Yes, I almost mentioned that when I wrote the post but didn't really see the correlation between the multi-engine thrust controls of an aircraft and a transporter.
Transporter console slider controls
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Yes, I almost mentioned that when I wrote the post but didn't really see the correlation between the multi-engine thrust controls of an aircraft and a transporter.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
I remember the first time I ever got really stoned that this question came up on a basketball court. Must have been 1978. I ventured an explanation that I did not remember until one of my compatriots reminded me of it about 5 years later.
Apparently I suggested that there was feedback on each level, so the amount of feedback felt on each finger would inform the operator's draw on each slider. When he would get the right 'buzz' (geez, NOW I know why I thought this up while stoned!) he would jerk all three of them all the way.
So yeah, like somebody else said, sort of like popping a clutch, but in four dimensions. (this coming from somebody who has never driven stick in his life.)
Apparently I suggested that there was feedback on each level, so the amount of feedback felt on each finger would inform the operator's draw on each slider. When he would get the right 'buzz' (geez, NOW I know why I thought this up while stoned!) he would jerk all three of them all the way.
So yeah, like somebody else said, sort of like popping a clutch, but in four dimensions. (this coming from somebody who has never driven stick in his life.)
Are all three sliders always needed to complete a beamdown? I seem to recall someone sneakily beaming off the ship(it might have been Lazarus) who only slid one of the switches, yet still completed a transport cycle successfully.
The other strange thing about the sliders: They work perfectly well no matter which direction you move them! It's not just a case of "slide up for beam down, slide down for beam up" - sliding them from either direction seems to be enough to energise the device. What's the thinking here?
The other strange thing about the sliders: They work perfectly well no matter which direction you move them! It's not just a case of "slide up for beam down, slide down for beam up" - sliding them from either direction seems to be enough to energise the device. What's the thinking here?
That sounds good, but Enterprise gave us untrained transporter-fearing officers using it fairly routinely.
Sounds like such an operator would require the skills of an accomplished surgeon like Dr. McCoy.
That would explain why he is so reluctant using that device, knowing what set of skills is required...
Bob
I just checked my physical copy and you're right. I had no idea. It certainly looks like an authentic page.
FWIW, the TNG manual in turn calls these things "sequence initiators", and says that when the operations console starts the energizing sequence, "this process can be controlled manually at operator's discretion". Essentially, Sternbach and Okuda appear to be saying that the part where the sliders come in is when O'Brien turns people into phased matter that goes into the buffer tank, and this can be done quickly or slowly, by controlling the energizing of the phase transition coils via those three sliders.
(Once the victims are in the phased matter form, in the buffer tank, the system shoots the stream to the target at a simple keypress, or on automatic, about four seconds later.)
Basically, then, the sliders fire up the machinery, and offer a chance to abort if things don't start out too well. Which suggests that this phasing thing only sort of tickles at first, and doesn't pull the victim apart; his or her internal forces probably snap him or her back to shape if O'Brien lets go of the sliders in the early stages. It's only after some tickling that O'Brien has to commit, slamming the sliders up all the way (in TNG, they apparently always go up for "go", as that's how the Okudagram is set up).
Whether we can retroactively apply this to TOS... Why not? It explains absolutely nothing about why there should be exactly three sliders, but it does explain the sliding act itself.
As for the triplication thing, perhaps it's simply a safety measure? As in, you can accidentally manipulate any single control, no matter how foolproof, but not two, and certainly not three that require careful use of your entire hand (and while it's better to be safe than sorry, four would be overkill). In that case, though, one slider should not do the trick under any circumstances.
Timo Saloniemi
(Once the victims are in the phased matter form, in the buffer tank, the system shoots the stream to the target at a simple keypress, or on automatic, about four seconds later.)
Basically, then, the sliders fire up the machinery, and offer a chance to abort if things don't start out too well. Which suggests that this phasing thing only sort of tickles at first, and doesn't pull the victim apart; his or her internal forces probably snap him or her back to shape if O'Brien lets go of the sliders in the early stages. It's only after some tickling that O'Brien has to commit, slamming the sliders up all the way (in TNG, they apparently always go up for "go", as that's how the Okudagram is set up).
Whether we can retroactively apply this to TOS... Why not? It explains absolutely nothing about why there should be exactly three sliders, but it does explain the sliding act itself.
As for the triplication thing, perhaps it's simply a safety measure? As in, you can accidentally manipulate any single control, no matter how foolproof, but not two, and certainly not three that require careful use of your entire hand (and while it's better to be safe than sorry, four would be overkill). In that case, though, one slider should not do the trick under any circumstances.
Timo Saloniemi
Interesting. This line of thinking could lead to the idea that the TOS sliders may have a go/no-go position where if trouble is detected and the operator lets go to abort, they would spring back to the 'off' position, canceling the operation.
There could be a physical resistance during this phase, which is then overcome and committed to once Scotty (or the operator) 'slams them home.' Finesse followed by commitment.
"If transported ye must be, slide I will these levers three." -- from the MU transporter operations manual.
I like the idea of soft feedback - either buzzing on the sliders themselves, or then some separate display of status.
Note how the transporter effect (just like the phaser disintegration effect, possibly a related technology) is in the habit of ending sharply where the victim's body meets ambient air. I prefer to think this is not the result of careful aiming (because nobody would bother with such in the case of phasers), but rather the result of the phasing effect propagating in a certain type of matter and then truncating at the edge of that matter, a "phase border" if you will.
Now, Kyle or O'Brien would have no direct control over how the effect propagates; it's down to the laws of physics, but also to random factors. If everything goes smoothly and it looks as if the entire subject is being immersed in the effect, the operator slams it. But it may be that the "seed" of the effect hits Kirk's tricorder and only starts to phase that, threatening Kirk with being left behind; Kyle or O'Brien may then "nudge" the effect, perhaps by retargeting the "seed", but possibly just by ramping up slowly so that the effect hops a few more phase borders.
This would make the sliders quite legitimate: they give "fine control" over the effect, but this variant of "fine" isn't as crucial to the well-being of the transportees as nudging an atomic-sharp forcefield or adjusting the phasing frequency by two nanoericsons would be; it's more akin to shaking up the machine so that it can get out of a loop and continue its fine work with automated high precision.
Timo Saloniemi
Note how the transporter effect (just like the phaser disintegration effect, possibly a related technology) is in the habit of ending sharply where the victim's body meets ambient air. I prefer to think this is not the result of careful aiming (because nobody would bother with such in the case of phasers), but rather the result of the phasing effect propagating in a certain type of matter and then truncating at the edge of that matter, a "phase border" if you will.
Now, Kyle or O'Brien would have no direct control over how the effect propagates; it's down to the laws of physics, but also to random factors. If everything goes smoothly and it looks as if the entire subject is being immersed in the effect, the operator slams it. But it may be that the "seed" of the effect hits Kirk's tricorder and only starts to phase that, threatening Kirk with being left behind; Kyle or O'Brien may then "nudge" the effect, perhaps by retargeting the "seed", but possibly just by ramping up slowly so that the effect hops a few more phase borders.
This would make the sliders quite legitimate: they give "fine control" over the effect, but this variant of "fine" isn't as crucial to the well-being of the transportees as nudging an atomic-sharp forcefield or adjusting the phasing frequency by two nanoericsons would be; it's more akin to shaking up the machine so that it can get out of a loop and continue its fine work with automated high precision.
Timo Saloniemi
I question the point of a slider control on a transporter as a whole.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Will the next tech thread be, " why does it take so long for Sulu's targeting scanner to deploy from the console? The other ship could have blown us up by the time it finishes doing that elaborate fold up and out. shouldn't it just PFFFSSHT into position, like from a compressor?"
My answer: it just looks so unbelievably cool to watch it unfold slowly that they live with the risk (not as out there as it sounds - in THE WOUNDED SKY, the crew rationalizes away the big rec deck windows -- prime 'blow a hole in us' spots by saying it is too fun to live without them.)
My answer: it just looks so unbelievably cool to watch it unfold slowly that they live with the risk (not as out there as it sounds - in THE WOUNDED SKY, the crew rationalizes away the big rec deck windows -- prime 'blow a hole in us' spots by saying it is too fun to live without them.)
I have to agree, it just looks cool compared to just pushing a bunch of buttons.
Didn't we also see the sliders move in Enemy Within when the transporter malfunctioned and the "bad" kirk appeared?
-Chris
Just watched the remastered version and they didn't. They were still at the top of the board.
Maybe I was thinking of something else. I know on TNG we saw the sliders activitate when Picard tried to auto beam out in Starship Mine before the power died.
-Chris
I remember Spock on one occasion slamming the controls hard back to their original positions, overriding the beaming process, so he could start over and beam Kirk, I think, onto the ship safely. Yet in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Bele slammed them home and activated the beam. Someone wasn't paying attention on that last one, I think.
One of my favorite scenes is from Friday's Child, we see Sulu at the helm from about the 4 o'clock position, and the targeting scanner is slowly rising up out of the console just before the commercial break.
I'm trying to remember which episode where someone (probably Spock) slid just one of the sliders, presumably testing the controls before beaming someone.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
I'm guessing OBSESSION, with the cross-circuiting to selector b or whatever that retrieves Kirk & Garrovick?
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