Beam me up, Scotty.

The transporter is such an integral feature of Star Trek episodes that it's interesting to learn than it was never part of the original concept. Gene Roddenberry, who created the series, intended that the USS Enterprise would land on the planets it visited,  But apparently this would have involved unacceptable expense in constructing the necessary sets, so the transporter was introduced as a cost-saving measure as it (originally) involved no more than basic fade-out fade-in technology.