How does the transport thing work on Star Trek?

Question

Hello, I was watching Star Trek Generations and I had a question I was hoping someone could help me with. When the members of the fleet are "beamed" from one spot to another, how do they know who to transport? For example, if there are six people in the room and someone says "three to transport" how do they know which three??
Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm a Trekker. I don't know a whole lot about the special effects etc but I have seen every episode of every version of Star Trek and oodles of times. So, I'll just talk here and share my ideas and my experience in being a part of a Star Trek show.

I have noticed that the people being beamed up are always standing slightly away from the others and are also standing in a slight pattern. Ever notice too that most often they stand facing the camera with their feet shoulder distance apart?
I think it is one of those things that we are suppose to overlook. The Annular Confinement Beam always seem to take the people closest to the person asking to be beamed up. The Annular Confinement Beam (ACB) is where the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty!" comes from.
Yes, crew members have their patterns in the computer but that doesn't explain how 3 from a party of 6 could be beamed up. The computer or the computer operator still wouldn't know which 3. Not only that, but many times an alien visitor is beamed aboard and that pattern is not in the computer. I still think we are suppose to overlook those kinds of bloops and we are to assume they just know.

I came across this site that shows you how you can create the transporter effect using adobe. It says it can be done using any video editing program. Might be worth a look see.
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/special-effects/star-trek/transporter/

This site explains how to do it very well.
http://maxent.org/video/vegas_transporter.html

Here is another site where someone built there own transporter.
http://www.geocities.com/~special_effect/star_trek.html


Years ago at Universal Studios, CA they had a Star Trek show that required audience participants. I was one and ended up playing a Star Trek crew member who carried the tricorder. We were beamed down to the planet, had a fight with an alien group (throwing huge rocks made out of styrofoam) and then were beamed back up. During the beaming scene we had to stand perfectly still in a certain spot - it was marked. We were told to stand there until the green light came on that indicated the beaming process was over. While standing there you could see the lights sparkling. It also involved a black curtain but it was so long ago I can't remember what it did. I know it didn't fall down in front of us because then we wouldn't have been able to see the green light. Perhaps someone else will have a better memory. When we went into the theatre to watch the 1/2 show we made, all the people involved were spliced into an already prepared movie with Captain Kirt, Spock etc. The beaming scene looked exactly like it did and still does in the Star Trek shows. It was quite the experience. An actress I am not!! I was hit by a huge rock, fell against a tree and the entire time I was laughing.

Answer 2

In your example, the 3 people to be transported would have been decided before the transporter is activated. Standard Operating procedure would have the remote operator either monitoring the conversation to find out or being told who to transport. The transporter picks up their bio-patterns from the id/communication badges on their uniforms. If they are not using id/comm badges, they can be chosen from pinpointing a communicator signal, an exact physical location or using a wide beam. If they were transporting from a ship or planetary transport station they would be standing on a transporter pad/platform.

Answer 3

The ones who move off with the person who communicated with the ship and are in close proximity are assumed to be the one to be beamed up as well. That's why they usually move off a few feet and stand in formation. Their life signs are scanned and they are transported. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Each crew member has their body pattern programed into the computer and the operator just keys in that person and the transporter recognizes the pattern

Answer 5

The machine "remembers" the patterns of the person and can lock onto them more readily than any other.

It can also do a spread tranpostation and take them all up

Answer 6

it does'nt it's not real