Did you know 'Star Trek: Enterprise' used Mac G4 Cubes during production? You do now

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Apple G4 Cubes used on Enterprise set
Apple G4 Cubes used on Enterprise set (Image credit: idrivex)

What you need to know

  • "Star Trek: Enterprise" was filming in 2002.
  • An Apple developer visited the set during filming.
  • They spotted a ton of Macintosh G5 Cubes running the Enterprise's displays.

It's amazing where you find Macs. But I didn't expect them to be used on the set of "Star Trek: Enterprise." That's something one lucky Apple developer spotted when visiting the set in 2002.

Unfortunately, the developer went by the name "idrivex" so it isn't clear exactly who they were, but in 2002 they wrote on the TrekToday site that they visited the show's set and, amazingly, spotted a few G4 Cubes powering the Enterprise's displays.

...so I decided to go exploring. That's where I found the Sys-Admin guy [Michael Okuda] that runs all the displays on the ship. Well we got talking (about Macs of course) and he was a really great guy. We exchanged cards and everything and I took some photos of what drives all the displays on the ships. Guess what? It's 16 G4 Cubes. I have the photos on my web page.

Unfortunately, idrivex's web page seems to have been lost to time but one Redditor was able to capture one of the photos before they disappeared. And the nostalgia is definitely strong.

Now I need to decide what I'm going to do first – buy a G4 Cube or watch all of "Star Trek: Enterprise" all over again.

And if you want to see more of the G4 Cube be sure to check out Stephen Hacket's video. If you didn't want one before, you will do soon.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.