Going Boldly . . .

I just added some pictures to my flickr stream from Star Trek the Tour. My battery died real fast (stupid me for not bringing an extra) so there aren’t many. However, I’m really happy with the ones I got.

This is my favorite, which was taken by my awesome wife:

Going Boldly

"When I was a teenager, I got tired of sitting in this chair really
fast. As an adult, though, it brings back only fond memories. Seconds
before this photo was taken, I typed my fingers across the Okudagram,
using the same series of commands that I made up to send the ship to
warp speed.

Yes, I was such a geek, I invented my own fake logic for driving the
spaceship. When you’re sitting there saying ‘Aye, Sir,’ for hours at a
time, you’ve got to do something to keep yourself entertained, right?"

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59 thoughts on “Going Boldly . . .”

  2. That is a great photo.
    Re: the impatience of youth. Wisdom and experience allows you to look back and concentrate on not on details, but a whole experience. I am glad your memories are fond ones.

  5. It brings back fond memories as a viewer. My family loved it.
    I imagine a million memories flash through your head all at the same time, re-living all the mundane and exciting moments in a few seconds. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  6. I’m going to have to say I instantly thought the same thing as Lex did above.
    I can’t wait until Star Trek: The Tour makes it to Chicago. I might not have been on the bridge of the Enterprise D, but I grew up watching it, very literally. TNG started the year I was born.
    To me, that Enterprise is my ship. I wrote a story when I was six about me on the bridge of the Enterprise. In my imagination, I really have been there, and everytime I watch the show, I remember a time when I was young enough to really think that someday, I could be the kid driving the Enterprise. TNG, more than any other show, reminds me of my childhood because it’s always been there.
    I know walking on the bridge for the tour is just going to be a very surreal experience, and your pictures have me even more excited about it. I can’t wait.

  8. Love the photo – and the one with Mike Okuda who is one of the most generous, engaging, down-to-earth people I have met in Trek-dom. I’m hoping he’ll redesign all the interfaces and graphics in my home one day – from the TV all the way to to the toothpaste.
    Did you have a chance to see the episode of Bif Bam Pow Wow we shot with you on the bridge at “The Experience” in Vegas? We had a blast with you, and still very grateful.
    Cheers,
    John

  9. I remember a interview with Walter Koenig, where he related the story of a director who had instructed him to do a certain movement to go warp speed.
    He refused and showed the director the correct movement.
    The director was miffed.
    Walter’s reply was along the lines of “you can answer the fan mail asking why the command sequence changed.”

  10. I think I would have been disappointed if the decades of navigators hadn’t invented some logic code to keep things consistent. That just really makes me smile.
    (Also making me smile is getting to see that really nice shot of the Okudagram. We so rarely got to see your POV of the console and viewscreen on the show.)

  11. I remember that night well. The gala was a great night for my Wife and I.
    These are fine photos. The ones you took of Spock’s shirt, Data’s head and the Enterprise model are far better than the ones I got.

  13. So very awesome.
    I’d have made up my own sequence too… I’d probably have created an Alien language while I was at it… or theorized on exactly what made the ship go to warp and why I had to press the buttons in that specific sequence or everything would explode when I screw up!

  14. Once upon a time it is said that a director instructed George Takei to push the buttons on the Helm in a different sequence than usual.
    As the story goes, George gave the director a horrified look and said: “If I do that I’ll blow up the ship!”

  17. That’s just a great picture. My childhood nostalgia of things that used to bore me to death is certainly not of sitting on the deck of the Enterprise…

  18. That is a great picture! I’ll admit, I always tried to figure out the hand patterns necessary to send the Enterprise into warp but I never could master it. It’s so cool knowing you actually did make an official keystroke pattern. It’s the epitome of geek and totally awesome. It looks like the tour is full of win! 🙂

  21. you talking about the warp speed command made me remember a section from the enterprise D tech manual. Where Mike himself sort of tries to mask the continuity errors that can pop up with shooting on screen controls. Basically saying the LCARS system constantly evolved based on the inputs of it’s users and would actually change the way the controls worked all by itself to see if it increased user input efficiency.

  22. Great pictures. I especially love the one of you coming through the Guardian of Forever. The resolution makes it look more real, like you’re really coming through it. I love that episode. How amazing would that be, to be able to visit any point in history, anywhere in the galaxy. So very cool. I know, I know, so many chances to screw up history, but still!

  23. Love this shot, Wil! The shot of you going through The Guardian of Forever still looked good. Did you find Edith? I didn’t start watching TOS until it premiered on G$, so it’s sad to say, but my first introduction to the Guardian was in the Peter David book Imzadi. Very good book for anybody who loves the Riker/Troi storyline. It gives you the backstory on how they met.

  24. Just saw the new Flickr set. Wil in a suit and tie SHOULD be less shocking than Wil in rainbow adorned spaceware, but it still throws one off a bit. AND that’s the same tie from the Child’s Play Dinner snaps just below, isn’t it?
    People, would you PLEASE buy Wil’s new book so he can get a spiffy new tie? Willy can’t be stylin’ and profilin’ without the chetta to make it all betta, you know what I’m sayin’?
    (No? Well, that’s okay. I didn’t really understand that either. I’m sorry. You see, I’ve gone and lost my geek to pimp dictionary again. I’ll stop now.)

  25. I told Anne that I need to buy a few new ties, because I love this blue one so much I’m going to wear it all the time and it’ll end up being The Tie just like my red Guyabera is The Shirt.

  26. Next it will be “The Pants” and then “The Shoes” and eventually, when it all falls apart, “The Underwear”. And that’s when it’s time for “The Meds”.
    Sarcasm aside (and that’s tough to do as you know), it seems to be a nice enough tie. Blue and shiny.
    Mine is maroon and shiny. And it’s in almost every picture of me in a grown-up suit (I’m the same age as you, by the way) for quite awhile, which is why I compared both pictures in the first place.
    Hope that wasn’t taken the wrong way. Good to see you making (more than) peace with your Trek past.
    – Long time reader, 2nd time commenter.

  27. The Guardian. Way cool. But to show what a dork I am, when I saw the picture of you jumping through it, I thought, “I hope that’s the appropriate attire for the era he’s about to enter.”

  28. You should talk to Paramount about writing a training manual on how to drive a starship. The control logic you invented is probably canon.

  29. That’s cool that you made up your own “keystroke” sequences for driving the ship!
    I can imagine how old it would get sitting in that chair. I was an extra in a movie once when I was around the same age and those two days were very,very long. I didn’t get to do any acting to break the monotony, but I also only had to be there for those two days, not several years. It is good that you can look back on it fondly now.

  30. Looks like a blast–now I’ll have to look for a Trek Tour on this coast. Hope you have as much fun or more at the con in Phoenix.
    Wil, I didn’t realize what a comics/graphic novel goldmine you were cluing me (and everyone else paying attention) into, what with the promising pointers and picks and the free downloads! Thanks much!
    I didn’t mention that a little Waldenbooks near my place of quiet desperation is shutting its doors today (sad) and everything’s 40% off (not sad) so it was a good time to jump in: Sandman (Neil Gaiman) vol.1 (Absolute editions too rich for my blood even after the discount); The Gunslinger Born (can’t help it, King addict); The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier (Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill). The guy at the register said this last one was the best graphic novel in the (admittedly tiny) store.
    So I’ll be busy for a while.

  31. When you’re sitting there saying ‘Aye, Sir,’ for hours at a time, you’ve got to do something to keep yourself entertained, right?”
    Aye, Sir!

  35. Great photo! I read your blog entry to my kids, who are also Star Trek fans. They loved it! It reminded my oldest daughter of something she read in one of her books by the actor formerly known as Spock. =^..^=

  36. I’m sure each helmsman could rearrange the buttons in LCARS. You can rearrange the buttons in the latest iPhone and iPod touch software, an interface that was probably inspired by Wil & company pretending those backlit panels were functional.

  37. I love this picture. It brings back so many fond memories of sitting in front of the television as a teenager watching my favorite character on television. 🙂 I would not have gotten through those tough years if it hadn’t been for you Wil Wheaton (aka Wesley)! Thank you so much!!
    I wonder if they were to make a USS Titan series if you would consider taking back up the role of Wesley Crusher? I think that would make a wonderful new Star Trek series! Not that they would do this, but just curious. 😀

  40. Dude, read Magic for Beginners. Not quickly, though. Savor it, or you’ll be at a loss when it’s over what to do with the rest of your life. It’s really wonderful. People kept telling me to read it, until I finally cracked like one of those baby-Gojira eggs in the bad remake of Godzilla.
    And I’m so glad I did. It’s the best collection of short stories I’ve read in some time.

  43. How could you not have a picture of you in the TOS captain’s chair?
    The shot of you on the TNG bridge reminded me of an old Star Trek short story about the cast of TOS actually being beamed aboard in an alternate reality where the TOS Enterprise was real.
    Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what would happen in a similar situation with the TNG cast? 🙂

  44. That is AWESOME! Though I am a little surprised that Roddenberry didn’t make the actors learn exact sequences on the computers for specific ship functions. We Trekkies, after all, notice things like actors doing the same functions with different commands!

  49. For what it’s worth, Wil, I did notice back then that you were using a consistent gesture set for your CONN usage. At the time I chalked it up to pre-production design, as was done (but why?) for the first movie. So congrats to teen-you for recognizing that that sort of consistency adds to believability. In your occasional observations about the things you got wrong as a young actor, don’t forget to give yourself credit for the things you got right.
    Stay dry,
    Bob P.
    Sparks, NV

  50. Loved the pictures, Wil! Love your site, too. Hey…off topic, but I’ve always wondered about you, Wil, and your readers: does anyone here frequent science blogs?

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