to the atom level. This is looking at your entire molecular makeup. Every molecule and atom in your body (inside and out) gets accounted for and copied.

It isn’t hard to wrap your brain around this part of the process, especially these days. In the real world, there are several different devices that do exactly what the transporter does in this stage, just not with biological material. These real world devices are things like X-Ray and MRI machines. 

The Teleporter Converts Your Atoms Into Energy

This is where things get a little tricky and potentially dangerous. Once the scan has been made, your body is broken down into energy. This is known as a matter stream . 

What this means is that your body is ripped apart atom by atom until it’s simply a stream of disconnected energy and matter. The dematerialization isn’t supposed to hurt the person being transported. It also happens at the same time as the next step, which is storing a copy in the pattern buffer.

This is the part of the process that many fans believe kills the original person being transported. If you are taken apart at the atomic level, how can you still be alive in any sense of the world? Based on what is known from real world science and biology and physics, there’s no chance you’d survive this step .

To make the science simple, the amount of energy needed to complete the entire process of being transported is equal to that of a bolt of lightning . While it could be possible to survive getting struck by lightning, it isn’t a very likely thing to happen.

There are fans who feel that since your mind is preserved with little to no delay in consciousness, that you aren’t being killed at all. The problem is that your original body is being destroyed. So, in a way, it would appear as though you are being killed. 

It Saves a Copy in the Pattern Buffer

Once the transporter has converted you into the energy stream, it makes a detailed copy of everything about you and stores it in the pattern buffer . This has been used in many situations throughout the franchise to fix transporter accidents.

There have been accounts where the pattern buffer was used to store people for several years. One instance of this happened in 2295 when Captain Scott’s ship was in distress . The pattern buffer was able to keep Captain Scott safe for 74 years before the crew of the Enterprise-D found him and rematerialized him. 

This is not an ideal situation. Technically, the pattern buffer is only capable of keeping this matter stream stored for seven minutes. After that, the stream degrades, and it isn’t guaranteed to return people to their pre-transporter conditions.

Captain Scott was able to preserve himself and another member of his crew within the transporter. Unfortunately, the other person stored in the pattern buffer wasn’t lucky enough to rematerialize after they were rescued from the transporter.

In the end, the copy of you is needed in order to bring you back together at your destination. Transporters actually have two pattern buffers in their systems to work as a backup in case one of them goes down. 

The Transporter Beams the Data Stream to the Desired Location

After you’ve been converted into energy and safely stored into the pattern buffer, the transporter uses an emitter array to send your matter stream to the desired location.

This energy beam is similar to the ones used on starships for tractor beams and phase beams. These beams are alike because it’s pure energy that makes them possible, and it comes from the emitter array. However, when transporters send the matter stream, the stream doesn’t appear to beam down as the tractor beam does.

One of the biggest scientific issues here is the fact that Star Trek seems to be able to beam you into almost any location. They do place some limitations on the where, but for the most part, those limits involve extremely dense materials (mountains, rocks) and sometimes if there is a force field blocking the signal. Based on real science, that just isn’t possible.

Finally, the Transporter Reassembles the Atoms of the Data Stream

Once the matter stream has been beamed to the location, your atoms and molecules are reassembled. It’s here that many fans believe the person who is beamed down is, in fact, just a copy of the original person. 

The problem involved here is that in order for this to work, there would need to be a second device on the receiving end . Without a device at the destination, there’s no scientific way for your atoms and molecules to be reassembled in the correct way. 

Star Trek doesn’t utilize this two-point system at all, not even in the early prequel series like Star Trek: Enterprise. Now, that sounds like a death sentence right there.

What Does All This Mean in the End?

The key to making science fiction work for its viewers is to make it as believable as possible. This means there has to be some possibility that it could be real. There are actual formulas that measure the amount of energy needed to convert a human being into a matter stream. Or how much radiation would be needed to beam and reassemble a human.

The results of these formulas aren’t possible in our time. The amount of energy to convert you into a matter stream is unobtainable. As an example, the amount of energy needed would be equal to roughly 130 thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb from 1945. 

Furthermore, the level of radiation needed to beam the matter stream anywhere isn’t even known to us. Gamma radiation is the highest level of radiation known to man, and even that is too weak to send the amount of energy a matter stream would contain.

Think about those levels of energy and radiation. Then think about exposing the human body to enough of both. No wonder some of the characters are nervous about using it!

Take a look at the five-minute video below for a quick recap of how transporters work and the trouble they can cause:

Are You Merely a Copy After Being Transported?

It isn’t just the fans who believe it’s just a copy at the end of the transporter. There are characters on the show who have voiced these concerns as well.

Doctor McCoy is well known within the franchise for voicing his fears of using the transporter device. If your body is being ripped apart at the atomic level and put back together somewhere else, are you actually just a copy?

While there are characters who fear the transporter, there are others who try their best to reassure them of their safety. Spock has been referenced as saying a few times that “a difference which makes no difference is no difference.” This is a quote from William James .

If our full consciousness is retained and put into the copy, wouldn’t we essentially still be ourselves? Once the original you is destroyed, wouldn’t the copy become the original you? Since there can only be one of you, it would stand to reason that the copy is, in fact, the new original.

Transporter Speeds and Distances

One of the biggest things to consider when characters wanted to use the transporter within the show was that it shouldn’t be used at warp speed . This is because there are serious distortions that can occur when atoms try to reassembly at different speeds.

Transporting at warp speed could be possible, and was accomplished in-universe. The best way to accomplish this was to ensure both destinations were traveling at the exact same speed. 

The range is important to keep in mind as well. This range will be different between species. By the time of Picard, humans have a range of 40 thousand kilometers. Other species have longer or shorter distances, depending on their own limitations.

The further away your desired destination is, the more degraded the matter stream within the pattern buffer can remain intact. You risk your atoms being put together incorrectly.

Transporter Malfunctions and Accidents

There have been many transporter malfunctions and accidents across the franchise. These accidents typically occur when there is a problem with defective equipment. 

• Combining two crew members – In the TV show Star Trek: Voyager , two crew members were combined into one being as a result of a transporter malfunction. 
• Creating duplicates – In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , another William Riker was created and stranded on another planet with no one having any clue he existed. 
• Objects embedded inside people – Star Trek: Enterprise shows how dangerous the transporter can be when the crew beams up a crew member in distress. He makes it back onto the ship with leaves embedded in his skin.
• Age reversal – Also in The Next Generation, members of the crew, Riker, and Picard included, were reversed in age to that of 12-year-old kids .
• Death – There are several instances when the transporter devices of the franchise have killed crew members.

Check out the video below for a clip of a transporter accident from Star Trek: The Motion Picture :

Characters With Fears of Being Transported

There are many characters who have some level of fear when it comes to transporter devices. Most famously being Doctor McCoy and Lt. Barclay, or the entire crew from the TV adaptation, Star Trek: Enterprise. 

These characters may have had some good reasoning for being so afraid of the transporter. In addition to the fact that your body is being ripped apart atom by atom, there are also serious side effects that could occur—one of these being Transporter Psychosis. 

Check out the video below of a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation (season six, episode two), when Lt. Barclay asks the computer to explain the condition to him:

Real World Teleporting

While we’re still light-years away from being able to teleport a biological object, there are instances when humans have succeeded in producing a kind of teleportation. These aren’t at all the way we see it done on Star Trek, but they’re as close to it as you can actually get with the technology we have today.

Fax Machines

One of the first types of teleportation devices could be considered the fax machine . This device took a scan of your letter or notice and sent the information to another machine. It replicated the original in another location.

Now, this goes back to the question many ask about the transporters. Is it just a copy then? Well, yes. But if you were to destroy the original, wouldn’t the copy then become the original? Couldn’t we say the same for a human being transported?

3D Printers

3D printers are capable of being a version of teleportation. In fact, in 2015, some German researchers were able to create a device that uses a scanner and a 3D printer to “teleport” objects to new locations.

This simply involves the computer scanning the object and sending the information to its new desired location, much like a fax machine. After that, the 3D printer will create the object. This type of device is more readily available to people these days. It’s as close as we can get to teleporting objects.

Quantum Teleportation 

There is an instance of real world teleportation that exists today called Quantum Teleportation . However, it isn’t quite the way we know it from Star Trek. In fact, this method of teleportation wasn’t discovered until the 1990s. There are plenty of formulas that explain what this process is and what it means for the transporters of Star Trek.

Basically, this method shows that the state of atoms can be transported to another location. However, there is a catch. There’s a rule with this kind of science, and that is there is no cloning allowed. In order for every last atom in your body to be transported, the original would have to be completely destroyed . Then and only then can this quantum teleportation succeed in creating the copy at the desired location.

Check out the video below for more details about teleportation in relation to Star Trek’s transporters:

The following video gives a more in-depth approach to the workings of quantum teleportation and quantum entanglement: 

There you have it. The Star Trek franchise would have us believe the people who use these teleporters are completely fine. Perhaps they are, in a way. However, science seems to suggest otherwise. Based on real world physics and science, the Star Trek teleporters do actually kill you.

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Transporter

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Constitution II -class transporter room

Defiant -class transporter room

The transporter was a type of teleportation machine, or simply teleporter . It was a subspace device capable of almost instantaneously transporting an object from one location to another , by using matter-energy conversion to transform matter into energy , then beam it to or from a chamber , where it was reconverted back or materialize into its original pattern. ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ", " The Savage Curtain "; PRO : " First Con-tact ")

Alternate names for the transporter included matter stream converter , energy-matter scrambler , or transporting device . ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain ", " The Empath "; ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Vanishing Point "; TNG : " Ship In A Bottle "; VOY : " Ex Post Facto "; SNW : " The Broken Circle ") The Organians referred to Klingon transporters as material transmission units . ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ") The Ferengi referred to theirs as a matter-energy device . ( TNG : " The Last Outpost ") Spock determined that the device used by the Vians that beamed himself, Leonard McCoy , and James T. Kirk to an underground location on the planet Minara II , was what he described as a matter-energy scrambler . ( TOS : " The Empath ")

Someone who was transported by a transporter beam was known as a transportee . ( TOS : " Day of the Dove ")

• 1.1 20th century
• 1.2 21st century
• 1.3 22nd century
• 1.4 23rd century
• 1.5 24th century
• 1.6 25th century
• 2.1 Safety features, protocols, and components
• 2.3 Diagnostic and maintenance tools
• 2.4 System components
• 3.1 Personnel
• 3.3 Portable
• 3.4 Emergency
• 3.6 Micro-transporters
• 3.7 Non-"beam" transporters
• 3.8.1 See also
• 4.1 Accidents
• 4.3 Shields
• 4.4 Warp speed
• 4.5 Faster-than-warp speeds
• 4.6 Radiation and substances
• 4.7 Devices
• 4.8 Transporting the injured
• 5.1 Automatic return
• 5.2 Disabling active weapons
• 5.3 Falsifying disintegration by a phaser
• 5.4 Connecting two transporters
• 5.5 Intraship beaming
• 5.6 "Site-to-site" transport
• 5.7 Transporter trace
• 5.8 Deflecting the transporter beam
• 5.9 Single-person transport
• 5.10 Faking a transporter accident
• 5.11 Emergency mass beaming
• 5.12 Narrow confinement beam
• 5.13 Skeletal lock
• 5.14 Offensive use
• 5.15 Medical transports
• 5.16 Rematerialization without clothes
• 5.17 Other operations
• 6.1.1 Origins
• 6.1.2 Sets and props
• 6.1.3 Special effects
• 6.1.4 Legacy
• 6.2 Apocrypha
• 6.3 External links

History [ ]

20th century [ ].

The Vulcans had teleporter technology since at least as early as the late 20th century . This might have been an early version of the standard transporters that were later used in the Federation . ( PIC : " Mercy ")

21st century [ ]

Circa 2069 , the planet Terra 10 was colonized by a group of Humans from Earth . They were considered a lost colony as they had lost communication contact with United Earth until the 23rd century , when they were re-discovered by the crew of the USS Enterprise .

During this period, the Terratins either retained prior knowledge of transporter technologies or developed their own. It might have predated development of the technology on Earth. ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

22nd century [ ]

Emory Erickson, the inventor of the transporter, with daughter, Danica Erickson

Although transporters had been used by many civilizations throughout history , the first transporter to be made on Earth was invented sometime prior to 2121 , originated by Emory Erickson , who was revered as the " Father of the Transporter". The first operable transporter was developed around 2124 .

Erickson later recalled his experience as the first person to go through a transporter, which he was terrified to attempt. According to Erickson, " that original transporter took a full minute and a half to cycle through. Felt like a year . You could actually feel yourself being taken apart and put back together. When I materialized, first thing I did was lose my lunch . Second thing I did was get stone drunk . " Years later, Erickson lamented that " during the initial tests for the transporter, some brave men and women were lost, " adding, " not a day goes by that I don't think about them. " Though his vision was a success, he could never recapture his past glory, as his follow up efforts with sub-quantum teleportation were never realized, an effort that ultimately led to the loss of his son, Quinn . ( ENT : " Daedalus ")

In an illusion created during Hoshi Sato 's eight seconds in the pattern buffer , her mind created a fictional story of a man named Cyrus Ramsey . In this apparent ghost story , as told through an illusion of Trip Tucker , an event occurred in Madison , Wisconsin in May 2146 , where " Ramsey was a test subject for the first long-range transport. Just one hundred meters . Something went wrong with the pattern buffer. He never rematerialized. " Malcolm Reed , who couldn't believe that Sato had never heard the story before, since one could not " go on a survival overnight without hearing a story about someone seeing Ramsey's molecules rematerializing on a foggy night . " ( ENT : " Vanishing Point ")

Early Starfleet efforts in the application of transporter technology were similar to 24th century transporters used by the Ligonians , but Ligonian transporters used the Heglenian shift method to convert matter and energy. ( TNG : " Code of Honor ")

Enterprise NX-01 was one of the first Starfleet starships to be equipped with a transporter authorized for transporting biological objects. Initially, however, it was utilized only sparingly, due to a general distrust of the technology held by Enterprise crew members. (The captain himself refused to put his dog through the system.) Its use became much more common during Enterprise 's search of the Delphic Expanse . ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Strange New World ", " The Andorian Incident ", " Fortunate Son ", " Hatchery "; " Countdown ", et al. )

These early transporters were not very reliable, and, even after Enterprise 's mission, most were authorized for non-biological transports only. Even when transporter use became commonplace, most Humans and other races at a similar stage of technological development preferred traditional methods of travel. ( ENT : " Strange New World ", " The Andorian Incident ", " Daedalus ")

As Starfleet continued its exploration of space, dependence on transporters grew significantly. Transporters could simplify away missions considerably by eliminating the need for a shuttlecraft . In case of emergencies (medical or otherwise), the time saved could mean the difference between life or death. ( ENT : " Strange New World ")

Before 2164 , on at least Freedom -class starships , the transporters were only meant for cargo and not organic matter. However, they could be modified to transport organic matter with some risk. ( Star Trek Beyond )

23rd century [ ]

With the advent of safer transporters, biological transport became increasingly common, which led to the appearance of the first transporter-related diseases. The best-known disease was transporter psychosis , which was diagnosed in 2209 on Delinia II . Following the perfection of the multiplex pattern buffers , such cases were virtually eliminated. ( TNG : " Realm Of Fear ")

A Lateral Vector Transporter in use in 2249

By 2249 , further advancements were made in perfecting the technology, this time by reducing power consumption. Older units, such as lateral vector transporters had been discarded on Vulcan due to the massive amount of power they required. Starfleet had also phased them out, but some older ships, such as the Walker -class USS Shenzhou , still had them installed. ( DIS : " Battle at the Binary Stars ")

24th century [ ]

Transporters became the most reliable form of short-range transport by the 24th century . ( TNG : " Realm Of Fear ")

Most space-faring civilizations of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants employed transporter technology for short-range transport of personnel and equipment, however the technology was still rather unknown in the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant . To these species, the many advantages to utilizing transporters and replicators made the technology a point of contention, especially between the Kazon and the crew USS Voyager . ( VOY : " Caretaker ", " Maneuvers ", et al.)

Traveling by transporter was essentially instantaneous and an individual's sense of time while transporting was effectively non-existent. Benjamin Sisko and Harry Kim , while training at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco , frequently transported to New Orleans and South Carolina , respectively, to see their parents. ( DS9 : " Explorers "; VOY : " Non Sequitur ")

Innovations in transporter technology around this time included safer site-to-site transport , which allowed for transport between two locations without first returning to a transporter room . ( TNG : " The Game ", et al.)

25th century [ ]

In 2401, Starfleet's transporter systems were tampered with by rogue Changelings allied with the Borg . They infiltrated Starfleet and implanted Jean-Luc Picard 's Borg-altered DNA into the transporter system as 'common biology' that would only manifest in those whose brains had yet to finish development (in humans under 25). The result was that every Starfleet officer within those criteria had been given Picard's 'receiver' gene, which would render them susceptible to Jack Crusher 's transmitter gene. The Borg Queen assimilated Jack and exploited this to assimilate all affected Starfleet personnel on Frontier Day . ( PIC : " Võx "). Following the defeat of the Borg, Doctor Beverly Crusher devised a method of using the transporters to remove the Borg-altered DNA and to uncover disguised Changelings. ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

By the 29th century , Starfleet had developed temporal transporter technology that allowed travel through time in a very similar manner to standard transporters of earlier centuries. ( VOY : " Relativity ")

Operations [ ]

Transporter chief Wyatt

In general, a transporter chief was responsible for the operational readiness, maintenance and repair of a ship or station's transporter systems.

A typical transport sequence, generally initiated by the request to "energize", began from the transporter console with transporter pre-sequencing that, once complete, transporter coordinates were established on the object or destination by the targeting scanners , which thereafter a transporter lock was made. ( VOY : " Jetrel ", " Initiations ", " Twisted ")

Simultaneously, the object was broken down into a stream of subatomic particles, also called the matter stream . ( TNG : " Datalore ") The transporter signal was then transferred to the pattern buffer, then again transferring to the emitter array . ( VOY : " Eye of the Needle ", " Twisted ") The matter stream was then transmitted to its destination across a subspace domain . ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ") When used, a transporter left residual ionization in the air . ( TNG : " The High Ground ")

Of this whole process, one did not feel a thing. ( TNG : " The Dauphin ")

Transporter effect of the alternate reality 's USS Enterprise

In 2258 of the alternate reality , the transporter operation process included the use of the annular confinement beam, followed by electromagnetic focusing and the use of a gravitational compensator . The transporter operator then applied a temporal differential and engaged a particle lock . ( Star Trek )

23rd century Klingon transporter systems shared the same basic technology as Federation transporter systems. Even though the transporter systems of an Intrepid -class were much more sophisticated than those of a D7 class , the targeting scanners worked on the same principles. With exception of the more advanced systems having had the ability to expand transporter buffer capacity, they really were not all that different. ( VOY : " Prophecy ")

As of 2368 , Cardassian transporting systems still operated with active feed pattern buffers. ( TNG : " The Wounded ")

Also during this time frame, Romulan transporters were known to operate on a similar subspace frequency to those used aboard Federation starships, and with only a few minor adjustments, they could be made to simulate the transporter carrier waves used by their Federation counterparts. ( TNG : " Data's Day ")

From its earliest incarnations until the 2270s , transporters generally immobilized the subject being beamed during dematerialization and rematerialization. Advances in transporter technology after that point allowed a person being transported to move or converse, during the process, in a limited fashion. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

By the 24th century, emergency transporter armbands , transponders and combadges could be programmed to remotely activate a transporter. Normally, remote transporter activation was limited to emergencies or when the crew of a vessel was not on board. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " Realm Of Fear "; DS9 : " The Jem'Hadar ")

Safety features, protocols, and components [ ]

As with other Starfleet technology, the transporter had its own set of safety features, protocols, and procedures. In an emergency, many of these safety systems could be modified or circumvented.

Early versions of the transporter in the 22nd century appeared to have no protection against external incursions into an active transport. "Foreign matter," such as blowing debris, could get caught up in the transport and become embedded or integrated into the subject. ( ENT : " Strange New World ") Energy weapons fire would also affect the subject, unless it was sufficiently far into the transport that the fire passed through it harmlessly. ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Countdown ") By the late 23rd century , however, transporters shielded the subject from these external incursions. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; TNG : " A Matter of Perspective ") They could even neutralize particle weapon fire initiated during transport. ( TNG : " The Most Toys ")

Seven of Nine's transporter data

Biofilters were uniformly used on all Federation transporters by the 24th century. These filters functioned to decontaminate transported objects and prevent harmful substances, pathogens, and even certain forms of radiation (including theta radiation ), from contaminating the rest of the ship or station. This process replaced earlier systems that required the subject to be fully rematerialized on the transport platform before applying an energy-based process to topically decontaminate the transportee. ( VOY : " Macrocosm ", " Night "; TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Though the biofilters performed a general contaminant removal with each transport, they were far from perfect; previously unknown infections or viruses occasionally failed to register, requiring the filters to be recalibrated to recognize the new threat. As such, biofilters were incapable of filtering out certain types of substances and pathogens, most notably psychic energy. ( TNG : " Lonely Among Us ", " Power Play ")

Biofilters were also unable to detect and filter certain types of phased reality lifeforms without prior calibration. Biofilters also functioned to detect and disable weapons and explosives ( remat detonators , for example). ( TNG : " Realm Of Fear ", " The Schizoid Man ", " The Most Toys ")

The transporter also saved biological data of the individuals transported. In 2374 , The Doctor was able to give a diagnosis on Seven of Nine 's irrational behavior after studying her last recorded transporter data. ( VOY : " The Raven ")

When knowingly transporting material considered a biohazard , such as a virus , a bio-transport authorization was used to document the material's nature and approve the transport. ( TNG : " The Child ")

Except in cases of extreme emergency, protocols prohibited transporting objects while traveling at warp speed. ( TNG : " The Schizoid Man ") Such transports are possible, however, if the two vessels match warp velocities. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds "; VOY : " Maneuvers ")

During the 22nd century, standard Earth transporter systems had a range of ten thousand kilometers ; however, by the 24th century, the maximum range of standard transporter systems was about forty thousand kilometers, though a special type of transport, called subspace transport , could beam over several light years . ( ENT : " Rajiin "; TNG : " A Matter Of Honor ", " Bloodlines ") Many 24th century starships were equipped with an emergency transporter system, but these only had a range of, at best, ten kilometers. ( VOY : " Future's End ")

Although having a maximum range of about forty thousand kilometers, some conditions adversely affected the effective range. In at least one instance – due to missing components of Voyager 's primary computer systems – the starship Voyager had to be within five hundred kilometers of a planet's surface to use transporters on Kathryn Janeway and a hologram of Leonardo da Vinci . ( VOY : " Concerning Flight ")

The maximum range of a transporter differed by species, depending on what kind of technologies they used to build it. The transporter with the longest known range was that of the Sikarians , with a range of about forty thousand light years; however, this was due to their planet 's large quartz mantle, which amplified their transporter signal. Because of this, Sikarian transporter technology worked only on their homeworld . ( VOY : " Prime Factors ")

The Traveler's of Tau Alpha C possessed transporter technology with a range of at least a thousand light years, according to Spock . Montgomery Scott later noted that Seven's beam was so powerful it fused all recording circuits, and therefore he could not say exactly how far it transported Seven, or even whether it transported him through time. Exactly how they achieved this effect remains unknown, since there has been no subsequent contact with them, and they hide their entire homeworld in some fashion. There were, however, other indications that their technology was considerably advanced beyond that of the 23rd century Federation. ( TOS : " Assignment: Earth ")

The Vedala , one of the oldest space-faring races, also possessed transporter technology capable of beaming people and equipment to and from other planets (presumably in different star systems). ( TAS : " The Jihad ") Dominion transporter technology, enhanced with a homing transponder , was said to have had a range of at least three light years. ( DS9 : " Covenant ")

Diagnostic and maintenance tools [ ]

• Magneton scanner
• Micro-resonator
• Parametric scanner
• Synchronic meter
• Test cylinder

System components [ ]

A level 4 diagnostic listing several key components

• Annular confinement beam
• Biofilter assembly
• Emitter array
• Gravitational compensator
• Heisenberg compensator
• Imaging scanner
• Inducer module
• Materializer
• Molecular imaging scanner
• Particle lock
• Pattern buffer
• Phase discriminator
• Phase inducer
• Phase transition coil
• Primary energizing coil
• Rematerialization subroutine
• Rotational compensation
• Site-to-site transport interlock
• Targeting scanner
• Transporter console

Transporter types [ ]

Almost all Starfleet facilities and starships were equipped with at least one transporter device. The number of transporter devices differed; for example, most shuttlecraft had one transporter while Galaxy -class starships had twenty. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

On ships where cargo bays were present, cargo transporters could often be found, as well.

Production of Mark V transporters was halted in 2356 . By 2371 , Mark VI transporters were considered outdated. Mark VII transporters were able to transport unstable biomatter , as long as the phase transition inhibitor was adjusted. ( DS9 : " Family Business ")

Personnel [ ]

Transporter console, 2254

Standard duotronic transporter console (ca. 2260s )

Transporter console in the alternate reality 's 2258

The most commonly used type of transporter was the personnel transporter, designed primarily for personnel.

Personnel transporter rooms usually consisted of a transporter console , a transporter platform with an overhead molecular imaging scanner , primary energizing coils , and phase transition coils .

A pattern buffer with a biofilter was typically located on the deck below the transporter room. The outer hull of a starship incorporated a number of emitter pads for the transporter beam. ( TNG : " Realm Of Fear "; VOY : " Macrocosm ")

Personnel transporters worked on the quantum level to enable secure transport of lifeforms. Biofilters built into the transporter systems prevented dangerous microorganisms from boarding the ship.

Transporter platforms had a variable number of pads, arranged in various layouts (by model and by manufacturing race).

The transporters installed on Earth's NX-class starships featured one large circular pad that took up the entire platform. It was large enough to transport two to three people, provided they stood close together.

By the 23rd century, Federation transporter platforms featured multiple independent pads, typically six in a hexagonal configuration. One- and two-pad platforms were also available.

This became something of a standard layout for Federation transporters well into the next century. As an example, the platforms used on board Galaxy -class starships had the familiar six individual pads, with an over-sized pad (in the center of the platform) that could handle small cargo.

The model of transporter installed on board Defiant -class starships featured a ¾ circular platform and three personnel pads in a triangular formation.

Some 23rd century Klingon platforms featured six hexagonal pads in a straight line. Others, such as those on Birds-of-Prey , featured a small number of platforms in a tight group. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Cardassian transporter platforms in the 24th century featured three to five triangular pads placed close together, such as those installed on Deep Space 9 .

The personnel transporter was a reliable but sometimes fragile piece of equipment. The phase coils , in particular, were vulnerable to feedback patterns and could be severely damaged as result of power surges or low-level phaser fire. ( TNG : " Brothers ")

A cargo transporter aboard a Galaxy -class starship

Cargo transporters were larger-scale versions of personnel transporters and were optimized for the transport of inanimate objects. These transporters were adapted to handle massive quantities of material. ( TNG : " Symbiosis ", " The Hunted ", " Power Play ")

In case of an emergency, cargo transporters could be reset to quantum-level mode, making lifeform transport possible. One reason for such a reconfiguration was to expedite an evacuation of personnel. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Cargo transporters were mostly found inside the cargo bay of a starship or space station . On Level 97-C of the Spacedock -type Starbase 74 , there were four cargo transporters. ( TNG : " 11001001 ")

Dedicated cargo transporter platforms used by Starfleet in the 24th century typically featured one large circular or oblong pad. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation )

A transporter aboard the USS Franklin

In the alternate reality , the USS Franklin was only equipped with cargo transporters. After the discovery of the Franklin 's wreckage, Montgomery Scott was able to modify the transporters to beam lifeforms, though he only beamed Spock and Leonard McCoy on board one at a time so as not to risk splicing them together . With aid from Pavel Chekov , Scott was able to further modify the transporters to beam groups of twenty at a time though the transporters needed to recharge after at least two groups of twenty in a row. After Scott's modifications, the transporters were also able to beam two lifeforms and a motorcycle in motion to a destination. ( Star Trek Beyond )

Portable [ ]

Portable transporters were self-contained units capable of direct site-to-site transport . While having the capability to be moved from one place to another, they were known to be rather large and bulky. ( DS9 : " Visionary ")

In 2372 of an alternate timeline , Tom Paris owned an advanced, portable, site-to-site transporter device capable of transporting itself along with its payload. This device was small enough to be carried easily on a person. ( VOY : " Non Sequitur ")

Emergency [ ]

An emergency transport unit

Emergency transporters were a special type that had a low power requirement; in case of a ship-wide power failure, the crew could use these transporters for emergency evacuation. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual ; VOY : " Future's End ")

By the late 24th century, emergency transport was further improved through Starfleet's development of a single-person, single-use, one-way emergency transport unit . The device was small enough to be hand-held and could transport to specified coordinates with a single touch. Because of its extreme limitations, this device was not widely deployed and was still considered a prototype in 2379 . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

A public transporter in use

Public transporters were standalone transporter stations available for use by the civilian population of Starbase Yorktown . These automated units featured a selection of pre-programmed destination coordinates available to each user, allowing access to many public locations throughout the starbase. ( Star Trek Beyond )

By 2399 , Starfleet Headquarters had public transporters in a gatelike configuration, which visitors could use to be directly beamed to the premises. ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

Micro-transporters [ ]

By 2375 , the Federation had developed a micro-transporter – essentially a scaled-down version of a regular transporter – which was capable of transporting small amounts of material within an almost-imperceptible span of time. When attached to a TR-116 rifle , it could be used to transport the bullet to anywhere within the transporter's range, where it would continue at its original velocity until striking a target. ( DS9 : " Field of Fire ")

Non-"beam" transporters [ ]

The spatial trajector , an example of a non-beam transporter

Certain species experimented with transporters that differed in technology and theory than those used by most species encountered by the Federation.

The Sikarians were known to use a folded-space transporter , relying on dimensional shifting rather than matter-to-energy conversion. Similarly, the Iconians perfected their own form of transport, known as gateways , which were capable of near-instantaneous transport over vast distances. ( VOY : " Prime Factors "; TNG : " Contagion ")

Other transporter technologies [ ]

Gary Seven emerges from the transporter chamber's fog

Gary Seven's office, with the transport chamber hidden in the background

Gary Seven possessed an advanced form of transportation technology that he used to transport around the planet Earth and back to his home planet more than a thousand light years from Earth. When in operation, the chamber produced a cloud of a blue fog-like substance that enveloped the chamber. The chamber was controlled by the Beta 5 computer and was the first known transporter to be in use on Earth, especially given the time period of 1968 .

The transporter beam could be intercepted by another transporter unit. This occurred when Gary Seven was in transit to Earth and his beam was accidentally intercepted by the USS Enterprise commanded by James T. Kirk . This would seem to dictate that both transporter technologies work on similar principles. Seven's device appeared to be more powerful than that of the Enterprise , for it was able to re-direct the transporter beam of the Enterprise back to it, and instead of Gary Seven re-materializing in the transporter room of the Enterprise , he re-materialized in his own device.

When not in use, the chamber door, which resembled that of a safe when it was closed, was hidden behind a shelf holding Martini glasses. The shelf and the brown wood finish surrounding it split down the middle and slid into the adjacent walls, allowing the chamber door to open. This action was achieved by moving the right pen on Gary Seven's desk downward. ( TOS : " Assignment: Earth ")

An Aldean transport device

The Aldeans wore a small device attached to the arm that they used to control their transporter through contact with the Custodian . ( TNG : " When The Bough Breaks ")

See also [ ]

• Folded-space transporter
• Lateral vector transporter
• Matter-energy scrambler
• Molecular transporter
• Multidimensional transporter device
• Sub-quantum teleportation
• Temporal transporter
• Translocator

Limitations [ ]

Accidents [ ].

• See : Transporter accident
• See : Transporter suspension

Shields [ ]

In general, transporters could not be used while the deflector shield of a ship was active, or a deflector shield was in place over the destination. However, it was possible to take advantage of EM "windows" that were created by the normal rotation of shield frequencies. During these periods, a hole opened, through which a transporter beam could pass. To use this window, timing needed to be absolute and usually required substantial computer assistance. This technique was theorized and first practiced in 2367 , by USS Enterprise -D transporter chief Miles O'Brien . He happened to know the shields of the USS Phoenix well, including the timing. ( TNG : " The Wounded ")

Magnetic shields could also be used to prevent beaming. Rura Penthe was protected by such a shield to prevent prisoners from escaping. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

There was a type of shielding that allowed transport, although it had the limitation of not allowing phasers to be fired through it. ( TOS : " A Taste of Armageddon ")

The limitation of transporters versus shields was not universal, however. The Aldeans were able to pass through their own shielding using transporters, though the shielding was impenetrable to other forms of technology and weapons. Similarly, both the Borg and Dominion used transporter technology that was able to penetrate standard Federation shielding. Some adaptations, including rotating shield frequencies, could inhibit this ability but not eliminate it altogether. ( TNG : " Q Who "; DS9 : " The Jem'Hadar ") Voth were able to beam entire starships into a single Voth city ship , despite its shield being raised and running at full capacity. ( VOY : " Distant Origin ")

Warp speed [ ]

Using transporters when a ship was at warp speed was very dangerous because warp fields created severe spatial distortions. ( TNG : " The Schizoid Man ") Therefore, transport at warp generally violated safety regulations. However, at-warp transport was attempted a handful of times, by making a few adjustments. These attempts were usually made under high-stakes combat conditions. ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds ", " The Emissary ")

• If both ships maintained exact velocity (that is, the warp field on both vessels must have the same integral value/factor), transport at warp speed was possible. Failure to maintain the same velocities would result in severe loss of the annular confinement beam (ACB) and pattern integrity.
• If the ship was traveling at warp speed and the object to be beamed was stationary, transport was possible by synchronizing the ACB with the warp core frequency. This would cause difficulties in obtaining a good pattern lock. The Maquis were known to have used this method. ( VOY : " Maneuvers ")
• Sometime before 2387 , Montgomery Scott discovered the necessary formulas enabling transwarp beaming . These were passed on to his alternate reality counterpart , but using these to beam onto the USS Enterprise caused him to become stuck in a water pipe leading to a turbine . ( Star Trek )

"Near-warp" transport was also possible, but required extensive adjustments to the transport procedure. It involved the transporting ship energizing its transporters at the same time as it dropped out of warp for just long enough for the matter stream to be transmitted. The ship would then immediately jump back into warp.

Persons who experienced this form of transport subsequently remarked that there had been a brief sensation of being merged with an inanimate object, before the transporter beam reassembled them.

Near-warp transport has also been referred to as "touch-and-go downwarping". ( TNG : " The Schizoid Man ")

Faster-than-warp speeds [ ]

In 2374 , Voyager personnel successfully used Intrepid -class transporters to beam stranded crew members from the USS Dauntless while both ships were traveling within a quantum slipstream . Voyager accelerated on a pursuit course during the transport, bypassing the velocity limitations imposed by warp field dynamics. ( VOY : " Hope and Fear ")

Radiation and substances [ ]

Some forms of radiation and substances, usually minerals such as kelbonite , prevented transporters from working. In most instances, the interference was caused by scattering of the annular confinement beam, or sensor interference preventing a transporter lock. Interference could be natural or artificial and usually occurred during surface-to-starship transport but might also occur between vessels. Examples of other radiation and substance limitations were:

• Thoron radiation
• Dampening field
• Ionic interference (see also Ion storm )
• Hyperonic radiation
• Electromagnetic storm
• Trinimbic interference

Devices [ ]

Over the centuries, numerous devices have been designed to overcome some limitations of transporters, while others were used to intentionally interfere with the operation of transporters.

A transporter tag given to Kira Nerys

By the 24th century, usage of pattern enhancers was common aboard most Starfleet vessels, most often deployed to a planet's surface during emergency situations where transport was critical.

Devices that were specifically designed to block transporter signals or to interfere with them were usually deployed under hostile conditions, thus making use of a transporter impossible or very dangerous and hampering maneuverability of personnel or material. Some of these devices were:

• Transporter scrambler
• Transport inhibitor
• Remat detonator
• Scattering field

In 2375 , Vedek Fala gave a small crystal to Colonel Kira Nerys , as a gift. The device, of unknown origin and design, was actually a transporter tag , which instantly transported her to Empok Nor , several light years distant. ( DS9 : " Covenant ")

Also, in 2293 , Spock used a viridium patch to locate and lock on to Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy on Rura Penthe . While not a transporter device, it was used to locate the subject with the transporter. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Transporting the injured [ ]

Although someone with minor injuries could be transported, this was not possible when the injuries were extensive. When the brain stem was damaged and autonomic functions were failing, transport was only possible if a volunteer controlled the person's autonomic functions. This was done by placing a neural pad at the base of the skull of both individuals and then connecting both people via a medical tricorder . This way, autonomic functions could be stabilized for a short period of time, making transport possible. ( TNG : " Transfigurations ")

In 2372 , Odo began to experience the effects of an unknown affliction that he had acquired from his fellow Changelings , which caused the destabilization of his molecular structure . When it was proposed that he be ferried aboard the USS Defiant to the Founders' new homeworld , the crew had to wait for Odo to carry himself aboard the ship. When it was questioned why he couldn't go through the transporter, Doctor Julian Bashir explained that " his molecular structure is scrambled enough as it is, " adding, " [t]he last thing he needs is a trip through a transporter buffer . " ( DS9 : " Broken Link ")

Special operations [ ]

Automatic return [ ].

As of 2269 , transporters could be set to automatically beam back an individual after a prearranged amount of time . In 2269 , James T. Kirk asked Montgomery Scott to set automatic return for ten minutes . ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

Disabling active weapons [ ]

By the 24th century, the transporter had the capability to disable any active weapon during transport. This could be accomplished by removing the discharged energy from the transporter signal, or by "deactivating" the weapon itself. The transporter system included weapons deactivation subroutines to control the process. ( TNG : " The Most Toys ", " The Hunted ", " Rascals ")

The transporter was also capable of removing weapons entirely during transport, a setting referred to by Starfleet as "Transport Protocol Five". When the Defiant beamed aboard survivors from a damaged Jem'Hadar ship, the transporter was programmed to remove the crew's disruptors and other weapons. ( DS9 : " To the Death ")

Falsifying disintegration by a phaser [ ]

Although transports usually took several seconds to complete, it was possible to transport an individual to safety a split-second before they were to be struck by a phaser beam, making it appear as though they had been disintegrated. By 2373 , Section 31 had access to such technology and used it to fake the death of operative Luther Sloan in front of the Romulan Continuing Committee . Since William Ross later told Julian Bashir that Tal Shiar chief Koval had fired a phaser at Sloan, rather than a disruptor pistol , it is likely the weapon had been specially modified and was integral to creating the illusion. ( DS9 : " Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges ")

Connecting two transporters [ ]

Two transporters could be bridged together by means of a system interlock to facilitate direct transport between them. Federation vessels could activate other Federation vessels' transporters remotely by means of this. This meant that two transporters could be connected to each other to allow beaming in situations where it would otherwise not be possible due to ionic or some other type of interference. ( TNG : " Symbiosis ", " Realm Of Fear ")

First, a remote link to the other transporter had to be established, then the system interlock needed to be engaged and the pattern buffers of both transporters were synchronized. When the phase transition coils were in stand-by mode, energizing could commence.

A side-effect of using this form of transport to beam through ionic interference was that the person who was beamed might feel a slight tingling, due to static. ( TNG : " Realm Of Fear ")

Intraship beaming [ ]

In the mid- 2260s , beaming from a transporter pad to a location within the same vessel was a very risky proposition. The limitations of the technology at that time made it highly probable that any error would result in the subject rematerializing within a bulkhead, deck, or other structure. As such, the procedure had rarely been attempted. ( TOS : " Day of the Dove ") The first occurrence of this procedure was used without incident, a century earlier. ( ENT : " Chosen Realm ")

In 2364 , Commander William T. Riker and Lieutenant Tasha Yar used intraship beaming during a rescue. When cargo instead of passengers was beamed aboard, Riker ordered Yar to beam the cargo to the hold. ( TNG : " Symbiosis ")

Intraship transport was apparently both safe and commonplace by the 2360s, as, beyond the aforesaid example, the technique was used a number of times aboard the USS Enterprise -D :

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard and First Officer Riker both beamed from a transporter room directly onto the bridge . ( TNG : " 11001001 ")
• When several Bringloidi were beamed aboard, carrying assorted farm animals, Picard ordered them beamed into Cargo Hold 7. ( TNG : " Up The Long Ladder ")
• While escaping a mind-controlled crew, Wesley Crusher engaged a program that beamed him from Deck 36 to Transporter Room 3. ( TNG : " The Game ")
• Ambassador Ves Alkar 's assistant, Liva , was beamed away from her quarters on command from Captain Picard to prevent her being used by Alkar. ( TNG : " Man Of The People ")
• When rogue Ferengi briefly took over the Enterprise , a plan was devised to capture them by beaming them one-by-one onto a transporter pad secured by a force field . ( TNG : " Rascals ")
• Picard, Riker, and several others transported from a shuttle in its bay directly to the observation lounge . ( TNG : " Gambit, Part II ")

"Site-to-site" transport [ ]

Beaming directly to sickbay

• See : Site-to-site transport

The earliest known example of site-to-site transport carried out by Federation personnel occurred in 1986 , though the transporter was on board a vessel that had traveled back in time from 2286 . The craft which possessed site-to-site capabilities was Klingon in origin but had been stolen by the crew of the late starship Enterprise . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

By at least 2268 , limitations in pattern buffer and targeting scanner technology had been sufficiently overcome that it was now possible to transport from one location directly to another without the need to re-materialize the subject in between. ( TOS : " A Piece of the Action ") In the 24th century, this operation was enabled and controlled by the site-to-site transport interlocks . ( TNG : " Brothers ")

A Klingon transporter performs a site-to-site transport

Transporter systems had to be manually configured to prepare for site-to-site transport. This included resetting the pattern buffer controls and checking the targeting scanners. ( VOY : " Twisted ")

Site-to-site transport held the matter stream in the pattern buffer while the ACB was re-targeted. Afterward, the matter stream was redirected to the new location and normal re-materialization was carried out.

Using this technique, any computer terminal with access to the main transporter sub-systems, or any applicable subroutine, could be used to control transporter operations, including bridge terminals. This technique could only be utilized when sufficient energy was available to the transporters; all normal transporter limitations would still apply. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

This procedure was particularly useful in emergency medical situations where time was of the essence. Subjects could be beamed directly to sickbay , where treatment could be carried out quickly. ( TNG : " Tapestry "; Star Trek: First Contact )

In 2368 , Ensign Wesley Crusher used this method in an attempt to outrun those (especially Riker and Worf) whose minds had been taken over by a Ktarian game . ( TNG : " The Game ")

Seven of Nine once initiated a site-to-site transport into Chakotay's quarters. Instead of the door chimes sound, the comm tone is heard (not the boatswain whistle.) She thinks it would be inappropriate to be seen carrying flowers to the first officer's quarters ( VOY : " Endgame ").

Transporter trace [ ]

By the 23rd century , it was common practice to store a "transporter trace" (a stored copy of a subject's molecular pattern as scanned during a normal transporter cycle). While it was usually kept for security purposes, in extreme situations, the transporter could be modified to use an older trace pattern in place of the latest scan for the purpose of re-configuring the matter stream during molecular conversion, effectively replacing a subject with a younger version of itself during matter re-construction. The first known use of this technique was in 2270 , when it was used to restore the crew of the USS Enterprise , whose aging had been reversed to their adult versions. ( TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ") Another notable use of a transporter trace was in 2364 , to restore Captain Jean-Luc Picard after an unsuccessful attempt by an alien energy being to merge with him. ( TNG : " Lonely Among Us ")

The transporter trace itself was regularly stored for the duration of the person's tour of duty; when that person was reassigned, his or her trace was deleted. ( TNG : " Unnatural Selection ")

When necessary, a person's DNA could be used to create a transporter trace. This technique was utilized by Chief Miles O'Brien and Lieutenant Geordi La Forge during a mission to the Darwin Genetic Research Station in 2365 .

Transporter traces were also used as a medical tool, to help in spotting anomalies at the molecular level. When comparing the transporter ID traces of Deanna Troi , Data and Miles O'Brien before and after they were taken over by Ux-Mal criminals, Doctor Beverly Crusher was able to detect that their nervous systems were generating high levels of synaptic and anionic energy . ( TNG : " Power Play ") Another example of such an application was in 2373 , when The Doctor used Harry Kim 's transporter trace records to determine when he had been infected with Taresian DNA. ( VOY : " Favorite Son ")

Deflecting the transporter beam [ ]

A transporter beam could be deflected to different coordinates by a tractor beam , so that the objects being transported would rematerialize at a point other than the intended target coordinates. Such action could only be detected by examining the transporter log . An unusual amount of antigraviton particles would be present in the emitter coil , as those particles do not occur naturally but are used by tractor beams. Locating the coordinates at which rematerialization took place was not possible; however, it was possible to calculate the point of origin of the tractor beam itself. ( TNG : " Attached ")

Single-person transport [ ]

A transporter could be programmed to only allow one particular person to be transported to and from the transporter pad . Thus programmed, no other persons could use the transporter. If the use of the transporter was further prohibited, by use of an unknown access code, using the transporter was almost impossible.

The only way to circumvent this lock-out was to use the transporter trace from the person who re-programmed the transporter and to input this into the transporter while it was in its testing mode. When in testing mode, a transporter would accept simulated inputs. When the main computer could not be used, several tricorders could be networked together to control the transporter. To circumvent the lock-out, access codes from a few bridge officers were necessary to force it in a recall loop. Consequently, anyone and everyone who transported would be seen by the transporter as the person who had re-programmed it in the first place. ( TNG : " Brothers ")

Faking a transporter accident [ ]

A transporter accident could be faked in such a way that a transporter chief would think a person died during transport. For example, this could be done by adjusting the carrier wave of a second transporter to the carrier wave of the first. The person would then beam off the first transporter while the second transporter beamed in a small amount of genetically identical material.

Only a doctor could determine if this material was really the person in question. The transporter trace could be used to compare the logged DNA pattern "trace" to the "dead" person. Single-bit errors might be detected, if the "dead" material was replicated .

Only transporters that operated on the same subspace frequency as the spoofed transporter can be used for this type of ruse. For example, some Romulan transporters were capable of this.

Another indicator of such a ruse would be a temporary increase of the matter to energy ratio, while transport was in progress. However, this increase could fall within the nominal operational parameters of the transporter in question. Investigation of the transporter logs would be necessary to find evidence of a second transporter signal. ( TNG : " Data's Day ")

Emergency mass beaming [ ]

Some transporters could transport large numbers of people, and either rematerialize them simultaneously or in groups. However, this was not often done, due to safety reasons. In 2268 , the crew of the USS Enterprise used their transporters in this manner to capture members of the crew of a Klingon ship. In 2377 , the USS Voyager transported over two hundred Klingons off a battle cruiser by expanding the transporter's buffer capacity. In 2380 , Ensign Sam Rutherford used a single transporter room on the USS Cerritos , reconfigured with experimental settings, to simultaneously beam the entire crew of the USS Rubidoux on board. The transportees were left with undesirable cosmetic side effects, but which were temporary, and they were otherwise perfectly fine. ( TOS : " Day of the Dove "; VOY : " Prophecy "; LD : " Much Ado About Boimler ")

Narrow confinement beam [ ]

Setting a transporter's annular confinement beam to a narrow width would sometimes allow it to penetrate some types of shielding or other interference. One noteworthy application of this was to penetrate Borg shields, a procedure developed by scientists Magnus and Erin Hansen . ( VOY : " Dark Frontier ")

Skeletal lock [ ]

USS Voyager Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres invented an emergency measure of locking a transporter beam onto minerals in the target's skeletal system, in order to allow transport when bio-signs could not be detected from transporting origins. This allowed personnel to be transported back to the ship, even if regular means of transporter lock failed. She came up with it after a conventional signal lock failed, during an emergency beam-out from a Borg cube in 2373 . ( VOY : " Scorpion ")

Offensive use [ ]

In 2373 , Nyrians used a long-range transporter to take control of the USS Voyager by beaming aboard the ship one person at a time, replacing a member of the crew in the process. Initially feigning ignorance and confusion, the Nyrians did not raise suspicion until they had already outnumbered the Voyager crew. By then, however, it was too late; the Nyrians commandeered Voyager and incarcerated the crew inside a simulated Earth-like environment aboard a massive prison ship . It was later revealed that this was an often-used Nyrian strategy, as it was far less costly than engaging in open hostilities. ( VOY : " Displaced ")

In 2374 , pirates used transporters to steal the USS Voyager 's main computer and other critical equipment, rendering the ship's weapons, navigation and propulsion inoperable. This led Tom Paris to remark, " I feel like we've just been mugged. " ( VOY : " Concerning Flight ")

The Vulcan Chu'lak modified a projectile weapon by adding a micro-transporter, allowing him to fire bullets through walls into other rooms. ( DS9 : " Field of Fire ")

Medical transports [ ]

• See : Fetal transport

Rematerialization without clothes [ ]

Beamed from their dresses

During Chakotay 's Starfleet career, he was involved in a transporter malfunction. His uniform ended up in a pattern buffer ; he materialized wearing only his combadge . ( VOY : " In the Flesh ")

Removal of clothing using a transporter can also be done deliberately, as a group of Ferengi did to Deanna and Lwaxana Troi in 2366 . ( TNG : " Ménage à Troi ")

Other operations [ ]

• Transporter Code 14
• Near-warp transport

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ], origins [ ].

The transporter was developed by the production staff of the original series as a solution of how to get crewmen off a planet quickly. The only alternative was to either land a massive ship each week, or regularly use shuttles for landings, both of which would have wreaked havoc on the production budget. ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (3rd ed., p. 519)) Although both of these were proposed in the initial draft of the series outline Star Trek is... (with regular shuttlecraft landings and rare descents of the ship), a revision of the same document (as reprinted in The Making of Star Trek , pp. 22–30) contained one of the first examples wherein the concept of the transporter was outlined. ( [4] ; The Making of Star Trek , p. 26) The description posited a not-yet-named "energy-matter scrambler which can 'materialize' [landing parties] onto the planet's surface." The outline went on to say, " This requires maximum beam power and is a tremendous drain on the cruiser's power supply. It can be done only across relatively short line-of-sight distances. Materials and supplies can also be moved in this same manner, but require a less critical power expenditure. " ( The Making of Star Trek , p. 26)

Gene Roddenberry considered the invention of the transporter to be highly fortunate and " one of many instances where a compromise forced us into creative thought and actually improved on what we planned to do. " He further explained, " If someone had said, 'We will give you the budget to land the ship,' our stories would have started slow, much too slow [....] Conceiving the transporter device [...] allowed us to be well into the story by script page two. " ( The Making of Star Trek , pp. 43–44)

The script of " The Cage ", the first Star Trek pilot episode, referred to the transporter as consisting of a device that dominated the transporter room and "could be an artist's nightmare-conception of a futuristic x-ray machine," as well as a "glassed-in transporter chamber" that the device hovered over.

The depiction of the transporter in TOS : " The Man Trap " was instrumental to that installment becoming the first to ever be broadcast. Though "The Man Trap" writer George Clayton Johnson was unaware of this at the time, Herb Solow informed him, years afterwards, of the transporter's importance in convincing the executives at NBC to air "The Man Trap" first. Johnson relayed, " He told me, 'By going with yours, we were able to open the series with the crew getting aboard the transporter device and beaming down to the planet. By letting the audience watch the transporter in action, and letting them see the crew materialize and dematerialize, we were saved from having to try to explain it.' " ( George Clayton Johnson – Fictioneer , " Star Trek ")

In an early written version of TOS : " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ", the transporter was described as an "energy matter scrambler" (matching how it had been characterized in the aforementioned revised draft of Star Trek is... ). In a series of research notes (dated 11 May 1966 ), however, Kellam de Forest pointed out, " 'Scramble' implies that objects are mixed in an unorganized fashion. The transporter converts the matter of the body into energy. " As a result, de Forest suggested instead referring to the transporter as an "energy matter converter."

Arthur Singer , the story editor for the third season of TOS, had some uncertainty about the function of the transporter, which he expressed around three months after D.C. Fontana left the series as story editor. Regarding how Singer voiced his confusion about the device, Fontana recalled, " [He] wandered onto the set and asked our set decorator, 'By the way, what does that transporter thing do again?' "

The series writers' guide (third revision, dated 17 April 1967 ) stated about the transporter, " Its range is limited to about 16,000 miles. " [5]

The writers/directors guide for Star Trek: Phase II contained the exact same statement. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , p. 96) For that series, a "transporter station" was to have been incorporated into the Enterprise bridge, complete with a working transporter. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , p. 20) This was to have served as an equipment transporter, for beaming such things as small tools to the bridge. ( text commentary , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (The Director's Edition) DVD ) On 13 October 1977 , Gene Roddenberry posited that transporters of Phase II would be able to beam through the Enterprise 's force field when it was fully raised, by opening a section of the force field in order to make it weak or moderate. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , p. 50) However, the writers/directors guide for the series clarified that the Enterprise 's transporter could not be operated while the ship's deflector screen was in operation. ( Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series , p. 97)

Gene Roddenberry briefly considered – early one day, while Star Trek: The Next Generation was in preproduction – vastly increasing the power of the transporter in The Next Generation to such an extent that no main starship was to have been featured in that series. This unusual suggestion was scrapped by the end of lunch on that particular day.( Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission 1st ed., p. 14) David Gerrold argued against it, pointing out that the Enterprise was necessary for Star Trek to be successful because the ship was "the star of the show." Added Gerrold, " He says, 'Okay. Just throwing that out.' " ( Stardate Revisited: The Origin of Star Trek - The Next Generation , Part 1: Inception , TNG Season 1 Blu-ray special features) Also during the development of TNG, some consideration was given to the possibility of featuring a transporter on the Galaxy -class bridge, though this idea was soon dropped in favor of turbolifts. ( Starlog issue #125, p. 46) Since David Gerrold had listed (in his book The World of Star Trek [ page number? • edit ] ) transporter malfunctions as being a too-overused plot device in the original series, Roddenberry intended to correct this in TNG. ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before paperback ed., p. 110)

The concept sketch of DS9's transporter by Ricardo Delgado

The transporter and the term "beam" were so relatively easy to account for that they were among multiple reasons for Rick Berman and Michael Piller deciding that a new science fiction series they were asked to create, which ultimately became Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , would be in the Star Trek mold, rather than a brand-new show. Since the design parameters of the series were very well defined, putting a Starfleet-usable transporter aboard space station Deep Space 9 turned out to be "not difficult at all," in Production Designer Herman Zimmerman 's words. The transporter in the station's Operations Center was designed by Ricardo F. Delgado and illustrated in a concept sketch by him. ( The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine  issue 3 , p. 6) The creators of the then-new show opted to rely on the fact that transporters had already been established earlier in the Star Trek franchise. " We won't reinvent the transporter – everyone knows how the transporter works, we don't have to explain that any more, " stated Zimmerman. ( Trek: Deepspace Nine , p. 52)

The concept of a long-range transporter was again briefly considered, upon initial development of TNG's final episode, " All Good Things... ". The scene in which it was to be used was soon omitted , though. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (3rd ed., p. 301))

A transporter was originally not budgeted for inclusion aboard the Defiant -class , which was introduced at the start of DS9's third season . At one stage, however, Herman Zimmerman expected that, as stories and budgets warranted it, transporter facilities would later be added to the Defiant -class. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 97) A transporter for that class was indeed created, designed by Jim Martin . ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 112) It debuted in season three's " Past Tense, Part I ".

While Star Trek: Enterprise was in development, Executive Producer Brannon Braga initially wanted there to be no transporter on Enterprise NX-01 , though this idea was disputed by executives at Paramount . " [He] thought transporter technology is in the future, " explained André Bormanis , regarding Braga's viewpoint. " Well [...] this became a point of contention with, you know, the powers that be. The compromise we reached was that, okay, it's got a transporter, but it's experimental technology, and they don't really want to use it unless they absolutely have to. And we thought, in the 22nd century, it ought to be more challenging, or better yet, let's not introduce it in the first season . Maybe the second season , they'll upgrade the ship. " ("To Boldly Go: Launching Enterprise , Part I: Countdown", ENT Season 1 Blu-ray special features)

An even earlier transporter had to be depicted in the film Star Trek Beyond , for the 22nd century vessel USS Franklin . Doug Jung , who co-wrote the movie, once commented, " Back then, they didn't actually have Human transporters, you couldn't beam a Human up. So we had to put a line in where Scotty says, 'I made these recalibrations.' " [6]

Sets and props [ ]

The "psychedelic" back wall of the TOS transporter was actually made from reflective, translucent plastic known to musicians as "Drum Wrap" since it's commonly used to adorn the outer cylinders of drum sets. The same plastic later went on to be incorporated into intercoms regularly featured on Star Trek: Enterprise . (" Stigma " text commentary , ENT Season 2 DVD )

The TOS transporter had a "built-in top and bottom lighting setup for the beaming up/down effects," stated Robert H. Justman . ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 17 , p. 13) The transporter pads from TOS were simple Fresnel lens es. John Dwyer , a set decorator who worked on both TOS and TNG, explained, " In the original series, the lights in the platform under the round rings were curved lenses, polished in such a way as to make the light really bright, like you have in lighthouses; but they also use them in the bigger stage lights, and that's what these were. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 12 , p. 25) (See this Flash recreation from a scene deleted from " Mudd's Women " for an indication of the luminosity of a 10,000 watt Fresnel lens.) These components were the only part of the transporter set that remained when the set was redesigned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture . ( audio commentary , Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Blu-ray) ) The Next Generation also used the lenses as the units in the ceiling directly over the pads. ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 78) Dwyer recounted, " [Production Designer] Herman [Zimmerman] said, 'Hey, that's a good idea; let's just keep it!' So we did. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 12 , p. 25) The same components were additionally included in the transporter of the USS Voyager in Star Trek: Voyager . ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 78) Michael Okuda remembered, " One day during, I think, Voyager , I happened to be working in the catwalks above the set and I was looking at those lenses. Five of them looked yellowed and chipped, so I believe that they were from the original series. One of them looked a lot newer. " (audio commentary, Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( Blu-ray ))

The equipment transporter proposed for the Enterprise bridge of Star Trek: Phase II was actually built. One remnant of its construction, a square arrangement of four green lights, was incorporated into the Enterprise bridge of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . The Regula I transporter in that film involved spotlights reflecting off a glitter ball behind the set, a simple way of achieving the effect of energy patterns on the transporter chamber's back wall. (text commentary, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (The Director's Edition) DVD)

The faint pattern on the insides of the TNG transporter took its inspiration from a sweater owned by Herman Zimmerman, who created the pattern while prepping TNG. Interested in doing something different from the psychedelic moire patterns of the original series' transporter but not having liked any of the patterns that he or his staff devised for potential use, a frustrated Zimmerman finally took off his sweater and declared, " Here, this is what we'll use! " The pattern was thereafter incorporated into the design of the Enterprise -D's transporter, which was reused as the Enterprise -A's transporter in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . ( text commentary , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Special Edition) DVD )

For Star Trek Generations , the transporter of the Enterprise -D was given a new interior lighting scheme that included the addition of amber gels behind some of the upper transporter lenses from TOS. ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 278) Because the original panels from the TNG transporter's back wall had somehow been damaged during preproduction on the film, they were replaced by new but virtually identical panels. ( text commentary , Star Trek Generations  (Special Edition) DVD )

At least one of the floor panels from the Enterprise -D transporter was reused as a serving tray in Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . ( Secrets of Quark's Bar , DS9 Season 1 special features)

The Intrepid -class transporter set being created for Star Trek: Voyager

According to Star Trek: Communicator , the Intrepid -class transporter incorporated "vertical edge-lit Plexiglas and spiky sonic foam lining the walls." ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 111 , p. 52) According to Kim actor Garrett Wang , the Intrepid -class transporter ceiling used on the set of Star Trek: Voyager was the original ceiling used on Star Trek: The Motion Picture . ( E! Inside Star Trek: Voyager , at 21 minutes)

The floor and ceiling of the transporter aboard the NX-class Enterprise were inspired by the fresnel lenses of TOS. (" Broken Bow " text commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD ) Similarly, the sides of the ENT transporter were deliberately evocative of the walls of the TOS Enterprise transporter. ( Broken Bow , paperback ed., p. 268)

Special effects [ ]

• See : Transporter sound and visual effects

The transporter is the only technology which is commonly used in Star Trek productions but which André Bormanis , at least as of 1996 , deemed as "a real stretch" of the imagination. " The Heisenberg uncertainty principle makes it impossible to know the exact location and energy of any particular subatomic particle. Therefore, were you to disassemble a person as the transporter does, it may well be impossible to put them back together again, " he explained. " We have reason to believe that this is because of some very basic physical facts about the universe and there's no way to get around that. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages , p. 76)

Although the catch phrase " Beam me up, Scotty " has worked its way into pop culture , the exact phrase itself was never uttered in Star Trek: The Original Series . ( Star Trek Encyclopedia  (3rd ed., p. 39)) The closest usage to the phrase came in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , when Kirk requests, " Scotty, beam me up. " Similarly, in " This Side of Paradise ", Kirk states, " Beam me up, Mr. Spock. " Only two other instances have used unqualified references to the phrase " Beam me up " – " The Squire of Gothos " and " Time's Arrow ".

According to Michael DeMeritt , the performers who portrayed persons who were beamed up were frequently thrilled to do so. He stated, " This is every actor's dream, whoever gets on Star Trek . 'Please, beam me up.' " ( ENT : " North Star " audio commentary , ENT Season 3 DVD ) Veteran Star Trek actor Vaughn Armstrong cited the transporter as his "favorite piece of Trek tech" and said, " I can't think of anything better. " Similarly, when Pat Tallman was asked what her favorite technology from the franchise was, she included in her answer the rhetorical question, " Who doesn't wish for the transporter? " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 90 , pp. 31 & 32)

Initially familiarizing themselves with the workings of the transporter presented a challenge for some of DS9's principal cast members. As a result, one of several questions O'Brien actor Colm Meaney was asked by his fellow DS9 performers, he having had more Star Trek experience than them by having played O'Brien as a recurring character in TNG , was " How does the beam down work? " ( The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine  issue 1 , p. 23)

On one specific early occasion, Jake Sisko actor Cirroc Lofton enjoyed familiarizing himself with not only the transporter but also the sets of TNG and DS9. " No one was there. So, I started fiddling around with things and beaming myself up, " he reminisced. ( The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine  issue 5 , p. 49)

Brannon Braga believed that using a transporter in ENT : " Vanishing Point " to explain a hallucination was "a great twist." However, some fans deemed it "a cop-out," in Braga's words. ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 145 , p. 26)

In Star Trek Adventure , where volunteers were picked from the audience, there was an optical illusion using lens distortion to simulate the transporter, which was then further edited to video for purchase after the show.

Apocrypha [ ]

In The Worlds of the Federation (p. 16), the first transporting of a Human is said to have taken place in the transporter room of the USS Moscow .

A partial explanation for the difference between transporters between Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation is provided in the Pocket TNG novel Dark Mirror , where the Enterprise -D encounters a mirror universe where the Terran Empire continues into the 24th century; when discussing the original crossover, Chief Miles O'Brien notes that transporters in Kirk's era were essentially more powerful, but a lot less sophisticated, with people lacking knowledge of how some spatial anomalies would affect the system even if its sheer power tended to compensate for those shortcomings.

In the novel adaptation of " Broken Bow ", it is said that, before the verb of "beam" had been accepted for describing the process of transporting, Starfleet had considered the words "scramble", "heat," "disassemble," and "spear," although "beam" had been considered the least frightening term.

In the short story "Our Million-Year Mission" from the anthology book Strange New Worlds VI , the transporter had been replaced by a more advanced system known as the blinkporter that was capable of instantaneously transporting a person to any temporal or spatial destination by the year 1,012,260.

An additional piece of transporter technology was developed in the alternate reality . Known as the "engineering transport tool ( β )", or ETT, it consisted of a rifle that could tag objects or individuals and transport them short distances. In the 2013 video game Star Trek , James T. Kirk and Spock use this tool to bypass areas of the Frontier starbase that have been damaged by the Gorn 's attack.

External links [ ]

• Transporter at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Transporter (Star Trek) at Wikipedia
• Notable Transporter Mishaps (X) at StarTrek.com
• 2 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek’s Transporter Technology, Explained

Transporters are among the most interesting technology in Star Trek. How exactly is Scotty able to "beam me up?"

Ever since its creation in the late 1960s, Star Trek has been a pinnacle of positive science fiction, envisioning a non-dystopian future where technology has become so advanced that problems that irk mankind today are no longer an issue . World hunger is solved by the unlimited source of food created by a replicator , complex medical diagnostics can take place in a matter of seconds using a tricorder. However, nothing has become such a cornerstone of the many iterations into the franchise as the iconic transporter.

Teleportation has long been a dream of mankind, replacing arduous long-haul flights with a simple matter transportation device. With this gizmo, journeys that would typically take hours can take only seconds. The transporters are used throughout the many iterations into the franchise, from the revolutionary Original Series to the newest addition to the universe, Strange New Worlds . So fundamental are these transporters as a narrative beat that they appear in almost every episode, bar the occasional few. What's more, they often play a key role in solving whatever problem the intrepid adventures of Starfleet face.

RELATED: How Star Trek: The Next Generation Explored Blindness & Accessibility With Geordi LaForge

While there have been a few gizmos and gadgets from the show that have wiggled their way into non-fictional technological creations , unfortunately the transporter is not one of them. Real-world scientists have poured considerable research into it, with successful experiments having already been carried out on a molecular scale, but sadly we are nowhere close to the transporter technology portrayed in the show.

The biggest problem with achieving teleportation is largely down to how advanced and complex most organisms and objects are. Star Trek transporter tech works by breaking down matter such as living organisms, cargo, even gas or liquid-based matter into an energy pattern, in a process that the show calls “dematerialization.” Once each atom is broken down into this pattern, it is “beamed” across to another transporter pad, where it is converted back into matter. This is aptly named “rematerialization.” Interestingly, the famous quote “Beam me up, Scotty”, in reference to the Original Series transporter operator and chord of engineering Montgomery Scott, is actually a misquote, never uttered in the Original Series . The closest occasion was the one time Kirk said “Scotty, beam me up,” years later in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Within the Star Trek universe, there are some limitations to the miraculous technology, such as distance restriction and often an inability to penetrate through shields. There are of course exceptions to these rules, but they are often connected specifically to a particular episodes plot. Writers, as is often the case in long-running TV shows such as this, often break or bend the rules on transporter specifics, so it’s often hard to canonically understand their limitations. In the Original Series it’s noted that it is only possible to transport from one transporter bay to another. However, this rule has been broken multiple times, showing crew members transported from any random location to another, all without the bay. This raises the question as to why they have the designated transporter room to begin with, other than to make grand entrances and create memorable transitions.

While the process sounds simple enough on paper, like sending an email over, the process is riddled with complex problems and potential dangers. It’s no wonder that transporter operators are so highly trained within Starfleet, as the idea of breaking down matter and then reconstructing it in exactly the same way is a daunting task. It is comparable to smashing a vase into tiny pieces, then trying to glue it all back together. Of course, with the wonders of Star Trek technology, this process is vastly automated, but there are still a myriad of problems that can occur.

There have been various episodes devoted to these issues, potentially most notably the Voyager episode “Tuvix”. Tuvok and Neelix, two crew members under the controversial Capt. Janeway, are on an away mission. Upon beaming back to the ship their energy pattern was disrupted, causing it to merge into one pattern and thus rematerialize into one living organism: Tuvix. There kinds of issues are scarily common, and thus there are various characters whom audiences meet across the franchise that are hesitant or even refuse to use transporters.

Transporters are potentially one of the most fascinating technological advancements present within the show, and are often the envy of even modern day audiences. Technology has come ridiculously far since The Original Series first graced televisions, with touch screens, smartphones, and virtual reality all appearing in the real world, and making the old shows feel dated. Transporters, however, along with warp engines and replicators, make even the oldest episodes feel futuristic, setting a standard that has remained relevant more than 50 years later.

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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.

Star Trek: 10 Things You Need To Know About Transporters

It's one of the few pieces of tech from Star Trek that has yet to be invented. Or, is it?

The transporter is probably the most fantastical element of Star Trek's vast inventory. Created back at the time of the pilot, The Cage, this miracle device allowed crews to vanish and reappear instantaneously in another place, allowing huge distances to be traversed quickly, and huge budgets to be slashed.

The device dissolves matter down to the sub-atomic level, stores it, transfers it, and rematerializes it at the desired destination. Conspiracy theorists would argue that industries like aviation and motoring are holding back any development of the tech, as it would kill them both overnight.

But that's none of our business.

How has the transporter affected Star Trek, and other properties, through the years? Trek is far from the only property to utilize beaming, even if it was the instigator. Shows like Stargate have run with the tech as well, honouring the franchises that came before, while putting their own spin on it. How does it work? Who can we thank for the transporter itself? And before we even get into any of that - let's address one of the most famous misquotes in all of popular fiction.

10. They Were Invented To Save Money And Time

The earliest pitches for Star Trek had to deal with the challenge of getting the crew down to the planets each week. Support shuttles were suggested, as was landing the Enterprise itself, though both would have proven prohibitively expensive in the beginning. So, the producers were backed against a wall and came up with the idea of the matter transporter.

This became part of the pitch, and part of the reason that Star Trek was given the green light - twice. It helped sell The Cage first of all. Now, rather than committing to large-scale models for a pilot that may or may not take off (spoiler: it didn't), this fantastic new technology could be used instead. When The Cage failed to make any traction, the show was given a new pilot - Where No Man Has Gone Before - though it was actually The Man Trap that helped Star Trek survive.

The depiction of the transporter in this episode excited the network so much that they bumped it up for broadcast, meaning that it was shown to audiences - before the first episode.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

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Just ahead of  Star Trek: Discovery’s final season, today the  Star Trek Universe got a bright spotlight shined upon it — and bringing readers a lot of new information about the future of this decades-old franchise.

In a lengthy cover feature for Variety, writer  Adam B. Vary talks to Trek’s cast and creative team, visiting the sets of  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, the upcoming  Star Trek: Section 31 film starring Michelle Yeoh, and even going inside preproduction on the next television adventure, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

For the currently-filming third season of Strange New Worlds , the  Enterprise sets will be expanding with a dedicated laboratory where Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) will investigate scientific dilemmas in front of a bank of large monitors — and above a water-filled tank which has already led some fans to joke that it may be a live-action Cetacean Ops.

In this new photo showcasing the new science lab from production designer Jonathan Lee , Spock is seen wearing an updated version of the Original Series’ red hazmat suits first seen in “The Naked Time” — redesigned by series costumer Bernadette Croft for the modern era.

Season 3 will also continue the trend of bringing new genres to Strange New Worlds episodes — as longtime Trek director Jonathan Frakes does reveal he’s finished a story “framed as a Hollywood murder mystery” that he describes as “the best episode of television I’ve ever done.”

Moving to the next live-action adventure — Michelle Yeoh’s  Section 31 film, which just finished filming last week — the  Variety piece confirms that the project shifted from an ongoing series to a one-off movie due to the impact of the pandemic, as well as Michelle Yeoh’s rise in popularity that reduced her availability.

Despite her limited schedule, the actor returned to the  Trek fold for this new Philippa Georgiou project, which sees the one-time Terran emperor zapped back in time after departing the 32nd century in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3. But where, you may ask, did the Section 31 agent arrive?

Surprisingly, it seems that the film will be spending at least some time in the 24th century’s ‘Lost Era’ — between the launch of the Enterprise- B in Star Trek: Generations and the launch of the Enterprise- D in Star Trek: The Next Generation — as Variety reveals the identity of one of Yeoh’s  Section 31 co-stars.

Kacey Rohl ( Hannibal, The Magicians ) will be portraying as a young Rachel Garrett , better known to Trek die-hards as the future captain of the  Enterprise -C. The character appeared only once, in  Next Gen’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” leading her ship and crew into a dark alternate future where she died in a Klingon attack before the  Enterprise- C could return to its own time. (The older Garrett was played by Tricia O’Neil.)

The article also mentions that despite its temporal setting, the Section 31 film has repurposed some sets originally built for the now-finished  Discovery series — and that the budget is, as shared by Alex Kurtzman, “much less” than a theatrical Trek production.

Kurtzman also noted that his team at Secret Hideout is considering other possible streaming movie concepts, including a possible  Star Trek: Picard follow-up, and that Michelle Yeoh is interested in a  Section 31 sequel… if the first film is successful.

Speaking of  Trek theatrical projects, the years-long efforts to drum up a fourth and final outing for Chris Pine’s  Star Trek Kelvin Timeline crew continue — I know, I know, you’ve heard that  many times before — with the current Kelvin project in the hands of screenwriter Steve Yockey (HBO’s The Flight Attendant ).

Also still chugging along is that other film concept first discussed back in January — said to be a prequel to the overall Star Trek timeline — expected to move into active preproduction later in 2024.

As always… we’ll see what happens in this department!

The next big television project, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , has been oddly coy about its place in the Star Trek timeline — and while fans have speculated for months about when the series will take place, Variety has confirmed that the show will be set in the post- Discovery 32nd century era.

Set to start filming later this summer as previously reported ,  Starfleet Academy has taken over the former home of  Star Trek: Discovery in Toronto’s Pinewood Studios. The biggest soundstage in Canada, the series is expected to film on “the largest single set ever created for  Star Trek television.”

“Plans [include] the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage.”

As for the still-uncast  Academy cadets, showrunner Noga Landau describes them as kids who have “never had a red alert before, [and who] never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

Finally, Alex Kurtzman went onto share that he has no plans to hand over the Star Trek franchise reins anytime soon.

“The minute I fall out of love with [‘Star Trek] is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says.   “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

You can read the entire feature piece — truly worth your time — on Variety’s  website.

Star Trek: Discovery returns next week, followed by new episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy later in 2024. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is expected to return in 2025. Release dates for Star Trek: Section 31 and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy have not yet been announced.

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The Trouble with Star Trek Transporters

By chris higgins | mar 12, 2016.

In the world of Star Trek , the transporter is used to move people and objects from one place to another, "beaming" them around. Various characters on the show (notably Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Barclay) hate the transporter . So, yes, the transporter is fictional, but that doesn't mean we can't nerd out on it.

One of the core philosophical problems surrounding Trek 's transporter is an issue of consciousness and identity: If the transporter takes all the atoms that make up a person, encodes them, beams them somewhere else, and then reassembles them, how can we know that the resulting "person" is the same person who went in? It's easy to argue that the transporter is effectively killing the first person, then creating an identical copy of that person with identical memories in the new location. This brings us to the Ship of Theseus paradox —if you replace all the components in a ship over time, is it still the "same" ship? (In other words, if you replace all the atoms in a person, is it still the same person?)

So it gets messy. In the video below , CGP Grey walks us through the various philosophical (and fictional-technological) problems of the transporter using fun, peppy animation. Set aside five minutes and be prepared to change your perception of how Star Trek really works:

Check out this Reddit thread for a bit more discussion of this stuff.

Side note: This also happens to be an excellent instance of parallel creation , as Jake from the YouTube channel Vsauce3 was working on an extremely similar concept at the same time (right down to the Ship of Theseus business)...but for an entirely different reason. Here's Jake's video:

The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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Star Trek Transporters Are Federation's Most Deadly Weapon, Says Fan

• Forget phasers, the deadliest weapon in Star Trek is the transporter, with endless destructive possibilities.
• The controversial idea of using transporters as weapons challenges the boundaries of Federation technology in the franchise.
• While an intriguing concept, the transporter's lethal potential is a fantasy that has yet to be achieved in reality.

While the Star Trek universe is stuffed with many powerful weapons and dangerous technologies, one fan has outlined what they see as the most deadly weapon in the United Federation of Planets' arsenal.

Star Trek has been at the forefront of driving the general view of science fiction technology since its inception in the 1960s, with each new entry in the franchise giving fans more and more futuristic devices, systems, and techniques to accomplish everything from solving world hunger to crossing galaxies. One of the more prominent ways that sci-fi properties show off this advancement is with weapons and how potent they can be. Despite the utopian trappings of the Federation, it still has its fair share of bizarre futuristic weapons seen across mediums , which fans have discussed at length and ranked over the years.

Star Trek Fans Notice An Interesting Detail About Strange New Worlds Season 2's Phasers

While there is certainly no shortage of weapons in Star Trek with the capacity to do some wicked damage, Reddit user FatherBobby has a unique pick for which of the Federation's armaments should be considered its deadliest weapon. Taking to the site’s r/startrek board to post his controversial opinion in a post titled “Shower thought... The Federation's most deadly weapon is...”, the user would answer… the transporter. The answer is controversial for several reasons, notably that the transporter isn’t a weapon. Present in almost every episode and film in the franchise, the transporter is the device used to teleport people and objects within the Star Trek universe, notably to and from Federation ships. While some unusual uses for transporters have been explored in Star Trek , the idea of this tech being the deadliest Federation weapon is a new one, which the OP proceeds to elaborate on.

Forget phasers and photon torpedoes, it's already been shown that entire planets can be evacuated via transport, so it would be just as easy to transport an entire planet of people up a few hundred feet and splat them back into the planet, or even just into space. Wanna take out a Borg ship? Just transport a nearby asteroid directly into the path of the ship, kinda like a railgun. Transport the air into space and suffocate everyone. So many possibilities.

While it should be easy enough to explain how the Star Trek transporter works , as the transporter breaks down the objects or organisms into an energy pattern via a process named dematerialization and then rematerializes them at the destination, it isn’t all that straightforward. The franchise's long-running nature has led to quite several occasional exceptions to the usual rules surrounding the tech, a point that other fans in the comments were quick to note. Another popular comment mentioned the Genesis Device, a well-meaning weapon of mass destruction designed to atomize an uninhabited planet’s surface and then reconstruct it with breathable air, water, food, and natural resources to make it livable. This seems to be FatherBobby’s idea made manifest and gives some credence to the original thought.

While the idea is interesting, the transporter is one thing from the franchise that has no bearing on the world outside the screen. While no one is even entirely sure if this futuristic Star Trek tech is feasible , teleportation has been at the top of mankind’s bucket list for ages. If scientists ever do manage to accomplish this feat, fans of the franchise can only hope no one takes up FatherBobby’s ideas in real life.

The Star Trek franchise is available for streaming on Paramount Plus.

Star Trek is a space exploration franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The series has spanned shows like The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Voyager. More recently, developer Scopely came out with Star Trek Fleet Command, a mobile title where you can be captain of your ship.

Created by Gene Roddenberry

First Film Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Latest Film Star Trek Beyond

First TV Show Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Creation Year 1966

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Who is Winn Adami?

Source: FatherBobby/Reddit

Screen Rant

New star trek movies made for tv could happen according to new report.

A new report suggests that the success of Michelle Yeoh's Section 31 movie on Paramount+ could lead to sequels, and a follow-up Picard movie.

• Future Star Trek: Section 31 movies could be in the works, for exclusive release on Paramount+.
• Star Trek: Section 31 was originally planned as a TV series but retooled into a movie due to Michelle Yeoh's busy schedule. However, Yeoh is keen to return for a sequel.
• Alex Kurtzman is eyeing more TV movies for Star Trek, including a possible Picard follow-up.

A new report has suggested that new Star Trek movies made for TV could be on the horizon. Michelle Yeoh's upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 movie is a first for the franchise, as it will not release in theaters, but will be exclusive to Paramount+. The Star Trek: Discovery spinoff was originally planned as a TV series , but has been retooled as a movie to accommodate Michelle Yeoh's packed schedule. However, a new report suggests that, rather than being a one-off, Section 31 could pave the way for future Star Trek TV movies .

In an extensive cover story for Variety , Adam B. Vary talks to various figures, including Alex Kurtzman, about the future of Star Trek . Visiting the set of Star Trek: Section 31 , Vary suggests that Michelle Yeoh's film could lead to future Star Trek movies being made exclusively for Paramount+. Read the quote from the Variety article below:

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.”

14 Biggest Star Trek Updates: Section 31, Starfleet Academy, Strange New Worlds & More

Star trek: section 31 could get a sequel movie.

Michelle Yeoh's love for Star Trek makes a sequel to Star Trek: Section 31 highly likely should the movie prove to be successful on Paramount+. Given that Section 31 started life as a potential TV show, it shouldn't be a great narrative stretch to adapt those plans into a series of streaming exclusive movies. Elsewhere in the Variety feature, Michelle Yeoh describes Star Trek: Section 31 as " Mission: Impossible in space " , which hints at its potential to become a series of Starfleet spy movies.

With an Oscar winning Star Trek actress already willing to return for a Star Trek: Section 31 sequel movie, it feels like Paramount should lock this in while they can. Michelle Yeoh should be enough of a draw for Star Trek: Section 31 to secure some crossover appeal to Paramount+ subscribers that may not be dyed-in-the-wool Star Trek fans . All of which means that a sequel to Star Trek: Section 31 feels like a foregone conclusion before it even hits the platform.

Star Trek: Picard’s Legacy Spinoff Could Become A Movie, Not A TV Show

More intriguing than the likelihood of a Star Trek: Section 31 movie is the revelation that Alex Kurtzman is considering a "follow-up" movie to Star Trek: Picard . This feels like the most promising indicator yet of Terry Matalas' hypothetical Star Trek: Legacy becoming a reality. A Star Trek movie that picks up the adventures of the USS Enterprise-G under the command of Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is an enticing prospect for fans, and a Picard follow-up could finally make that happen.

However, it feels more likely that any follow-up movie will put Patrick Stewart's Admiral Jean-Luc Picard front and center . Like Michelle Yeoh, Stewart has an appeal that goes beyond the Star Trek franchise, so Paramount+ would surely want to capitalize on that profile. However, this could end up being the best of both worlds for Star Trek: Legacy as a final Patrick Stewart movie could act as a backdoor pilot for Terry Matalas' proposed spinoff series . For now, fans will have to wait and see if success for Star Trek: Section 31 leads to Star Trek: Picard - Legacy hitting screens in the future.

All episodes of Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Section 31

In this Paramount+ exclusive movie event, Michelle Yeoh returns as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who was first introduced in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1. Star Trek: Section 31 centers on Yeoh's character as she faces her past sins and is recruited by Starfleet's secret division that protects the United Federation of Planets.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).