1.0 Foreword: About This Document
This foreword explains that the Star Trek Writers' Technical Manual is an optional technical reference supplementing the Writers'/Directors' Guide, outlines its four major sections, and reminds writers that Star Trek is about people rather than technology.
The Star Trek Writers' Technical Manual was developed to provide a handy reference for the detailed technical background that our writers sometimes need, and is offered as a supplement to the Writers'/Directors' Guide. It is NOT required reading — relatively few of our scripts use more than a tiny amount of this material. Still, some story points do hinge on this stuff, and Star Trek has always prided itself on scientific accuracy and internal consistency — hence this document.
This document is divided into four major sections:
I. A Technical Primer. This section touches briefly on most of the ship's major systems, with explanations on how things work and definitions of many key scientific terms. Most listings include a capsule “in Brief” description of the system, as well as more detailed background information.
II. Technical Memoranda. A collection of technical memos discussing some of the more esoteric scientific background. Much of this material was jointly developed by our producers, writers, and art department at the beginning of the show, and is for those looking for a deeper technical understanding of our hardware.
III. Emergency Procedures. When bad things happen to good starships.
IV. A Celestial Bestiary. A collection of weird, often dangerous, and scientifically semi-plausible phenomena which is offered here as a springboard for the writers' imagination.
A friendly reminder: Just because this stuff exists, it doesn't mean you have to use it in your script. To quote Gene Roddenberry, “Believability is the test. What do real people do and say? When a policeman picks up his .38, does he explain how it works? Do you know how the trigger levers work the firing pin and so on? All you need or really care to know is that when he uses it, you see it work, and you accept it. So why should the captain explain a phaser when he picks it up?” Star Trek is about people, not about technology.
This document was written and designed by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda. The Star Trek Writers' Technical Manual is Copyright, © 1989, 1990 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication or distribution strictly prohibited. Additional art by Andrew Probert.