Star Trek and Color-coding

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-21 11:34am

I was thinking about this last night while I was trying to get to sleep. Has anybody noticed that Star Trek races seem to have some sort of color usually assigned to them? Case in point: transporter beam and warp engine nacelle colors. The Federation is blue, the Klingons are red, the Romulans green, Cardassians yellow. They even match the color of the sky on the respective homeworlds.

Why is this?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-21 11:52am

Didn't the Ferengi also have orange-coloured transporter effects, in line with their orange-coloured starships?

Easier to differentiate from a sfx perspective would be my guess, but that would be a non-SoD explanation. From my recollection, TOS depicted uniform colours in transporter effects - which makes sense, both in-universe and non-SoD (they didn't have the budget to make different colours for different races). TOS also showed starships of different alien races being the same colour (The Connie, Klingon D7, and Bird-o'-prey were painted grey, and the latter had a giant bird emblazoned on it's ventral hull). Again, it makes sense from a in-universe and non-SoD perspective. Once they got more money I suppose they felt a lot more freedom in putting extra differences, even if these differences were unnecessary and illogical.

It's also a sign of the one-trick pony brainbug ST has been infected with. Naturally, ALL Klingon ships will have the dusty red look to their innards, ALL Romulan ships will be completely green, ALL Cardassian ships will be yellow (while incomprehensibly, the innards will be unattractive grey, making one wonder what the purpose of the yellow paint has in the grand scheme of things), and ALL Federation ships will have the blue nacelles. And no matter how little it makes sense, each race's transporters will have different colours, even if TOS showed the direct opposite.

I can't think of an in-universe answer.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-21 12:46pm

Stofsk wrote:Didn't the Ferengi also have orange-coloured transporter effects, in line with their orange-coloured starships?

I don't ever remember seeing Ferengi transporters...

Stofsk wrote:I can't think of an in-universe answer.

I had a vague latch on the idea that transporter color is related to sky color.

Luzifer's right hand · Post by **Luzifer's right hand** » 2004-10-21 01:45pm

Dalton wrote: I don't ever remember seeing Ferengi transporters...

The Ferengi Daimon Bok used a subspace transporter in one TNG ep IIRC.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-10-21 02:37pm

Originally, Federation transporters featured a gold-coloured particle-fountain forcefield effect. ("Don't worry Boss, they can't do nothing till they stop sparkling" —Bela Oxmyx's henchman in "A Piece Of The Action") We saw very few examples of other transporter systems or how their mechanics functioned in TOS. The transport platforms of Stratos caused a heat-shimmer effect in the transportees during the beaming process ("The Cloud Minders"). We see a Klingon transporter for the first time in TOS in "Day Of The Dove" —transportees silently shimmered into materialisation with a coruscating golden forcefield effect. In the case of TOS, the differences in transporter effect seemed to suggest a difference in mechanics of the particular system being used. Federation transporters, as depicted in "The Cage" certainly appear to have required a longer time to charge up and complete the staging of the transport process than what was observed in Kirk's time.

It was not until TNG that the FX people created transporter field-effects which were iconic to a particular civilisation.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-21 04:27pm

Patrick Degan wrote:Originally, Federation transporters featured a gold-coloured particle-fountain forcefield effect. ("Don't worry Boss, they can't do nothing till they stop sparkling" —Bela Oxmyx's henchman in "A Piece Of The Action") We saw very few examples of other transporter systems or how their mechanics functioned in TOS. The transport platforms of Stratos caused a heat-shimmer effect in the transportees during the beaming process ("The Cloud Minders"). We see a Klingon transporter for the first time in TOS in "Day Of The Dove" —transportees silently shimmered into materialisation with a coruscating golden forcefield effect. In the case of TOS, the differences in transporter effect seemed to suggest a difference in mechanics of the particular system being used. Federation transporters, as depicted in "The Cage" certainly appear to have required a longer time to charge up and complete the staging of the transport process than what was observed in Kirk's time.

Very interesting...so all of them were pretty much originally gold in color.

Patrick Degan wrote:It was not until TNG that the FX people created transporter field-effects which were iconic to a particular civilisation.

I'm wondering why that is. BTW Stofsk, I like your theory about that. Forgot to mention it before

Luzifer's right hand wrote:The Ferengi Daimon Bok used a subspace transporter in one TNG ep IIRC.

Damn, that episode was on a couple hours ago but I opted to play X-Men.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2004-10-21 11:36pm

Maybe a good in-universe answer to this question would involve the different types of reactor technology/power systems the different powers use. For example we know that the Romulans use a quantum-singularity to power their warp drive -- what do they use to power internal ships systems?

We also know that even among species using Dilithium, the conversion techniques are different -- in ST:IV, Scotty complains about the "Klingon Crystals". Maybe there are different types of Dilithium.

Brian

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-21 11:58pm

That still doesn't explain why we have different colours for different races. Nor does it really explain why. Why would there be a different 'shimmer' effect depending on the ship? Is there something about Romulan transporters that makes the shimmer green instead of blue? Why aren't Klingon transporters gold instead of red?

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2004-10-22 12:35am

Well maybe there's a direct effect on the beam colour depending on the type of juice you plug it into. That was my point about the different types of reactor tech.

Brian

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-10-22 01:16am

"type" of juice? Energy is energy. You can pretty much plug anything into any ship, and transporters have been powered by a phaser's battery before, it didn't change the effect at all.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2004-10-22 01:27am

Maybe it was part of some goofy convention everyone signed.

Officer: Captain! Somebody is beaming aboard.

Captain: What faction could it be?

Officer: Let me consult the color chart.... hmmm.. red.

Captain: Klingons? To battle stations!

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-10-22 02:31am

I might also add that the weapons are also affected bu color. Romulans have green disruptors, Klingons red and Cardassians have yellow phasers etc. One exception is the B'rel class Bird of Prey. It has green pulse disruptors.

The in universe explanation might be that the ship designers of each race wants to give their fleet a unique look different from others with signature colors.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-22 02:35am

The Shadow wrote:I might also add that the weapons are also affected bu color. Romulans have green disruptors, Klingons red and Cardassians have yellow phasers etc. One exception is the B'rel class Bird of Prey. It has green pulse disruptors.

Actually Klingon distruptors are green, which is a mark of consistency between them and the Romulans. Of course, Romulan distruptors have a beam effect not unlike a phaser, while Klingon distruptors are bolt or pulse like. It's a case of one step forward, two steps back.

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-10-22 03:14am

Stofsk wrote:That still doesn't explain why we have different colours for different races. Nor does it really explain why. Why would there be a different 'shimmer' effect depending on the ship? Is there something about Romulan transporters that makes the shimmer green instead of blue? Why aren't Klingon transporters gold instead of red?

Heck, the Enterprise's transporter effect changes from movie to movie. Maybe something as small as a tune-up or software upgrade can change the sparkly effect?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-22 03:26am

You mean it's the quivalent of changing one's desktop wallpaper?

O'brien: "Hmm... I think I like the green sparkly today, It'll be a nice change of pace from that stupid blue we've had for 5 years straight."

SFC: "Congratulations Mr, Obrien! We're giving you a promotion to CPO on a shitty space station in the middle of nowhere."

O'brien: "It's a promotion to go from the Flagship to a crappy frontier post? Why did I join Starfleet, again? Screw the changes to the transporter then. Fuck 'em."

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-10-22 11:56am

I believe its asthetic only. In "Data's Day" the Romulans beamed the ambassador off the E-D, making their beam look like the Enterprise's.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-10-22 01:41pm

brianeyci wrote:Well maybe there's a direct effect on the beam colour depending on the type of juice you plug it into. That was my point about the different types of reactor tech.

Brian

That's silly. Would a light bulb change color depending on what kind of power plant generated the electricity to run it?

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2004-10-22 01:58pm

RedImperator wrote:
brianeyci wrote:Well maybe there's a direct effect on the beam colour depending on the type of juice you plug it into. That was my point about the different types of reactor tech.

Brian
That's silly. Would a light bulb change color depending on what kind of power plant generated the electricity to run it?

Yeah you're right, silly. Is electrical energy the only kind of energy that runs ST systems though?

The "goofy convention" idea is something I don't like, but it seems it is the only rational explaination.

Brian

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » 2004-10-22 02:12pm

I would go with it being convention. Perhaps there are millions of wave patterns you can use and colour variations to match. Someone picks one and says that to be uniform every ship will use that pattern as well. They do seem to love being uniform. The Klingons pick their pattern, Starfleet gets wind of it and says, "We're not using the same thing as the bloody klingons!" they pick another one, and so on. This wouldn't explain why they change every movie though.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-10-22 02:23pm

Mark S wrote:I would go with it being convention. Perhaps there are millions of wave patterns you can use and colour variations to match. Someone picks one and says that to be uniform every ship will use that pattern as well. They do seem to love being uniform. The Klingons pick their pattern, Starfleet gets wind of it and says, "We're not using the same thing as the bloody klingons!" they pick another one, and so on. This wouldn't explain why they change every movie though.

As mentioned earlier, probably technological improvements. Or bored engineers. Whatev.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » 2004-10-22 06:49pm

As was mentionned before it could have something to do with a combinations of aesethics and the sunlight the world the species developed on.

As was mentionned many of the species seem to have transporter colours that match their homeworld's sky. Perhaps those species 'like' the look that matches their sky; they can see through the sparklies better or just find the colour more calming or something. (How many humans would be comfortable transporting if every time they transported they saw a blood red glow all around them?)

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-10-23 01:37am

Stofsk wrote:
The Shadow wrote:I might also add that the weapons are also affected bu color. Romulans have green disruptors, Klingons red and Cardassians have yellow phasers etc. One exception is the B'rel class Bird of Prey. It has green pulse disruptors.
Actually Klingon distruptors are green, which is a mark of consistency between them and the Romulans. Of course, Romulan distruptors have a beam effect not unlike a phaser, while Klingon distruptors are bolt or pulse like. It's a case of one step forward, two steps back.

Klingon disruptors are not always the same. The Neghvar beam disruptors seen in Voyager "Endgame" were red, I remember green beam disruptors fired by Vorchas in DS9 and BOP pulse disruptors are green.