Materialization (science fiction)

This article is about the concept in science fiction. For the concept in parapsychology see materialization.

In science fiction materialization and dematerialization are the actions associated with a matter transporter system. An object is demateralized at one point in space (and, sometimes, time) and materialized (or rematerialized) at another point.

Famous instances of materialization and dematerialization in science fiction include:

• the appearance and disappearance of the TARDIS, the Doctor's time machine
  • The TARDIS has distinctive and separate sound effects, created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, for its dematerialization and materialization.
• the transporter system in Star Trek
• the device in The Philadelphia Experiment
• the "telepods" in The Fly

One of the hazards of materialization, often employed as a plot device in science fiction, is that of materializing within the space occupied by an existing solid object. (This occurs in The Philadelphia Experiment, for example.) For convenience, materialization within a liquid or a gas (such as in an atmosphere) is almost always not considered to be similarly hazardous. In The Fly another hazard, that of combining two objects when materializing them, is explored.

In some science fiction settings, dematerialization and materialization are instantaneous from the point of view of the subject. In others, subjects can exist in a dematerialized state for any, subjective, length of time. This is the case for the TARDIS, for example, which can have subjectively long periods of existence in the dematerialized state within "the space-time vortex".

Further reading

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