It’s no secret that the halls of the Googleplex contain more than a few Star Trek fans, and to commemorate the 46th anniversary of what is one of the most iconic sci-fi series ever, Google has produced an interactive Star Trek doodle now airing on its home page today.

We won’t give it all away, but in the spirit of other interactive logos they’ve created, the Star Trek doodle has plenty for fans to seek out and explore, including a fun easter egg (Tribbles!) along with other classic Trek fare – the transporter room and, of course, the classic Gorn episode:

You really want to play with the logo and get into the Gorn episode.

The first episode of Star Trek aired on September 8th, 1966 (“The Man Trap“) and evidence of this series’ influence is seen not only in Google’s continuing innovations to bring Star Trek concepts to life such as the universal translator, the holodeck, computer voice commands, and perhaps maybe even Geordi’s visor, but also among their current and past features and gadgets:

• You can search Google in Klingon (and honestly, who among us hasn’t?)
• They built a replica Star Trek bridge as their booth at the 2006 Star Trek convention where they were recruiting new red shirts, er, engineers.
• And back when there was a Google Desktop, there was a Stardate Ticker for Trekkers gadget.
• And more

Here’s a short video showing some of what you can do with the logo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click around and have some fun with it, then check out the interview with the doodle designer, Ryan Germick.

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