Summary
- Moll uses a portable pattern buffer to preserve and resurrect her Breen lover in Star Trek: Discovery.
- Transporter pattern buffers have saved lives in various Star Trek series.
- A portable pattern buffer is a next-level upgrade to one of the oldest Star Trek technologies.
Star Trek: Discovery just updated the technology that allowed Captain Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) to make an appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In Discovery season 5, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery find themselves on an interstellar quest in search of the powerful technology of the Progenitors. First introduced on TNG, the Progenitors were ancient humanoids responsible for creating all humanoid life. The technology of Discovery's 32nd century is already more advanced than that of any other StarTrek series, but the Progenitors' technology could literally hold the keys to creation.
Written by Sean Cochran and Ari Friedman and directed by Jonathan Frakes, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point," sees Captain Burnham find the structure containing the Progenitors' technology only for it to be snatched away at the last minute by the Breen. As Moll (Eve Harlow) and the Breen investigate the strange structure, she uses the key made up of the different clue pieces to open some kind of portal held within the structure. Moll realizes it will take time for the Breen to figure out how to access what's in the portal, so she preserves the body of her Breen lover, L'ak (Elias Toufexis), in a portable pattern buffer.
Star Trek: Discovery Upgraded The Transporters’ Miraculous Pattern Buffer
Moll saved L'ak's body in a portable pattern buffer.
Now seemingly in charge of the Breen previously ruled by Primarch Ruhn (Tony Nappo), Moll is determined to resurrect L'ak using the Progenitors' technology. Although the Breen acquired the structure presumably containing the Progenitors' treasure, they have not yet figured out how to use it. After Moll opens the structure, a portal appears, but it remains unknown what is on the other side. As Breen scientists work to figure out what lies within the portal, Moll uses a small portable pattern buffer to preserve L'ak's body until she can resurrect him.
During her mindscape journey at the Eternal Gallery and Archive, Captain Burnham learned of another part of the clue that Moll doesn't have.
The transporter has been an iconic piece of Star Trek technology since Star Trek: The Original Series, and later Trek series have further explored the science behind the transporter. During the transporting process, the pattern buffer temporarily stores the matter stream before sending this stream to the intended target. A malfunction with the pattern buffer was one of the main causes of transporter accidents, but the buffer could also be used to temporarily store a person's matter stream in an emergency. Although matter streams could usually only be stored for a short time, Scotty's pattern remained in the transporter buffer of the USS Jenolan for 75 years.
Star Trek Characters Transporter Pattern Buffers Saved
Scotty wasn't the only Star Trek character saved by a pattern buffer.
Star Trek's transporters have saved numerous lives by beaming Starfleet officers to safety at just the right time, but the pattern buffers have also proved to be life-saving. In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 4, "Relics," Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) rematerializes Scotty's pattern, welcoming the former USS Enterprise engineer to the 24th century. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) once used the transporter buffer to hide a group of refugees fleeing their oppressors on Star Trek: Voyager. Most of the crew members from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were once suspended in the transporter buffer, too, and ended up in a holosuite living out Dr. Julian Bashir's (Alexander Siddig) James Bond-style fantasy.
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) secretly stored the pattern of his daughter, Rukiya (Sage Arrindell), in the medical transporters after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The entire crew of the USS Discovery (minus Captain Burnham) were also once stored in the pattern buffer while the ship traveled through a particularly dangerous subspace rift. Star Trek: Discovery's new portable pattern buffer serves as a nice upgrade to a classic Star Trek technology that has saved many lives.
