According to Memory-Alpha, Romulan transporter beams are supposed to dissolve in a green sparkle. Now we've all seen Klingon transporter beams and Cardassian ones too. But in all my time watching Star Trek, I'll be darned if I've ever seen an honest to goodness Romulan transporter beam. And I'm not including the Reman one in Nemesis. Have you ever seen one?
Off the top of my head, DS9's "Improbable Cause". Toward the end Odo and Garak's runabout is confronted by a warbird and boarded by two Romulan soldiers.
Each transporter system probably has a technological component that's similar but still unique to each civilization. Or it's food coloring.
I just think it's interesting that each race has a transporter hue that matches the color scheme most people would associate with that race. But I suspect that's the point. --Sran
I'm going to go with food colouring. Maybe people coming out of transporters taste different depending on which type of transporter they use...
The Romluan transporter effect always looked pretty uninspirational to me. Of all the effects I prefer the gold-ish transporter sparkles of the Cardassian transporter. Not a traditional transporter, but I also love the effect of the Ansata inverter from "The High Ground". It really looks like a rip in space and has a nice forceful quality to it.
Hmm. I never thought of a favorite transporter effect. The Original Series effect does hold a special place in my heart though. "Don't worry, Boss. They can't do nothing till they're through sparkling."
Must have been a fun meeting where all the Alpha Quadrant races sat down to argue what colour the transporter and phasers would be for each species. "I'm having red phasers!" "No, I'm having red phasers! You can have a purple & yellow transporter beam with sparkles!" The Cardassians must have turned up late that's why they originally ended up with Pink phasers!
In the TOS third season episode "Day of the Dove" the Klingon transporter beam is red and yellow or to be more precise, the matter that is materializing is red and yellow. Here is a picture of the Klingons materializing, courtesy of www.trekcore.com Here is the next picture of the Klingons fully materialized. Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente /\
Haha. I guess part of the original peace treaty with the Federation was Cardassia got to use yellow phasers. And wold explain why the Klingons and Romulans are "blood enemies" since they both use green phasers!