the bridge, and we can even identify some of the precious items in Captain Picard's quarters. But our exploration of the Enterprise has always been passive; the television serving as a window into the fictional happenings aboard an interstellar spacecraft. We’ve imagined walking about the bridge, or rummaging through Data’s quarters, but reality has never let us do this. Until now.
Based upon the book of the same name, the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual is the first product to showcase Apple’s QuickTime VR technology. A component of QuickTime 2.0, QuickTime VR supplement’s Apple QuickTime video technology by permitting user controllable, 360-degree stationary navigation of an area. The premise is quite simple, actually: a special camera takes a 360° picture of external scenery or an interior. Using mathematical formulae, QuickTime VR warps the photo to give the user the proper first-person perspective at all angles. As the user moves in one direction, the picture automatically warps, giving the illusion that one is actually rotating within the environment.
QuickTime VR also allows for interactive rotation of three-dimensional objects. This component of QuickTime VR is inherently more complex. Rather than simply applying mathematical formulae to one large picture, the three dimensional object must be photographed and digitized at all possible vantage points. This creates a very large QuickTime file containing hundreds of pictures of the three-dimensional object at various angles.
Whatever the theory behind the technology, the results are outstanding. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual finally permits the exploring of all the Enterprise 1701-D’s popular spots: The bridge, the captain’s ready room, the observatory, the transporter room, engineering, the holodeck, Ten-Forward, sick bay, and the quarters of Captain Picard, Troi, Data and Worf. In each location, you can stand in a number of different vantage points, getting a different perspective on the location. You can also examine many different work stations and objects (some objects you can actually interactively rotate). You can choose to leave locations by clicking on a door, putting you in a ‘Transit Mode’ where you are convincingly zoomed through corridors and turbolifts until you arrive at your destination.
 
Explore Captain Picard's quarters
Additionally, you can examine the Enterprise from the outside, rotating it in any direction you wish. If you choose to examine such things as the warp nacelles or the bridge, a QuickTime movie will load and zoom you in for a closer view. One of the best examples of this is the detail of Ten-Forward; the amazingly done QuickTime movie zooms you right in to the front of the saucer section, so that you can actually see the Ten-Forward lounge through the ship’s windows.
The Interactive Technical Manual offers a brief QuickTime tour of the various ships locations, narrated by Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), providing a verbal explanation of the activities of each location. The remainder of the Interactive Technical Manual is narrated by Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of LCARS–the Library Computer Access and Retrieval System. To set the mood and immerse you into the environment of the galaxy class starship, the low hum of the Enterprise can be continuously heard in the background.
The Interactive Technical Manual contains all of the information, history, schematics and theoretical explanations existent in the paperback Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda. Much of this information still remains in text form, but is supplemented by animations and QuickTime movies where relevant. Additionally, up-to-date behind the scenes information can be found in every location within the Interactive Technical Manual, providing a glimpse into the making of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
While there are very few problems with this excellent piece of software, I feel they must be noted. I found the color quality of the ship’s interiors to be somewhat poor. I don’t know if this is because the sets are actually that color (for the purposes of TV) or if there was just a color problem with the photography and digitization. Whatever the cause, I found the color of the movies to be rather ‘warm’ and over-saturated. The other minor complaint I have is that a double-speed CD-ROM drive is apparently not fast enough to handle seamless rotation of three-dimensional objects. In particular, I had difficulties achieving smooth, jerk-free rotation of the Enterprise.
The first product to utilize Apple’s amazing new QuickTime VR technology, Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual is certainly worth the asking price. The richness and vastness of the CD-ROM will have you exploring the Enterprise for days, learning something new each time. After an intense week examining the NCC 1701-D, you’ll really mourn its recent destruction.
 
 
Berkeley Systems, $30 US. ($45 Cdn.).  
Requirements: any Macintosh with a 68020 processor
or higher (including Power Macintoshes) and System
6.0.7 or later. Recommended: Macintosh with color or
grayscale display.
With the wrapping up of Star Trek: The Next Gen-
eration this summer and the feature film Star Trek:
Generations now playing in theaters, the demand for
a follow-up to Berkeley’s original Star Trek screen
saver has never been greater. When Berkeley debuted its first theme-oriented screen saver in the fall of 1992, it was taken aback by the product’s phenomenal success. Based upon the original 60’s series, Star Trek: The Screen Saver featured animated displays and sound clips showcasing the adventures of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the rest of the members of the Enterprise 1701. Now, in the fall of 1994, Berkeley has released Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver, hoping to ride the wave of the current media attention towards Star Trek and fill its pockets with the dollars of devotees.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver is a well timed and guaranteed marketing success, with only one major problem: it’s not very good. Containing only 13 different modules (the original has 16), the product feels as though it has been rushed to market before sufficient development time. The modules quickly become repetitive and very few of them seem to capture the spirit of the Next Generation’s characters or story lines.
In one lackluster module, an animated bust of Troi floats about the screen offering ridiculous psychological advice. Another called ‘Science Stations’ alternates through what seem to be only four or five different animated Science Station displays. ‘Personnel Files’ displays character statistics for only eight crew members–Picard, Riker, Worf, Troi, Dr. Crusher, Wesley, Geordi and Data. (What about Ensign Ro, Barclay, Nurse Ogawa and Tasha Yar?). A module called ‘Starbase’ has the Enterprise 1701-D and other spacecraft forever crossing the screen, and ‘Officer’s Review’ offers a quickly repetitive quiz on the happenings in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Finally, ‘Data Dances’ has the lovable android endlessly dancing to one of four annoying musical scores. (I was devastated to learn the Data module was not at all similar the original Star Trek: The Screen Saver’s ‘Spock’ module. I had hoped to see Data encounter different situations from TNG: he would play his violin, pat Spot, tap dance, take off his arm, dress up as Sherlock Holmes, etc. Alas, the opportunity was lost.)
It’s not all bad, though. One of the best modules in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver, titled ‘Encounters’, is an evident successor to the original screen saver’s ‘The Mission’ module. Unlike the original module, where you saw only Kirk shouting out commands and occasionally Scotty in a Jeffries Tube, you get to see Picard, Riker, Worf, Troi and occasionally Dr. Crusher on the bridge. The module goes through a variety of encounters (actually, only seven that I have counted), with Picard, Riker and Worf uttering random phrases to each other (for some reason, Troi and Crusher never get to say anything).
Another impressive module is ‘Worf’s Weapons’. Seemingly  
repetitive at first, the module finds Alexander following dad
around on some kind of random display of weaponry, avoiding
the sometimes close swing of the Bat’telh. ‘Nanites’ has the
microscopic and intelligent cellular robots scooting around
and spontaneously multiplying, and ‘The Borg’ attempts to
assimilate your desktop.
Like any other Berkeley screen saver, Star Trek: The Next
Generation Screen Saver does an admirable job of preventing
phosphor burn in––and keeping you from your work. After Dark
3.0 greatly improves module organization by grouping all modules from various incarnations of After Dark in separate folders, and includes Berkeley’s EcoLogic power-saving technology for EnergyStar compliant Macintoshes. Aside from my dismay with the content of Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver, the only structural problem it has is that the TNG modules will not work in Multimodule (for reasons as yet unexplained). For more information on After Dark 3.0, please see MacSense October.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver makes a perfect gift for the devout Star Trek fan. It functions admirably as a screen-saver, and is very reasonably priced. I hope Berkeley fairs better with the inevitable Deep Space Nine Screen Saver.
