The sound effect has to say either “here comes the unknown” or “here comes the familiar” with notes of both dignity and fantasy. The metallo-electric whoosh of the replicator is just friendly enough to let you know that it’s time to sit down for some candid conversation with green bubbly beer or Earl Grey Hot.īut the transporter has the heaviest burden to lift. The rhythmic beeping when a character turns to a computer terminal justifies whatever revelation comes afterward (how much more willing are you to accept that the computer can track down the name and picture of that random guy who was alive on a distant planet 300 years ago after that beeping than you would be without it, I wonder). When the action moves to the Enterprise, the dull background hum of the ship (heck, I’d make that sound effect #3 in my book) tells you exactly where you are. Sound effects in TNG are used somewhat sparingly, usually to mark off changing beats. I almost listed that Red Alert sound effect as my favorite, and I think it deserves an honorable mention. It grounds the change in mood perfectly - urgent without being frenetic, dissonant without being angsty. The next time you watch an episode, pay special attention when they turn on the Red Alert siren. (Heh, I noticed I chose the same clip as Belinkie. Note how much fuller, bolder and more encouraging the TNG sound effect is. About a minute in, this clip does a really good job showing the difference between the TNG and original series transporter sounds.

The other interpretations feel to me, for good or ill, like deviations from how it “really” works. Most of my fondness for the transporter sound effect works across properties - and I think it’s the most important and well-used sound effect in the series - but TNG is the gold standard for how to do transporter scenes. The audience sees a representation of their own experience of the escape they look for from science fiction - and they hear it, too. Every overthinker ought to appreciate the Star Trek transporter - it’s meta to the extreme. But when the time of exploration is over - and at some point it always is - that twinkling comes back, sometimes saving you, sometimes dragging you back to where you always are.

With a twinkling imitation of a cluster of stars, they are transported to a heretofore unseen world - they step out of their dull but demanding everyday lives and onto distant ground full of sights unseen and dangers yet to face.

Red alert sound effect