[electronic beat]
[typing]
Once upon a time, not so very long ago,
computers came with cathode ray tube monitors.
Due to the phosphors and display techniques used in CRTs,
it was very common to see something called "screen burn-in" taking place
if something was displayed on the screen for too long.
This was permanent, and it sucked.
So people like John Socha created the first screensavers,
to literally save their precious computer screens.
At first, they simply blanked the screen after a period of inactivity,
but eventually people started getting creative
and made more elaborate screensavers.
One of these was After Dark,
developed and published by Berkeley Systems in 1989
for the Apple Macintosh.
Billing itself as "The Ultimate Screen Saver" actually wasn't a stretch,
and this was easily the most popular screensaver package I remember from back in the day.
Though version 1.0 wasn't terribly popular,
version 2.0 here really gained a foothold
and took over the screensaver market for a time,
and is the version we'll be looking at here.
It came on a single 3½-inch floppy disk.
So while there were over 30 screensavers included,
referred to as modules,
they weren't hard on your free disk space at all.
You even get a surprisingly detailed manual
covering installation methods, the more complex modules,
and even an entire section on how to program and build your own
using C and Pascal.
And just in case you doubt just how much of an impact After Dark had,
take a look at this crap.
Yeah, there was an entire book on the thing
called "The Art of After Dark,"
a bunch of add-on modules for popular franchises like Star Trek, Looney Tunes and The Simpsons,
and even a range of After Dark apparel and accessories, featuring the most popular modules
on t-shirts, mousepads, friggin' neckties and more.
Screensavers were serious business, dude.
Installing After Dark is incredibly simple.
And as long as you have a Macintosh 512KE or better, it'll run.
Just insert the floppy, copy its contents to your system folder,
or Control Panel's folder on System 7 and higher,
restart your system and you're done.
You can then open the After Dark control panel and control the panel of controls,
after dark.
Or during the daytime or any other time at your leisure.
There are some options to set overall,
like how long it'll take for it to start
and whether or not you want a password to end the screensaver,
but most of the options are specific to each screensaver module.
So, let's just go ahead and take a look at each of them,
starting with none other than Starry Night,
one of the original After Dark 1.0 screensavers.
This, and all the other original modules, are pretty basic,
but still strangely engaging.
There were no bitmapped graphics of any kind,
just line and pixel art,
done in such a way that somehow proved amusing.
Like this, where you have a primitive cityscape and night sky
with flickering stars and lights and the occasional shooting star.
Next we have Bouncing Ball, which is a ball,
that bounces and makes bouncing sounds.
You can change the speed and the size of the ball,
but whatever you do, it's still just a ball,
simulating the use of potential, gravitational potential and kinetic energy
Next, there's Can of Worms,
which, contrary to the name, contains exactly zero cans,
but does contain up to 20 worms.
They just kind of wander around the screen, eating up your pixels,
because that is their nature.
Next is Clock,
which you might think is a screensaver featuring poultry crossed with a handgun,
but no, it is a clock.
Several kinds of clocks, even.
But they all simply tell your current system time,
which is cool if you need to be somewhere.
But then if you did, why are you watching this screensaver?
Next is Doodles,
which simulates random doodles!
Cool...
Then we've got Down the Drain,
which shows your desktop getting flushed down the drain.
And can actually be seen as a metaphor
for the monetary depreciation of said desktop computer
just months after you bought it in the '90s.
Next is Fade Away,
which fades the screen to black
or... not quite black.
Unless you do want it all black, and in that case just feel free to make that choice.
Next up, there's Fish!,
with an exclamation point,
showing just how exciting fish can be
if you're an overly excitable person.
Yep.
Lots of fish here
and you can even add in your own fish
if you import your own graphics.
And now, we have probably the single most famous module of them all,
Flying Toasters.
You got toasters with little wings on them
that fly around, being all awesome.
And hopelessly endearing.
You've even got flying toast,
which you can adjust the doneness of in the options.
And that's totally pointless, but totally awesome.
Apparently, the idea for this came to After Dark co-creator Jack Eastman
one late night while trying to come up with more artistic modules for After Dark 2.0.
And in a sleep-deprived state, he just happened to catch a glimpse of his toaster in the kitchen
and somehow imagined wings on it.
The rest... is history.
Hard Rain is the next module,
and this is another early one of theirs that is very simple.
You've got lines that resemble raindrops that cover your screen with darkness.
That's about it.
Next is Lissajous,
which simulates curves of the same name
also known as Bowditch curves.
Balls, yeah! Mathematical graphs of a system of parametric equations
that describe complex harmonic motion!
Then you've got Logo,
which floats a logo
around the screen in as mundanely a way as possible.
Nice, if you're made of boring
and/or work for a company with no imagination.
Messages is a similar module
which lets you customize messages
that either scroll across or float around the screen.
Then you've got MultiModule,
and this one will allow you to select... multiple modules
to display at the same time.
Awesome, if you have trouble loving just one screensaver at a time.
Be careful, though. The others still get jealous before long.
And then there's NightLines,
which has absolutely nothing to do with ABC's late-night news show
and everything to do with colorful line patterns on a black background.
Then you've got the PICS Player animation module
and this actually animation files made with programs like MacroMind Director,
Studio One and Super3D.
I'm sure that's useful to someone.
Picture Frame is similar, except this displays stationary PICT format image files
on your screen instead of awesome animations.
And Puzzle is a far more interesting module
that turns your entire screen into a sliding puzzle–
and one that never seems to solve itself–
resulting in much aggravation if you're one that enjoys solving things
instead of just watching them go to crap before your very eyes.
Then you've got Rain Storm, which mimics rain,
and a storm, resulting in a virtual rain storm.
Ha-ho!
Adjust the strength, the amount of lightning, and even how far away it is,
when affects when thunder sound effects play.
Randomizer is a bit like MultiModule,
except you choose random screensavers to play in full screen,
instead of all on-screen at once.
Rose is a module creating patterns of a vaguely roselike nature using neon-colored pixels,
and it's nice and somehow mesmerizing.
Satori uses a technique the author calls "color animation."
As you might expect, it generates and animates a bunch of colors–
256 of them to be exact–
and it looks trippy and awesome and I like it!
Shapes makes a bunch of shapes.
Neat.
Slideshow is the same as Picture Frame,
except that you can select multiple pictures that display sequentially.
Why these options weren't rolled into Picture Frame or vice-versa, I have no idea.
Then there's the Spheres module, which gives you blue balls.
And Spotlight, which does exactly this,
right here, at different sizes and speeds.
Starry Skyline is an extension of Starry Night,
allowing you to customize the appearance of the buildings this time.
String Theory extends particle physics by replacing point particles
by extended objects referred to as strings.
It's also yet another After Dark module
that generates overly energetic, trippy, colorful lines for your monitor.
Next is Supernova,
which produces loud, obnoxious, colored explosions
and I have no idea who could possibly think this is anything but headache inducing.
Vertigo is another module that seems to be made for the exclusive purpose
of getting off on 256-color graphics,
and doesn't really do much else.
And finally, Warp is the classic starfield simulator in After Dark form
arguably made the most famous with the version included with Windows 3.1.
It's not the exact same piece of software, but it does the same thing.
And that's it for Berkeley Systems' After Dark.
Is it awesome? Balls yeah, it's awesome.
Would you get it nowadays? Not really, no.
Because, really, who uses screensavers any more?
And if you do, there's probably better alternatives.
But there's just something that cannot be beat
about these originals if you're somebody that grew up with them
or just remember them from back in the day.
They were colorful, they were creative, they were just awesome.
And there were so many more that I didn't even touch on
that came in the later versions, so, yeah...
I hope you enjoyed this look back at the After Dark screensaver package, version 2.0.
Now if you'll excuse me,
I have a sudden craving for toast
that I must fulfill.
[MIDI music]