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Den of Geek

Is the Science Behind Star Trek’s Transporter Plausible?

Star Trek's Transporter is a sci-fi staple... but does it hold up both scientifically and narratively? A new video podcast from Roddenberry Entertainment puts it to the test.

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Editor’s note: Does It Fly? releases new episodes Fridays through Den of Geek , YouTube , Apple Podcasts , and DoesItFlyPod.com .

After pioneering the future of science fiction on television for decades, Roddenberry Entertainment digs into the real-world science behind pop culture’s most iconic conceits, vehicles, and gadgets with the original video podcast series Does It Fly? . Hosted by noted astrophysicist and science educator Hakeem Oluseyi and television host, actor, and pop culture enthusiast Tamara Krinsky, the show examines devices from the most beloved sci-fi movies and shows, explaining the theoretical science behind them and if they’d actually function properly outside of the comforts of fiction.

To commemorate First Contact Day, the pivotal date where humanity first met intelligent life from another world, as depicted in the classic 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact , the inaugural episode of the podcast focuses on if Star Trek ’s transporter could theoretically work. Speaking from their complementary professional backgrounds, areas of expertise, and Star Trek fandom, Oluseyi brings in the solid scientific theory and Krinsky frames it all with her encyclopedic knowledge of the geekiest pop culture franchises.

The transporter has been a staple for Star Trek ever since The Original Series debuted in 1966. The device is capable of teleporting solid objects and living organisms from one point to another, in most cases, safely and in a matter of seconds. Though the backstory behind the transporter has been revealed in Star Trek: Enterprise , along with its evolving technical limitations of the technology across the different generations of Starfleet explored in the various series and movies, the actual science behind it comes into question on the podcast. 

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Oluseyi packs the discussion with plenty of actual science in how the transporter works but keeps the information accessible for those who might not be as familiar with the math and science involved in calculating its viability. Oluseyi lays out the various technical challenges transporter technology would face, including the potential data storage requirements and how to maintain fidelity in converting living organic matter into energy and back to its normal state. Krinsky draws from her own extensive knowledge of Star Trek , citing specific key instances where further context about the operational capabilities of the transporter are revealed and behind-the-scenes history from the production.

As the two debunk some of the fictional science to make these devices work, Oluseyi and Krinsky make it very clear that the application of real-world science does not diminish their love and appreciation for Star Trek and the other shows and movies they examine on the podcast. And even though Oluseyi has his own skepticism about the viability of creating a functioning transporter, he excitedly declares he would try out the transporter himself – after at least a few other people try it first.

Every episode of Does It Fly? revolves around the title question: Does the pop culture device in question “fly,” in terms of becoming scientifically feasible in the foreseeable future? Krinsky and Oluseyi each lay out the case why they think a given piece of tech, like transporter, should be considered fly-worthy like a parting defense. And though Krinsky and Oluseyi don’t always agree on if something is fly-worthy, the conversation stays brisk, engaging, and fun, with plenty of scientific and pop culture information provided to viewers in every episode.

Does It Fly? marks the latest podcast series produced by Roddenberry Entertainment, the production company founded by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and currently run by his son, CEO Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, and COO Trevor Roth. In addition to executive producing the numerous new Star Trek series streaming on Paramount+, the two have curated and produced a growing number of original podcast series , each speaking to a different facet of science fiction fandom, often but not exclusively linked to the Star Trek mythos and Roddenberry family legacy.

Roth swung by Den of Geek Studio at SXSW 2024 , speaking about the current state of Star Trek , including the recently launched final season of Star Trek: Discovery . Among the topics Roth also spoke about was Roddenberry Entertainment’s podcast network and how they reflect a thriving frontier for the company as it continues to guide Star Trek to new heights and audiences nearly 60 years since the franchise made its inaugural launch.

“One thing we love about podcasting is we get right to the audience,” Roth tells Den of Geek . “When you look at expanding into that area, for us it’s wonderful and liberating. It’s something we can control so fully. It allows us to hopefully rise to the cream of the crop in regard to the way we do it, which I think has to do with us being very thoughtful about [the topics] and recognizing what we’re trying to achieve and giving that to the audience.”

Does It Fly? releases new episodes Fridays through Den of Geek, YouTube , or on doesitflypod.com , You can listen to the show on Spotify , Apple , and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

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Star Trek: 10 Things You Need To Know About Transporters

It's one of the few pieces of tech from Star Trek that has yet to be invented. Or, is it?

The transporter is probably the most fantastical element of Star Trek's vast inventory. Created back at the time of the pilot, The Cage, this miracle device allowed crews to vanish and reappear instantaneously in another place, allowing huge distances to be traversed quickly, and huge budgets to be slashed.

The device dissolves matter down to the sub-atomic level, stores it, transfers it, and rematerializes it at the desired destination. Conspiracy theorists would argue that industries like aviation and motoring are holding back any development of the tech, as it would kill them both overnight.

But that's none of our business.

How has the transporter affected Star Trek, and other properties, through the years? Trek is far from the only property to utilize beaming, even if it was the instigator. Shows like Stargate have run with the tech as well, honouring the franchises that came before, while putting their own spin on it. How does it work? Who can we thank for the transporter itself? And before we even get into any of that - let's address one of the most famous misquotes in all of popular fiction.

10. They Were Invented To Save Money And Time

The earliest pitches for Star Trek had to deal with the challenge of getting the crew down to the planets each week. Support shuttles were suggested, as was landing the Enterprise itself, though both would have proven prohibitively expensive in the beginning. So, the producers were backed against a wall and came up with the idea of the matter transporter.

This became part of the pitch, and part of the reason that Star Trek was given the green light - twice. It helped sell The Cage first of all. Now, rather than committing to large-scale models for a pilot that may or may not take off (spoiler: it didn't), this fantastic new technology could be used instead. When The Cage failed to make any traction, the show was given a new pilot - Where No Man Has Gone Before - though it was actually The Man Trap that helped Star Trek survive.

The depiction of the transporter in this episode excited the network so much that they bumped it up for broadcast, meaning that it was shown to audiences - before the first episode.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

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How Star Trek's Transporter Effect Actually Worked

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One of the first memories I have of adult television is watching the cast of the original "Star Trek" beaming down to a planet in the transporter. I don't know which episode it was, but I do remember asking my dad how they did that, and could we go to Disneyland that way. In the days of CGI characters and the ability to film entire movies and TV shows in front of a green screen, it's hard to remember what even a small effect like the "Star Trek" transporter conjured up in our brains. (I still think of it while driving through LA traffic.)

What I didn't know as a kid, and frankly, up until now was how the show created the effect. According to an article on Inverse , The Anderson Company (run in the 1960s by Darrel Anderson and Howard A. Anderson) created it in a very simple way, with "aluminum powder and old-school compositing."

"Here's how it worked: First the person or persons being transported were filmed standing in position. Then they stepped out of frame while the camera captured an empty set. What was then needed was a "mask" of the figures being beamed — essentially an outline of them. A further element required was the glittering or beam effect (this is where the aluminum powder came in). It was photographed separately by dropping the powder from above and lighting it with an intensive light against a black background."

Beaming Ourselves Up

It might seem primitive these days, but someone had to come up with it. Maybe you've even used something like this in your own home movies. A number of years ago (via Vice ), PBS Digital Studio's Joey Shanks showed fans how to create this effect by themselves for their own films. I highly recommend watching the video. It's really cool! It also explains how the effects changed over the years. For instance, they took out the freeze frame effect once the feature films were being made, and they added light beam effects to add drama later on.

Shanks told Vice: 

"From my research it started with them using aluminum silver shavings, and just dropping it in front of the camera, backlighting it with a really sharp spotlight and shooting it at 120 frames-per-second and then compositing it into the scene. Then I learned that they started messing around with Alka Seltzer, with glitter, a lot of different forms of liquids and particles in tanks. Just to show the audience this technique it's super simple — even getting a lava lamp that has little glitter particles, you can pretty much create the exact same look they did originally."

Could We Ever Have a Real Transporter?

The effect is super cool, but we can't do that yet, obviously. Will we ever be able to? "Star Trek" has certainly influenced technology with things like flip phones and touch screens.  StarTrek.com had an article  in 2014 about a discovery that might bring us closer to a real life transporter — in theory. In an experiment at Delft University in the Netherlands, scientists were able to transport a few matter particles three meters. It's not exactly sending a red shirt down to a planet as cannon fodder, but it's pretty cool. The article goes into detail about how it all works (and I'm no scientist, fascinated as I am by it all), but in basic terms, you have to know all the tiny details about something is built and calculate how to move it over a distance, from the atoms out. The atoms have to be rebuilt in exactly the same way somewhere else. Here is a little info from the article to help give you an idea of what we're talking about:

"'If you believe we are nothing more than a collection of atoms strung together in a particular way, then in principle it should be possible to teleport ourselves from on place to another,' says Professor Ronald Hanson, who led the experiment at Delft. Such a day remains far in the future for sure, but Hanson's statement does suggest one further snag that could complicate travel by Transporter — are we just a collection of atoms?"

I spoke to Rod Roddenberry, son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, President of Roddenberry Entertainment and executive producer of "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard" about his thoughts on the transporter technology. He said:

"I don't fully recall my first memory of the Transporter technology on screen, but I remember thinking that it was certainly amazing. Transporters represented our control of the atom, similar to the replicators, which allowed us to rearrange atoms in any order thereby creating anything whether it be sustenance, books for education, or rare minerals and metals. This technology would change our perceptions of value and we would no longer see value in material items. Having this ability to create literally anything would over time realign our thinking to find value in more immaterial concepts such as thoughts and ideas. My hope is we will see a future where we recognize and revere what is truly most unique in our world which are the thoughts and ideas of our fellow human beings."

'A Murdering Clone-Maker'

I also spoke to planetary physicist Dr. Kevin Grazier, science consultant on a number of television series and feature films, and co-author of the " Hollyweird Science " series of popular science books who explained:

Even if you could store the titanic amounts of energy needed to transport a person, perform the necessary data management and storage, and overcome quantum effects like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I still think that if it was possible to place a carbon atom here, a calcium atom there — all in precise relative positions — that the all those atoms would bond in exactly the same way as they were in the original source material. So, I think that if you stepped on one transporter pad, what would appear on the other pad is a huge puddle of organic sludge with the identical bulk chemical composition as the now-deceased Captain Busch. [Author's note: That's me and yikes!] The transporter is great narrative tool to keep writers from having to spend time landing their starship or dispatching a shuttle to a planet week to week, but I'm with Doctor McCoy in believing that the transporter is, at best, a murdering clone-maker.

By the way, Dr. Grazier does expand on the energy and data storage calculations in Chapter 7 of the first "Hollyweird Science" book. 

So, would you want to have one of these? Do you think we'll ever get there? Let us know @slashfilm !

The Untold Truth About Star Trek Transporters

According to Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), "transporting really is the safest way to travel" in the "Star Trek" universe. Having your atoms disassembled by a computer, beamed to another location, and then reassembled certainly does sound like an efficient (albeit terrifying) mode of transportation and practically everyone in the 24th century gets around with transporters.

La Forge even claims there have only been two or three transporter accidents in the past 10 years — but if that's true, then the 24th century must have a very different definition of the word "accidents." From age regression to accidental cloning, the U.S.S. Enterprise alone has had multiple bizarre transporter malfunctions in just its first seven years of service.

The problems get even weirder when you look at all the transporter accidents in the original " Star Trek ," " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ," " Star Trek: Voyager ," and other "Trek" TV shows and movies. While some of these effects can actually be beneficial, you may want to read this article on the untold truths behind "Star Trek" transporters before calling out that old refrain: "Beam me up, Scotty." Because after your journey, there's a good chance you won't like how you get put back together.

Transporters Exist Because of Low FX Budgets

According to "The Making of Star Trek," franchise mastermind Gene Roddenberry originally wanted to shoot scenes of the Enterprise landing on alien planets, but this proved too expensive. Even building models of shuttlecrafts was too time consuming, and the crew needed an alternative when filming began.

To get around the problem, the special effects team created a teleportation effect for the crew to explain how they arrived on a planet's surface in the "Star Trek" pilot episode "The Cage." The transporter became very popular and influenced many episodes, causing all the later TV shows and movies to use it even as their FX budgets increased substantially. Thus, a special effect created for budgetary reasons ended up having a major real-world effect on pop culture.

Transporters Run on Glitter and Alka Seltzer

Ask a Trekkie how transporters work, and you might receive a technical explanation of the physics involved in disassembling and reassembling a person.

Well, guess what? In reality, transporters can run on anything from glitter to Alka Seltzer. According to " Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ," the special effects team created the first transporter effect by turning a slow-motion camera upside down, filming grains of aluminum powder dropping in front of a black background, and using the footage to create the "shimmer" effect between shots of the actors and the clean background. In later episodes, they created different transporter effects by filming  dissolving Alka Seltzer tablets and later glitter swizzled in a jar full of water.

More recent "Trek" movies and TV shows use computer effects. Today, practically  anyone can create their own Star Trek transporter effect with basic video editing software and some computer-generated effects. Even so, it's telling that one of the most iconic special effects in science fiction history was accomplished using materials anyone could buy at their local drug store.

People Suffer From Transporter Phobia

By the 24th century, millions of people travel by transporter every year. Even so, there are plenty of people who hate this mode of travel and do everything they can to avoid stepping onto a transporter pad.

In "The Next Generation" Season 6 episode "Realm of Fear,"  Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) confesses he suffers from "transporter phobia" and suffers a panic attack when asked to beam down to a planet while plasma field disturbances adversely affect the transporter. As it turns out, his fears are justified, and he sees worm-like creatures in the transporter's matter stream that turn out to be human beings trapped in mid-transport.

People with transporter phobia may be ridiculed in the 24th century, but Barclay's actually in good company. Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) famously hated transporters and insisted on using shuttlecrafts whenever possible. 

During the "Star Trek: Enterprise” television series, the original Enterprise crew also preferred using shuttles and only allowed themselves to be beamed up during emergencies. Considering all the horrible transporter malfunctions that would occur over the next two hundred years, this was very smart behavior.

Transporters May Technically Kill You Every Time You Beam Down

Transporter accidents have killed people in many gruesome ways. In " Star Trek: The Motion Picture ” (1979), memorably, some new officers experience a transporter malfunction and re-materialize as a semi-living mass of flesh that mercifully doesn't live for very long.

When you get down to it though, "Star Trek" transporters may very well murder every single person who uses one. According to multiple official explanations, including the one found in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual," transporters scan a person's body, convert said body into a matter stream, store those particles in a pattern buffer, send them to their destination via an energy beam, and then put those particles back together in the original configuration.

Many fans argue that this basically means a transporter kills you and only reassembles a copy of your body and mind. This idea is given credence by the fact that transporters don't have to use your original atoms to reassemble you, but can use any available atoms, leaving your original atoms floating somewhere in space.

This is similar to the " Ship of Theseus " thought experiment (famously  referenced in "Wandavision" ), which questions whether a person or object is still themselves once all the original components are replaced. The Star Trek graphic novel "Forgiveness" does claim that transporters manage to send your soul via the energy stream, which would indicate that transporters don't really kill you. That being said ... they kind of do.

Transporters Make Death Irrelevant

Transporters may or may not kill you, but having a computer advanced enough to scan and store a complete pattern of your body, mind, and memories actually makes death irrelevant. In the episode "Lonely Among Us" from Season 1 of "Next Generation," for instance,  Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) merges with an alien entity and beams off the ship, apparently destroying himself.

However, the Enterprise crew later realize that they can get Picard back by reversing the transport and reconstituting Picard as he was before the alien possessed him. This Picard is the same person in every respect, although he lacks the memories of when he and the alien entity were one, indicating he's an earlier version of Picard built from new atoms.

Oddly, this means a transporter can bring back anyone who dies from a mission just by saving their physical and mental patterns in the pattern buffer and reconstituting them after the original dies. The new version would lack the memories of that mission (including the memory of dying), but this would be a small price to pay for getting a chance to bring people back from the dead on demand. The only downside might be accidentally duplicating someone who isn't dead yet — which actually happened to one hapless crewman on "Next Generation."

Transporters Are Cloning Machines

Season 1 of the original "Star Trek" produced one of the show's weirder episodes with "The Enemy Within," where a transporter accident splits Captain Kirk (William Shatner) into a "good" but weak-willed Kirk and an  "evil" Kirk prone to overacting  (or at least, more overacting than Shatner normally did). As it turned out, both sides of Kirk needed to merge back together to form a whole personality, and Spock and Scotty were able to re-integrate them.

At least Kirk managed to pull himself together. A generation later, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) wasn't so lucky when, on the "Next Generation" Season 6 episode "Second Chances," he learned he was unknowingly split into two exact duplicates thanks to a transporter accident while he was a lieutenant. While one Will Riker continued his career in Starfleet and rose to the rank of Commander, the other Riker (also Frakes) was marooned on an alien planet for eight years until the Enterprise rescued him.

From that point, things got even weirder. Lieutenant Riker decided to go by his middle name "Thomas" and start a new life. He joined a group of Maquis dissidents, then used his genetic pattern to pose as Will Riker and steal the U.S.S. Defiant in the "Deep Space Nine" Season 3 episode "Defiant." Later, he got caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Cardassian labor camp. Meanwhile, Commander William Riker continued to advance in his career and eventually became captain of the U.S.S. Titan. Wow, talk about an identity crisis.

Transporters Are Gene Splicers

David Cronenberg's classic 1986 remake of "The Fly"  showed how an early transporter (or "telepod") could accidentally splice someone's genetic code with an insect if it happened to be inside. By the 24th century, transporter gene splicing accidents have become somewhat prettier, but no less ethically disturbing.

In the "Voyager" Season 2 episode "Tuvix," Lieutenant Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ), Neelix (Ethan Phillips), and an alien plant get merged together in a transporter accident thanks to the plant's enzymes. The resulting hybrid being (played by actor Tom Wright) possessed their memories and called himself "Tuvix." Over time, Tuvix formed  relationships with the crew and came to see himself as a unique being (and looked at Tuvok and Neelix as his parents), resisting attempts to reverse the fusing process. However,  Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) forced him to go through the process anyway, effectively destroying him .

While the moral dilemma of forcing Tuvix to revert back to two beings made for some good drama, it almost seemed unnecessary. Since the transporters can effectively clone people, as they did with William Thomas Riker, why couldn't Voyager have simply made a copy of Tuvix and then separated one of them back into Tuvok and Neelix? Tuvix would have probably been more amenable to that idea.

Transporters Are A Fountain of Youth

Transporters might be able to reassemble you in exactly the same physical condition you were in at the moment of beam out ... but what if you don't want to be put back together as an out-of-shape middle-aged man or a dying woman?

No problem! As multiple "Star Trek” episodes have shown, the transporter can make you any age you want. In the "Next Generation” Season 6 episode "Rascals," a transporter accident removed key sequences in the crew's DNA, causing them to rematerialize as 12-year-olds, albeit with adult minds and memories. Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) later restored the missing sequences and returned the kids to adults, but she indicated that the regressed crewmembers could have simply grown up the normal way instead.

Okay, but say you don't want to restart your life as a preteen and go through puberty a second time? That still wouldn't be an issue. In the Season 2 episode "Unnatural Selection," Doctor Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) was stricken with a disease that accelerated her aging. To save her, the Enterprise used the transporter to re-code her DNA back to normal with a previous bio-pattern that put her back to her regular age.

Of course, since you could store bio-patterns of yourself every time you use the transporter, you could restore yourself to any age or physical condition — including how you looked during your twenties after spending months working out at the gym. Who needs a day spa when you've got a transporter?

Transporters Redefine How Childbirth Works

Starfleet doctors are some of the best medical professionals in the business. Not only can these specialists perform delicate surgery on multiple alien species, they're trained to use their advanced medical equipment to improvise in dangerous situations, leading to some ... well, innovative solutions.

In the "Deep Space Nine" Season 4 episode "Body Parts," Doctor Bashir (Alexander Siddig) was on a shuttle with Major Kira (Nana Visitor) and Chief O'Brien's pregnant wife Keiko (Rosalind Chao). When an accident endangered the lives of Keiko and her unborn son, Bashir decided to use the transporter to transfer the fetus into Kira's womb. Kira ended up carrying the infant to term, resulting in some weird moments for the O'Brien family.

This bizarre incident was motivated by  Nana Visitor's real-life pregnancy , which the writers decided to work into the show after Visitor feared her character might need to be written out. Oddly enough, while "Star Trek" science consultant André Bormanis didn't think such an operation would be scientifically possible, he later admitted that fifteen years after the episode aired,  the idea of a fetal transplant was being studied and could become a reality .

Transporters Can Turn You Into A Living Ghost

Why was Geordi La Forge so confident that transporters were safe? Probably because he suffered a transporter accident that should have killed him in the Season 5 "Next Generation" episode "The Next Phase," only to learn he wasn't really dead. The story had La Forge and Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes) waking up on the Enterprise after a transporter malfunction, only to learn nobody could see or hear them and that they could walk through solid matter.

Ro believed the two of them died while being beamed up, but La Forge was skeptical, and learned a Romulan molecular phase inverter transformed them into "out of phase" versions of themselves. Luckily, he was able to get a message to Data, and the Enterprise reverted them to their solid states.

Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) suffered a more embarrassing version of this ghost-transformation in the Season 1 "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "Much Ado About Boimler." While helping an engineer test the transporter, Boimler was turned into a transparent, glowing version of himself that gave off a "transporter" sound. 

When his crew found him too distracting, they shipped him to "The Farm," a medical spa where all incurable "Star Trek" victims go. The Farm turned out to be a great place, but when Boimler reverted to normal, he was shipped back. Considering the Farm is basically a day spa with attractive nurses, maybe being a transporter accident victim wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Transporters Can Replace Cryogenic Freezing

There's been a lot of cinematic speculation about how cryogenics freeze a person into stasis, possibly allowing them to be revived years or even centuries later. In the movies, everyone from  Austin Powers to  Captain America to  Doctor Evil have attempted it, with varying success.

Well, guess what? In the "Trek” universe, you don't have to bother with messy cold storage. Just store your pattern in the transporter buffer of your ship and wait for someone to re-materialize you. 

That's what Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) did for himself and his crewmate when their ship crashed on a Dyson sphere in the "Next Generation” Season 6 episode "Relics." While his friend's pattern degraded too much for him to be revived (guess Scotty wasn't that much of a miracle worker), Scotty was taken out of storage 75 years later by the crew of the Enterprise-D.

Oddly enough, in the rebooted Kelvin timeline, an alternate Scotty lost Admiral Archer's beagle Porthos in a transwarp beaming experiment. However, in the IDW comic book "Star Trek" #12, Scotty brought Porthos back, showing that animals can also be kept in stasis for extended periods of time. Undoubtedly, this technology will someday revolutionize how our kennels operate.

Transporters Are Time Machines

"Trek" time travel is usually a dramatic event. In "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," Kirk and his crew went back to the 20th century by getting a stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey to perform a "slingshot" maneuver around the sun, creating a time warp. The effort nearly destroyed the ship, but it got the job done.

Of course, if you don't have the movie budget — er, starship — to perform such a feat, just use the transporter. In the "Deep Space Nine" Season 3 two-part storyline "Past Tense," a transporter accident involving temporal altering chroniton particles sent Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks), Doctor Bashir, and Lieutenant Commander Dax (Terry Farrell) to the 21st century where they accidentally interfered with a key historical event, threatening to erase their future.

Meanwhile,  Chief O'Brien (Colm Meany) and Major Kira managed to use a limited supply of chronitons to travel through time and locate their missing crew members. They ended up briefly visiting 1930, and even swung by 1967 to get flowers from some hippies, before finally hitting the right date. 

Such tech would be greatly refined by the 29th century, when the Federation included fleets of "timeships" in Starfleet that possessed temporal displacement drives and temporal rifts to travel through time, allowing them to  essentially beam people to any point in history.

Transporters Can Take You to Alternate Realities

As if ending up in the wrong place isn't bad enough, some transporter accidents can place you in an entirely different universe — and not a very fun one at that. 

In the classic Season 2 "Star Trek” episode, "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk and several other crew members re-materialized in a " Mirror Universe " where the benevolent Federation was the planet-conquering "Terran Empire." Kirk and his crew needed to pretend to be their evil counterparts, since any traitors to the empire would be placed in "agony booths" of torture that made folks wish they were dead.

Meanwhile, the Mirror Universe versions of Kirk and his crew appeared in the "Prime" Star Trek universe and were thrown into the Enterprise's brig. Fortunately, the two crews managed to switch places, with the "Prime" Kirk making the "Mirror" Spock consider reforming the Terran Empire.

While this appeared to be a random transporter accident, by the 24th century, Mirror Universe engineers managed to upgrade their transporters to allow people to crossover to the "Prime" universe at will. This led to multiple episodes in "Deep Space Nine" where mainstream characters visited the alternate reality and even formed friendships with some of their Mirror Universe counterparts.

People Have Faked Their Deaths via Transporter Accidents

Want to know how common transporter accidents really are? As it turns out, one Romulan spy felt this sort of death was so prevalent in Starfleet that she staged her own transporter death.

In the "Next Generation" Season 4 episode " Data's Day ," a Vulcan ambassador (Sierra Pecheur) apparently died in a transporter accident even though the equipment appeared to be functioning perfectly. Data (Brent Spiner) investigated, discovering bits of organic matter that arrived in transport were replicated, leading him to deduce that the "Vulcan" ambassador was actually a Romulan spy who used the Enterprise to rendezvous with her people and had the replicated material of her "dead body" beamed onto their ship to fake her cover identity's death.

While the spy's deception was discovered, not every Starfleet crew has people like Data or Doctor Crusher who can investigate so thoroughly. Given this, maybe transporter accidents really aren't so common. Perhaps, most of them are perpetrated by people who just want to start a new life.

Star Trek’s Transporter Technology, Explained

Transporters are among the most interesting technology in Star Trek. How exactly is Scotty able to "beam me up?"

Ever since its creation in the late 1960s, Star Trek has been a pinnacle of positive science fiction, envisioning a non-dystopian future where technology has become so advanced that problems that irk mankind today are no longer an issue . World hunger is solved by the unlimited source of food created by a replicator , complex medical diagnostics can take place in a matter of seconds using a tricorder. However, nothing has become such a cornerstone of the many iterations into the franchise as the iconic transporter.

Teleportation has long been a dream of mankind, replacing arduous long-haul flights with a simple matter transportation device. With this gizmo, journeys that would typically take hours can take only seconds. The transporters are used throughout the many iterations into the franchise, from the revolutionary Original Series to the newest addition to the universe, Strange New Worlds . So fundamental are these transporters as a narrative beat that they appear in almost every episode, bar the occasional few. What's more, they often play a key role in solving whatever problem the intrepid adventures of Starfleet face.

RELATED: How Star Trek: The Next Generation Explored Blindness & Accessibility With Geordi LaForge

While there have been a few gizmos and gadgets from the show that have wiggled their way into non-fictional technological creations , unfortunately the transporter is not one of them. Real-world scientists have poured considerable research into it, with successful experiments having already been carried out on a molecular scale, but sadly we are nowhere close to the transporter technology portrayed in the show.

The biggest problem with achieving teleportation is largely down to how advanced and complex most organisms and objects are. Star Trek transporter tech works by breaking down matter such as living organisms, cargo, even gas or liquid-based matter into an energy pattern, in a process that the show calls “dematerialization.” Once each atom is broken down into this pattern, it is “beamed” across to another transporter pad, where it is converted back into matter. This is aptly named “rematerialization.” Interestingly, the famous quote “Beam me up, Scotty”, in reference to the Original Series transporter operator and chord of engineering Montgomery Scott, is actually a misquote, never uttered in the Original Series . The closest occasion was the one time Kirk said “Scotty, beam me up,” years later in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Within the Star Trek universe, there are some limitations to the miraculous technology, such as distance restriction and often an inability to penetrate through shields. There are of course exceptions to these rules, but they are often connected specifically to a particular episodes plot. Writers, as is often the case in long-running TV shows such as this, often break or bend the rules on transporter specifics, so it’s often hard to canonically understand their limitations. In the Original Series it’s noted that it is only possible to transport from one transporter bay to another. However, this rule has been broken multiple times, showing crew members transported from any random location to another, all without the bay. This raises the question as to why they have the designated transporter room to begin with, other than to make grand entrances and create memorable transitions.

While the process sounds simple enough on paper, like sending an email over, the process is riddled with complex problems and potential dangers. It’s no wonder that transporter operators are so highly trained within Starfleet, as the idea of breaking down matter and then reconstructing it in exactly the same way is a daunting task. It is comparable to smashing a vase into tiny pieces, then trying to glue it all back together. Of course, with the wonders of Star Trek technology, this process is vastly automated, but there are still a myriad of problems that can occur.

There have been various episodes devoted to these issues, potentially most notably the Voyager episode “Tuvix”. Tuvok and Neelix, two crew members under the controversial Capt. Janeway, are on an away mission. Upon beaming back to the ship their energy pattern was disrupted, causing it to merge into one pattern and thus rematerialize into one living organism: Tuvix. There kinds of issues are scarily common, and thus there are various characters whom audiences meet across the franchise that are hesitant or even refuse to use transporters.

Transporters are potentially one of the most fascinating technological advancements present within the show, and are often the envy of even modern day audiences. Technology has come ridiculously far since The Original Series first graced televisions, with touch screens, smartphones, and virtual reality all appearing in the real world, and making the old shows feel dated. Transporters, however, along with warp engines and replicators, make even the oldest episodes feel futuristic, setting a standard that has remained relevant more than 50 years later.

MORE: Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Most Heart Wrenching Moment

How Do Transporters Work In Star Trek?

T hey’re one of the most recognizable and ubiquitous pieces of technology in Star Trek, and people rely on them every day in the world of the future. Some people, like Dr. McCoy, prefer not to use them while people in Discovery ‘s 32nd century pop around from one spot to another all the time with matter-energy conversion lapel pins. But how do Star Trek‘s transporters actually work?

The basic idea of transporters is simple: convert matter into energy, send it in the form of a matter stream (or “beam”), and reconstitute the matter at a desired location. It’s a physics-bending notion that Star Trek itself has had to justify (we’ll get to that), but it arose, like many things in the franchise, out of budget constraints.

When the original Star Trek was produced in the 1960s, it was already an ambitious project for television with the promise of starships, alien creatures, and strange new worlds, but it existed in the real world of network finances.

Creating and flying ships onscreen was one challenge, with certain stock shots being reused over different backgrounds to save money on expensive visual effects. But landing Star Trek’s ships was another concern altogether, especially with the odd shape of the Enterprise.

So, the ingenious idea was developed that people in the future didn’t need to land their ships when they could just use transporters materialize on a planet’s surface.

It was not the first time such an idea had entered science fiction, with Frank K. Kelley’s “vibra-transmitter” from his 1933 story “Into the Meteorite Orbit” bearing that distinction. But while Kelley envisioned people’s bodies transformed into vibrations, Star Trek’s transporter operates on the principle of converting matter into energy patterns.

These are stored in pattern buffers that help retain the original configuration of the matter that passes through and can be used as a backup to help restore anything (or anyone) that is lost or damaged in the process.

It all sounds fine until Dr. McCoy is chuckled at for worrying about having his molecules “scrambled” not long after a transporter accident kills two people in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Starfleet ‘s report, “What we got back didn’t live long . . . fortunately” is not the best advertisement for a mode of transit. And the concept of turning matter into energy and rematerializing it on its own has some pretty big scientific hurdles to jump.

In 1927, German physicist Werner Heisenberg developed what is known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that we cannot perfectly know both the location and the speed of a given particle, such as a proton or an electron. This means that identifying and locating all the bits of matter in a particular object or person is essentially impossible. Thankfully, Star Trek’s transporters are equipped with Heisenberg compensators-devices that circumvent this problem to make transport possible.

How does the transporter’s Heisenberg compensator work? To quote Star Trek technical advisor Mike Okuda, “It works very well, thank you.” If all of this doesn’t exactly instill you with the highest of confidence in this particular piece of technology, don’t worry: it only seems impossible because it hasn’t been invented yet.

In the early 22nd century, Star Trek: Enterprise tells us, Dr. Emory Erickson will not only invent the transporter, but will be the first human to be transported by one. They will start out, of course, transporting cargo. Never mind that the human body contains 10^27 (one followed by 27 zeroes) atoms and that the computing power necessary to store that much data is ridiculous; you’ll be just fine.

By Star Trek’s 24th century, in fact, matter-energy transporters will be considered the “safest way to travel” ( TNG “Realm of Fear”). They will even be used to reconstitute lost crew members, in addition to creating twins ( TOS “The Enemy Within,” TNG “Second Chances”), portals to alternate dimensions ( TOS “Mirror, Mirror” and subsequent Mirror Universe episodes) and genetic hybrids sparking intense ethical conundrums ( VOY “Tuvix”).

In fact, it will be so relied upon that people will occasionally forget shuttlecrafts exist and leave crew members to nearly freeze to death on an alien planet while they work to fix the transporters ( TOS “The Enemy Within”).

The upshot is that transporter technology is entirely safe and reliable and functions on the very real Star Trek principle of science magic, which has yet to fail us. Except when it does, but that’s beside the point. Beam us up anyway!

The post How Do Transporters Work In Star Trek? appeared first on GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT .

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          It is not known for certain exactly why this UK Transporter substitution was felt necessary by Palitoy, but the following theory has been put forth: It is possible that this was a shipping cost-saving measure.  The vinyl housing of the Enterprise was manufactured in the United States, but the plastic accessories--including the Transporter Unit--were made in Hong Kong.  Assuming that Palitoy would have had to assemble any Enterprise Playsets themselves once all of the components arrived in the UK, the economical aspect of this choice becomes clear.  Palitoy avoided the exorbitant manufacturing and freight costs altogether by instead focusing on what was arguably the coolest part of the playset--the Transporter Room--and just released that.

          * In a further example of Palitoy economy, there is no instruction sheet included with the toy.  The operating directions are, instead, printed on the outside of the box.

          * Like its cousins, the French and Canadian Enterprise Playset s, the stylized "Transporter Effect" stickers were not included as six separate strips that had to be applied onto the toy by the child.  Instead, two large labels--one on each side of the tumbler--were applied as part of the manufacturing process.

          * The only other thing contained within the box besides the Transporter itself is a square cardboard "spacer" which sits at the bottom of the package underneath the Transporter.  This is worth mentioning because it is often missing.

          * Interestingly, Mego had originally intended for the "Transporter Effect" labels on the Enterprise to be printed in magenta and black.  This is evidenced by the prototype picture of the playset on the back of "6-face" cards.  For reasons unknown, Mego changed their minds and went with a yellow/black motif.  It would take another manufacturer in another country to finally make good on Mego's original design intent.

          * The British were apparently very keen on the design and play-value of this toy, as Denys Fisher would later employ the same mechanism ,albeit in a slightly larger scale, in the TARDIS accessory for their "Doctor Who" line of 9" action figures.

The box for the Transporter Room accessory.

Want to see the Transporter do its thing?  Glide your mouse over the picture above!

We're happy to report that the word "Mego" was pronounced correctly.

Pictures and commentary graciously provided by Kevin (MirrorSpock).

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Beam me up Scotty: German scientists invent working teleporter, of sorts

New system destructively scans objects transmits them through encrypted communications across any distance and rebuilds it the other side

Teleportation has been the holy grail of transport for decades, ever since Mr Scott first beamed up Captain Kirk and his crew in the 1966 opening episode of Star Trek . Now the technology may have been cracked in real life … sort of.

Scientists from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam have invented a real-life teleporter system that can scan in an object and “beam it” to another location.

Not quite the dematerialisation and reconstruction of science fiction, the system relies on destructive scanning and 3D printing .

An object at one end of the system is milled down layer-by-layer, creating a scan per layer which is then transmitted through an encrypted communication to a 3D printer. The printer then replicates the original object layer by layer, effectively teleporting an object from one place to another.

“We present a simple self-contained appliance that allows relocating inanimate physical objects across distance,” said the six person team in a paper submitted for the Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction conference at Stanford University. “Users place an object into the sender unit, enter the address of a receiver unit, and press the relocate button.”

The system dubbed “Scotty” in homage to the Enterprise’s much beleaguered chief engineer, differs from previous systems that merely copy physical object as its layer-by-layer deconstruction and encrypted transmission ensures that only one copy of the object exists at any one time, according to the scientists.

Real-world applications are pretty short for this kind of destruction and reconstruction. But the encryption, transmission and 3D printing objects could be key for companies wishing to sell goods via home 3D printers, ensuring only one copy could be made per purchase – effectively digital rights management for 3D printed objects.

Those looking to cut their commute by simply beaming into the office will have to wait at least another decade or two.

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Transport ship

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A Federation class J transport

In starship classification , a transport ship or ferry was a limited role starship , similar in function to a shuttle , but designed to carry people or supplies. Rarely, some transports were categorized as space cruisers . ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

More specialized transports, such as colony ships or colony transport ships , were designed to transport personnel for planetary colonization . ( TNG : " The Ensigns of Command ") Additionally, some vessels were also categorized as short-range transports . Dolamide was a material used for building these transports. ( DS9 : " Dramatis Personae ")

The Federation differentiated transports into one of two categories: commercial and non-commercial. ( TNG : " Inheritance ") Deanna Troi once suggested to the overwhelmed Janeway that she should perhaps consider serving aboard a transport ship, as " there's a lot less pressure there. " ( TNG : " Man Of The People ")

In the 2260s of the alternate reality , information on transport vessels was located in the Federation database . ( Star Trek Beyond )

In 2372 , Jake Sisko mused that he and Nog seemed to have spent most of the previous three years doing nothing, aside from playing dom-jot and watching the Bajoran transports dock. ( DS9 : " Little Green Men ")

In 2371 , Quark considered buying his own transport ship to keep up with his intentions of making Quark 's " the best place for Cardassian food and drink in this sector , " which would require him to " probably set up daily shipments from Cardassia . " ( DS9 : " Destiny ")

After Worf nearly killed his brother Kurn during the Mauk-to'Vor in 2372 , Captain Benjamin Sisko told Worf " I want you to tell me why I shouldn't put you on the next transport out of here. " ( DS9 : " Sons of Mogh ") A short time later, Worf, who was posing as Commander Sorval while performing espionage aboard the IKS Drovana , warned a curious lieutenant to " Leave us, or I shall have you stripped of rank and sent home in a transport! " ( DS9 : " Sons of Mogh ")

In the late 24th century , after the Federation learned that the Romulan sun was about to go supernova, Starfleet planned to use a rescue armada of ten thousand warp-capable ferries to relocate Romulan citizens . However, the armada was wiped out in the Attack on Mars . ( PIC : " Remembrance ")

• 1 Transports by race
• 2 Transport ships by designation
• 3.1 Background information
• 3.2 External link

Transports by race [ ]

• Al-Leyan transport
• Andorian transport
• Angosian police shuttle (or "transport vessel")
• Antidean transport
• Antares class
• Bajoran starship
• Bajoran transport
• Bajoran vessel
• Bolian transport
• Brenari transport vessel
• Brunali transport vessel
• Byzatium transport
• Cardassian supply ship
• Karemma transport
• Enolian prison transport
• Antares -type
• Apollo -class
• Bradbury -class
• Erewon -class ("personnel transport")
• Ptolemy -class
• SD-103-type
• Sydney -class
• Wallenberg -class
• Whorfin -class
• D'Kora -class
• Kantare transport vessel
• Klingon civilian transport ship (24th century)
• Klingon transport (22nd century)
• Kobliad transport
• Kobheerian transport
• Lissepian transport
• Malon transport ship
• Maquis transport ship
• Mulzirak transport
• Pakled trade ship
• Pakled transport
• Romulan transport
• Skrreean transport
• Suliban transport
• Tandaran transport
• Tellarite transport ship
• Transport shuttle ( Augment )
• Trill transport (2367)
• Trill transport (2372)
• Valerian transport
• Vanoben transport
• Yelikan transport

Transport ships by designation [ ]

• Artemis , SS
• Astral Queen
• Bradbury , USS
• Conestoga , SS
• Constantinople , USS
• Denver , USS
• Jenolan , USS
• Manila , SS
• Nightingale
• Robert Fox , SS
• Santa Maria , SS
• Sherval Das
• The Festoon
• Cardassian transport
• Charlie's transport
• Fraddock's transport ship
• Starfleet transport
• Courier ship

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Archer's model spaceship

The remote controlled model spaceship was described in the final draft script of ENT : " Broken Bow " as a model of an early 22nd century Starfleet transport.

A Vulcan transport was also included in an early story outline for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . It would have delivered Dr. McCoy from the planet Vulcan to the USS Enterprise as the starship headed to the Genesis Planet , after the Enterprise had left him on Vulcan while on a return journey to Earth. ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8 , p. 29)

In the first draft script of ENT : " Fortunate Son ", a Vulcan ship was scheduled to remand Ryan Cross to Earth for trial .

External link [ ]

• Transport ship at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
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Screen Rant

10 background characters star trek fans love.

Star Trek fans have a soft spot for some of the unsung featured background players and lesser-known characters in Star Trek shows.

• Background characters in Star Trek add depth to the universe, making it feel lived-in and real.
• Beloved regular faces like Lt. M'Ress, Nurse Ogawa, and Mr. Mot enhance Star Trek shows.
• From Lt. Linus to Dr. Migleemo, each background character brings their own unique charm to the series.

There's something about beloved Star Trek background characters that really helps its universe feel lived-in and real. While the primary action is taking place, it's up to the background actors to make the sets look like genuine places where people are going about their business. These are the folks at the bridge stations who aren't in the opening credits. They're the assistants to the main characters. They're the beloved regular faces spotted among the crowds in establishing shots, and the names floating around duty rosters and civilian gossip that remind viewers that there's more to Star Trek than the captains and chief engineers.

There are so many background characters from all of the Star Trek shows who are beloved by fans, of course. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Promenade is full of colorful background characters without names or personal histories, like the singing Klingon chef (Ron Taylor). Star Trek: Voyager features recurring background characters, since being stuck in the Delta Quadrant means no new Starfleet officers can join the crew. Star Trek: The Next Generation features background characters who sometimes level up to become proper guest stars , and in one famous case, a series regular: the "most important person in Starfleet" and original lower-decker, Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney). Here are 10 background characters Star Trek fans love.

20 Best New Star Trek Characters Of The Last 20 Years

10 lt. m'ress (majel barrett), star trek: the animated series.

Lt. M'Ress is a Caitian officer with a seat on the USS Enterprise bridge, created for Star Trek: The Animated Series when Star Trek 's jump to animation meant that the aliens in Star Trek were no longer restrained by what the makeup department could physically create. As the first Caitian in Star Trek , M'Ress sets the standard for the feline alien species , later echoed by Star Trek 's other animated Caitian, Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman) in Star Trek: Lower Decks .

Like many background characters, M'Ress' cool character design is a top reason for her appeal, but M'Ress earns her spot on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise by being a capable officer. M'Ress' duties as relief communications officer include communication within the Enterprise as well as to outside vehicles, along with scientific duties as situations arise, similar to the duties of primary communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).

Lt. M'Ress appeared in 2 episodes of the "anything but canon" animated web series Star Trek: very Short Treks, voiced by Cristina Milizia.

9 Lt. T'Veen (Stephanie Czajkowski)

Star trek: picard.

The starship action of Star Trek: Picard season 3 takes place primarily aboard the USS Titan-A, and as such, introduces a brand-new bridge crew of younger Starfleet officers, one of which is the Vulcan Lt. T'Veen. T'Veen stands out as both a woman and a Vulcan for her striking bald appearance , marking her look as both novel and unique. Actor Stephanie Czajkowski suggests that T'Veen may have some Deltan ancestry, but in reality, T'Veen's lack of locks comes from Czajkowski's own battles with cancer.

When Vadic (Amanda Plummer) commandeers the Titan in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 8, "Surrender" , T'Veen is one of the Titan bridge officers used as leverage against Vadic's request for Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). At this point in Picard , the Titan's crew are painted as candidates for a potential spinoff show, but Lt. T'Veen's shocking death at Vadic's hand sends the message that no one is safe.

8 Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff)

Star trek: the next generation, star trek: lower decks.

The original claim to fame for Ensign Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff) is being the eager young engineer who unfortunately spills hot chocolate on Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: The Next Generation , season 2, episode 16, "Q Who". Serving on the USS Enterprise-D with Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) is Gomez's dream job, and the chocolate-covered Captain isn't going to earn her any high marks. La Forge recognizes Gomez's talent as an antimatter specialist, and helps Sonya focus, despite the gaffe.

Lycia Naff makes a triumphant return to Star Trek as Captain Sonya Gomez in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 10, "First First Contact", commanding the USS Archimedes with the same compassionate focus on problem-solving that La Forge had as Gomez's mentor. Captain Gomez's story is proof that Star Trek characters do learn from their earliest mistakes , and can come out on top in the end.

7 Mr. Mot (Ken Thorley)

Star trek: the next generation.

In an interesting twist, Mr. Mot is a barber working on the USS Enterprise-D, and happens to be a Bolian, a species that has no hair of their own. Nonetheless, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) says that the civilian Mot is the best barber in Starfleet . There's more to being a barber than just cutting hair, after all, and Mot's listening ears are available to anyone who comes to sit in his barbershop chair, as long as they don't mind receiving a little free advice on the side.

The Bolian barber became an entrepreneur.

After providing excellent service to the crew on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mot grew even more successful. The Bolian barber became an entrepreneur, which is evident by the presence of Mr. Mot's Hair Emporium as one of the many businesses in Stardust City, on the planet Freecloud, as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 5, "Stardust City Rag".

Bolians are named for Star Trek director Cliff Bole, who directed a total of 42 episodes between his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Voyager .

10 Star Trek Characters Fans See Themselves In

6 groundskeeper boothby (ray walston), star trek: the next generation, star trek: voyager.

Mr. Boothby is a positive influence on generations of Starfleet officers at Starfleet Academy, but one would be wrong to assume that Boothby is an accomplished instructor working to shape young minds, because Boothby works at Starfleet Academy as the head groundskeeper. Groundskeeper Boothby's no-nonsense approach to the natural development of the Academy's flora also applies to how Boothby interacts with Starfleet cadets .

Boothby's influence on the USS Voyager crew was evident in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 4, "In the Flesh", when a Species 8472 leader took on the guise of Boothby in a Starfleet Academy simulation, instead of a high-ranking Admiral.

Sometimes, Boothby's advice is harsh, as was the case with Jean-Luc Picard as a Starfleet Academy cadet. But in the end, Boothby always has an uncanny sensibility for knowing exactly how to cultivate the best forms of both botanical specimens and future Starfleet officers.

5 Lt. Kayshon (Carl Tart)

Star trek: lower decks.

Lt. Kayshon has the honor of being the first Tamarian in Starfleet , debuting in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 2, "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", as the USS Cerritos' new security officer. The Tamarians, first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 2, "Darmok", have a puzzling metaphorical language reliant on background knowledge of Tamarian culture. The Tamarian phrases from "Darmok" have been adopted by Star Trek fans as a fun way to signal our fandom to each other, so it makes sense that a Tamarian officer should show up on Star Trek: Lower Decks , itself a celebration of Star Trek 's own weird and wonderful moments.

Kayshon spends more time in the background after his first episode, still part of the USS Cerritos' security team. The years between "Picard and Dathon at El-Adred" and Kayshon's assignment to the USS Cerritos in Star Trek: Lower Decks mean the communication gap between Kayshon and the rest of the USS Cerritos' crew is much smaller than it might have been in the past. Kayshon communicates in Federation Standard, but still slips into Tamarian metaphor from time to time, which just adds new phrases to the Tamarian lexicon.

4 Dr. Migleemo (Paul F. Tompkins)

In Dr. Migleemo, Star Trek: Lower Decks continues the tradition that was established with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) on Star Trek: The Next Generation by having a counselor aboard the USS Cerritos . Strictly speaking, Migleemo is not the galaxy's best counselor , with a whole plateful of food metaphors that don't always land butter-side-up, but Migleemo's heart is always in the right place.

As a bird-like alien of an unspecified species, Dr. Migleemo's character design pays homage to Star Trek: The Animated Series , since a bird man in a tweed suit may not translate that well to live action, but works perfectly for animation.

Even though Migleemo is bad at his job, it's in a way that's not actively harmful, but makes you want to root for him, just like any other lower decker on the Cerritos. Sometimes Migleemo gets it right , after all, like counseling Ensign D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) in the senior science officer training program in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 3, "Mining the Mind's Mines".

3 Nurse Alyssa Ogawa (Patti Yasutake)

Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) usually has assistants in the background of the USS Enterprise-D's sick bay, and one of these, Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, is a regular background character starting in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4. Ogawa grows as a character over the course of TNG 's final four seasons , receiving a full name as of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 18, "Cause and Effect", and developing as a character through Ogawa's casual conversations with Dr. Crusher about Alyssa's dating history.

Nurse Ogawa gets more to do when Ogawa is one of the four USS Enterprise-D junior officers at the heart of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, episode 15, "Lower Decks" , focusing on the friendship between often-overlooked characters. Ogawa's story focuses on Alyssa's relationship with Lieutenant Andrew Powell, and culminates in their off-screen engagement.

Nurse Alyssa Ogawa also appears in two Star Trek movies: Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact .

2 Lt. Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson)

Star trek: discovery.

With Lt. Linus, Star Trek: Discovery shows in a casual, but meaningful way what it looks like to actively include someone with unique needs . Arriving in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Lt. Linus is a Saurian science officer who never fails to provide a little levity just by being himself. By all accounts, Linus is well-liked among the USS Discovery's crew , with plenty of crew members referring to Linus and Saurian customs relatively favorably.

Lt. Linus is accepted as someone whose needs are a little different to most human officers'.

Starfleet easily makes accommodations available for Linus' differences in biology , granting personal time set aside for annual shedding, and providing heat lamps in Linus' quarters as needed. After Star Trek: Discovery 's time jump , Linus takes a little more time to understand the new 32nd-century technology, but he's never admonished for catching up to the learning curve. Instead, Lt. Linus is accepted as someone whose needs are a little different to most human officers'.

Every DS9 Alien In Star Trek: Discovery

1 morn (mark allen shepherd), star trek: deep space nine.

Morn is a fixture in Quark's Bar from the start of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the perennial barfly occupying the same seat at the end of the table. According to the other patrons at Quark's, Morn rarely shuts up, but the joke is, of course, that Morn is always cut off before delivering any speaking lines. Instead, the picture of who Morn really is slowly comes together through other people's comments and conversation about Morn, with the speculation about Morn's true identity finally coming to a head in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 12, "Who Mourns for Morn". Morn's apparent death is a blow to the community and all who knew him, but also reveals surprising facts about DS9 's Morn , like Morn's secret riches and tactical mind, confirming that there was more to the enigmatic Lurian than Morn's signature bar stool.

True to form, Morn is seated at Quark's Bar when the USS Cerritos visits Deep Space Nine in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 6, "Hear All, Trust Nothing".

Sometimes the Star Trek characters who aren't major players become some of the most beloved characters. When background characters on Star Trek attract the eyes of viewers with interesting character designs or memorable moments, they may wind up in expanded roles as their Star Trek shows go on. These featured background characters will get lines and names, and might even have a major part in an episode or two, but most live out their lives off-screen. From the bridge crew to the lower decks, from Starfleet officers to civilians, it's the unsung heroes in the background who keep Star Trek moving while the main action is taking place.

Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks are all streaming on Paramount+.