Interactive Google Doodle Honors Star Trek: The Original Series

Google today paid homage to Star Trek with an interactive homepage doodle that celebrates the 46th birthday of the original TV series.

Google has dressed up the letters in its logo as Star Trek cast members, and with the click of a mouse, you can beam Kirk to an adventure beyond the confines of the starship USS Enterprise.

The doodle opens on some familiar faces in the Enterprise control room, including Spock, Uhura, Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu. Hover over the image for some Easter eggs. Click the elevator, for example, and journey to the transporter, where you’ll be sent to do battle in the outside world. Be sure your speakers are on for some authentic sound effects.

The first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series aired on Sept. 8, 1966, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, Google posted its doodle a day early so users would have time to play around with the detailed creation.

The original series aired on NBC for four years, but really took off in syndication during the 70s, spawning various Star Trek franchises.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Google doodler Ryan Germick said “it’s a testament to the power of the show, and how iconic it is, that you can just put a couple details on anything, even a letter ‘G’ and know it’s a Vulcan.”

For more on Google’s doodles, meanwhile, see the slideshow below. Recently, the company has honored Amelia Earhart, jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé and Robert Moog, considered by many to be a pioneer in the electronic music space, as well as artist Keith Haring, zipper pioneer Gideon Sundback, and Howard Carter, a British archaeologist best known for uncovering the tomb of King Tutankhamen in Egypt.

As read on: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409414,00.asp