Read the series bibles for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterpise

Star Trek releases series bibles for Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.

Fans of Star Trek, get ready to do some deep-diving into the history of Star Trek. Thanks to StarTrek.com, anyone can now read the series bibles of one of the four series from the apex of the franchise. All four series that were done during the Rick Berman era of Trek have had their show bibles released online. That’s the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.

Now for though unfamiliar, a series bible is the outline of the series. It talks about characters, plot ideas, must-haves, and mustn’t do’s.

The reason for a series bible is to be able to get a new writer involved with the production and let them hit the ground running. That way there isn’t any confusion over what is and isn’t permitted within the guidelines of the show. This way if we know that human beings exceed Warp 10, they will always turn into salamanders. So no matter who does that from here on out, that will always be the outcome.

It’s about maintaining consistency the best a show can, despite people countlessly coming in and out.

Star Trek show bibles have some pretty interesting stuff in them

The show bibles feature some really interesting stuff in each of them, these were some points that StarTrek.com thought were interesting.

The Next Generation

Next Generation’s series bible talks about how the Enterprise D is no longer a primary military ship, with the lounge being located behind the bridge as an attempt to demonstrate the idea. A failed point from the series bible, one that some fans may know, was that TNG was not supposed to use characters and aliens from the original series.

More from Television

• The Borg Queen was spoiled early on Star Trek: Picard
• Will Star Trek: Discovery feature a satisfying ending to the series?
• When is Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth and final season coming?
• ET flashes back to Avery Brooks’ interview on Far Beyond the Stars
• Todd Stashwick calls Captain Shaw’s death “beautiful poetry”

The pilot literally featured DeForrest Kelly as Dr. McCoy and a new character named Worf, who is a Klingon. So bibles aren’t always followed to perfection.

Deep Space Nine

Another interesting change from a series bible was what happened with Deep Space Nine’s Promenade. The original idea was to have it as a street market ala Blade Runner, and less of a super-mall hallway that it became.

Voyager

Another interesting idea that was scrapped was that of “Doctor Zimmerman”, the original idea of the EMH on Voyager, who would essentially have a new personality every time he was activated. This certainly would’ve given Robert Picardo a lot of work to do every episode, but may have robbed us of the enjoyment of seeing a character evolve as organically as The Doctor did.

Enterprise

Some fans may know this but according to the Enterprise bible, T’Pol was not the original character meant for the show. Instead, it was going to be T’Pau, the character from the original series episode, “Amok Time”.