• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Any mixed feelings about the transporter?

I try not to watch TNG with my father anymore, because every time they use sit-to-site beaming, he goes on a huge rant on why they even need transporter rooms, and I can't hear what's going on in the episode.....:rolleyes:
 
I wish they'd left it out of ENT entirely, but the transporter was just fine as used on TOS.

And with hiking gear, hovercycles or a tank division, if mobility were needed and the mothership had to depart.
The Enterprise carried tank divisions...? :vulcan:
 
I wish they'd left it out of ENT entirely, but the transporter was just fine as used on TOS.

And with hiking gear, hovercycles or a tank division, if mobility were needed and the mothership had to depart.
The Enterprise carried tank divisions...? :vulcan:

Well not a full division--closer to a tank battalion.

I did not know that, but I missed a lot of the Enterprise series.
 
^I thought we were talking TOS, and I think Timo was pulling tank divisions out of his...stern section.
 
^I think you might be overestimating the size of those holds, though maybe if they had some kind of rack system for stacking them vertically.

But my point is that I don't think we've ever seen anything regarding Federation starships being used as armored cavalry carriers...we don't even know that such war machines are typically employed by starfaring races in Trek. It's all a bit out of left field.
 
I try not to watch TNG with my father anymore, because every time they use sit-to-site beaming, he goes on a huge rant on why they even need transporter rooms, and I can't hear what's going on in the episode.....:rolleyes:

:rofl: Sounds like a good time!

Transporters among other things, make Trek unique.
 
I certainly wasn't suggesting eliminating the transporter as a plot device.

I was suggesting alternating times when it and the shuttle would be used.

Use the transporter to beam into the tunnels of Janus VI and the tunnels of Exo III and when covertly entering into Vanna's cell in "Cloud..." and when beaming to a pre-warp culture and not wanting to have a 24 foot piece of evidence for the natives to find.....

But use the shuttle more often when doing a survey of an uncharted vacant planet or when you might have to leave the crew behind or when you want the landing party to have a base with a lot of supplies.

Or course you could beam down supplies, but this is drama and having shuttle base of operations breaks the pattern of every episode just having 3-5 people in t-shirts and phasers bean down to explore a world.

The transporter was so ubiquitous it seemed more safe than an elevator ride and more common than the cool tech is should have been.

By the end of the series they didn't even show the big 3 on the bridge discussing the mission they just had a Kirk V.O. and them beaming down. That's okay for some situations but sometimes the set-up/trip is in itself a chance for interesting drama.
 
I certainly wasn't suggesting eliminating the transporter as a plot device.

I was suggesting alternating times when it and the shuttle would be used.

Use the transporter to beam into the tunnels of Janus VI and the tunnels of Exo III and when covertly entering into Vanna's cell in "Cloud..." and when beaming to a pre-warp culture and not wanting to have a 24 foot piece of evidence for the natives to find.....

But use the shuttle more often when doing a survey of an uncharted vacant planet or when you might have to leave the crew behind or when you want the landing party to have a base with a lot of supplies.

Or course you could beam down supplies, but this is drama and having shuttle base of operations breaks the pattern of every episode just having 3-5 people in t-shirts and phasers bean down to explore a world.

The transporter was so ubiquitous it seemed more safe than an elevator ride and more common than the cool tech is should have been.

By the end of the series they didn't even show the big 3 on the bridge discussing the mission they just had a Kirk V.O. and them beaming down. That's okay for some situations but sometimes the set-up/trip is in itself a chance for interesting drama.

My thoughts exactly. The initial question of this thread was not "transporters: yes or no?" The question was, if using the transporter less and the shuttlecraft more, might have provided the means for more interesting/diverse stories and also made more sense in-universe. Which it definitely would have, IMHO.

Mario
 
I certainly wasn't suggesting eliminating the transporter as a plot device.

I was suggesting alternating times when it and the shuttle would be used.

Use the transporter to beam into the tunnels of Janus VI and the tunnels of Exo III and when covertly entering into Vanna's cell in "Cloud..." and when beaming to a pre-warp culture and not wanting to have a 24 foot piece of evidence for the natives to find.....

But use the shuttle more often when doing a survey of an uncharted vacant planet or when you might have to leave the crew behind or when you want the landing party to have a base with a lot of supplies.

Or course you could beam down supplies, but this is drama and having shuttle base of operations breaks the pattern of every episode just having 3-5 people in t-shirts and phasers bean down to explore a world.

The transporter was so ubiquitous it seemed more safe than an elevator ride and more common than the cool tech is should have been.

By the end of the series they didn't even show the big 3 on the bridge discussing the mission they just had a Kirk V.O. and them beaming down. That's okay for some situations but sometimes the set-up/trip is in itself a chance for interesting drama.

My thoughts exactly. The initial question of this thread was not "transporters: yes or no?" The question was, if using the transporter less and the shuttlecraft more, might have provided the means for more interesting/diverse stories and also made more sense in-universe. Which it definitely would have, IMHO.

Mario

Yeah, that's basically all I was trying to get at.

You have 79 episodes--maybe 65 of them they use the transporter.

I just think it would have made for more variety, both visually and story-wise to, say, use the shuttle in say 15 of those landing party situations.

I'm just wishing there had been more variety all around.

A couple more uses of the phaser rifle (perhaps a redesigned one), I love those landing jackets, a couple more situations where they used EVA suits, one or two brief attempts to show loss of gravity--even for a moment.

It seems after season 1, everything became so pat, less crewmen in jumpsuits and protective garments, never once going back to the portal seen in "Conscience..."

I mean a few things to keep things from becoming so pat.

For example, even in a terrible episode like "Alternative Factor" they have a never seen before or after shot of the Ent firing from a behind looking forward camera angle. That always got my attention as something visually new.

Seeing the number of crew in the corridors dwindle and less and less variety in what they were wearing. They never showed the crew in off duty wear. You mean when you get off duty and meet your friend in the rec room you wear your uniform.

It seems a little silly but seeing Pike passing the couple in tennis gear seemed a really nice touch.

Hell even as the series went on they used less and less minority actors.

It just became formula--still entertaining but a little too much of the same thing all the time.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top