TMP - "What We Got Back Didn't Live Long, Unfortunately."

[Joel_Kirk]

So when poor Sonak and the poor ensign get caught in the random transporter malfunction, what do you think actually appeared on Starfleet Command's end?

I've pictured a blob with two pairs eyes and arms, a melding of two beings that wasn't a new being like Tuvix but a horrific sight - yes, Tuvix can be horrific but that's another conversation. Sonak's eyes (one of the aforementioned pairs of eyes) is visibly in pain. A muffled scream from his mouth. One of his arms reaching to the transporter chief for some help that cannot be given. The ensign has a tear dropping from her right eye as she slowly passes away...

And you?

 

[Nightowl1701]

Do we have to think about this? Ew...

I figured something along the lines of Seth Brundle's unsuccessful teleporter experiments with animals in The Fly, myself.

 

[Admiral Danev]

Something similar to Pizza the Hutt from Spaceballs

 

[Gov Kodos]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Do we have to think about this? Ew...

I figured something along the lines of Seth Brundle's unsuccessful teleporter experiments with animals in The Fly, myself.

Sorry Nightowl!

It's definitely not to gross out you or other posters out or to make a joke at the expense of the characters. The question was due to curiosity. Sonak (and the ensign, even though we didn't get a clear look at her) made me personally feel for them, they made an impact with the short amount of screen time they had.

The unfortunate image in my head, especially after seeing so many sci-fi films since then as well as chatting about Trek, had me wondering.

Something similar to Pizza the Hutt from Spaceballs

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I agree with both ideas, albeit they wouldn't be as comedic.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I've always felt there was never enough done to explore consequences with the technologies. Something like this is one. There've been plenty of transporter foul ups but once the episode is done that's it, never an issue again. Besides such obvious catastrophic damage, would frequent usage over time be a problem?

The brain and its memories being quite complex, does the thing really get it right every time or could dementia set in from memories and brain chemistry not being exactly right every time? Back when we only had TOS, I felt in my head canon that that was why Garth had gone insane.

Whether Sonak, Tuvix, or any other Trektech victim, forgetting the victims and the foul ups and using the situations as nothing more than the plot of the week is one of the shortcomings of the franchise.

 

[JT Perfecthair]

This is an area where the novel is better as the lady victim is "Starfleet flag officer Vice Admiral Lori Ciana" rather than "some ensign", making the event a much bigger deal. She's also Kirks love interest, and as he's no idea an Admiral was about to beam aboard until he recognizes her in the beam, its presumably a personal or surprise visit that he will never know the reasons for. The scene describes their final time they appear in the Enterprise platform as having all the internal organs now on the outside of the collapsing bodies so Starfleet presumably received some further decayed version of that.

You'd think that would really mess a guy up, but of course, in typical Kirk (and Rodenberry) fashion, shes totally forgotten within 5 pages.

 

[Maurice]

Honestly, I doubt the transporter is moving distinct units like organs. If it went haywire most likely the reassembled bits would look like mush.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Ed and Al's mother when they tried human transmutation in Full Metal Alchemist...

 

[Pauln6]

I've always felt there was never enough done to explore consequences with the technologies. Something like this is one. There've been plenty of transporter foul ups but once the episode is done that's it, never an issue again. Besides such obvious catastrophic damage, would frequent usage over time be a problem?

The brain and its memories being quite complex, does the thing really get it right every time or could dementia set in from memories and brain chemistry not being exactly right every time? Back when we only had TOS, I felt in my head canon that that was why Garth had gone insane.

Whether Sonak, Tuvix, or any other Trektech victim, forgetting the victims and the foul ups and using the situations as nothing more than the plot of the week is one of the shortcomings of the franchise.

I like the concept of the tech being dangerous and having limitations and I will always defend this scene against those that say it should just be cut. I don't really like the way the new movies have expanded the capabilities of transporters in such a throwaway fashion. There should be limitations on the tech so that stories can be built around it, not use it as a catch-all way to skate over a lot of the plot.

However, I also have to accept that this scene doesn't make a whole lot of sense based on Trek tech as we know it. If the transporters have been showing an issue, why not simply use the station's transporters until the problem is rectified?

As an aside, I've always thought it made narrative sense to say that the warp engines on a starship inhibit the accuracy of transporters which is why people beam to and from linked transporter pads (or using mobile comms devices). This has the added bonus of making it difficult and dangerous to perform site-to-site transportation on ships which also covers off one of the ongoing logic gaps in the security of starships (i.e. ships have internal sesnors and cameras so why not simply beam intruders straight to the brig). Of course that genie got out of the bottle way back in TOS but real explanation as to why transporter rooms are necessary has ever been suggested.

 

[Lance]

I imagine it looking something like Kirk in this photo.

http://scifanatic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/mad-sb67.jpg

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

This probably happened

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Firebird]

From the novelization:

Shapes were materializing on the platform again - but frighteningly misshapen, writhing masses of chaotic flesh with skeletal shapes and pumping organs on the outsides of the "bodies." A twisted, claw-like hand tore at the air, a scream came from a bleeding mouth... and then they were gone, the chamber was empty.

 

[Green Shirt]

^Sounds about right.

 

[Khan 2.0]

that scene alone should got the movie a PG rating (not G lol)

 

[shapeshifter]

From the novelization:

That description matches what can be seen in the beam.

BTW, the thread title is incorrect. It goes, "...what we got back didn't live long, fortunately. Meaning suffering was shortened by quick death.

 

[T'Girl]

that scene alone should got the movie a PG rating (not G lol)

Today G means (basically) okay for children, but then G meant general audiences.

For the time, the rating was correct, today the movie would probably be PG-13.
.

 

[RoJoHen]

BTW, the thread title is incorrect. It goes, "...what we got back didn't live long, fortunately. Meaning suffering was shortened by quick death.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Is the OP some kind of monster who wanted to see mutant Sonak suffer?!?!?!

 

[FormerLurker]

As I said in the Best Scenes thread, the previous line, "Oh, no. They're forming." is the creepier line. And it informs what we see on the pads, making it even more so.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Today G means (basically) okay for children, but then G meant general audiences.

For the time, the rating was correct, today the movie would probably be PG-13.
.

At times TMP almost plays like an R rated space horror movie