-Kirk is generally in his chair. Usually when he gets out of it, it's to leave, or to go to the railing in front of Spock's station to talk to him. He's rarely seen standing at the forward consoles.

-Picard was practically stitched to his chair. During action scenes, he's always there. Rarely is he seen at the tactical console, and never anywhere else. This has left Riker the opportunity to make a leg on Data's Ops console.

-Sisko didn't have a chair in DS9's Ops, so he generally stood at the head of the Ops table, and basically never at anyone else's stations. On the Defiant, he started out as nailed to his chair as Picard, but after he got promoted he's very frequently gets out of it to stand at the conn next to whoever was flying it.

-Janeway hated her chair. That, or she hated sitting next to Chakotay. I think she spent more time out of it than in it, standing at other peoples' stations, often working the consoles, or standing anywhere she could grab a railing. Given the ergonomic nature of the Voyager bridge, it was pretty easy.

Question for all: does this say anything about our Captains' personalities, or is this based on the chairs themselves? Could the efficiency of a ship's IDF figure into this?

While we're at it, let's see some other Captains for whom we've seen much less screen time:

-Watters (USS Valiant) never got out of his chair. As a cadet being thrust into the position he most desperately sought, that's no surprise. He even had the chair's little headrest out all the time.

-Esteban (USS Grissom) was barely ever in his chair - in fact, did he ever sit down again after standing up in his first scene? He was always standing next to the comm station, science, tactical... But his chair was pink, so that's a likely excuse.

-Martok (IKS Rotarran et.al.) was constantlly in his chair. Never did he stand up to go somewhere else on the bridge - except for "Way of the Warrior". But that probably wasn't him anyway, so...

Any more for thought? Does this mean anything, or are they just keen observations?

DATA PICARD WORF ENTER BRIDGE, GO TO STATIONS.

On Esteban: Actually, in the novelization for "The Search for Spock," there were some good passages about Esteban talking to Kirk without realizing David was his son. Apparently they were old friends (And maybe it was because J.T. Esteban stood for James Tiberius Esteban? maybe NOT!). But Admiral Kirk was disapproving of Estebans command style.
Wonder why...
You mean Pocket Books isn't going to do the eight part Grissom crossover next year? The one the runs through Enterprise (the Grissom NX-02), The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space nine, Voyager, Challenger, New Frontier and the Early Voyages?

"Captain Esteban, you look uncomfortable.."
"I believe i might have to use the restroom"
"It would be logical"
"Communications, get Starfleet and the Federation council on the line. Send this: permission to use facilities, USS Grissom, JT Esteban commanding"
"There appears to be jamming on the line"
"Damn..."

[ September 06, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]

The bridge for the Prometheus was a single wall too.. apparently that ship was in need of some finishing up, with only one station and a chair. That's why they only had a lieutenant in charge... I wonder why Starfleet thought an empty Nebula-class ship was necessary for carrying one shuttlepod to the Gamma Quadrant. Say stock footage?

At least the Sutherland had three walls and some panels for the guys to stand at to look busy.