Transporter room

A transporter room was part of a starship or space station which was specially outfitted to transport lifeforms and small, inanimate objects.

The number of transporter rooms varied per ship or station, the main criteria being the ability to evacuate all personnel within a specified time. All key components which were needed for transport were fitted in this room and the one just below.

Some starships, such as the, did not have a transporter room. The area surrounding Enterprise's transporter was instead situated between two corridors to which the transporter alcove was directly adjoined, on either side. (Star Trek: Enterprise)

A transporter room was usually manned by a transporter operator. Miles O'Brien was the senior transporter chief for much of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)'s service. Transporter Room Three was O'Brien's preferred room. Before he left (to take up his post on Deep Space 9), Jean-Luc Picard told him it would not be the same without him. (Star Trek: The Next Generation; )

Although Deep Space 9 did possess at least five transporter rooms, Ops had its own transporter. The DS9 Ops transporter was also used, several times, to effect a doorway to the mirror universe. 

Captain Benjamin Sisko referred to the transporter room of the USS Defiant (2370) as the "transporter bay". 

transporter rooms occasionally had food synthesizers. 

Transporter Room 1
Transporter Room 1 was located on deck 6, in room 1654. It served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. 

For decks 1 to 4, mass evacuation occurred via the cargo transporters. 

In 2364, Lieutenant Natasha Yar requested Commander William T. Riker's presence in this room. His presence was needed for an inspection of an unidentified item being beamed in from a surface station on Haven. With Riker present, a Betazoid gift box materialized on the transporter pad. Later, Counselor Deanna Troi, when entering the room, expressed dismay at the sight of the gift box. 

In 2366, this transporter room was used in an attempt to transport Roga Danar from the brig to an Angosian police shuttle. He managed to escape the transport attempt while making himself appear to have been lost in an explosion. 

Transporter Room 2
Transporter Room 2 was located on deck 6. It also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. 

Transporter Room 3
Transporter Room 3 was located on deck 6, in room 2054. It also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. This was Chief O'Brien's favorite transporter room on the ship. 

2364

 * Propulsion expert Kosinski and his companion, The Traveler, were beamed aboard the Enterprise from the USS Fearless into this room. Greeting the visitors were Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, and Chief Engineer Argyle.


 * After speaking with Doctor Beverly Crusher and Counselor Troi about a brain graph of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Riker requested the computer for a location of the captain. The computer located the captain's last position as this room. Before Riker could order a shutdown of transporter controls, Picard, under the influence of the thought maker, had beamed to his prior command, the USS Stargazer.


 * After a rescue-and-recovery team led by Commander Riker and consisting of Lieutenant Commander Data and Lieutenant Geordi La Forge had located survivors, led by the Klingon officer Korris, aboard the freighter Batris, Captain Picard ordered Lieutenant Yar to this room to greet the away team. For the retrieval of the away team, plus three Klingons, she operated the transporter controls.


 * After Commander Riker was encased in a force field on Minos, Captain Picard asked the transporter chief for this room if he had a lock on the away team. He replied that he had a lock on two members of the team, but not Riker. After conferring with his senior officers, the captain and Dr. Crusher beamed down to the planet's surface from this room.

2365

 * In early 2365, Data authorized the transporter chief, Miles O'Brien, to transport samples of plasma plague from 'aucdet IX into Cargo Deck 5, a cargo bay situated in the stardrive section of the Enterprise-D. Later in this room, in orbit about Science Station Tango Sierra, O'Brien transported the samples from the bay into a contained area on the space station.
 * Later that year, after a farewell party for Data, Picard asked Riker to meet him in this room prior to them beaming together to Starbase 173.

2366

 * After a terrorist bombing at the Lumar Cafe on Rutia IV in 2366, Captain Picard ordered the transporter chief to target Dr. Crusher, Lt. Cmdr. Data, and Lt. Worf, and prepare for an immediate beam-up. However, before the transportation could take effect, Crusher was kidnapped by the Ansata.


 * A few days later, in a brazen attack on the Enterprise, the Ansata planted a bomb on the main reactor chamber. Captain Picard ordered the transporter chief to lock onto the explosive device and beam it out into space. As the bomb had sensor jamming technology, the chief couldn't complete the order. It was only when Lt. Cmdr. La Forge removed the bomb from the chamber with a laser cutter and placed his communicator on the bomb that the transportation could take effect. As per the chief engineer's instructions, the bomb materialized five kilometers off the starboard nacelle, where it exploded harmlessly.


 * Upon the chance discovery of an one-man spaceship crashed on a planet in the Zeta Gelis Cluster, a medical triage team led by Riker, and consisting of Dr. Crusher, Lt. Cmdr. Data, and Lt. Cmdr. La Forge, were beamed near to the crash site by the transporter chief in this room.

2369

 * While trapped in a temporal fragment, the Enterprise-D beamed Romulans on board. The away team, including Captain Picard, Deanna Troi, Data, and Geordi La Forge tried to find out what happened and beamed on board the Enterprise-D. Picard ordered Troi to go to sickbay, Data to main engineering, and himself to transporter room 3, where he found Worf and two security officers who beamed three Romulans on board.

Transporter Room 4
This transporter also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 5 to 10. 

In late 2364, a rescue-and-recovery team led by Commander Riker and consisting of Dr. Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Data, and Lieutenant Yar beamed from this room to Vagra II in an effort to rescue survivors of a shuttle crash. 

In 2366, this room was used to beam Roga Danar on board from an escape pod. 

Transporter Room 5
This transporter served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 6 to 16. 

In 2365, Chief Miles O'Brien was assigned to this room. He transported Jean-Luc Picard, Deanna Troi, and Worf to Ramatis III. 

Transporter Room 6
This transporter also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 6 to 16. 


 * In 2364, the transporter chief for this room reported a transporter console malfunction to the bridge. The malfunction was later attributed to an entity found in the Beta Renner cloud.

Transporter Room 7
This transported also served as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 6 to 16. 

Transporter Room 8
Transporter room 8 was located on deck 12. It was used for mass evacuation of decks 6 to 16. 


 * In 2364, Wesley Crusher, on his way to the Starfleet Academy entrance exams, was beamed to Relva VII from this room. Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and Lieutenant Yar wished him well, and his mother, Dr. Crusher, gave him a hug expressing her pride and love. Later, the four officers greeted Admiral Gregory Quinn and Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick of the Judge Advocate General as they beamed in from the planet.

Transporter Room 9
This transporter was also used as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 6 to 16. 

Transporter Room 10
This transporter was also used as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 6 to 16. 

Transporter Rooms 11-14
This transporter was used as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 17 to 28. 

Transporter Rooms 15-20
This transporter was used as a mass evacuation transporter for decks 29 to 42. 

Transporter Room 3
In 2373 this transporter room beamed the crew of the USS Defiant (2370) aboard when the ships life support system failed. Later, the away team including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Data, and Beverly Crusher was beamed from this transporter room to Bozeman, Montana. 

Transporter Room 2
Transporter room 2 was used to retrieve samples of an irregular comet, only to beam aboard Quinn, a member of the Q Continuum. Later that year, Kathryn Janeway requested that engineering shunt available power to transporter room 2 in order to retrieve Tom Paris. 

Transporter Room 3
Two Vidiians were beamed to Transporter Room 3, where Captain Janeway met them. 

Background information
The script of, the first Star Trek pilot episode, describes the transporter room by stating, "Completely unlike any other station on the Enterprise, the Transporter Room is heavily shielded." The script then continues by describing several of the room's contents, which are generally far different from those seen in the episode's final version. These include a strange device that dominates the room, a "glassed-in" transporter chamber hovering over the device, and a hooded viewing screen that, by peering into it, the transporter operator can use to determine where the transportee is being beamed to.

The first scenes ever shot for Star Trek were set in the Enterprise's transporter room. The set was on Stage 16 of Desilu's Culver City lot. (Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, p. 216)

The transporter room underwent a slight redesign for the ultimately abandoned series Star Trek: Phase II. In August 1977, while the updated set was due to be constructed on Paramount Stage 9, Joe Jennings began work on re-envisioning the room. (Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series, p. 37) Some conceptual illustrations of the revised transporter room were created by Mike Minor. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 63) On, producer Robert Goodwin sent a memo to Gene Roddenberry which included the statement, "The shell for the transporter room is being built. Soon Mike Minor will have sketches ready for you to approve on the look of the new transporter room." (Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series, pp. 43-44) In a interview, Susan Sackett reported the transporter room as having an "orange motif." (Starlog #12) The writers/directors guide for Phase II included the statement, "We assume there are various Transporter Rooms through the vessel," and suggested that the Enterprise's chapel be a redress of the transporter room set. (Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series, pp. 93 & 94) Similarly, the first-draft script of "In Thy Image" proposed that Phase II's regular transporter room be redressed to serve as the transporter room of another starship in that story, the light cruiser Delphi. (Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series, pp. 210 & 214)

A wall section of the Enterprise's transporter room that was built for Star Trek: Phase II went on to be used as part of both the starship's sickbay in and the ship's transporter room in. (text commentary, DVD; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission, p. 33) Following its reuse in the latter film, the same set piece additionally appeared in the  transporter room of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the  transporter room of Star Trek: Voyager. (text commentary, DVD)

More than any other set in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the Enterprise transporter room fascinated the film's production designer, Harold Michelson. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 91) He designed the revamped appearance of the room for the film, situating the transporter operators in a shielded control compartment in an attempt to convey the extraordinary energies involved in the transporter's operation. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 164; The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, pp. 91-92) The set for The Motion Picture's transporter room was built on Stage 9. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 95) The floor of that transporter room included a segment that consisted of many complex conduits, which was actually a sheet of vacuum-formed plastic, the shape of which was reused as wall panels in the Mark IV bridge simulator in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. (text commentary, DVD) For The Motion Picture, the appearance of the transporter room's complex of machinery was enhanced by cinematographer Richard Kline, using some eerie-looking lighting. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 92) Following production on The Motion Picture, the set for the film's transporter room was planned to be stored "indefinitely." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 214)

The set for the Regula I transporter room used part of the Klingon bridge set from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. (Starlog #60)

The Galaxy-class transporter room was designed by illustrator Andrew Probert and production designer Herman Zimmerman, who deliberately echoed the layout of the TOS transporter room to appease hardcore fans of the original series. (, p. 40)

In and, the transporter room was a redress of the Enterprise-D's transporter room from TNG. (text commentary, DVD)

Similarly, the Intrepid-class transporter room was built on virtually the same space that had been occupied by the equivalent room for TNG's Enterprise; both were on Paramount Stage 9. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine issue #1, pp. 68-69) The set usually used as the Intrepid-class transporter room was repainted and redressed to represent a transporter room in. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 3rd ed., p. 341) The Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual states that the Intrepid-class USS Voyager has only two transporter rooms, as opposed to the three such rooms established in canon. 

The NX-class transporter alcove was situated on Paramount Stage 18. (, p. 20)

For the alternate reality Enterprise, the transporter room was specifically designed to elicit a sense of exit from the ship. "The transporter room has an airlock feeling, it's physically separated in case something goes wrong," concept artist Ryan Church commented. "It felt functional that way." (Star Trek - The Art of the Film, p. 104) For the film, the transporter room set was built on Paramount Stage 15. (, p. 76) The set was one of several which, after production on the Star Trek film wrapped, were disassembled into segments that were stored away until entered production, when the set pieces were polished, rebuilt and tweaked. "In the transporter bay, we changed the effect of the glass pieces that ring that bay," said Production Designer Scott Chambliss. "I wasn't terribly happy with how it looked on film in the original one." (, p. 68)