Godmode transporter abilities

[F. King Daniel]

Inspired by the fuss over in XI+ ("OMG Khan beamed to Kronos retire teh starships Trek is ruined forevah!!!!1!"), here is a list of magical transporter abilities. Feel free to add ones I've forgotten and attack/defend the plausability/implausibility of them.

Transwarp Beaming
From a relatively stationary start to a ship at warp. From Earth all the way to Kronos. A software patch to the regular transporter, invented by Scotty, whose alternate self almost died using it to beam to the Enterprise, and who had previously killed Admiral Archer's beagle when attempting to demonstrate it (Star Trek, Into Darkness)

Subspace Beaming
Across several light-years. A minor modification considered dangerous, known to the Federation and Ferengi. Possibly the same as transwarp beaming. (TNG: "Bloodlines") The Dominion also had transporters with extreme range, they could use theirs to pluck people from distant targets, something Transwarp beaming may be unable to do.

Beaming Into an Alternate Reality
First done accidently during an ion storm, replicated a century later using a handheld gizmo which interfaces with a regular transporter (downloading extra software?) (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror", DS9: "Shattered Mirror" etc.)

Beaming Through Time
With the aid of some time-limited technobabbly particles, O'Brien was able to beam people to various periods in Earth's history. (DS9: "Past Tense")

Cure All/Anti Ageing/Re-Ageing
Where to start? Kirk and Spock are de-aged in TAS: "The Lorelai Signal", the entire crew are made their proper sizes again in "The Terratin Incident", the baby crew are re-aged at the end of "The Counter-clock Incident", Dr. Pulaski is cured of an ageing disease in TNG: "Unnatural Selection", the crew are de-aged into children in "Rascals" and it's reversed the same way at the end. I'm sure there are a few I've forgotten.

Epic Pause Mode
Scotty kept himself alive in the transporter for 70 years, in TNG: "Relics". The guy he was in there with didn't make it.

Splitting, Duplicating and Merging
Kirk is split into good and evil halves in TOS: "The Enemy Within" but both are merged again at the end, Captain Christopher is (pointlessly?) beamed into his slightly-earlier self in "Tomorrow is Yesterday", Will Riker is xeroxed in TNG: "Second Chances", Tuvok and Neelix, with the aid of a magical plant, merged into one being and then somehow separated again months(?) later (VOY: "Tuvix")


So basically, someone with a transporter and the right set of software hacks could beam anywhere in the galaxy, become virtually immortal, skip centuries, raise an army of clones and hop between universes, Sliders-style. Just great.

 

[BillJ]

I just have a hard time respecting any argument whose basis is that transwarp transporters are somehow a bigger game-changer than all the non-sense we've seen pulled off in the various series.

 

[Commishsleer]

Gary 7 teleported across the galaxy.

In "That Which Survives" I think the entire ship was transported (with all aboard) instantaneously 1000 light years

 

[1001001]

Don't forget the Caretaker's array pulled Voyager 70,000 light years across the galaxy.

Not a transporter, per se, but technology to move huge distances instantly.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I have no deep problem with the use of the long range transporter in STID, but I found it to be an extraordinarily weak use of it, almost unbefitting a film of its caliber. Fantastic technology can be a good plot device in science fiction to move the character into circumstances that ordinary fiction cannot. Odd particles on the Defiant mess with the tranporter (yawn), but we get to see what should be a pivotal event in the development of the Federation "utopia." Unusual transporters can make a threat appear to be more mysterious and imminent, or to raise ethical concerns about use and reliance on technology. In other circumstances, it allows the storyteller to force familiar and beloved characters to cope with radical changes: illnesses; the darker sides of their personality; and indeed, coping with old age in a rapidly changing world. So long as these unusual forms of transporter technology did not become routine elements, they could be given a pass. (The mirror universe could be interesting as a means of posing hypotheticals about personality and character, but it became way too routine in DS9. I could not say if other fans felt the same way.)

What did transwarp beaming accomplish in STID? Was it worthy of use in a motion picture? Khan could have found passage off of Earth in any number of ways. Perhaps he had access to some superfast attack shuttle via the secret military program. With his technology, one wonders why he needed such a convoluted plan to get at the Starfleet brass. Nonetheless, what does he do with it? He beams to Quonos? He could beam almost anywhere. Does that do anything for the plot other than set up the conflict of the next film? This very poor use of fantastic technology ultimately reflects poorly on the premise of the technology itself.

 

[shivkala]

There's also "Near-Warp Transporting" from TNG's "The Schizoid Man." Memory Alpha describes it as:

Near-warp transport, also known as touch-and-go downwarping, is a process whereby a starship briefly drops out of warp speed in order to use the transporter, and then quickly returns to warp as the object or person being transported is still materializing. To execute this procedure required precise timing and precision.

 

[22 Stars]

I don't like how portable and simple the process was, and device as shown was. Makes it look like an everyday possibility. The Enterprise has two huge Nacelles to generate a warp field, but a backpack can send you across the quadrant?

I don't care that others here just accept it as equally implausible, but in Sci-Fi science, even extrapolated science is supposed to sometimes matter. Sometimes. As opposed to 'never' as in the JJ Universe, or 'it just works, don't think about it'.

 

[Commishsleer]

I don't really have a problem with the distance but with the targetting.

I can't really see how they do normal beam down to planet's surfaces without having a target booth. How do they beam people exactly onto the uneven surfaces of a planet without say beaming someone's heel into the ground. I can only guess they have great sensors as a pat of the beam down process.

See I can accept that Losira was able to transport the Enterprise 1000 lights years or he Caretaker Voyager 70000 light years away because they were just placed into empty space (which is plentiful). I can even accept that Khan was able to beam to a planet because theoretically the planet's location would be known (lets just hop there hasn't been a couple of inch/cm shift in the planet's orbit). But for someone to beam onto a moving ship(no matter whether it was Warp or sublight or geostationary orbit) without knowing where that ship was would see to me impossible without somewhere to target. Has someone a reasonable explanation?

 

[R. Star]

The Dominion routinely used that super long range transporter. Though it was always just used by one person, usually escaping a dangerous situation and when Kira was kidnapped by the evil Vedek he gave her some sort of locator tag, so it would seem impractical for large numbers.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If they're going to introduce something like that into their universe though they need to be prepared to respect the implications later. Star Trek is notorious for introducing technological game changes then ignoring them when they would break their future stories.

Beam to Kronos? Sure. Immortality with Khan blood? Sure. But your next movie better show everybody able to beam to Kronos, and people becoming immortal through Khan blood. It's only lame if they ignore it exists in the future.

Oops, the Klingons just beamed a million A-bombs to Earth.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

If they're going to introduce something like that into their universe though they need to be prepared to respect the implications later. Star Trek is notorious for introducing technological game changes then ignoring them when they would break their future stories.

Beam to Kronos? Sure. Immortality with Khan blood? Sure. But your next movie better show everybody able to beam to Kronos, and people becoming immortal through Khan blood. It's only lame if they ignore it exists in the future.

Oops, the Klingons just beamed a million A-bombs to Earth.

I guess Khan and his cohort better roll up their sleeves: the bloodbank will be running dry real soon.

 

[Cyke101]

There's also "Near-Warp Transporting" from TNG's "The Schizoid Man." Memory Alpha describes it as:

Near-warp transport, also known as touch-and-go downwarping, is a process whereby a starship briefly drops out of warp speed in order to use the transporter, and then quickly returns to warp as the object or person being transported is still materializing. To execute this procedure required precise timing and precision.

Which is pretty pointless, considering the scale of speed both of a starship AND the time it takes to beam down. How much time did the Enterprise save? And at the risk of pulling the away team apart or materializing them into a wall?

To quote Farrand, "Picard opts to endanger the lives of the away team because he doesn't want to hang out for five more seconds until the beaming operation is complete?"

 

[Nerys Myk]

If they're going to introduce something like that into their universe though they need to be prepared to respect the implications later. Star Trek is notorious for introducing technological game changes then ignoring them when they would break their future stories.

Beam to Kronos? Sure. Immortality with Khan blood? Sure. But your next movie better show everybody able to beam to Kronos, and people becoming immortal through Khan blood. It's only lame if they ignore it exists in the future.

Oops, the Klingons just beamed a million A-bombs to Earth.

Does everyone have a nuclear missile? The tech seems to be top secret and not available to everyone.

The healing blood should only be a factor in the story if there is a situation that calls for healing blood.

 

[R. Star]

So we can expect Khan to be in a lab with IVs draining his blood for the rest of his life?

 

[Commishsleer]

If they're going to introduce something like that into their universe though they need to be prepared to respect the implications later. Star Trek is notorious for introducing technological game changes then ignoring them when they would break their future stories.

Beam to Kronos? Sure. Immortality with Khan blood? Sure. But your next movie better show everybody able to beam to Kronos, and people becoming immortal through Khan blood. It's only lame if they ignore it exists in the future.

Oops, the Klingons just beamed a million A-bombs to Earth.

I guess Khan and his cohort better roll up their sleeves: the bloodbank will be running dry real soon.

Why not just beam everyone whose in trouble to the planet of the Baku and Son'a or maybe the Nexus? Then everyone can live forever. PrimeSpock can give directions.

And Klingons don't need to beam a million A bombs to Earth. They could just get Baris to beam half an ounce of anti-matter into Earths atmosphere.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So we can expect Khan to be in a lab with IVs draining his blood for the rest of his life?

It's technology that's been outlawed on Earth and the Federation since 1996. Next film should have McCoy doin' time, like Mommy and Daddy Bashir.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

So we can expect Khan to be in a lab with IVs draining his blood for the rest of his life?

It's technology that's been outlawed on Earth and the Federation since 1996. Next film should have McCoy doin' time, like Mommy and Daddy Bashir.

Giving blood was outlawed! Holy Prime Directive!

I don't think that genetic engineering was outlawed in toto. Obviously, Beverly Crusher's transporter solution to Picard's adolescence essentially undid the changes to their (fictional) genetic structure. The EMH references corrections to genetic abnormalities in B'Elanna's family. I would not be surprised if there were a whole branch of medical ethics that dealt with how and when genetic engineering should be applied.

 

[publiusr]

I like the idea of the emergency transporter in starfleets training craft. Nice bail-out option X-wingers don't get.