Special thanks to Timothy Lynch, Mike Brown, Mike Holtz, Jennifer A. Hawthorne, Matt Gomes, Mark Anthony Young, Bill Johnston, Fred Huemmrich, and Diana Sunday.
These three Star Trek HyperCard stacks are designed to simulate the interface of the Federation's computer screens while displaying information on all the episodes of the original Star Trek series (TOS), Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9). They allow you to scan the episodes and read detailed plot descriptions and Episode Notes; check out the writers, directors, and guests; and store information on your personal video tape collection (if you have one). Simply place all the stacks in the same folder and they will recognize each other.
Hardware and Software Requirements
----------------------------------
These stacks can operate on any Apple Macintosh computer with at least 2.5 megs of RAM. They require HyperCard 2.0 (2.1 is recommended) or higher and System 6.0.5 or higher to operate.
How To Get Updates to These Stacks
--------------------------------
Updated versions of these stacks will be available by Anonymous FTP from 'wuarchive.wustl.edu' (128.252.135.4) and 'archie.au' (139.130.23.2) as they are produced. They will also be available from America Online. Any new stacks will be announced in the following Usenet newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard, rec.arts.startrek.current, and rec.arts.startrek.info.
Comments and Suggestions
------------------------
You can direct comments and suggestions on this stack to David Landis at OakMtSw@aol.com, or write them to the following address. Remember, work on this stack is continuing. If you have any special features you would like included in an upcoming version, send in your suggestions. They will all be considered.
David Landis
Oak Mountain Software
12414 Starlight Lane
Bowie, MD 20715
E-Mail: OakMtSw@aol.com
Copyright Notice
---------------
These stacks were created by David R. Landis and are copyright Oak Mountain Software 1991–1994. The stacks are freeware and may not be sold. You are free to distribute the stacks as you like, so long as you do not alter it.
Star Trek™ is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Star Trek™ was created by Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek:DS9™ was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller.
Description of the Main Screen
---------------------------
The main screen has been designed to resemble a Federation-standard display screen. It has many elements, all of which will be described in detail. There is Balloon Help for System 7 "pseudo Balloon Help" for System 6—help is available for all elements on the main screen, activated by the "Help Mode" menu item.
Episode Information
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TITLE: The episode title is at the top of the screen. Any title that has "(an)" after it is from the Animated series, and any title that has "(M)" after it is a movie. (Note: it is not recommended that you change the titles of any episodes.)
WRITERS: This lists the writers of the plot and the story. The writers of the actual teleplay (script and dialogue) may be listed separately. Clicking on a name will create a list of episodes of all the writing credits that person has for Star Trek.
Director: Clicking here will create a list of all Star Trek episodes that this person has directed.
STARDATE: For Star Trek-TOS, Stardates were assigned simply to show progression of time, not to indicate where the show appeared within the season. For Star Trek-TNG, Stardates in the 41000's are in the first season, the 42000's are the second season, etc. For Star Trek-DS9, Stardates in the 46000's are in the first season (DS9 started in TNG's 6th season), the 47000's are the second season, etc. If "(est)" appears after the Stardate, then it was not stated in the episode and has been estimated.
AIR DATE: This is the date the episode was first shown on television (the first Saturday).
SEASON: This is the season number of the episode. If an "A" is part of the season, it was part of the Animated series. If an "M" is in the season, it was a movie.
NUMBER: This is the episode number in broadcast order. If there are two numbers, the first is the number since the premiere of the series, and the second is the number within the season (Example: "101 (1)" is the 101st episode of the series, but the 1st of the season).
PROGRAM NUMBER: This is the official Paramount program number of the episode. The numbers indicate the order in which the episodes were filmed, which may not be the order in which they were shown. Any episode with a "ST-" in it was a movie.
Pull Down Menus
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"GUESTS/MAIN CAST" BUTTON: Holding down the mouse here shows you a pull-down menu where you can choose to view the Guests or the Main Cast.
GUESTS: This lists the actors who are not in the main cast. Those who appear periodically throughout the series are shown in italics. Clicking on a name will create a list of all the things that actor has done in any Star Trek series.
MAIN CAST: This lists the main cast members who are on the show for this season. Clicking on a name lets you choose to create a list of all the episodes that feature that character in a major role, or a list of all the things the actor has done in Star Trek.
"SHORT SYNOPSIS/LONG SYNOPSIS/EPISODE NOTES" BUTTON: Holding down the mouse here shows you a pull-down menu where you can choose to view the Short Synopsis, the Long Synopsis, or the Episode Notes.
SHORT SYNOPSIS: This is a short description of the plot used in the Episode List window and printed out in some of the episode reports.
LONG SYNOPSIS: This is the long, detailed plot synopsis of the episode.
EPISODE NOTES: This holds information about the actors in the episode, plot lines altered or dropped, mistakes and inside jokes, and opinions (if "DL" appears after an Opinion, then they were written by me, the stack's author). There are also references to other episodes of Star Trek that are related. These are linked by hypertext links. Simply click on an underlined episode name followed by a number, such as "Klingons In My Dryer" [#123], and the stack will take you to that episode. The button labeled "Old Links" will show you a list of all the episodes you have accessed using these hypertext links. These links operate between all three Star Trek stacks, allowing you to follow references to their origin.
"OLD LINKS" BUTTON: Holding down the mouse here shows you a pull-down menu containing a list of the shows you have accessed using hypertext links from the Episode Notes. Selecting an episode from this list takes you to that episode, even across stack boundaries. The episodes are shown in the order you accessed them (most recent at the top). This list is empty each time you start the stacks.
Screen Buttons and Controls
-------------------------
FEDERATION-SYMBOL: Clicking on this symbol brings up the credits screen.
LEFT ARROW: Clicking on this button shows you the previous episode, in the order shown. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the first episode in this stack.
RIGHT ARROW: Clicking on this button shows you the next episode, in the order shown. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the last episode in this stack.
LEFT SEASON ARROW: Clicking on this button shows you the first episode of the previous season. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the first episode of the first season.
RIGHT SEASON ARROW: Clicking on this button shows you the first episode of the next season. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the first episode of the last season.
LEFT LISTED ARROW: Clicking on this button takes you to the previous episode contained in an Episode List you've created. It will beep if the Episode List is empty. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the first episode in the list.
RIGHT LISTED ARROW: Clicking on this button takes you to the next episode contained in an Episode List you've created. It will beep if the Episode List is empty. Holding down the Option key and clicking here will take you to the last episode in the list.
"IN LIST?" BUTTON: This button shows you whether or not the episode is included in an Episode List you've created. If the round button is solid black (as shown here), the episode is in the list. If the round button is empty, it is not. You may manually add or delete this episode from the Episode List by clicking on this button. If you add a new episode to the list using this button, it will appear with the description "You added "Klingons in My Dryer" [#123]" in the Episode List window.
"FIND" BUTTON: This button calls up a color dialog box that allows you to enter one or two strings to find, and it allows you to limit the search to the synopsis or the episode notes if you like (by using the radio buttons on the lower left of the window).[Example: Find the episode with "Riker" and "birthday" in the synopsis.] When you have found something once, the "Find" button in the window changes to "Find Next". Holding down the Option key and clicking on the main screen"Find" button does a "find Next" without displaying the Find window.
"GO TO" BUTTON: This button calls up a color dialog box that presents you an alphabetical list of all the episodes. By pressing a letter on the keyboard, you can move to that part of the list (Example: press the "S" key to see the part of the list where episode names start with "S"). You can also view an individual season of episodes in the order they were shown by pressing one of the "season #" radio buttons. Double-clicking on an episode name (or single-clicking and pressing the "Go To" button) will take you to that episode.
"BUILD" BUTTON: This is a new button that replaces the old "Mark" button. It calls up a color dialog box that lets you build lists of episodes based on any conditions that you like (build a list of episodes "about Julian Bashir", for example).
Clicking on the "More" button (lower left of the window) will call up a more detailed screen (shown on the right), where you can build a list of episodes based on many different criteria. The pull-down menu at the top of the window lets you select which field to search in. If you select "Show Taped" or "Your Rating", then additional pull-down menus will appear to aid your search. Otherwise, you must enter a name or other text to search for in the empty box. Clicking on the "Less" button returns you to the simplified window shown on the left.
Once the "Do It" button is pressed, the list is built and then displayed in a new Episode List window (see the next page). Once a group of episodes is in the list, you can print out various reports for them. You can view only the episodes in the list by using the "Listed" arrows on the main screen. You can limit the list to the stack you are currently in, or have all three stacks scanned for episodes to include (by clicking on the "All Stacks" button).
"LIST" BUTTON: This button calls up the Episode List window, which shows all the episodes in the current list, the condition that makes the list unique, and the short synopsis of each episode in the list (when the episode name is clicked on). This allows you to figure out which episode you are interested in by looking at the short synopsis without having to manually scan through the stack. You can sort the list by air date, Stardate, your rating, and other categories by using the "Sort" pull-down menu just below the episode list.
You can clear the episode list with the "Clear" button so you can customize a list. Clicking on the header ("about Julian Bashir" in the example) will allow you to edit the header. You can then add episodes to the list manually using the "In List?" radio button at the top left of the main screen, adding or removing each episode to build your own custom list.
The asterisks after an episode name indicate your personal rating (1 to 5 stars), and the "†" character after a title means that you have that episode on video tape. (Entering video tape and rating information is discussed further on.) If the last item on a line has a "»" before it, then that is the item that was used to sort the list (such as air date or Stardate).
"REPORT" BUTTON: This allows you to send a report to a printer or a file. You can generate reports in three styles (Full, Short, and One Line) for all the episodes, the episodes in an Episode List, or just the one you are looking at. The file or printed report for an Episode List will appear in the order that they have been sorted. The format of the files can be set to MacWrite, MacWrite II, TeachText, Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, or WriteNow. This is the word-processor that will open if you double-click on the file's icon, even though the file will be all plain text. You can print reports in large fonts (for ImageWriters) or small fonts (for LaserWriters).
"QUIT" BUTTON: This button quits the stacks.
Vide Tape Information
--------------------
You can store information on your video tape collections of Star Trek episodes. You can then use the stack to find which tape a specific episode is on so you need not physically search through your tapes to find it. This information can be exported to a file, then imported into newer versions of this stack. This process is described further on.
VCR TAPE: This holds the name of the video tape that contains the episode.
COUNT:This holds the tape count where the episode is located on the video tape.
SPEED: Holding down the mouse here shows you a pull-down menu containing a list of recording speeds of your video tape.
STEREO: This button indicates whether or not the episode was recorded in stereo (using a stereo VCR to record on a station that broadcasts in stereo).
YOUR RATING: Holding down the mouse here shows you a pull-down menu that allows you to select a personal rating between 1 and 5 stars for the episode (1 is bad and 5 is great). You can then generate Episode Lists based on your ratings.
Menu Items
----------
The "Star Trek" menu (on the far right of the menu bar) contains the following menu items. Note, on Classic all-in-one Macintoshes (9" screens), the menu bar is hidden because it would cover important information. Simply move the cursor to the top of the screen and the menu bar will appear. When you move the cursor away, it will disappear.
"HELP MODE" MENU ITEM: This toggles Help Mode on or off. When in Help Mode, System 7’s Balloon Help will be activated, giving you helpful hints on every screen object that you place the cursor on. If you are using System 6, Help Mode causes small windows containing the same help text to pop up next to objects when you place the cursor on them.
"EDIT MODE" MENU ITEM: This toggles Edit Mode on or off. When Edit Mode is on, you may modify all the text fields on the screen. When Edit Mode is off, all the text will be locked. Edit Mode must be turned off for any of the list building features to work (clicking on a name to see a list of episodes that person was involved in).
"SOUND ON" MENU ITEM: This turns the Federation computer sounds off or on. If the sound is off, only standard Macintosh system beeps will be used for warnings.
"CLEAR VIDEO INFO..." MENU ITEM: This clears all of your personal information (stored on the bottom of each card) about your video tape collection and your rating for each episode. Use this feature before you give a copy of these stacks to a friend. If you do give copies to your friends, be sure to make copies of this document for them as well.
"IMPORT VIDEO INFO..." MENU ITEM: This allows you to import your video information from a previous version of the Star Trek stacks. See the next section for complete instructions.
"EXPORT VIDEO INFO..." MENU ITEM: This allows you to export a file containing all of your video and rating information from an old version of the Star Trek stacks for importing into a newer version. See the next section for complete instructions.
"VIEW CHARACTER INFO" MENU ITEM: This allows you to see a picture of and biographical information on each major character in the Star Trek series you are looking at. Use the arrow buttons to move to the next or previous character. In the Star Trek-TOS stack, there is a button to switch between the original series stuff and the movie stuff. Note: pictures are in color and need a color Macintosh for display.
"STAR TREK-THE ORIGINAL SERIES" MENU ITEM: This takes you to the Star Trek-TOS stack. If it is not in the same folder as the other stacks, this menu item will be disabled.
"STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION" MENU ITEM:This takes you to the Star Trek-TNG stack. If it is not in the same folder as the other stacks, this menu item will be disabled.
"STAR TREK-DEEP SPACE NINE" MENU ITEM: This takes you to the Star Trek-DS9 stack. If it is not in the same folder as the other stacks, this menu item will be disabled.
Updating Video Information From Version 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, or 2.0.
If you have entered information on your video collection into an earlier version of the stacks, you will want to transfer that information into version 2.1. Use the following steps to accomplish this.
1) Start the old version of the stacks.
2) Select "Export Video Info…" from the menu. This creates a file containing your video information.
3) Open version 2.1 of the stacks.
4) Select "Import Video Info…" from the menu.
5) Open the file you created in step 2. This will start the import process. When it is done, all of the video information from the original stacks will be a part of the new stacks.
6) Make sure all of your video tape information transferred correctly before you delete the old version of your stacks.
Special Features
---------------
• Each stack remembers which episode you were looking at last and opens the stack to that episode.
• You can add episodes to the stacks. Use the "New Card" menu item, or type Apple-N. The new cards will always be placed at the end of a stack. When you enter the name of the episode, that name will be updated in the title lists so you can view it with the "Go To" button. Make sure you spell the title of the show correctly, otherwise updating to the next version of these stacks may have some problems.
Possible Problems
----------------
There are several known problems and conflicts with the Star Trek stacks and other software and hardware. If you encounter problems other than those listed here, please report them to Oak Mountain Software.
• If you experience any strange crashes of HyperCard while running the stacks (an "error of type 15" has been seen), increase the memory allocation for HyperCard in its "Info" box. Set the memory to at least 2500K.
• If you have an AV Macintosh with a GeoPort, there have been some problems reported, such as the "No Coprocessor" error. There is an error in the GeoPort drivers that conflicts with HyperCard. Call Apple service at 1-800-SOS-APPL for assistance on this error.
• If you have an Apple laser printer with an internal Fax card, reports that are to be printed may be accidentally faxed instead. The solution is to install version 8.2 of the Laser Printer drivers, which corrects the problem. If the problem persists, unplug the phone line into the printer before printing. That might work. If it persists after that, call Apple service at 1-800-SOS-APPL for assistance on this error.
Version History
--------------
Version 2.1 (released November 1994) (TOS, TNG, and DS9 stacks)
• Included TNG shows up to the end of season 7.
• Included DS9 shows up to the end of season 2.
• Included TAS and Trek movies in TOS stack.
• Created all new color interface windows using WindowScript™ from Heizer Software.
• Added "User Ratings" (1 to 5 stars) and the ability to sort shows by ratings.
• Added name searches; click on a Writer, Director, Guest, or Main Character to build a list of all episodes that person was involved in (across all three stacks).
• Added new computer speech sounds (controlled by "Sound On" menu item).
• Added new "View Character Info" window with color pictures and biographical information on each character in the series.
• Added color credit pictures.
• Fixed the pull-down menu problem (when the stack was used with HyperCard 2.0) by upgrading the HPopupMenu XFCN (by Jon Pugh) to version 3.2.2.
Version 2.0 (released August 1993) (Now TOS, TNG, and DS9 stacks)
• Included TNG shows up to the end of season 6.
• Created the new DS9 stack, with shows for all of season 1.
• Created the new TOS stack, with all 79 shows listed.
• Keep "Help Mode" and "Edit Mode" on across all three stacks.
• Keep the same fields visible when changing stacks.
• Added new "Episode Notes" field and entered a huge amount of new information for all three stacks.
• Addition of HyperText hot-links on episode names in the "Episode Notes" field. Click on an episode name to go to that show's listing.
• Added new "Go To" dialog box with alphabetic list, and seasonal lists.
• Added previous and next "Season" arrow buttons.
Version 1.2 (released January 1993) (TNG stack only)
• Included TNG shows up to mid-season 6.
• Added new Large Font reports for people with dot-matrix printers.
• Added full-color system icon for System 7 users.
Version 1.1 (released June 1992) (TNG stack only)
• Included TNG shows up to the end of season 5.
• Added a "New Show" feature so users can add information.
• Added a routine to choose a format (which word processor) for report files.
Version 1.0 (released January 1992) (TNG stack only)
• Baseline version of the TNG stack, including shows up to mid-season 5.
