Star Trek: 10 Things You Need To Know About Transporters

[@seantlewis376]

This is one of the better TrekCulture segments. I'd love to see more about specific bits of Treknology.

[@Chuck_Hooks]

In "The Savage Curtain," Kirk explains the transporter to "Lincoln." Kirk to Lincoln: "An energy-matter scrambler, sir. The molecules in your body are converted into energy, then beamed into this chamber and reconverted back into their original pattern." Transporter device was a brilliant idea that was important in several plots because all kinds of malfunctions or external forces could create many kinds of problems. Besides "The Enemy Within," the transporter being affected by a similar storm in both Universes was critical in "Mirror Mirror." And the Enterprise transporter accidently brought Gary Seven aboard. "Assignment: Earth."

[@patrickelliott2169]

Yeah. Logically transporting someone "to" a planet, or other location, with no receiver would require both the data, and the energy, to be sent at the same time, presumably in a way that lets the energy "reconstruct itself". This seems... implausible. Transporter accidents seem to only happen, at least cloning effects, when using a receiver - i.e. both the energy and the pattern are temporarily stored in the receiver, before being reintegrated. This allows for a case of error, where excess energy can be present, and enough of it, combined with a computational error, to produce a copy - either by delayed formation of a copy, or automatic systems becoming confused by a desyncronization, such that the transmitting side deciding to reverse the process, to save the person, despite the receiver having already gotten all the needed data and energy. Add to this the fact that some energy loss is not just possible, but likely (again, making beaming without a receiver implausible), so the receiving station would need to add some extra in to compensate, or even, as implied in some cases, a bloody lot of it. As long as the data is there, energy is energy, and if you can use the original energy, by breaking it down, then reforming it, you can use pretty much any source.

[@DJ_Force]

Matter-energy makes sense, "scrambler" doesn't seem helpful though.

[@brodriguez11000]

@@patrickelliott2169 Collapsing wave functions as a conversion from energy to structured matter.

[@dinomonzon7493]

Appreciate the details regarding the Transporter. In the novelization of Star Trek (2009), its revealed that Porthos eventually got beamed aboard James T. Kirk’s USS Enterprise.

[@BuhurtUK]

I wonder if Kirk is a dog man 🤔

[@aj_chan]

Takes you to a mirror universe, suspends you in time, makes a transporter clone, combines you with another person, turns you into a child, sends you back in time

[@drewf41]

Discovery: The Motion Picture.

[@travissmith2848]

@@drewf41 Mirror universe: TOS. Suspends you in time, makes a transporter clone, and turns you into a child: TNG. Sends you back in time: DS9. Combines you with another person: VOY. However, all but one of them was the result of a highly unlikely set of circumstances and the one that was intentional from the start was only 50% successful and done by a living legend that wrote the book (or at least several guides) on starship construction and operation. Sadly, I suspect you are right and DISC would have it as advanced but standard operation modes.

[@wsconsn]

But it’s “completely safe”

[@superd_748]

But those are just 6 totally isolated incidents 😂

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

L

[@chucka.3520]

Great video Sean. I feel I was transported to the world of transporters.

[@andyking894]

As incredible as the transporters are, I'm amazed more by the energy storage technology. A hand phaser has enough power to vaporize stone, and do it multiple times. Not to mention, we never see PADDs being charged for any period of time.

[@MRDRK1]

The true future technological investment: Batteries!

[@tonebonebgky2]

The actual deal with charging things like hand phasers and padds is that the charging takes place whenever the device is aboard ship or starbase or any facility that has touch-free wireless charging capabilities and batteries are so advanced that they can hold tremendous amounts of energy with tiny cell batteries (less tiny with hand phasers as they're likely more or less battery packs excepting of course the emitter Crystal likely not much inside of the phaser, the user controls and circuitry (likely millimeters thick), and dedicated circuitry (again very small) to prevent the phaser from accidentally going into overload mode, other than that the only other things that exist inside of a phaser(beyond software that tells it exactly how to behave, when to forbid it to fire, interface controls, and things like that) is microscopic DNA confirmation sensors used to generally confirm the user has permission to use the phaser (though easily tricked or fooled or just generally easy to make mistakes) and that's about it, but the batteries are advanced enough to have any effects from something like overcharged or any type of memory effects, they could be fully charged for 5 years and still maintain 99%+ of thier original life from fully charged to totally dead.

[@iphone777]

@@MRDRK1 batteries are literally the only thing holding us back from future tech

[@nathanieldaiken1064]

In TOS the phasers are charged everytime the are put in those rolling drawer storage thingies.

[@Krahazik]

About the only time we see a device get a power cell change is in DS9 when we have Sisco and crew down on a planet in an extended conflict. There, they actually needed to change depleted power cells from their weapons with new ones. Otherwise, onboard a station or ship, recharging is done largely off screen when the device is in storage. Some devices like the comm badge even operate in reduced power mode when onboard ship since the ship is handling everything. Onboard ship, the mic isn't even active, the ship simply uses surrounding pickups and speakers to handle communication. The combadge simply take son the role of a remote button triggering the communications protocol. One place where this is broken, and to my knowledge the only time it ever hapens, is in 1 TNG episode where Picard Calls Riker, and instead of taping his badge to respond, he takes 3 steps to the comm panel on the replicator to answer. (Proiduction wise gives an excuse for how the civilians in the room would know which button to push to activate comms) but otherwise its an action that makes no sense since the crews default reaction to getting hailed is to tap their badge to acknowledge the call.

[@MtM2253]

Kirk never said "beam me up Scotty" but he did say "very funny Scotty, now beam down my clothes". I know, old joke, but I still like it.

[@zathrus8424]

Great video, you need to do videos on the communicators, com badges, phasers and alien tech, just all of the tech in trek plz. You dudes and dudettes are wonderful. Thank you

[@MarcSGA]

I’ve said for years now that the existence of Thomas Riker + the ability shown in multiple episodes of getting information down to chemical concentrations, cell compositions & DNA from previous transports is proof that mortality following accidents is a choice that the federation makes & not a simple fact of the universe. Put differently: if a transporter can create a whole second person and if it retains enough detail from someone’s pattern from their last use that information about the composition of their cells can be gleaned, then that person can almost undoubtedly be rematerialized after they, let’s say, die on an away mission.

[@Tao_Tology]

Or if an injured/ill crewmember is being 'beamed up' (destroyed and then a copy is made) they should in theory be able to be created back up on the ship fully intact and recovered.

[@bigbossimmotal]

Damaged limbs, organs, even memories could also all be recreated/replaced at will (when needed), essentially making the crew immortal. So, as you said, if someone dies, clearly, the Federation decided to let them die rather than use available technology to reconstitute them, or they were just an expendable red shirt anyway. LOL With this technology, you could go in every 10 years or so, and have your current memories put into a 20 year old version of your self (from your personnel file), keeping every one in perfect shape. The possibilities are endless.

[@Enterprising_Aim]

The TOS transporter effect was gold glitter in water in a glass jar. They stirred the glitter and then filmed it with a black backdrop. You can even see the swirling in the TOS transporter effect.

[@wadebarnett2542]

Another story has it being Alka-Seltzer in hot water.

[@antney7745]

I'd heard it was Christmas tree lights.

[@cejaprime]

That’s how TNG did their effects, not TOS.

[@frejo8212]

A little gold glitter and a lot of FABULOUS!

[@ponyhorton4295]

@@wadebarnett2542 I knew the man who created the effect. It was in fact, Alka Seltzer in hot water.

[@Bakamoichigei]

#6 Emergency Transporter armbands are used in TNG S6E25 "Timescape" modified to generate the subspace field that isolates Picard, Data, Geordi, and Troi from the effects of the temporal anomaly. I assume they showed up earlier at some point, but don't know when. (I thought they showed up in S5E17 "The Outcast" but was mistaken.) Also, on the transporter clone thing... That has at least implied explanations in canon. My understanding of it is that the pattern buffer retains the information required to completely rematerialize the subject, and while the original matter is preferable, a certain percentage can be replaced, kind of like reconstructing computer files using parity data. When Riker was almost lost beaming off Nervala IV, the Transporter Chief on the Potemkin started a second containment beam, each beam had a percentage of the original matter and the transporter reconstructed two identical copies of William T. Riker from his transporter pattern...once one materialized on the Potemkin, the Chief aborted the second beam, but instead of it dissipating, the distortion field bounced the beam back to the planet where the transporter clone materialized. This is why transporter personnel monitor how much 'mass' is in the transporter beam. (See: Realm of Fear, Rascals) It's clear they know when matter is being lost and have to compensate.

[@kerryedavis]

Parse it however you like, but what it comes down to is they're always making a copy. Occasionally more than one copy. Because they're never really "beaming" the actual matter, if they were the conversions of matter to energy and again would cause some pretty major explosions.

[@TheMikemedia]

Another instance of transporter technology is the Telepod from the films, The Fly (1958 and 1986).

[@Dreiasaiy_IDK]

At 10:30 he is talking about transporter clones. In the episode shown on the screen it was actually a time distortion event. It does help paint a picture on what he is saying though, so it works. :)

[@BuhurtUK]

Glad you got it 👍 I had to squeeze this edit out before going on holiday. Really not the best one to try and do quickly 😂

[@spacecowboy2957]

The visual effect was made by pouring shredded aluminum foil suspended in water in front of a black background for the initial part of the beaming process but the remainder was shredded aluminum foil in water that was stirred to make the swirling effect. Jonathan Frakes demonstrated it in the special that aired after All Good Things Part 2.

[@thomashill6347]

Thank you Sean it was interesting YOU did say it can store the person's patters in the buffers each time they use the transporter, We see this with Doctor Pulaski when she was aging rapidly

[@adamgoss3638]

Re: weaponizing the transporter - you forgot Transporter Code 14, seen in TNG's "Captain's Holiday" where Picard gives Riker this order and uses it to destroy the Tox Utaht crystal in a little mini-explosion. They also can de-activate energy/particle weapons before full materialization (like when O'Brien does so to the weapon fired by Data in "The Most Toys).

[@TheBntimmins]

In addition to this, who says you need to rematerize a person or object.

[@DrFroyd123]

Transporters and self opening doors are what made ST so sci-fi and impressive at the time

[@extendedepicmusic5017]

The Transporter scans you down to the molecular level, copies that scan to the buffer, destroys the original you and then places you with the scanned pattern that was in the buffer.

[@coyoteboy5601]

And that's why anyone who's been transported HAS NO SOUL!! (Juat kidding, souls are just made up to begin with.)

[@tanizaki]

The subatomic level. That is why the uncertainty principle applies.

[@russellharrell2747]

There’s definitely a ‘matter stream’ mentioned several times, so something besides just the pattern is sent. Being dissolved particle by particle is still kind of killing someone, but if the same particles are also transmitted and reassembled then it’s still technically the same person. Transporter clones would be made of whatever the transporters use to fill in any gaps caused by particles that didn’t quite make the whole trip. I guess. Those episodes are fun but nightmares to rationalize from a scientific standpoint.

[@frankknoll2064]

I would like to see a ten biggest transporter accidents video AND a video about how SHUTTLE CRAFT are the most dangerous vehicles in starfleet! For real how .any shuttle craft accidents have been mentioned in star trek?

[@willmfrank]

Well, we know that Nick Tate crashed one in TNG. But then, he was the same actor who played Alan Carter on "Space: 1999," so that tracks.

[@forestlittke4649]

The very first episode I truelly enjoyed listening to and watching the explanation.... well done!

[@gordonwallin2368]

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@marvelboy74]

An interesting thing I noticed with transporters is they have the three sliders for transport. When Picard became merged with an energy being in "Lonely Among Us" he was said to have beamed down as 'energy only.' Only two of the sliders were in the top position.

[@rinston3591]

The 3 sliders, what are they? Just like the 3 sea shells we may never know 😉

[@Wimpoman]

"How does the Heisenberg Compensator work?" "It works very well, thank you."

[@johnbockelie3899]

That "And the children shall lead" red shirt demise was always my favorite. I can see them materialize in space, as they breathlessly watch the ship drifting in orbit before they die.

[@Tricob1974]

Didn't that only appear in the Remastered edition, not the original?

[@taiyoqun]

"Crap, am I wearing my roomates shirt again? I hate my life, I'm a science officer, this wouldn't have happened had I been wearing my own blue shirt."

[@gregwarden7120]

Love the video. Keep them coming (along with the Like and Subscribe Easter eggs).

[@jhmcd2]

Connonically, it has been stated that the transporters do transmit both information and matter, using the information to confirm that it got everything right. If not, it would replicate matter to "fix" an error. This is how you get transporter clones.

[@veggiet2009]

I was about to comment and suggest something similar was possible, but it's good to know that it's been stated, do you know where it has been stated?

[@Joshua-ew6ks]

That was my understand as well. (So that is at least 3 people that all independently arrived at the same conclusion.)

[@qdllc]

That’s how they explain the Riker clone, but the two Kirks were never well explained. However, since energy and matter are interchangeable, so long as one has sufficient power, a beam clone is always possible.

[@axelhopfinger533]

This is also how you get replicators. Which are derived from transporter technology after all.

[@qdllc]

@@axelhopfinger533 - True, but replicators supposedly can’t make living matter.

[@withershin]

OMG Linus was playing Discovery Bingo!

[@ponyhorton4295]

It was in fact Alka Seltzer in hot water. I started my VFX career at Van der Veer Photo Effects, which was one of the five optical houses that served the show, and their optical printer operator Hugh Wade was one of the people who created the original effect after the attempt with glitter in water was rejected. I went on years later to become the Visual Effects Supervisor on Star Trek New Voyages.

[@thedevil9695]

I can see why you were on "Voyager" and not Deep Space Nine.

[@stevenjlovelace]

They should do an "Enemy Within" style episode where each copy is half the size of the original person.

[@BuhurtUK]

This is the kinda thing that Lower Decks is for, the explore the more comical side of things you can't do with other Trek. So glad it exists.

[@Duncaniowa17]

Small enough to fit in the pocket of the original?

[@sarahclapp505]

The best mishap with transporters truvox and neelix ❤️❤️❤️

[@Chobittsu]

@10:44 while this is far off from teleportation, this actually is a HUGE leap forward for the potential of FTL communication. If you can change the state of a pair of quantum entangled particles in a fashion that can be translated, say, 1 or 0, yes or no, positive of negative... you've got the start of one hell of a wi-fi router. Put one of the particles on Mars, the other on Earth, and you can skip that 14 minute delay you get with radio communications

[@BuhurtUK]

Yeah like the only way I could see this being used is as a way to transmit binary data over vast distances very quickly, and then you would use that data to tell the transporter at the other end how to organise all those atoms. Given how much information that would be, those final second transporter moments seem all the more impressive / crazy.

[@GPsarakis]

They've used the transporters to do all sorta wacky stuff so nailing down a single and easy to understand canon way for them to work at this point is tricky since each show has at some point messed around with it.

[@AndersonNeo12]

"Engage. No do not engage, what do we say in this room? Energize!"

[@superwombat42]

I love how the Heisenberg Compensator seems like a simple circuit component like a surge protector or something :)

[@taitano12]

Given the actual nature of the HUP, I wouldn't be too surprised if it turns out to be that simple. Like a 555 or 556 coupled with a random number generator and a few lava lamps. Quantum Physics is weird, Chaos Theory is weirder.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

_I_ love that when the people making TNG were asked how the Heisenberg compensator works, their answer was “very well, thank you” 😁

[@JohnnyWednesday]

@@taitano12 - Agreed. It's probably a mouse inside that randomly looks at the output to collapse the waveform.

[@DJ_Force]

My guess is that it would be extremely simple, or ridiculously complicated.

[@brodriguez11000]

@@taitano12 Time peering on a quantum scale. Location known, other quantities derived from looking ahead through time on a planck scale.

[@roberthuntley1090]

Two thoughts about transporters/replicators: a. The amount of energy involved is huge, and since no one has made a 100% efficient machine (or anything) I doubt that it is viable. A back of an envelope calculation - when Capt. Pickard calls for his cup of Earl Grey tea from the replicator, you would have to burn a million tonnes of oil to create that much energy. You would have to add an awful lot of "999"s to the phrase "99.99.... % efficient" to avoid enough heat leaking out in incinerate his cabin (let alone the whole ship). b. The technology seems like a good business opportunity for the creation of a dodgy plastic surgery industry. Transport into the machine, get someone to edit the image to your taste, and transport straight back. I can imagine a Ferengi trader offering to make your 'xxx' larger, delete some fat from your waistline etc. etc. As I recall, the transporter image is edited in software anyway to remove parasites, viruses etc. so the IT technology would be available.

[@brandonmaboroshi9561]

Thanks for a great video maybe you can find the Infinite improbability drive panel on one of the engineering consoles.

[@kreengorilla]

I always understood that the transporters sent the actual atoms but sometimes some would be lost. So, the transporters would compensate by replacing them. This would allow for transporter clones without making the entire thing a murder machine.

[@withershin]

I think SNW lands around your description with the chewing gum scene. I'm still on Team Murder Machine - It's a Replicator that transmits! But I'll use your explanation for non-trekkies :)

[@jacara1981]

Yup, the ships carry Biomatter stores for the replicator system, these stores and replicators can be used by Medical to replace tissue, or even limbs. So its not far fetch that they can be used to also replace missing bits of the matter in a transport beam.

[@syntrilliumc.e.p.9326]

@@jacara1981 Thats how they saved Doctor Pulaski, who had been infected with that aging disease. They found her hairbrush with a piece of hair that had the hair sack on it and used the non contaminated DNA of it to construct a transporter filter which would filter out the disease.

[@Voreoptera]

As I did mention, it made more sense to send large amounts of energy with data, then it does to send large amounts of matter with data. This make the whole thing a giant replicates. The matter would need to travel incredibly fast. Also if the matter was turned to energy then transported that would not leave any remains from where the matter was taken.

[@kerryedavis]

Parse it however you like, but what it comes down to is they're always making a copy. Occasionally more than one copy. Because they're never really "beaming" the actual matter, if they were the conversions of matter to energy and again would cause some pretty major explosions.

[@GeoffreySorensen]

Number 11: They can make stale gum fresh again, as we learned this week during Enterprise Bingo in "Spock Amok."

[@taiwansivispacemparabellum9546]

After decades of Trek, I still can’t comprehend why teleportation could work without transport pad on both ends at all times.

[@eldorfthe_wise129]

It had to because it was a TV show. Otherwise, you'd have to fly a ship down to a planet and back up, and that would defeat the entire premise of the transporter. It was a cheap $500 special effect compared to $10,000 worth of special effects, models, and miniature scenes. Under "realistic" conditions, of course, you'd have to have a transmitter at one end and a receiver at the other.

[@marcellachine5718]

The ships deflector dish narrows the signal and sends it to the desired location I'd guess?

[@eldorfthe_wise129]

@@marcellachine5718 No, the deflector dish was used specifically for faster than light travel. It's purpose was to deflect small pieces of dust out of the way of the ship. Otherwise you're flying through sandpaper.

[@marcellachine5718]

@@eldorfthe_wise129 I'm fairly certain that it was used for multiple purposes.

[@eldorfthe_wise129]

@@marcellachine5718 In the TNG series, yes. In TOS, no. In fact, its existence rarely came up.

[@Rigel7WasAlreadyUsed]

2:11 This is excellent video editing and I can guarantee you did not pay this person nearly enough for accessing their genius.

[@BuhurtUK]

I agree 👍

[@lizardonastick]

The transporter IMO is the source of the greatest amount of deep philosophical, existential and scientific specualtion in Star Trek. I urge people to read Lawrence Krauss's book. it is not an easy read, though. He takes the matters seriously, but also shows a deep affection for the series.

[@Majere613]

One of the oddest inconsistencies with the transporter is in TOS "Mirror, Mirror". It's not so much the fact that Kirk, Uhura and co end up in another universe, but the fact that somehow their clothes don't- they end up wearing the uniforms of their evil counterparts. Perhaps only their minds actually get swapped, but in any case this never happens in any of the other Mirror Universe episodes.

[@Tricob1974]

While the transporter undoubtedly had fail-safes, they could be evaded under numerous circumstances. And when that happens, it can end up doing things it was never originally designed to do - especially if given additional power from outside sources. "Mirror, Mirror", however - this is one of those weird instances where it *might* not have intended to be canon. As was common in the 1960s, it has numerous bits of symbolism. The truth appears to be deliberately distorted. That's part of what makes it such a large conversation piece. It could be a reference to the double agent business, spiritual awakening, reincarnation, or even usage of illegal drugs. And you have theories, analytics, details ... things that can back up your claim. It can go very deep very quickly.

[@achiblueguru]

More uses or the transporter as a weapon include: Voyager beaming a torpedo over to a borg ship. Enterprise beaming power components out of a time displaced enterprise.

[@travissmith2848]

So Janeway was smart enough to figure out the obvious, huh?

[@wesleyehowell]

Beaming tribbles to the Klingon ship.

[@SabrielMastin]

Nice slip of "LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE" there at 9:13. lol

[@tezzerii]

Much as I would love to be able to teleport, I much prefer Asimov's Door, in his story "It's such a Beautiful Day". You set your destination co-ords, and just walk through the Door. Asimov doesn't go into technical details, but I like to think of a warp in space. I'm with Dr McCoy on transporters !

[@brodriguez11000]

Warpage would address some concerns, but still leave things like preventing the wrong things from going through be it the enemy, or a disease.

[@virginiaconnor8350]

I'd be wary too. In one of the "Rise of the Federation" , Archer and Reed are nontheless affected affected by the transporter over a no.of years in a negative way. Hoshi had a problem using it too.

[@Freddles279]

I believe it was in one of the novels where the transporters were discussed and questioned as to whether your body but not your soul is transported. Also, it's wondered if every time you transport are you effectively killed and then recreated.

[@curtischildress9580]

(1) If the complete atomic pattern of a person is copied then sent elsewhere then that pattern is reproduced with new energy which creates an exact copy of the original person and that copy is very much alive. (2) It could be possible that a person's complete atomic pattern be copied and that person remain whole & alive while an exact copy of that person would be created & also be alive as a clone so to speak. (3) If the complete atomic pattern of a person is made by dividing & collecting all the atoms of that person then sending them elsewhere then that person would die during that division & collection & chances are that person might remain dead once they were rematerialized...but who knows? They might still live...again. ...Molecular transport will happen & the breath of it has already been discovered by scientists who claim that the same molecule can exist in 2 places at the same time...still yet a long way away from a transporter.

[@gregorpeterson6652]

It was in the novel, Spock Must Die! McCoy was questioning it towards Scotty, and freaked out by whether the soul is transfered too. This would mean there's still spiritual beliefs in the 23rd Century!

[@gregorpeterson6652]

A copy of the original, I assume, would mean organically. Would memory be able to be copied?

[@madrabbit9007]

I believe that Faraday MAY have worked out the theoretical math on this as well as other theories on matter energy conversion. His biography is well worth reading. He had a lisp as a child but his sister helped him get past it.

[@michaelpettitt8656]

Brilliant, I really enjoyed that.

[@dimasalves7079]

Went the way of the Redshirts…priceless

[@chrishorsfield6268]

One thing that’s bothered me a little about the transporter is, how do ships get boarded in such a universe? “Captain, intruders on deck 11” “Transport them to the brig (or space for that matter)”. Boarding over.

[@Shinzon23]

Because usually it's explained away as they could be men but then the ship's own defense is prevented them from being out of like transporter effects boarding an enemy ship is a one-way gate or something. Also usually in conditions like those your ship is already being shot to hell so you probably don't have the power to actually beam them around the ship

[@fordcooke722]

One of my favourite transporter moment was in TWOK when Saavik and Kirk continue their conversation and an echoey effect is heard. Of course it makes no sense, but it's Trek do why not.

[@jimmyyu2184]

I really, really, really, hate it, when I hit the "Pizza" button on my microwave and I get popcorn... 🤣🤷‍♂️🖖🤦‍♂️😂

[@itzcaseykc]

Some think that transporters are partly like a modem; it destroys (demodulates) a life pattern after copying it, and then sends it to the intended location and initiating that life (modulates), ie it destroys and recreates the person, creature, or thing. Maybe that's why "Bones" never liked to travel by a ship's transporter.

[@haweater1555]

10:01 One of my favorites, "Contagion". Worf carries Data through the Iconian transport, but has to get the timing precisely correct, for instead of re-entering on the Enterprise bridge, he may end up in the middle of Nathan Phillips Square.

[@chrisambrose8838]

How would you like to be the first guy to try that!! Lol. Glad they finally figured it out though!! 👍🙋‍♂️🖖🏻

I always assumed the transporters worked like a very sophisticated 3D Bio-printer. Basically it scans you, before "dematerializing" the original and then rebuilds "you" at another location. Similar to the plot of the game Soma a complete snapshot of your mind (and in this case body) would carry on as if it were the original and no one would be able to tell, for example both Riker's thought they were the original, everyone just assumed that Thomas was the duplicate because they had been interacting with Will since the incident. There's also the other weaponizable option where the transporters don't actually have to rematerialize the matter they scan, there are often references to "beaming the energy into space" so in theory if a starship were boarded but not had it's transporters disabled the computer could just dematerialize all the intruders and then convert said energy into fuel... Imagine powering your shields mid battle with energy harvested by dematerializing the opposing crew from their own bridge (or other damaged sector), hell you could turn the whole damn system into a weapons platform and just dematerialize whole ships and asteroids/planetoids, so long dilithium crystals, hello the bodies of our enemies...

[@molybdaen11]

It's shocking how high advanced star trek security could be but it's still one of the worst in all of fiction.

[@NinjaBearFilms]

The most magical technology in Star Trek and most sci-fi’s? Long Range Sensors. Some how the ship can send a signal out light years away. Detect ships traveling faster than light. And bounce that signal back to the Enterprise. Allowing real time detection and tracking of faster than light ships light years away.

[@BuhurtUK]

Ahhh sub space, you make all the plot problems just melt away

[@molybdaen11]

The ability to detect lifesigns from light jears away is impressive as well. There are even episodes where they find a single person among millions of others - without a Sender.

[@stevensauer8539]

Miraculous indeed. Crewman: "Sir, we're detecting a reading from the far side of the galaxy." Captain: "Put it on the viewscreen." *High-res real-time images instantly appear on the viewscreen*

[@donovanulrich348]

I dont care if sub space is only a single point, meaning everywhere is attached to that 1 point Your attempting to have a computer, calculate lightyears of data To locate a object, moving faster then radio waves And meanwile on earth, Central Broadband radios lose basic connection after about 15 miles, and even boosted you cant relay a message through earth, rock, and metal Unless that antenna is outside the obstruction Sooooooo, you would need a signal booster "in sub space" to relay any information through it At that point use sub space to travel 😂🤷‍♂️

[@JohnLaw3742]

Great video. needs a part 2/update! a) No love for the Emergency Transporter Armbands used way before Nemesis (Best of Both Worlds) b) the pattern buffer duplicates the atoms so thats how you get the clones- without it, you never get clones but any lag along the way and you could turn into goo on the other side. What is interesting is that you could modify the pattern buffer to create an army of clones or bring people back from the dead but no one really talks about that!

[@brodriguez11000]

It would put ghost in the machine to the test when it comes to life.

[@twocvbloke]

Seems there's various ideas as to how the transporter effect was created for TOS, as there is also the idea that the effect was made with an alka-seltzer with glitter in a water tank that had been stirred up, hence why in original footage (as in, none of the HD-remasters), it looks like bubbles swirling about, but I'm no expert, it's just one of them "I heard it from some guy" things... :)

[@jackschwartz1783]

The term 'Beam me up Scotty' was started with an unlicensed T-Shirt that followed up with 'There's no intelligent life here' Which sold Very Well. Take Care All

[@thebagfather4633]

the thing is why do i need to know I'm not going to ever use one lolol .. great vid

[@lazarzc1]

If transporters send only information as the evindence seems to show, then what emerges on the other side is a copy of the original that went into the transporter. It seems to follow then that transporters kill living things when they are transported. The copy retains all the memories and experiences of the original and has no awareness that it is in fact a new entity, but the original is now gone and no longer has any experiences of it's own. It's dead. This is the terrifying nature of transporters.

[@ronm6585]

Thank you. 🖖🏻

[@JeremyWS]

I've always been iffy on whether or not I would use a transporter, if they were invented. Even if transporters existed and were deemed safe for teleporting living matter, I'm not use I would use one. I would be scared that it was just a big murder machine. If the machine destroys you and then replicates you at the destination, that's murder. If the machine tears you apart and send all your original atoms to the destination and then rebuilds you, that's not murder. If the machine uses some form of quantum intanglement to tranport you to the destination, that's also not murder. So there are only two options for it to not be a big murder machine and you would need to prove that it was one of those two options in order for me to even consider stepping into the thing. If it is not the non-murder route, I won't touch the machine. I don't care about you, but I'm not touching transporters unless I have some guarantee that the ^*me*^ that steps into the device is the same ^*me*^ stepping out of the device. You can understand that, right? Until then shuttle crafts for me, please. lol ... I liked this video.

[@antney7745]

Are you the same person who wakes up today that went to sleep yesterday, or do you just think you're the same person?

[@CovenantD]

If you are deconstructed into atoms then you are dead, regardless of whether those same atoms are used to reconstruct you or other atoms are used.

[@JeremyWS]

@@CovenantD :: True, but think of it this way: it's the same difference between legally dead and actually dead. If your heart stops, you are dead, but when you're resescitated you are alive again. So if you're deconstructed and put back together again, using the same atoms; then yes it is the original you, regardless if you technically died in the process. In that form of teleportation the ^*me*^ that stepped into the machine would be the same ^*me*^ stepping out of the machine. Does that make sense?

[@CovenantD]

@@JeremyWS - I can understand your argument, although there are some fine points that could be disputed including whether the brain continues to function for a brief period after the heart stops. Then there are the cases where the person has been declared brain dead but the heart is kept beating.

[@JeremyWS]

@@CovenantD :: Yes, I understand what you're getting at. It can get confusing, but if you can comeback from it you are still you. You have yet to name a scenario where modern medicine can't bring you back. There are a lot of things that the human body can survive before it is truly dead, so it can get weird. Essentially if God wants you on this earth you'll still be here, if not you'll be dead. It's up to God when you die, and no one else can change that fact. In Star Trek, they would have even more advanced technology available, so one can only imagine what they can do with you.

[@InJeffable]

As was alluded to in this video, the existence of Thomas Riker in TNG confirmed that the transporter kills everyone who uses it and creates a copy at the destination. In the case of Thomas Riker, two copies of William Riker were created instead of one.

[@Foolish188]

That is my opinion too. They should just beam copies of the away team to the surface and leave them there. The copies might live, or have a set lifespan. No risk to the crew or chance of picking up a pathogen. The way it works on Star Trek, the originality be dying a horrible, painful death and no one would know.

[@masere]

Thomas Riker was created when two transporter beams were used to beam William from a planet, one transported him to the ship, and the other was sent back to the planet and rematerialised him there.

[@InJeffable]

@@masere But there should have been only enough material for one William Riker to rematerialize, regardless of how many transporter beams were used. Two indicates that the transporter is really just killing people and creating copies of them every time it's used.

[@masere]

@@InJeffable I know if you are turned into atoms you are technically dead as there is no bodily functions, but the atoms are rematerialised so you are back alive. It's the same atoms, not a copy. Obviously Thomas was a copy, but William was the same one.

[@InJeffable]

@@masere If Thomas was a copy, then they're all copies. The basic function of the transporter wouldn't change just for Thomas. If the transporter is just moving atoms from one place to another, then the beam that was redirected to the planet should have had nothing in it.

[@ETHRON1]

In TGN the transporter was use to save Dr. Polaski by arranging her molecules to a younger version.

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

Indeed, then this cure for aging and immortality was simply dropped never to be mentioned again.

[@JoePlett]

When I first learned about Quantum Entanglement, I thought they finally invented Orson Scott Card's "ansible". The transporter never occurred to me.

[@thoughtfortheday7811]

Thanks for this about the transporter, a great video with a nice focus on tech. Why is it, when they beam a bomb to a safer place, eg, outside the ship, they reintegrate it? It'd be safer to leave it dematerialised. When Geordie was under control of the Romulans and Data worked out what was going on , why not beam him to the brig instead of asking Word to restrain him? How can people move during transport? Wasn't transportation first seen in black and white serialised films like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon?

[@panelvixen]

Wonder if the syllabus for Transporter Operation and Repair at Starfleet Academy includes screenings of The Fly?

[@BuhurtUK]

It should do 😂

[@willmfrank]

That movie, and its remakes and sequels are the reason why McCoy hates transporters.

[@danielland3767]

Can we talk about how the doctor on Strange New Worlds *spoilers* .. basically keeps his child in a endless transportation loop? Only to materialize her nightly to talk with her.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

I'd like to see a ship with a transporter capable of transporting the ship itself - just for fun - but call it a new mode of propulsion if you like :)

[@JeffinIC]

Check out "Star Trek: Discovery"... the spore drive kinda does that. 🤷‍♂️

[@JohnnyWednesday]

@@JeffinIC - I mean a piece of federation technology with interesting limitations - not god-tier fungus magic without any scientific basis.

[@MrKnowledge0014]

@@JohnnyWednesday I think it has some basis on reality if a little exaggerated just like everything else in the history of Star Trek.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

​@@MrKnowledge0014 - you think an interdimensional fungus that connects all of time and space... has some basis in reality..?

[@Foolish188]

Or carry the information in pattern buffers of battleships or weapons that could be rematerialized quickly.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

I wonder what risks smoking during transport has. Beam me up, Ferricky!

[@beaver6d9]

scotty don't beam me up i'm taking a shiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[@UATU.]

I’ve always felt bad for all the non-O’Brian techs who stand at the transporter controls until someone of higher rank comes in and takes over.

[@frejo8212]

Shitty job. Hurry up and wait. Then? Having to save the day with seconds notice. They should unionize.

[@stevenscott2136]

"Yeah, this is only the job I was specifically trained for, regularly re-qualify on, have certificates for, and do every frelling day -- no reason to think I might be better at it than the guy who fixes the warp drive or the guy who stares into a stereopticon all day."

[@frejo8212]

@@stevenscott2136 Respect. ✊🏻

[@taiyoqun]

@@stevenscott2136 "calm down Terry, it's just a glorified long range replicator. The only reason you are here is so that when there's a malfunction they sue you specifically and they don't bother the chief engineer like every time the replicators put too mutch salt on your food"

[@StephenLeGresley]

Technically wouldn't the transporter process be a form of death and rebirth? The version of you that gets beamed has all of your atoms ripped apart and then re-organized on the other side. So it doesn't so much move you as it does destroy you and then rebuild you somewhere else.

[@johnsayles8032]

In a physical sense, yes. However if you feel no pain, and your replica has all your memories and physical flaws (including bum legs and undetected cancers) right up until you get atomized, has anything been lost? That said the medical applications for teleporters (and replicators) are interesting. If one were to store ones own code to a teleporter, you basically just have a clone factory/ infinite lives so long as it stays functional.

[@StephenLeGresley]

@@johnsayles8032 It's basically the "Ship of Theseus" debate from WandaVision all over again.

[@johnsayles8032]

@@StephenLeGresley if you lose half the atoms on send and the pattern buffer and the replicator have to work overtime to repair what's lost, then yeah. Though by and large the process can be summed up as disassembly, transmission, followed by reassembly. So normally not a Theseus scenario but it can. Honestly the teleporters aren't the most concerning piece of tech I'd see on these ships, for the most part they do their job and no one dies, which is more than can be said for the screens which consistently seem rigged to blow and take a life on the ship at the slightest bump in the road. Like especially when they established hologram projectors. Glass screens have taken more lives than any Klingon, Borg, or Cardassian we have seen on screen.

[@StephenLeGresley]

​@@johnsayles8032 It is a Ship of Theseus situation because if I'm ripped into atoms and then put back together it's fair to debate whether I'm still the same person or a new person created through the process.

[@johnsayles8032]

@@StephenLeGresley that's being disassembled and reassembled. The ship of Theseus proposition is that the original ship eventually has every piece of it replaced while the old parts are reassembled into a new ship. The transporters in Star Trek send the original atoms for the most part, right down to the dandruff in their hair, and the clothes on their back, only replacing bits if they are lost along the course of the transmission. And while I will concede for a ship of Theseus scenario to arise out of their use, it's never established if the atoms lost can range from whole limbs to possibly being less than a booger (meaning it could take a great many teleports before someone is completely comprised of nothing but replicator meat, and at that point if there's nothing else to compare it to the pile of replicated meat is the person). What's more The situation's more or less moot when one remembers that the body naturally replaces parts of itself all the time. It takes in matter in the form of calories vitamins and nutrients, adds it to its own biomass and even excretes bits of itself that used. If you've ever bled or taken a dump then it's very likely you do not possess all the same cells that you were born with. In the end it all depends on what how one defines themselves. Personally I feel the wrapping of our mortal coil is less important than say our memories and our thoughts and feelings. What's more even if one does have a clone from these devices, the second I go left and he goes right our memories, and who we are are set on two diverging paths. Resulting in two similar but different individuals unless our memories and perspectives are shared (which since I'm not psychic they wouldn't be). But more to the point, without the acts of replacing pieces and then reassembling the old pieces into a new form separate from the initial mass, you do not have a ship of Theseus scenario.

[@rickgaine3476]

I would love to have a personal transporter that I could activate through my calm badge. It would certainly make getting back-and-forth to work a lot easier.

[@merickful]

Work?! Quit work, transport to a bank vault, retire. That's my plan.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

personal transporters means the transporter itself is in transport - so the only way it could really work? is if every personal transporter was actually two devices, one which is beamed ahead to then take over and beam the first.

[@kennethrapp1379]

I'd prefer an Iconian gateway. No scrambling my molecules, no evil clones or merging with flies, just walk though a magic door.

[@willmfrank]

"Comm badge;" it's short for "Communicator badge." No, wait I take that back. If it made getting to work and back easier, you would be a lot more calm. ;-)

[@Digikidthevoiceofreason]

“Calm” badge. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 It’s actually called a Combadge. Sort for COMMUNICATION badge.

[@marquisofcarrabass]

The transporter sends information, assembling a copy at the destination using ambient atoms. The OG transportee is disintegrated and added to the ship's raw replicator plasma stocks. The transporter is a murder machine built to disguise the Federation's ritual cannibalism.

[@ejourneys]

One could argue there's an earlier example of teleportation (not named as such) than Fred T. Jane's 1897 book To Venus in Five Seconds. That would be the 1891 book History of A World of Immortals Without a God by James William Barlow (writing as Antares Skorpios. Interestingly, Barlow's character also journeys to Venus, which the locals call Hesperos). For example, this passage at the end of Chapter 1: "All that can be ascertained about it is this-that an instantaneous disintegration, and equally rapid reintegration of the ultimate molecules of the bodies to be moved is effected; that the transit is accomplished through the medium of the undulations of the ethereal vehicle which pervades all space; and that the rate of transmission is identical with that of the transmission of light, namely, about 186,000 miles in a second." The book is a free download from Project Gutenberg. (I found To Venus in Five Seconds on Internet Archive and look forward to reading it. Thanks!)

[@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy]

There is one additional principle few talk about, The Xerox Uncertainty Principle. One theory I keep hearing about is the transporter copying whomever uses it. Basically, it is a glorified Xerox machine. In fact, I would not at all be amazed if the next season of Star Trek: Picard has the Xeros logo on the transporter, as an "Easter egg." Of course, as the crew uses that Xerox machine, they become copies of copies of copies of copies. Think about what that does to documents. Now, think about what that will do to people. There are two solutions. 1: The first time someone uses a transporter, the computer saves a "master copy," the "original document" if you will. After that, every time that person uses the transporter, the transporter will be using the "original document" to create the copy. Of course, that does mean age, weight loss/gain, learning, memories, time itself, all of that will not be accounted for. Each new copy will be made from the moment the "original document" was uploaded, essentially resetting the person to that moment, physically, as well as mentally. 2: Someone could create a "Xerox Compensator" to bypass all those problems.

[@Voreoptera]

Or just break them down into energy and transport all the energy. Matter and energy are interchangeable.

[@Voreoptera]

4:08 I always had an issues with emergency transporters. They seemed too small, for the techknology required. The transporter needed to be big to deal with all the physics required during operation. Also the transporter could be an empty room instead. The idea is simple, take something that the transporter is on and send it to a predefined location (needs to be in range).

[@michaelmetler6315]

Don't beam me up yet Scotty, I'm taking a shi🎆🎇🚽

[@christopherboccuzzi8761]

I forget where I picked it up, but in TOS the background of the transporter chamber is decorated with Delmar drum kit wrap.

[@joermnyc]

Thomas Riker was explained because something in the planet’s atmosphere partially reflected the transporter beam, and somehow it made two whole Rikers instead of two half Rikers.

[@vasyear]

What happened was, Nelvana 3's magnetic atmospear re-phased earlier than it should've the chief was having trouble with getting him out so the chief split the information in to two sets and was going to re-conbine them in the pattern buffer and they got "Will" out and the chief shut the second beam (Thomas) down cause he didn't need it but the magnetic field redirected it back to it's starting point (the star fleet base) and they even said that "for some reason his pattern didn't loose integrity".

[@RobertWF42]

Wouldn't a simpler explanation of transporters be they operate like miniature warp drives instead of tearing people apart molecule by molecule, transforming them into energy, then rebuilding at the destination? Avoids questions about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, death(?) by disintegration, cloning Datas for every ship in Starfleet, magically de-aging people, etc.

[@brodriguez11000]

A Quantum tunneling effect on a mass scale.

[@bazzarr]

It was actually Alka-Seltzer bubbles that were optically colored and placed into reverse matts of the actors and faded in and out. Take a good look at the original effect again, and you will see it. Bubbles.

[@travissmith2848]

8:38 What the heck is the Doppler Compensator? I gather from the name that it helps adjust the signal to account for the movement of the source relative to the destination, but I'm not sure where it was ever mentioned.

[@kerryedavis]

Parse it however you like, but what it comes down to is they're always making a copy. Occasionally more than one copy. Because they're never really "beaming" the actual matter, if they were the conversions of matter to energy and again would cause some pretty major explosions.

[@noblemagi]

Mandala effect changes everything

[@gregbolitho9775]

'K, Beam me up Sean'

[@max6419]

Funny thing about the Heisenberg compensator is, that it was later determined, that this device wouldn't really be necessary for a "real-life" transporter

[@spacecowboy2957]

The transporter can be used as a makeshift duplicator/cloning machine which doesn't make any sense why they wouldn't just keep a backup of someone's pattern to make a replicant to replace whoever died or to make a copy to put into harm's way when protecting VIP's. And you could also rig a transporter to achieve immortality by running a previous pattern over a new pattern to immediately reverse aging.

[@BuhurtUK]

Like that jellyfish that can live forever 😂

[@alexiachimciuc3199]

Question , when you teleport an object or person in the place previous occupied what remains? Absolute vacuum??

[@KRW628]

Perhaps the earliest use of a "transporter" in film was in the Flash Gordon serials of 1937

[@SkyDarmos]

Lol. You don’t know how beaming works, apparently. Beaming means to copy a quantum state that you have in place A and superimpose it on matter on another location B. While reading the quantum state, it is destroyed, because you can’t measure the position and impulse of particles with that accuracy without destroying the object you want to copy. Even Seth McFarland knows this and has included it in some of his comedy.

[@stevenrais9360]

It's kind of funny because aluminum powder is pretty dangerous

[@davetoms1]

10:33 Love that tech students are eating snacks and funneling drinks in a promo photo (far left 3 people) while proving quantum teleportation works. (I'm joking!)

[@BlueEclipse2305]

Transporters have backups upon backups. It is reasonable to assume if someone goes wrong and the original matter itself is lost, then energy would be used to to plug that gap.

[@Krahazik]

I like the canonical definition, though he makes a point, that cloning wouldn't be possible due to insufficient mass, unless the transporter as part of the malfunction, tried to compensate for the lack of mass by pulling mass from some other source. On the TNG Enterprise, this would not be difficult since the ship carries a supply of bio-gel material in mass quantities for use by the various food and item replicators used throughout the ship. However the TOS Enterprise did not have such things on board so no idea where the transporter could steal extra mater mass from to try and make-up for the supposed sudden sudden loss of mass in the subject. The canonical definition makes sense as it provides for where the transporter is getting the mass needed for the subject to materialize.

[@lfla0179]

I think that it saves energy, sending just the info. But ship to planet you need to send the matter with it. And the Riker episode O'Brien had used 2 teleporters to lock on the signal, and one got reflected.

[@artman2oo3]

Beam me up, Seanny!