Many episodes of Star Trek series feature transporter accidents as a plot device: a malfunctioning transporter fails to rematerialize a person or object properly in some bizarre way that creates a science-fictional problem or ethical dilemma that characters must resolve. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode " The Cage". Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. Transporter chamber and control console aboard the USS Voyager, as seen on Star Trek: VoyagerĪccording to The Making of Star Trek, creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself.
#Star trek transporter manual
On the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the sliders were replaced with three touch-sensitive light-up bars, which according to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual were designed as a homage to the original sliders. On The Original Series, the transporter operator would activate the device by moving three sliders on a console. The transporter's special effect was originally created by turning a slow-motion camera upside down and photographing some backlit shiny grains of aluminium powder that were dropped between the camera and a black background later series would eventually use computer animation for the effect. On Star Trek: The Original Series, the transporter was portrayed as a platform on which characters stand before being engulfed by a beam of light and transported to their destination.
Transporters allow for teleportation by converting a person or object into an energy pattern (a process called "dematerialization"), then sending ("beaming") it to a target location or else returning it to the transporter, where it is reconverted into matter ("rematerialization"). Plot element from the Star Trek franchiseĪllows for very rapid transport of matter between transporter device and a fixed pointĪ transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek science fiction franchise. Transporter platform aboard the USS Enterprise-D from The Next Generation