Beam Up For Tour On Starfleet Bridges

Mon., Dec. 15, 1997

Roy Bassave Miami Herald

“Star Trek: Captain’s Chair” (Simon & Schuster Interactive, $39.95)

Loyal Trekkers, prepare for a rare treat. A new CD-ROM, “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair,” lets fans tour the bridges of the most famous starships in Starfleet Command.

Over the course of four television series and eight feature films, each Federation starship has developed its own unique personality. “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair” includes an exquisite digital re-creation of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, Captain James T. Kirk’s venerable Constitution Class vessel, the one that started it all. You are free to roam a virtual bridge with all the detail - and more - of the long-lost original set of the TV show.

The CD-ROM contains more than 1,500 hot spots, where users can activate starship functions, data displays and surprise components. You can explore consoles and weapons systems and even take the ship into warp drive.

Here’s one example: During your tour of Kirk’s bridge, go to his command chair and click on the right arm panel to get a close-up of it. Then use your mouse and click on one of the blinking buttons; it will activate a view screen featuring George Takei (Sulu, the original helmsman of the original Enterprise. Sorry, but we can’t divulge what he reveals - Starfleet regulations, you know.)

Also featured are the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), the U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205 (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), the U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656 (“Star Trek: Voyager”) and the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E (“Star Trek: First Contact,” the latest “Trek” movie).

Virtual tours are led by such veteran officers as Avery Brooks (Capt. Benjamin Sisko, DS9), Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Kathryn Janeway, “Voyager”), Takei (Capt. Hikaru Sulu, “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. William T. Riker, “The Next Generation”) and Michael Dorn (Lt. Cmdr. Worf, “DS9”).

This unprecedented exploration of the “Star Trek” universe reunites Simon & Schuster Interactive and Imergy, the award-winning team that created “Star Trek: The Next Generation: Interactive Technical Manual.” The tech manual allowed us to see and hear all known Star Trek technology from Picard’s 24th Century.

To add depth, Apple’s QuickTime/VR (virtual reality) technology is used for 3D walk-throughs and to examine individual objects.

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