History Main / UniverseBible

* Legendary animator Creator/ChuckJones liked to enforce strict rules about the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' series he oversaw. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_Road_Runner#Laws_and_rules TOW]].

* There is also a ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' [[http://5years.doomworld.com/doombible/ bible]], made by Tom Hall. This version was scrapped, however. To famously quote John Carmack: "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but [[ExcusePlot it's not that important]]."

* The season 1 bible for ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' can be found at [[http://www.angelfire.com/rings/katsaris/garbible.htm Lost Tales: Gargoyles]].

* Ted Pedersen, story editor of ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce'', has posted the series bible [[http://timetreks.net/skybib.html here]].

** Speaking of 80s series, ''Series/KnightRider'' [[http://www.knightriderarchive.com/krtos/features/bible.html had one too]].

* The Series Bibles for a number of {{Sunrise}} anime, including ''VisionOfEscaflowne'' and ''GundamWing'', were actually published and sold.

* Series creator Ron D. Moore wrote the series bible for ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' in the long wait between the pilot miniseries (which aired in 2003) and season one, when the regular series was delayed due to its large cost to film. Ultimately Britain's Sky One agreed to cover half the initial cost, on the condition that season one aired in the UK first, so season one "premiered" in 2004 in Britain, but first aired in the USA in January 2005. Ron Moore had been working on the character outlines since December 2001 when he began writing the miniseries, but it was all formalized in the series bible in early 2004. Excerpts from the series bible were leaked out on Sky One's website, but the whole thing was only publicly released to the public after the fourth and final season. Moore always insisted that the series bible ''was not'' meant to be a complete, canonical outline of the show, in contrast with how ''Series/BabylonFive'' was fully planned out in advance like a book. Still, certain aspects of the characters which were revealed in later seasons are indeed present within it: that Roslin's family died in a car accident (this was only revealed in the ''series'' finale), that Starbuck's mother criminally abused her, etc. It even states that Baltar is actually from the poor colony Sagittaron, but after he left for university on Caprica and became a famous scientist he actively passed himself off as a Caprican because he was so ashamed of being a poor farmer's son.

* Barbara Hall, creator of ''JoanOfArcadia'', had a list of ten rules for the show's writers about how God should behave. Appropriately, these were called "The Ten Commandments of ''Joan of Arcadia''".

* Bungie Studios, developers of ''{{Halo}}'', have a "Halo Story Bible" which contains all the facts, design elements, and history of the ''Halo'' universe.

* The development team for the MMORPG ''CityOfHeroes'' have mentioned the existence of a universe bible for the games' storyline several times.

* MattGroening claims that there are [[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E5DD1730F937A35752C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all three rules]] for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[A]nimals should always behave like animals, the Simpsons should avoid reflecting on their own celebrity, and the Springfield universe should never become overtly cartoonlike." These rules have been violated -- animals often understand human speech fluently, or make sounds that translate into complex (subtitled) sentences, and the "Behind the Laughter" episode portrays the cast as actors playing versions of themselves on TV, though that episode is non-canon. As for the third rule, there are too many instances of cartoon-like elements to list, both overt and non-overt, among them that Homer frequently suffers injuries that would be permanently crippling or fatal in real life.
* ''JemAndTheHolograms'' has one.

** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had one, [[spoliers: incuding an entry on Hawkgirl that the creator admitted was [[LyingCreator fake]], to keep from spoiling the Season 2 finale reveal that she was [[TheMole a mole]] for Thanagar.]]

* The entire Franchise/TransformersAlignedContinuity'', which includes ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', has one.

** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had one, [[spolier: incuding an entry on Hawkgirl that the creator admitted was [[LyingCreator fake]], to keep from spoiling the Season 2 finale reveal that she was [[TheMole a mole]] for Thanagar.]]

** MilestoneComics' ''Dakotaverse'' line (home of Comicbook/{{Static}}, Comicbook/{{Hardware}}, ComicBook/{{Icon}}, and ComicBook/BloodSyndicate, among others) has a universe bible that described Dakota (the line's CityOfAdventure) in great detail, explaining its history and geography. It also had the sketches and basic descriptions of all major characters.

** As did MarvelComics' Razorline imprint.
** MalibuComics' ComicBook/TheUltraverse is the most elaborate comic book example of it -- the line described the verse's mythology, setting, major characters, and plotlines in considerable detail, allowing the creators to use it as a guide for several years. Notable because some of the more elaborate parts of the backstory never made it into actual comics (thanks to ExecutiveMeddling on the part of their new owners, MarvelComics).

* The entire Transformers Aligned continuity, which includes ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', has one.
* Part of a series bible for ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' found it's way online at one point. Oddly, it lists Gentleman Ghost among the characters, despite none of the writers actually using him.

* ''DigimonTamers'': Series writer Chiaki J. Konaka posted up the setting notes on [[http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/ his website]], and provided a nifty English translation for the notes.

* You wanna write a ''StarWars'' novel? You'd better get used to long conversations with Leland Chee. Then get Abel G. Peña to fix any mistakes you made. And that's if [[WordOfGod George Lucas]] doesn't Joss your idea himself. It's even got a cool name: [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Holocron_continuity_database The Holocron]]. However, several official writers have admitted to consulting the fan-maintained Wookieepedia for obscure facts.
* FactionParadox has a couple of examples. The Book of the War is a universe bible framed as an in-universe encyclopedia of the first fifty years of the titular Second War in Heaven, and thus a good reference point for the 'default' status quo of the setting, but the series' creator has also released a more straightforward essay on the setting intended as a set of reference points for other writers.

* Interestingly, Nate Morgan, a prominent supporting cast member of ArchieComics' later ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' comics, was culled from [[http://www.sonicsatam.com/behind.php#bible an early series bible]] for [[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM the animated series]].

* Legendary animator ChuckJones liked to enforce strict rules about the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' series he oversaw. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_Road_Runner#Laws_and_rules TOW]].

A Universe Bible is an actual physical document, and is standard fare for any television production; it contains virtually ''everything'' about the series, and is constantly updated and referenced during production -- thus, if it's written in the Universe Bible, it's considered ''de facto'' canon, even if it's never mentioned in the series itself.

* The 1990s comic book speculation saw the advent of several upstart publishers and new shared universes created by established publishers. Many of those projects had Universe Bibles.

* The Series Bible for ''Series/BabylonFive'' was sold by the official fan club as a collectible. It's no longer available, but copies can sometimes be found on eBay.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' apparently does not have a normal Series Bible. Instead, its bible is said to be a rigorous, correct-to-every-detail timeline of ''every single event on the show'', even ones just alluded to.

* WordOfGod has said that the WhateleyUniverse has a UniverseBible for the {{Canon}} authors that's three or four hundred pages long. So far. And is also infamous amongst the canon cabal for being incomplete by now.
* The Nasuverse has a massively complex UniverseBible that dictates all the rules of the verse, explains every character's powers, and gives backstory and introduces characters who may not have even appeared in the written text. However, finding these facts is a whole other matter in itself, as they only exist in untranslated art books and interviews with Kinoko Nasu.

* Each ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' setting has a MASSIVE Bible called the "style guide" that details the specifics of that setting. The purpose of the style guide is to give the artists a mold to follow when making the card art, and to have a strict formula for which cards can't be allowed because they violate the flavor of the setting. Cultures, environments, clothing, sentient creatures, wild animals, religions and holidays, what time the residents have their tea; with detailed writings and drawings on the subjects. Anything that ''could'' be in the style guide already is. The overwhelming majority of this information never sees the light of day to the general public, sadly.
* The last supplements released for all the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' lines (Gehenna, Apocalypse, Ascension, and Time of Judgment) occasionally refer to the fact that Universe Bibles once existed for each of them, and that at some point they were all thrown out.

* The development team for the MMORPG ''CityOfHeroes'' have mentioned the existence of a Universe Bible for the games' storyline several times.

* ''WesternAnimation/WingCommanderAcademy'' had one, which can be found online, although there are some considerable differences between it and the actual show. Since the show only lasted a single season, the SeriesBible presumably just never got updated (or the updated version was never published online).
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' revealed it relied on a SeriesBible at least as far as character and setting designs went. Revealed in the [[AllThereInTheManual Art Of Avatar: The Last Airbender Artbook.]]

A UniverseBible is an actual physical document, and is standard fare for any television production; it contains virtually ''everything'' about the series, and is constantly updated and referenced during production -- thus, if it's written in the UniverseBible, it's considered ''de facto'' canon, even if it's never mentioned in the series itself.

* The {{Series Bible}}s for a number of {{Sunrise}} anime, including ''VisionOfEscaflowne'' and ''GundamWing'', were actually published and sold.

* You wanna write a ''StarWars'' novel? You'd better get used to long conversations with Leland Chee. Then get Abel G. Peña to fix any mistakes you made. And that's if [[WordOfGod George Lucas]] doesn't Joss your idea himself. It's even got a cool name: [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Holocron_continuity_database The Holocron]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{He-Man and the Masters of the Universe}}'' had one written by Michael Halperin in 1982. It was included on one of the [=DVDs=].

* The last supplements released for all the ''Old World of Darkness'' lines (Gehenna, Apocalypse, Ascension, and Time of Judgment) occasionally refer to the fact that Universe Bibles once existed for each of them, and that at some point they were all thrown out.

** MilestoneComics' ''Dakotaverse'' line (home of Comicbook/{{Static}}, Comicbook/{{Hardware}}, ComicBook/{{Icon}}, and Blood Syndicate, among others) has a universe bible that described Dakota (the line's CityOfAdventure) in great detail, explaining its history and geography. It also had the sketches and basic descriptions of all major characters.

** MalibuComics' Ultraverse is the most elaborate comic book example of it -- the line described the verse's mythology, setting, major characters, and plotlines in considerable detail, allowing the creators to use it as a guide for several years. Notable because some of the more elaborate parts of the backstory never made it into actual comics (thanks to ExecutiveMeddling on the part of their new owners, MarvelComics).

* ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'' famously had one, and it was a recurring entity in on-line discussions. It was, essentially, an overview on the basic stories and characters of any given year. The written fiction never quite deviated from it, but built upon it considerably, severally expanding it. Also was rather hastily updated with new infos, which meant that several external story sources (like {{LEGO}} set catalogs) came with strongly outdated, incorrect facts.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has it's own bible, available [[http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Fallout Bible here]] among other places.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has it's own bible, available [[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Bible here]] among other places.

->''And the gods said, "Fallest not into the temptation of parallel universe subplots. For therein lies the realm of evil twins. And you shall see their goatees and know them to be unclean in my sight. And woe be unto thee that assumest all extraterrestrials would [[RubberForeheadAliens appearest as humans save for a bumpy forehead]]. Thinkest thou outside the box, for this is my commandment." Takest thou these words and go forth that you may multiply scripts and have them on my desk to review my Monday.''