theLogBook.com is a chronicle of how we used to imagine the future – an ever-expanding logbook of what our entertainment, our culture, and even our brightest minds thought would happen. It’s nostalgia – and some real history – that gives factual context to the fiction, cultural context to the factual, and always looks to the future.
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Welcome to Gene-ology, a podcast by Roddenberry Entertainment that dives deep into the early TV writing works of Gene Roddenberry. Is this the best television script Gene Roddenberry wrote prior to creating Star Trek? Gene's singular episode of the popular medical drama Dr. Kildare is a powerful story full of rich characters and raw emotions – the bedrock of great television drama. Hosted by Earl Green & Ashley Thomas About Gene-ology Gene-ology explores Gene Roddenberry's early television scripts, including his lesser-known works before Star Trek using the Mission Log format popularized by Roddenberry Podcasts. We analyze the themes, writing style, and cultural impact of his scripts, and we even unearth stories from the Roddenberry archives that were never produced. Join us as we trace the roots of Gene's creative genius. In This Episode A breakdown of key moments and themes in "A Distant Thunder". Exploring Gene Roddenberry's evolving style and storytelling. How this episode ties into the broader TV landscape of the time and reflects the early seeds of Roddenberry's visionary work. Guest stars and unique production elements that bring this episode to life. Special Segment: Dramatic Recreation Since this script is not available to the public, we've brought it to life with a dramatic recreation! Special guests Jeff Gauntt and Bonnie Gordon perform a key section of the script. Listen in as they bring the story to life in this exclusive performance. Join the Conversation What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts, theories, and favorite moments in the comments or reach out to us on social media or email us at missionlog@roddenberry.com Did you know Roddenberry Podcasts is on YouTube? Find the video versions of your favorite shows like Mission Log: Prodigy, Mission Log: The Orville, as well as exclusive content only available on YouTube. Subscribe now! https://www.youtube.com/@RoddenberryEntertainment?sub_confirmation=1 Follow us on Social Media: INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/roddenberrypodcasts BLUESKY https://bsky.app/profile/roddenberrypod.bsky.social THREADS https://www.threads.net/@roddenberrypodcasts FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/MissionLogPod Our shows are part of the Roddenberry Entertainment family. For more great shows and to learn how we live the legacy of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, follow us here: RODDENBERRY PODCASTS https://www.instagram.com/RoddenberryPodcasts RODDENBERRY ENTERTAINMENT https://www.instagram.com/RoddenberryOfficial RODDENBERRY FOUNDATION https://www.instagram.com/TheRoddenberryFoundation Support the Show For as little as $1 a month, you can gain access to our Mission Log Discord Community! There, we continue the discussion with dedicated channels and a weekly video chat with the hosts. Become a member of our Patreon today! https://www.Patreon.com/MissionLog Subscribe and Stay Tuned Be sure to subscribe to Gene-ology for more deep dives into Gene Roddenberry's early works. New episodes are released regularly as we uncover more of Gene's television legacy. – Gene-ology is produced by Roddenberry Entertainment. Executive producer Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry. Visit https://Podcasts.Roddenberry.com for more great content. Edited by Earl Green.
Canadian broadcaster CHCH-TV airs the ninth episode of Art Monterastelli’s sci-fi series Total Recall 2070, starring Michael Easton and Cynthia Preston, very loosely based on the 1990 film Total Recall. The series will air on the American pay cable channel Showtime later in the year. Clint Howard (Star Trek, Apollo 13) guest stars.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 63rd episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Kevin Smith guest stars.
Welsh-born writer Terry Nation, who wrote the first Doctor Who scripts featuring the Daleks, dies at the age of 66. A former comedy writer, Nation had recently been fired from a steady comedy job when his agent directed him toward the still-in-development BBC science fiction series; Nation’s first script drew the ire of Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman, who issued his famous “no bug-eyed monsters” edict in response, though Nation’s scripts were bought and filmed by the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert. The Daleks immediately secured the future of both Doctor Who and Nation himself, who went on to create seminal BBC genre series such as Survivors and Blake’s 7 before emigrating to America, where he became a producer on MacGyver. At the time of his death, he had been developing concepts for a Blake’s 7 revival with input from series star Paul Darrow.
The 80th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Lane Davies, Fred Willard, and Hamilton Camp guest star.
ABC airs the third episode of Hypernauts, created by Christy Marx (Jem) and Ron Thornton (the visual effects artist behind the CGI of Babylon 5), and starring Marc Daniel (Fast Track) and Carrie Dobro (Crusade). Janet Greek (Babylon 5) directs.
The seventh episode of the sci-fi crime series TekWar, based on William Shatner’s novel series, airs as part of the Universal Action Pack syndication package. Greg Evigan, Eugene Clark, William Shatner, and Torri Higginson star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the seventh episode of Babylon 5. Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years) and Richard Chaves (War Of The Worlds) guest star.
The 20th episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). Dr. Dre guest stars.
The 19th episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. Sam Waterston (Law & Order), Helen Shaver (Poltergeist: The Legacy), Dick Cavett, and Tim Robbins guest star in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese.
The Soviet Union’s unmanned space probe Vega 2 makes its closest approach to the nucleus of Halley’s Comet, within 5,000 miles of the comet’s icy core. Hundreds of photos are taken and transmitted back to Earth, along with analysis of the dust and gas surrounding the comet. Within a week, Vega 2’s mission is complete, and the probe is allowed to fall into an orbit around the sun as Halley continues to speed back toward the outer solar system.
The 12th episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible) guest stars.
The seventh episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. John Abineri (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) and John Nettles (Bergerac, Midsomer Murders) guest star in the second season premiere.
The 622nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Robert Glenister (Life On Mars), Maurice Roeves (The Nightmare Man) and Christopher Gable guest star. This four-part story is the swan song of the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).
The 599th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Valentine Dyall appears as the Black Guardian with Cyril Luckham reprising the role of the White Guardian, the last Doctor Who appearance with either actor before their deaths. This concludes the 20th season’s “Guardian/redemption of Turlough” trilogy.
The 28th episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno.
JPL navigation engineer Linda Morabito, double-checking raw Voyager 1 images to ensure that the unmanned space probe is properly aligned for its encounter with Saturn in 1980, discovers the first evidence of active volcanoes on another body in Earth’s solar system: a plume of sulfur erupting over 150 feet above the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io. Scientists rush to check Voyager 1’s other Io images, and find that Voyager’s cameras caught more than half a dozen eruptions in the act.
NBC airs the fifth episode of Quinn Martin’s horror/sci-fi anthology Tales Of The Unexpected. (This series is not to be confused with the longer-lived British series of the same name, created by acclaimed author Roald Dahl.) Ricky Nelson and Carl Weathers (Rocky, The Mandalorian) guest star.
ABC airs the 21st episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Ron Howard guest stars.
The 197th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This story sees the return of the Yeti, now in the modern-day London Underground, and the introduction of Colonel (future Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart. Previously missing from the BBC’s archives, a copy of this episode was recovered in Nigeria in 2013.
For the first time in the history of American TV, an announcer is heard over the closing credits of a network TV program, reassuring viewers that the show (in this case, Star Trek) has been picked up for a second season – and making a direct request that the series’ ardent fans bring their concentrated letter-writing campaign to an end. That campaign has actually been secretly organized by Gene Roddenberry with the help of several prominent SF writers and Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble.
The 17th episode of Batman airs on ABC. Malachi Throne guest stars as False Face. (This is part one of a two-part story; each week’s story unfolds in two half-hour episodes on Monday and Tuesday.)
ABC airs the 24th episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) and Hari Rhodes (Earth II) star.
The U.S. Weather Bureau (forerunner of the National Weather Service) inaugurates the Severe Weather Unit at the WBAN (Weather Bureau-Army-Navy) Analysis Center in Washington D.C. Armed with recent research and decades of past research into the formation and behavior of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, this is the first attempt to offer the military’s growing severe weather prediction capability to the American public. In these early days, before the adoption of specific types of weather watches, the WBAN Severe Weather Unit issues weather bulletins for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms alike; by early 1953, the Severe Weather Unit also issues “outlooks” with more general predictions about the probability of severe storms.
Absolutely no generative AI was used in the creation of the content on this website. It’s mostly just some guy named Earl.
The CW airs the 156th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. 
The CW airs the third episode of Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Jordan Elsass, and Alex Garfin.
Epic Records releases a remastered edition of the Alan Parsons Project‘s 1985 album Vulture Culture, featuring demos and previously unreleased material from the recording of the original album. 
Canadian broadcaster CHCH-TV airs the ninth episode of Art Monterastelli’s sci-fi series Total Recall 2070, starring Michael Easton and Cynthia Preston, very loosely based on the 1990 film Total Recall. The series will air on the American pay cable channel Showtime later in the year. Clint Howard (Star Trek, Apollo 13) guest stars.
In Joy Music releases Ralf Illenberger’s instrumental solo album The Gateway. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 63rd episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Kevin Smith guest stars. 
Welsh-born writer Terry Nation, who wrote the first Doctor Who scripts featuring the Daleks, dies at the age of 66. A former comedy writer, Nation had recently been fired from a steady comedy job when his agent directed him toward the still-in-development BBC science fiction series; Nation’s first script drew the ire of Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman, who issued his famous “no bug-eyed monsters” edict in response, though Nation’s scripts were bought and filmed by the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert. The Daleks immediately secured the future of both Doctor Who and Nation himself, who went on to create seminal BBC genre series such as Survivors and Blake’s 7 before emigrating to America, where he became a producer on MacGyver. At the time of his death, he had been developing concepts for a Blake’s 7 revival with input from series star Paul Darrow.
The 80th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Lane Davies, Fred Willard, and Hamilton Camp guest star.
ABC airs the third episode of Hypernauts, created by Christy Marx (Jem) and Ron Thornton (the visual effects artist behind the CGI of Babylon 5), and starring Marc Daniel (Fast Track) and Carrie Dobro (Crusade). Janet Greek (Babylon 5) directs.
The seventh episode of the sci-fi crime series TekWar, based on William Shatner’s novel series, airs as part of the Universal Action Pack syndication package. Greg Evigan, Eugene Clark, William Shatner, and Torri Higginson star.
Choc Chip Records releases the self-titled debut album by Sunglass. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the seventh episode of Babylon 5. Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years) and Richard Chaves (War Of The Worlds) guest star. 
Sting releases the solo album Ten Summoners’ Tales, featuring the singles “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” and “Fields Of Gold”. 
Nonesuch Records releases the Kronos Quartet album Short Stories. 
The 20th episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). Dr. Dre guest stars.
The 19th episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. Sam Waterston (Law & Order), Helen Shaver (Poltergeist: The Legacy), Dick Cavett, and Tim Robbins guest star in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese.
The Soviet Union’s unmanned space probe Vega 2 makes its closest approach to the nucleus of Halley’s Comet, within 5,000 miles of the comet’s icy core. Hundreds of photos are taken and transmitted back to Earth, along with analysis of the dust and gas surrounding the comet. Within a week, Vega 2’s mission is complete, and the probe is allowed to fall into an orbit around the sun as Halley continues to speed back toward the outer solar system.
The 12th episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible) guest stars.
The 638th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7) and Dennis Carey guest star. 
The seventh episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. John Abineri (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) and John Nettles (Bergerac, Midsomer Murders) guest star in the second season premiere.
The 622nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Robert Glenister (Life On Mars), Maurice Roeves (The Nightmare Man) and Christopher Gable guest star. This four-part story is the swan song of the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).
The 599th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Valentine Dyall appears as the Black Guardian with Cyril Luckham reprising the role of the White Guardian, the last Doctor Who appearance with either actor before their deaths. This concludes the 20th season’s “Guardian/redemption of Turlough” trilogy.
The 573rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the first Cyberman story since 1975’s Revenge Of The Cybermen.
The 28th episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno.
JPL navigation engineer Linda Morabito, double-checking raw Voyager 1 images to ensure that the unmanned space probe is properly aligned for its encounter with Saturn in 1980, discovers the first evidence of active volcanoes on another body in Earth’s solar system: a plume of sulfur erupting over 150 feet above the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io. Scientists rush to check Voyager 1’s other Io images, and find that Voyager’s cameras caught more than half a dozen eruptions in the act.
NBC airs the fifth episode of Quinn Martin’s horror/sci-fi anthology Tales Of The Unexpected. (This series is not to be confused with the longer-lived British series of the same name, created by acclaimed author Roald Dahl.) Ricky Nelson and Carl Weathers (Rocky, The Mandalorian) guest star.
The 32nd episode of The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson, airs on ABC. Sam Groom (Police Surgeon, Otherworld) guest stars.
The 368th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Abineri guest stars. This story is the third Doctor’s third and final clash with the Daleks. 
BBC1 airs the fifth episode of the science fiction series Doomwatch, created by former Doctor Who writers Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. Davis writes this episode, but in a very rare occurrence, goes uncredited on screen. 
ABC airs the 21st episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Ron Howard guest stars.
The 197th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This story sees the return of the Yeti, now in the modern-day London Underground, and the introduction of Colonel (future Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart. Previously missing from the BBC’s archives, a copy of this episode was recovered in Nigeria in 2013.
For the first time in the history of American TV, an announcer is heard over the closing credits of a network TV program, reassuring viewers that the show (in this case, Star Trek) has been picked up for a second season – and making a direct request that the series’ ardent fans bring their concentrated letter-writing campaign to an end. That campaign has actually been secretly organized by Gene Roddenberry with the help of several prominent SF writers and Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble.
The 25th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. The Horta guest stars. 
The 23rd episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.
The 17th episode of Batman airs on ABC. Malachi Throne guest stars as False Face. (This is part one of a two-part story; each week’s story unfolds in two half-hour episodes on Monday and Tuesday.) 
ABC airs the 24th episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) and Hari Rhodes (Earth II) star.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 50th episode of Sydney Newman’s spy series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman.
The 90th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Susan Gordon stars.
The 22nd episode of the science fiction drama series Men Into Space airs on CBS, starring William Lundigan.
The U.S. Weather Bureau (forerunner of the National Weather Service) inaugurates the Severe Weather Unit at the WBAN (Weather Bureau-Army-Navy) Analysis Center in Washington D.C. Armed with recent research and decades of past research into the formation and behavior of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, this is the first attempt to offer the military’s growing severe weather prediction capability to the American public. In these early days, before the adoption of specific types of weather watches, the WBAN Severe Weather Unit issues weather bulletins for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms alike; by early 1953, the Severe Weather Unit also issues “outlooks” with more general predictions about the probability of severe storms.