Transmat Transmat — short for particle matter transmission ( TV : " The Armageddon Factor " ) — was a common technological form of instantaneous transport . It was designed for matter transference : ( PROSE : " Engines of War " ) indeed it was a subset of methodologies described as teleportation . History . Time Lord s claimed to have " transcended " such technology when the universe was less than half its size . At the time , the Fourth Doctor was charged to avert the creation of the Dalek s . ( TV : " Genesis of the Daleks " ) It was still used to travel to the Death Zone on Gallifrey . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " , PROSE : " Engines of War " ) This technology was available to another time - travelling species known as the Dalek s . ( TV : " Remembrance of the Daleks " , " Journey ' s End " , COMIC : " The Dalek Project " ) Three thousand years before the second half of 20th century , it was known to the civilisation to which Mawdryn and his crew belonged . ( TV : " Mawdryn Undead " ) Sontaran s used it during an attempted invasion of Earth at the beginning of the 21st century . ( TV : " The Sontaran Stratagem " ) Mister Dread saved the Earth from destruction by using a transmat device to move a Veil starship into space . The Men in Black also used transmat devices to move objects into their vault . ( TV : " The Vault of Secrets " ) In 2011 , the Koggnossenti hubship transmatted to London from another dimension . ( AUDIO : " Technophobia " ) By the mid 21st century , a T - Mat network was established on Earth and hacked by the Ice Warrior s to invade the planet , in vain . ( TV : " The Seeds of Death " ) After the end of the Cyber - Wars , it was used by human s on the space station Nerva Beacon ( TV : " Revenge of the Cybermen " ) and by a civilisation on the planet housing the Hedgewick ' s World of Wonders . ( TV : " Nightmare in Silver " ) Transmats were still in use in the 49th century on human colonies . ( AUDIO : " Shockwave " ) This technology was involved in a series of conflicts called the Transmat Wars during the 51st century . ( COMIC : " The Keep " ) During the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire ( about the year 200 , 000 ) , it was used on the Earth space station Satellite Five , indeed controlled by the Daleks . ( TV : " Bad Wolf " ) Aesirian world - shapers could employ transmat beams . ( COMIC : " Hacked " ) Forms . Transmats existed in three forms . Close - ended transmats . This form of transmat required a transmission / reception station at either end of the journey . The traveller entered the station where their molecular structure was scanned and stored for transmission , at which point their body was disintegrated into its component atoms . ( TV : " The Mutants " onwards ) They typically functioned at interplanetary distances , but ones powerful enough to cross the gulf between stars at trans - luminal speeds existed . ( PROSE : " Love and War " ) While some systems transferred this physical component to the reception station , the complexity involved meant that in most cases only the structural data recorded prior to disintegration was transmitted , with a new physical form being constructed from a matter source at the other end . ( PROSE : " Down " ) Open - ended transmats . This represented a significant advancement in transmat technology , as it entailed the ability to remotely scan and manipulate the molecular structure of objects . It was typically the product of a higher species . For instance , Time Lord s had at their disposal a " power - boosted , open - ended transmat beam " able to send the Master into the Death Zone . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " ) An open ended transmat might acquire the object to be transferred at either end of the process . Romana I did mention that Zanak " dropped out of the space dimension " in order to scavenge and mine planets . This implied that other dimensions were often used in transmat technology . Open - ended transmats could complete transfer trans - luminal speeds . A Dalek transmat beam moved its victim across the distance between Earth and the edge of its solar system in mere moments . ( TV : " Bad Wolf " ) Other variants utilised a travel capsule that might have enhanced the capacity of the system ' s matter conversion through providing additional computing power in addition to providing protection should the location being transmatted to was hazardous . ( TV : " Mawdryn Undead " ) Portal transmats . A variant of transmat opened a portal to travel from one point to another . A Dalek transmat portal was connected to Hellcombe Hall , Hellcombe Factory , Erik Graul ' s factory and in the trench system on France . ( COMIC : " The Dalek Project " ) Durability . A Sontaran version of the technology , though disrupted by the Doctor ' s sonic screwdriver , proved easily repairable . Similarly the deployment of the T - Mat system was at least partially predicated on the ease of repairing the systems . ( TV : " The Sontaran Stratagem " ) In 16087 , the refugees of the Nerva Beacon were able to utilise a transmat to repopulate the Earth after being freed from ten thousand years of suspended animation . Admittedly benefiting from vast technological and scientific advances , they were still able to use receiver stations that , despite spending millennia unattended on a planet devastated by solar flares , remained largely functional with the only noticeable defect being a drifting of the reintegration point . ( TV : " The Ark in Space " ) Weaknesses . Transmat capsules could damage organic structures if they were not properly maintained . ( TV : " Mawdryn Undead " ) The greatest vulnerability of transmat technology rested in the fact that it was reliant upon the beam being successfully transmitted from the point of disintegration to that of reintegration . Signal degradation would have proved catastrophic or even fatal . Certain advanced species — such as Time Lord s — however possessed the knowledge and technical ability to intercept and even redirect transmat beams to new destinations apparently greatly distant from those actually intended . ( TV : " Genesis of the Daleks " ) It was generally inferred that anyone ' s first journey on a transmat was particularly uncomfortable , often resulting in vomit ing . ( COMIC : " The Keep " ) Even subsequent trips could have been discomforting , inducing disorientation and amnesia . ( TV : " Bad Wolf " ) In his first incarnation , the Time Lord Karlax showed tingling of his fingertips for an hour and tachycardia after a trip , and insomnia in the aftermath of his first trip . ( PROSE : " Engines of War " ) Other references . Shockeye mistook the materalisation of the Doctor ' s TARDIS for a transmat . ( TV : " The Two Doctors " ) The Eleventh Doctor thought that Brian Williams sneaked aboard the TARDIS via a transmat . Rory Williams soon revealed to the Doctor that Brian was his father , Brian having been with Rory and Amy Pond when the TARDIS materialised around them . ( TV : " Dinosaurs on a Spaceship " ) Behind the scenes . Although teleportation technology had already been employed in the show ( p . e . TV : " The Evil of the Daleks " ) and the equivalent T - Mat was introduced in " The Seeds of Death " , the proper " transmat " was introduced during the tenure of the Fourth Doctor , since " The Ark in Space " .