After Dark (software)

''After Dark'' is a series of computer screensaver software introduced by Berkeley Systems in 1989 for the Apple Macintosh, and in 1991 for Microsoft Windows.

Following the original, additional editions included ''More After Dark'', ''Before Dark'', and editions themed around licensed properties such as ''Star Trek'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Looney Tunes'', Marvel, and Disney characters.

On top of the included animated screensavers, the program allowed for the development and use of third-party modules, many hundreds of which were created at the height of its popularity.

Flying Toasters

left, 200px, An ''After Dark'' CD-ROM
The most famous of the included screensaver modules is the iconic ''Flying Toasters'', which featured 1940s-style chrome toasters sporting bird-like wings, flying across the screen with pieces of toast. Engineer Jack Eastman came up with the display after seeing a toaster in the kitchen during a late-night programming session and imagining the addition of wings. A slider in the ''Flying Toasters'' module enabled users to adjust the toast's darkness and an updated ''Flying Toasters Pro'' module added a choice of music—Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries or a flying toaster anthem with optional karaoke lyrics. Yet another version called ''Flying Toasters!'' added bagels and pastries, baby toasters, and more elaborate toaster animation. The Flying Toasters were one of the key reasons that After Dark became popular, and Berkeley began to produce other merchandising products such as T-shirts with the Flying Toaster image and slogans such as "The 51st Flying Toaster Squadron: On a mission to save your screen!"

The toasters were the subject of two lawsuits, the first in 1993, ''Berkeley Systems vs Delrina Corporation'', over a module of Delrina's ''Opus 'N Bill'' screensaver in which Opus the penguin shoots down the toasters. After a U.S. District judge ruled that Delrina's "Death Toasters" was infringing, Delrina later changed the wings of the toasters to propellers. The second case was brought in 1994 by 1960s rock group Jefferson Airplane who claimed that the toasters were a copy of the winged toasters featured on the cover of their 1973 album ''Thirty Seconds Over Winterland''. The case was dismissed because the cover art had not been registered as a trademark by the group prior to Berkeley Systems' release of the screensaver.

A 3D version of the toasters featuring swarms of toasters with airplane wings, rather than bird wings, is available for XScreenSaver.

History

In 1997, Berkeley Systems was acquired by the Sierra On-Line division of CUC International. Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the founders of Berkeley Systems, went on to create MoveOn.org. Ed Fries, co-developer of the popular ''Fish!'' screensaver, became vice president of game publishing at Microsoft.

The Bad Dog (TV series) based on the "Bad Dog" screensaver was produced by CinéGroupe and Saban Entertainment for the Teletoon and Fox Family Channel networks that first aired on Teletoon on March 1, 1999.

An official version of After Dark was released for Mac OS X running on PowerPC by Infinisys, Ltd. of Japan in May 2003.
For Apple M1 and Intel Macs, remakes of three popular modules — ''Flying Toasters'', ''Mowing Man'' and ''Boris'' — are being sold as standalone screensavers.

Sierra released a Flying Toaster video game for cell phones in 2006.

Sierra Entertainment was eventually acquired by Vivendi Games, which in turn was merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. The ''After Dark'' franchise will be owned by Microsoft pending international approval of their acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

''After Dark Games''

Sierra Interactive and Berkeley Systems released ''After Dark Games'' in 1998 for the Macintosh and Windows platforms, which contained several games modeled after their previously released screensavers. These games included ''Mowin' Maniac'' (a ''Pac-Man'' clone based on the ''Mowin' Man'' and ''Mowin' Boris'' modules); ''Roof Rats'' (similar to ''SameGame'' and variants); Solitaire (''After Dark'' themed); ''Toaster Run'' (an isometric ''Glider'' clone featuring several ''After Dark'' characters, including a Flying Toaster and Super Guy); ''Zapper'' (a trivia game); ''Hula Girl'' (an endless 2D platforming game based on the ''Hula Twins'' module from After Dark 4.0); two word scramble games — ''Bad Dog 911'' (based on the ''Bad Dog'' modules) and ''Fish Shtix'' (based on the ''Fish'' modules, mainly ''Fish World''); ''Foggy Boxes'' (a Dots and Boxes game based on the ''Messages 4.0'' module); ''MooShu Tiles'' (a Mahjong-like game featuring many ''After Dark'' characters throughout the years); and ''Rodger Dodger''.

J.C. Herz of ''The New York Times'' wrote that the "sheer simplicity" of these games helped make them as "engaging and addictive as the mega-selling 40-hour sagas with souped-up 3-D sound and state-of-the-art computer graphics." A review in ''Computer Gaming World'' stated that, "If nothing else, it makes for a good time-killer."

Modules

:

Release history

*version 1.0 - 1989
*version 2.0 - 1992 - The first official release for Windows.
*version 3.0 - 1994
*version 3.2 - 1995
*version 4.0 - 1996

Licensed Products

*Star Trek: The Screen Saver - 1992
*The Disney Collection Screen Saver - 1993
*Marvel Comics Screen Posters - 1993
*X-Men Screen Saver - 1994
*The Simpsons Screen Saver - 1994
* Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver - 1994
*Looney Tunes Screen Saver - 1995
*Toy Story - 1995
*Myst Screen Saver
*Chex Quest Screen Saver - 1997 (unlicensed module built on the After Dark software)

References

Further reading

*

External links

After Dark X
— the official version for Mac OS X by Infinisys


By Tommy Thomas - 2007.02.09


By Tommy Thomas - 2007.02.12

{{DEFAULTSORT:After Dark (Software)
Screensavers
Discontinued software
Display technology
Classic Mac OS software
Utilities for macOS
Utilities for Windows
Computer-related introductions in 1989
Sierra Entertainment
1990s fads and trends