Chair A chair was a piece of furniture which was designed for a humanoid figure to rest upon and therefore relieve pressure on the legs and back . Chairs were of such practical design that this furniture piece evolved in nearly every known humanoid culture across the entire Milky Way Galaxy . According to Mess Officer Briel , chairs were among multiple objects on the that apparently enlarged while the ship orbit ed the planet Cepheus in 2269 . ( ) The shapeshifter Odo used to morph into everything that " guests " of his at the Bajoran Research Center wanted , including a chair and a razorcat . ( ) Lounge chair s were used for relaxation . ( ) Styles . Chairs came in a wide variety of size and design . In the 19th century on Earth , upper - class citizens typically had elegant - looking , plush chairs in and around their residences . ( ) Human s found chairs designed by Xindi - Insectoid s to be very uncomfortable , so much so that Commander Charles Tucker III once commented , while examining a Xindi - Insectoid starship , that Insectoids " could learn a thing or two about designing a comfortable chair . " However , Ensign Travis Mayweather reckoned the chairs aboard the craft might indeed be comfortable for an Insectoid . ( ) The term " chair " may also refer to the head of an organization or a position of prestige . The Lucasian Chair is considered a position of some importance at Earth ' s Cambridge University . ( ) The prevalence of chairs in most every humanoid culture could perhaps be attributed , in some portion , to Hodgkin ' s Law of Parallel Planetary Development . On 892 - IV , a society identical to 20th century Earth had developed ( albeit where the Roman Empire never fell ) with this parallel world including such common Earth furniture items as lamp s , chairs , and tables . ( ) On board most starship s , crews commonly sat in chairs when performing their duties during their watch . At or near the center of every bridge , there was often a command chair , for the commanding officer of the ship to direct shipboard operations . Command chairs of this nature were seen on starship types of nearly every spacefaring species to include the Klingon s , Romulan s , Cardassian s , Ferengi , Tamarian s , and the starships of the Federation Starfleet . The Borg were an exception to this , since Borg cube s had no recognizable bridge or command center and Borg drone s used alcoves to regenerate . Chairs were therefore impractical for the Borg . ( ) The Dominion did not use chairs on board their starships , something a Human crew noticed almost immediately when operating a stolen Jem ' Hadar fighter . The Jem ' Hadar removed the chairs from the bridge of the after capturing it in 2374 . ( ) Lieutenant Worf kept a futuristic - looking chair in his quarters aboard the " Enterprise " - D . ( , , , , , , , ) In at least one case , a chair was used in a scientific experiment . In 2369 , Commander Data attempted to use a transporter to beam a chair off of a holodeck . It was later discovered that the experiment itself was flawed , since the transporter being used was a holodeck simulation and , as no one had ever attempted to beam a chair off a holodeck , there was no frame of reference for the holodeck simulation to access . ( ) The same year , Quark accused Odo of spying and asked him what form he , this time , had – the chair , the table , or the wine bottle . ( ) The Ferengi Commerce Authority charged three slips of latinum to sit in chairs located in their waiting room , though it was possible to negotiate the price down to two slips . ( ) After boarding an adrift Hirogen warship in 2374 , Chakotay , Tom Paris , and Tuvok found a wounded Alpha - Hirogen sitting in a chair , holding his weapon . ( ) Interrogation chair . Chairs were also occasionally used as instruments of torture . When Jonathan Archer and Travis Mayweather were being held by the Tandaran s , T ' Pol and Tucker discussed their legal rights . T ' Pol said that the Vulcans could send an arbitrator , but Tucker was so surprised that he thought the electric chair , an early form of punishment on Earth , would be better suited to them . ( ) In 2154 , Soval was directly beamed into an interrogation chair on board the Andorian starship " Kumari " , where he was tortured , including the use of a neuro - synaptic field which lowered his emotional barrier . Commander Shran noted the device had had numerous successes in luring information out of Vulcan operatives . ( ) In 2269 , former Fleet Captain Garth , while an inmate at a criminal asylum on Elba II , took over the facility , including therapy equipment used to rehabilitate prisoners . Garth modified a rehabilitation chair , which normally was a painless device designed to relax patients , into a torture device that was " exquisitely painful " . Both James T . Kirk and Donald Cory were forced to sit in the torture chair while Garth tormented them . ( ) Doctor Tristan Adams also was known for turning medical therapy equipment into torture devices . In 2266 , Doctor Adams developed the neural neutralizer , which was a device designed to empty a person ' s mind of harmful thoughts while they sat in a chair in a special room . Dr . Adams modified the neutralizer to not only empty a person ' s mind but fill it with other thoughts of his own design . Simon Van Gelder was an early victim of the neural neutralizer , with Captain James Kirk also tortured in the neutralizer chair by Doctor Adams . ( ) The Romulan s also used chairs for torture . In 2367 , Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge was taken aboard a Romulan warbird , strapped into a torture chair , and his VISOR implants fed him several images of " horrors " , in an effort by the Romulans to brainwash him . ( ) See also : Rostrum Memorable quotes involving chairs . " " Mr . Spock , what happened ? ! ? " " " " The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the arm of the chair . " " " " The chair is no longer painless . It is in fact , " exquisitely " painful . " " " " Captain , is there something wrong with your chair ? " " " " Just have your Klingon servant bring us some chairs ! " " " " And you may have . . . " MY " chair . " " " " Get out of my chair ! " " " " And get these chairs off the bridge . " "