With all of the Google Doodles released during the London 2012 Olympics, the normal Google header on the Google homepage has seemed a little stale. Fortunately, that banality makes new Google Doodles even more exciting when they appear.
Today, Google is celebrating the 46th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series with a point-and-click adventure game doodle. The game depicts the show’s characters as the letters of the word Google (Spock is the ‘G’, Uhura and Kirk are ‘o’s, McCoy is the ‘g’, Sulu is the’l’, and Chekov is missing) and features many sound effects from the series.
Throughout the short adventure, players get a chance to see the bridge of the USS Enterprise, the transporter room, and the surface of a barren planet, where an abbreviated version of a famous scene (seen below) from the Star Trek episode “Arena” takes place. Kirk quickly builds the “Gorn Cannon” and defeats the Gorn Captain, who looks like a PEZ dispenser. Of course, the ‘e’ at the end of ‘Google’ who beams down with Kirk is an unnamed redshirt ensign who doesn’t make it through the journey entirely unscathed.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone if it turns out that plenty of Googler’s are trekkies, specifically the ones on the Google Doodle creation team. Star Trek is often cited as an inspiration for nerdy, creative people who engineer or design the technology that is currently changing the world. As far as influences go, Star Trek’s strong moral and egalitarian messages are probably good ones to ensure Google stays true to its “don’t be evil” motto.
[UPDATE] In case you’ve missed any of the secrets found in the doodle (did you find the Tribbles?), here is a nice walkthrough for the game: