Every page of the site has a SEARCH module which includes a link to ADVANCED SEARCH. Click that link and you'll be taken to the Advanced Search page.

Free Word Search

By selecting Articles, Photos and/or Videos you can determine what type of media will be returned. You may select one or more of these types. If you select only Photos and/or Videos, the Search Results will be a Media list with thumbnail images for each found item. If you select Articles, the Search Results will be a list of headlines, with icons that indicate articles, photos and video.

You can choose to search within specific areas of the site only. If you don't check any boxes, the entire site will be searched. If you check one or more boxes, only the checked site areas will be searched. Notice that if you check the Library, it will automatically check all the areas of the Library for you.

Your search can be limited to one or more series, using the checkboxes in the bottom section of the form. Notice that if you check All Series and Movies, it will automatically check all six options for you.

If you only type a word or phrase in the Search field, it will search Articles only across the entire site for all series and movies.

You may make your selection, type your word or phrase, and then press ENTER or click the EXECUTE SEARCH button. Click the RESET button to clear the form and begin a new search.

Category Search

Click the ALL CATEGORIES button and it will drop down with a list of categories, including CAST, CREATIVE STAFF, WRITERS, DIRECTORS, CHARACTERS, and all the Library categories. Choose a category and a second menu will appear. That menu contains a list of all the items in that category.

For example, if you select ALIENS, the second menu will have a list of all alien items in the database. When you select an alien from that list and execute your search, it is the same as if you had typed that alien species name in the Free Word Search field.

There are some special cases which happen when you make certain selections:

For example, if you type "Roxann Dawson" in the search field, leave the "Search within" default to "Entire Site", your search will reveal all news articles, feature articles, chat transcripts, etc. with her name in the article. Your list will include her Cast biography article, and the B'Elanna Torres Character biography article. It will also return all 172 ST:VOY episodes, since she appeared in all of them, and it will return the Enterprise episodes that she directed.

When you select a CAST member, and if Episodes are chosen to be searched, only episodes in which that person appeared as a cast member will be displayed. For example, if you choose Roxann Dawson from the CAST list, and check Episodes, you will get the ST:VOY episodes in which she appeared. You will NOT get the Enterprise episodes which she directed.

If all you want to know is the episodes she directed, choose DIRECTOR from the category menu, choose her name from that item list, click only "Episodes" in the "Search within" area. That will give me two ST:VOY and several Enterprise episodes. I could further narrow my search by indicating I only want to search "For information about..." Enterprise, thereby getting only those episodes.

When you select a CHARACTER, and if Episodes are chosen, only episodes in which that character appeared will be displayed. For example, if you choose Leonard H. McCoy from the CHARACTER list, and check Episodes, you will get all 79 Star Trek episodes and the one ST:TNG episode in which he appeared, but not the ST:DS9 or ST:VOY episodes in which he is mentioned.

If the category is WRITER, only those episodes for which the selected person received a Writer credit (whether Story by, Screenplay by, Teleplay by or Written by) will be in the Episode results.

The Category Search is an interesting way to find out about the Star Trek universe, allowing you to browse through lists of writers, directors, characters and library items that you might not have known existed.