Dive deep into Star Trek canon with the writers' bibles from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and more

The cover and title page from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series bible, published on StarTrek.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021 - Last week, the writer/director guides from several Star Trek series were published for download on startrek.com. If you’ve ever wanted a peek inside the shows you love, here’s your chance to see the building blocks of what makes Star Trek…Star Trek.

Writing for television is no easy task. When it comes to a franchise as expansive as Star Trek, there are certain rules that writers have to follow to make sure there is consistency in both the universe in which they are writing and the characters within it. Each series has its own writer/director guidebook, more commonly referred to as the series “bible”. 

Inside its pages are, first and foremost, basic descriptions of the overall mission of the crew. Beyond that, you’ll find descriptions of the main characters and sets, as well as suggestions for each series. As an example, the guide for Star Trek: The Next Generation recommends against using storylines involving villains from The Original Series, namely the Klingons and Romulans. Now, anyone who’s watched a fair amount of TNG knows there are plenty of stories involving both species, such as “Sins of the Father '' and “Unification”, but the idea was to establish TNG as its own series, separate from its forebears. That being said, a good Romulan or Klingon storyline is hard to pass up, and several obviously made it to production on TNG. Beyond that, the series bibles also reveal information on technical systems, weapons, and the scientific terminology of the Star Trek universe.

If you want to stretch your creative legs by writing some Star Trek fan fiction - or maybe you just want a glimpse inside the mind of a Star Trek writer - these writer/director guides may be just what you’re looking for. Available for download are the series bibles for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Downloads are free. Simply head over to startrek.com to download the Star Trek bible of your choice.