# What’s the point of the transporter room in \*Star Trek\*? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [April 13, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238 "2024-04-13T18:30:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/61 "2024-04-29T22:42:27Z")
Yes, but keep in mind we’re talking about _ **Star Trek** _ here. They never had time to polish the scripts as much as they should have been polished. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/62 "2024-04-29T23:43:12Z")
The writers had to avoid using the transporter to save characters in danger. It would get old quickly if the solution to danger was transporting back to safety. They often made thin excuses why the transporter or shuttle couldn’t rescue the main characters. There’s an episode in TOS where Sulu and Chekov? Are stuck on a freezing planet. They couldn’t be rescued by shuttle or transporter. They couldn’t even transport equipment down to the planet to keep them warm. The writers went overboard putting them in jeopardy. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/63 "2024-04-29T23:47:46Z")
Maybe the air where a person is transporting to comes back along the beam and appears in the transporter room. Otherwise folks ears would pop in the room when air in the room rushes to fill the space of five or six transportees. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/64 "2024-04-29T23:48:31Z")
“The Enemy Within,” where Kirk is split into good and evil. It was very early in the series, so no Chekov and no shuttlecraft (yet). Just Sulu and some anonymous drones were stuck on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/65 "2024-04-29T23:53:10Z")
It’s been awhile my memory was fuzzy. I do remember Sulu with frost on his eyebrows. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/66 "2024-04-30T00:15:17Z")
The “Grand Vizier” in “The Cloudminders” was also beamed from one place to another against his will. Scotty said he looked mighty pissed off when he saw him, so he evidently did pass through the Transporter Room on the way to his final destination. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/67 "2024-04-30T00:19:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I do remember Sulu with frost on his eyebrows. 😉 You sure it was frost? 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/68 "2024-04-30T00:28:01Z")
They never did address why they couldn’t beam equipment **down**. Only that they couldn’t beam the landing party **up**. “This episode was badly written!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/69 "2024-04-30T00:41:27Z")
They tried beaming down heaters, but they didn’t work when they arrived. Sulu et al. had blankets, but it wasn’t clear when they got them. You’d think they might have had shelters and warm clothing too, but they didn’t. As Sulu himself noted, things got nippy there at night. 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/70 "2024-05-01T14:54:59Z")
Sending the Captain and most of the bridge crew on dangerous away missions never made sense. Early in TNG Riker reminds Picard that he’s supposed to stay on the ship. The Executive officer goes on away missions. That only lasted a few episodes. Picard was too stuffy & boring. The show improved when Picard got into the action. Remember his Die Hard Episode? The ship is evacuated for fumigation. Picard goes back for his saddle. LOL Meets the bad guys and turns into John McClane. It says a lot about Patrick Stewart’s superb acting. He doesn’t look like a leading man. There’s even a TNG where Q rewrites Picard’s career as a meek and forgettable low-ranking career officer. Stewart played it perfectly. But he’s also excellent in leading man roles. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/71 "2024-05-01T14:58:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “This episode was badly written!” A Galaxy Quest reference in a Star Trek thread! Perfect – it was the best Star Trek movie, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/72 "2024-05-01T15:03:46Z")
If the show had a molecule of realism, the transporter room would be where they kept all the equipment they’d take with them upon visiting some strange planet- protective gear, water, food, oxygen tanks etc. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/73 "2024-05-01T15:08:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You’d think they might have had shelters and warm clothing too, but they didn’t. They had silicon-based concrete, specifically said to be used to construct emergency shelters just a few eps later (Devil in the Dark). More useful I guess for healing shambling pizza rugs than protecting Starfleet personnel who were freezing to death. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/74 "2024-05-01T15:45:19Z")
I like to imagine they sent down the blanket in a torpedo casing or something similar. The real question would be why they didn’t just send down a shuttlecraft, but those hadn’t been invented yet, in real life. In universe, I guess they just weren’t operational or something made them too unsafe. * * * On an unrelated note: I don’t think it’s yet been mentioned that they can actually interface two different transporter rooms together to be able to make it easier to beam from one ship to another through interference. > **[Transporter](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Transporter#Connecting_two_transporters)** > > 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... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/75 "2024-05-01T15:54:36Z")
I can understand mechanical/electric heaters not working because of a transporter malfunction. But things like tents and parkas? What, the fabric decayed when put through the transporter? The insulation didn’t insulate any more? The garments shrank or fell apart at the seams? The silicon-based concrete probably didn’t set either! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/76 "2024-05-01T16:06:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > But things like tents and parkas? What, the fabric decayed when put through the transporter? The blankets became evil! They tried to smother the crew, and they had smallpox. > [@RitterSport](#): > > it was the best Star Trek movie, after all. No, that was Forbidden Planet. > [@BigT](#): > > a shuttlecraft, but those hadn’t been invented yet, in real life. But the model of the Enterprise had a shuttlecraft bay, even at that point. I think the transporter is actually little-understood alien tech that they found in a cave somewhere. No one knows exactly what it does, or how it works, they just use it. People are encouraged to just slide the controls and not ask any questions “about how the sausage is made”, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/77 "2024-05-01T16:09:34Z")
That’s how they explained Jump Gates in Babylon 5. Alien tech that was used and not fully understood. The transporter and jump gates served a similar purpose to get characters into the story quickly. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/78 "2024-05-01T16:31:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The real question would be why they didn’t just send down a shuttlecraft, but those hadn’t been invented yet, in real life. In universe, I guess they just weren’t operational or something made them too unsafe. They were all down because of Starfleet budget cuts. Fortunately, funding was restored after a compromise was reached in the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/79 "2024-05-01T16:32:41Z")
I just always assumed that while you can beam things point to point, transporter pads are just safer and more energy-efficient. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238/80 "2024-05-02T11:45:05Z")
The shuttle craft were all built by Boeing and their air worthiness certs had been suspended. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-the-transporter-room-in-star-trek/1000238.md?page=5)