The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future is an encyclopedia of all the in-universe information from the Star Trek live-action television series and films. The Encyclopedia was written by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, with Debbie Mirek, and illustrated by Doug Drexler. Three print editions have been published, in both hardcover and paperback: the first edition (ISBN 0-671-88684-3) was published in 1994; the second (ISBN 0-671-53607-9) in 1997. The most recent edition (ISBN 0-671-53609-5), published in 1999, includes material through the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the fifth season of Star Trek: Voyager, and the movie Star Trek: Insurrection. The most recent version was also released on a CD-ROM that is for both Windows and Macintosh (ISBN 0-684-87413-X). All editions were published by Pocket Books except the CD-ROM, which was published by Simon & Schuster Interactive; Paramount Pictures is the owner of the copyrights.
The Encyclopedia features very detailed information about characters, planets, technologies, ships, and behind-the-scenes information, as well as brief synopses of series program installments and motion pictures. It is replete with illustrations, many of which are in color in later editions, from examples of different writing systems to the evolution of uniforms and shuttlecraft.
As a rule, the Encyclopedia covers only the material from the live-action television series programs and the motion pictures, which, at the insistence of Gene Roddenberry, are the extent of the Star Trek canon officially recognized by Paramount. It includes some material from the animated series program (such as "Yesteryear"), and sometimes provides new information. Unlike the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, however, it makes no detailed speculations about Star Trek technology.
In the time since its last publication, the Encyclopedia has become extremely out of date, with much of the conjectural, non-canonical information contained within it having been contradicted by the last two Star Trek films (Star Trek Nemesis and Star Trek) as well as the last two seasons of Star Trek: Voyager and the most recent series, Star Trek: Enterprise. There are currently no plans to release an updated version of the Encyclopedia, as its usefulness has been greatly superseded in recent years by online, digital resources such as Memory Alpha.
The print version was later complemented by a similar electronic version, the Star Trek Omnipedia. The CD-ROM medium allowed the Simon & Schuster publishers to include video clips.
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