How many transporter rooms on TOS Enterprise?

[Timo]

Extremely random odds and ends:

Multi-lift "parking/shuffling" stations at key lift stops make plenty of sense, but there is also the ST:TMP fact of closely spaced parallel vertical lift shafts (see the Bridge and the Recreation Deck, possibly even situated one atop another) that we might well assume to be a feature of all other starships as well. No doubt there would be "double lanes" for horizontal movement as well. But not particularly closely spaced, as the shafts already consume ridiculous amounts of onboard space in a "single-lane" layout. Rather, there would be concentric circular shafts just like there are concentric corridors in the saucer, and a shaft serving one corridor would be paired with another serving the next corridor outward - or even the next-to-next one in the typical case, explaining why our heroes often see the need to walk at least the distance of one "city block" even when taking the turbolift to help moving from A to B.

"Terminus" stations like the Bridge would have a standby/shuffle system to ensure smooth service. Stations along the corridors would instead rely on a constant flow of cabins around and around the saucer, quite possibly including cabs that run empty on a "scheduled route", just for availability. Consumption of energy certainly shouldn't be an issue, and even wearing down of equipment might be acceptable if the cabs feature little in the way of mechanically moving parts and at most suffer from a gradual "degaussing of coils".

Regarding using gravitics for acceleration, it would appear that deceleration is already taken care of. You don't need to drop a steel anchor or a drag chute: any acceleration or speed provided by gravitics in Trek physics is "cheating", and when you shut down the engine, Nature takes it all back and stops you on your tracks. As we see happen to the little tugboats in ST4:TVH at power loss, for example...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[blssdwlf]

Isn't there a turbolift map on the wall of one in TMP? Would that be a useful starting point?

 

[Just a Bill]

Yup...

 

[Albertese]

The more I've studied that graphic, the more I'm convinced that that's just way too much floor space devote to turbolifts. Especially in the neck! Why??? Answer: it looks suitably tech-y for the one shot it's in.

Actually it seems like I read once somewhere that Rick Sternbach had something to do with this particular graphic and that it was kind of a rough, none-to-well thought out display. Although, I could have that totally wrong.... You out there Rick?

--Alex

 

[Timo]

I don't think the display is too bad. Let's remember that the top view is likely to show the sum total of shafts on all the decks, and the side view likewise will show a shaft for every deck even if there is just one shaft on that deck.

I wonder whether the top and side views can be made to match in three dimensions...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

The more I've studied that graphic, the more i'm convinced that that's just way too much floor space devote to turbolifts. Especially in the neck! Why??? Answer: it looks suitably tech-y for the one shot it's in.

I concur. I really did consider using it for the TOS Enterprise deck plan project, but already putting the engineering hull airlock elevators into their corresponding positions proved to be extremely difficult (I think they'd be running through Kirk's and McCoy's provisional Season One window cabins on E-Deck 12).

And than there's the turboshaft where the intermix chamber "coil" should be feeding the impulse deflection crystal with energy to "boil" up the impulse fuel for larger thrust, add to this it's horizontal-vertical-horizontal-vertical to travel to the bridge while in "By Any Other Name" the cab movement was definitely horizontal and then vertical until they arrived on the bridge (suggesting a diagonal turbo shaft connecting the engineering hull with the saucer hull).

Bob

 

[Mytran]

Other things that stand out - the triple deck high shaft (in the cargo bay) that Kirk enters in from is not present, and there is a horizontal shaft that would stick right out into the recreation deck.

 

[Timo]

the triple deck high shaft (in the cargo bay) that Kirk enters in from is not present

Hmm... There is a triple deck shaft in the secondary hull all right, somewhat aft of the bright dot that indicates Kirk's current position. Whether that's too far aft or not can be debated.

But yes, the big issue is that Kirk doesn't ride up or down that shaft, but horizontally. I mean, he has to find a horizontal ride eventually, in order to reach the primary hull. But there are limited possibilities for this on the upper "balcony" deck where he was standing, as we can clearly see the vertical shaft doesn't branch off horizontally there.

Then again, the deck where the horizontal shaft is displayed to exist is also the only one where it can plausibly exist, this being the widest deck in the secondary hull and the only one with lateral spaces for such a thing. It would perhaps be more satisfactory for Kirk to first take a ride up or down and then go forward along a shaft atop the cargo hold (but there's Engineering to block that ride, and indeed the horizontal line up there in the diagram appears interrupted), or below the floor of the hold (where there indeed exists another possible route in the diagram).

I guess Kirk would first have performed a complex maneuver where the lift goes down three decks, turns to port away from the centerline, goes back up two decks, and reaches this lateral horizontal shaft... But that's not as elegant as simply going down three decks and using an underfloor shaft, plus the top diagram only shows centerline lengthwise shafts, not lateral ones.

there is a horizontal shaft that would stick right out into the recreation deck.

That'd depend a bit on where the deck is supposed to be. The twin vertical shafts would rather naturally place it right under the bridge, where there's plenty of room for it and where a three-deck recreation facility already existed back in "Let That Be". The pair of horizontal shafts would then go aft beneath the rec facility for a while, and jump up one deck after clearing the aft wall (the one with the display screens that imitate portholes and occasionally show a view of the ship's stern).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

There's one thing else I forgot to mention (having problems with the retailer from which I ordered a Polar Lights TOS Enterprise for my friend and myself, so I wasn't apparently working on all thrusters): Near the airlock Kirk enters a vertical turbo shaft, however the dot in the screencap suggests there to be only a horizontal one!

 

[Timo]

...Unless the lift already moved from the vertical one a bit towards the bow along the horizontal one. These things move fast on occasion - perhaps very fast when the ship is undergoing repairs and nobody else is using the turbolift network. Given inertia control and all, it might not be at all unusual for the cab to complete a trip from shuttlebay to bridge in, say, four seconds (see STXI)...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FalTorPan]

Back to the original topic, one could reasonably argue that the TOS-era Enterprise has but one transporter room, since it's often called "the" transporter room, or just "Transporter Room" with no additional distinction.

 

[Just a Bill]

Back to the original topic, one could reasonably argue that the TOS-era Enterprise has but one transporter room, since it's often called "the" transporter room, or just "Transporter Room" with no additional distinction.

As far as I can tell, it's not just "often" but always referred to as if it were unique. I searched all scripts looking for a hint of more than one, but didn't find it. So canonically speaking, there seems to be only one.

But that will never do. Common sense, and the variety of implied corridor configuations in various episodes, will want us to want more than that. Based on the on-screen dialog, maybe the "fudge factor" is that that perhaps there is a "main" or "primary" transporter room and then some additional ones, but they omit saying "main" for convenience and it's understood that the lack of a disambiguator means the primary one — just as I assume there's more than one sickbay, but when somebody says "sickbay" or "the sickbay" it means the primary one.

However, I would expect that walk-and-talk scenes in various episodes will probably poke holes in this stretch; probably we've seen "the" transporter room implied to be in the primary hull at some times, and the second hull at other times. (Not to mention that building a separable starship without beaming capability in both hulls would be just plain idiotic.)

So, maybe when you say "the" transporter room, it means the primary transporter room in whichever hull makes contextual sense. If you mean any other one, then you have to say "transporter room 3" for clarity. But of course this requires one TR in each hull to be somehow more "special" than the others, just as I assume that the primary sickbay is the one that has McCoy's office and the lab directly adjacent to it.

 

[Albertese]

I've assumed that under normal conditions, only one transporter unit is active at any time. The others are shut down for maintenance and de-gaussing, et cetera. They can probably be fired up if emergency conditions warrant it, but generally just one. The crew who would need to know what transporter was active at the time would already know.

--Alex

 

[Timo]

The same probably applies to the shuttlecraft, explaining why our TOS heroes use similar grammar when discussing those: the option in, say, "Immunity Syndrome" is to refit "the shuttlecraft", singular, for a special mission, even though the ship has at least two craft available. Any one of the generic shuttles may be chosen, but the assumption is that there is always just one immediately available so there is no ambiguity as to which one the heroes should refit, or use, or meet next to, or whatever.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

I've assumed that under normal conditions, only one transporter unit is active at any time. The others are shut down for maintenance and de-gaussing, et cetera. They can probably be fired up if emergency conditions warrant it, but generally just one. The crew who would need to know what transporter was active at the time would already know.

I think so, too, and as a crew member I guess I'd actually appreciate the transporter crew to do heavy maintenance on a device that will scatter my atoms through space.

However, if you believe there's only one engine room ("engineering section") the label "transporter section" could equally indicate just one, given the lack of a number (in contrast to the briefing room numbers).

But, indeed, the transporter room corridor differences (one with a red door turbo lift befind the A-frame, the other with just a blue door and no turbo lift sign) suggest there to be more than one.

According to The Making of Star Trek the producers envisioned 11 transporter rooms (of different sizes) and TAS mentioned at least a "transporter room number four".

I'd like to believe four transporter rooms to be the minimum, but that's just my personal opinion.

Bob

 

[Metryq]

Keep in mind all the "TV shorthand" going on. For example, we always see the "away team" entering the transporter room from the main corridor fully equipped for their mission. Once in a while we may see the transporter operator handing over, or receiving phasers and the like. Realistically, a transporter section would have several transporter rooms, along with extra elevators (cargo, etc.) and equipment rooms (armory, scientific field gear, attire for various climates, etc.). The section might even have its own communication station, rather than routing everything through the bridge comm officer, as seen in the series.

Then again, maybe not. Consider the cell phones of today, with voice recognition and all the computer controlled functions of the network compared to the "walkie-talkies" of the '60s. Likewise, it may not be necessary to have a huge staging area surrounding the transporting rooms. But it seems sensible to contemporary audiences.

 

[throwback]

Transporter room four was mentioned in "Mudd's Passion". (http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS008.htm)

 

[Timo]

...And in a funny context, as this if any would be a time to say "the transporter room". M'Ress knows the main heroes are in a specific room waiting for the coordinates. Or if she doesn't, there's no sense in only sending the required coordinates to Transporter Room 4!

Timo Saloniemi