Hey, the Terrans/Federation didn't actually clue in to the fact that command staff should not be on the front lines until after TOS
quote:
When I heard that line:
"can we use the transporters "
Everybody should probably assume that the transporter won't work.
IE: the question "The transporter won't work down there, will it?"
"Of course not!"
"The Last time we beamed somebody up from a planet, he had leaves stuck in him; this time he's sitting on rocks. I don't think so."
IMO, it looks like they can barely get the beam through an atmosphere (wind -> turbulence -> bad). The space station in ep1 was sitting in a nice calm area, and its hull is not terribly deep, dense or irregular (with all the docked pods blown away).