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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. To fans, they were the Great Bird of the Galaxy and the First Lady of Star Trek. To their friends and co-workers, Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry were, perhaps, slightly less mythic figures with their own very human quirks, but still beloved and admired. In this panel from the TrekTalks 5 telethon in support of the Hollywood Food Coalition, Gene and Majel are remembered by those who knew them. Podcast hosted by Earl Green & Ashley Thomas TrekTalks panel hosted by John Champion Panel guests: Fred Bronson, Denise Crosby, Ernie Over, Rod Roddenberry 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 Memories of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry from those who knew and worked with them 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.
NASA’s Juno space probe makes a third close swing past Jupiter, but engineering problems make it a blind pass: concerns over stuck valves in the engine leads ground controllers to cancel a planned engine burn to shorten the length of Juno’s orbit, and then mere hours before its latest close pass, Juno goes into a safe mode which shuts down all instruments and cameras pending intervention from Earth. Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton assures that Juno could, theoretically, complete its mission with longer, unadjusted orbits if need be; Juno’s next close pass by Jupiter is expected to happen in December, impacting all future events in the mission plan.
The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and accompanying Schiaparelli Entry Demonstration Lander arrive at the red planet, with the orbiter successfully completing a lengthy engine burn to put it into orbit around Mars; it is the second ESA orbiter to reach Mars, with Mars Express still operating in an elliptical polar orbit. The lander, however, is not so lucky in reaching its goal: its signal, monitored both by the Trace Gas Orbiter and by Mars Express, abruptly ends near the surface; later analysis, and a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sighting of debris on Mars, lead ESA engineers to conclude that the lander’s parachute was jettisoned too soon, leaving it to plummet to the ground. This is but the first wave of an expected ExoMars program, a joint venture between ESA and the Russian space program.
The second uprated Soyuz MS vehicle is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew of Soyuz MS-02 are International Space Station Expedition 49 crew members Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko, and Shane Kimbrough; these three will become the Expedition 50 crew in November, and will return to Earth in February 2017 aboard the same vehicle.
British satellite channel Sky One premieres the first episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, months ahead of the first season premiere in North America on the Sci-Fi Channel. The remainder of the season airs first in the UK due to Sky One’s financial contribution to the production of the series (without which it’s unlikely that Sci-Fi Channel alone would’ve continued production).
The 59th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head and Alyson Hannigan also star. James Marsters guest stars.
The tenth episode of the Sci-Fi Channel original series Welcome To Paradox airs, a loosely-connected anthology of science fiction stories set in Betaville, a utopian future city whose incredible technology has frequently unintended side-effects. Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact) stars in a story co-written by SF novelist Robert Chilson.
The 25th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Lisa Howard, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau.
NBC airs the 34th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Susan Anton and Marjorie Monaghan (Space Rangers) guest star.
The 672nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Michael Sheard, Simon Williams and Terry Molloy guest star in the opening story of the 25th season. The Daleks make their first appearance since 1985, and this is the final original series story to feature them. This episode also marks a major shift away from the comedy-oriented stories of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the fourth episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the first episode featuring a new alien race devised by Gene Roddenberry, the scheming, money-hungry Ferengi.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the fourth episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, starring John D. LeMay, Wendy Robie and Chris Wiggins. Hilary Shepherd (Power Rangers) guest stars.
The fourth episode of Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking science documentary series Cosmos premieres on PBS. A popular history of science and scientific theory vs. tradition and superstition, segueing into Sagan’s field of expertise (astrophysics), Cosmos is a major milestone in American documentary filmmaking and the popularization of science and the scientific method (and makes an instant celebrity out of Sagan).
The 39th 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. Robert Davi and Marc Alaimo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars
Epic Records releases Reality Effect, the second album by British new wave band The Tourists (featuring future Eurythmics Annie Lennix and Dave Stewart). The album features the singles “So Good To Be Back Home Again” and a cover of “I Only Want To Be With You”, which charts in the UK.
The 18th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Anne Lockhart (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars.
Electric Light Orchestra‘s seventh album, Out Of The Blue, is released, featuring the singles “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, “Turn To Stone” and “Mr. Blue Sky”. Perhaps reflecting the now-widespread fascination with science fiction, this is the first ELO album to depict the band’s logo as a giant spaceship, a theme which is carried over into the extravagant set for the world tour that takes up ELO’s schedule for the next year.
The 41st episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) and Erik Estrada (CHiPs) guest star.
ITV airs the fifth episode of the mystery/spy-fi series Strange Report in the U.K., starring Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas, and Anneke Wills (Doctor Who). (The series is an international co-production and airs in the United States on NBC.) Jeremy Bulloch (The Empire Strikes Back, Chocky) guest stars.
ABC broadcasts the sixth episode of the Filmation animated series Fantastic Voyage, based on the 1966 movie of the same name. Marvin Miller, Ted Knight, and Jane Webb lead the voice cast.
Launched four months before, NASA/JPL’s unmanned Mariner 5 space probe reaches the planet Venus. With its cameras removed to make way for other instrumentation, Mariner 5 provides valuable data on the makeup of the Venusian atmosphere and the probable conditions on the surface, corroborating what the Soviet Union’s successful landing of Venera 4 had found: a planet whose dense atmosphere traps heat and carbon dioxide, resulting in oven-like temperatures and ground-level pressures. NASA attempts to keep Mariner 5 functioning months after its flyby of Venus for tandem measurements of solar wind with Mariner 4, which has now passed beyond Martian orbit, but contact cannot be reliably maintained with Mariner 5 long enough to conduct the experiment.
The 63rd episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Paul Fix guest stars.
The sixth episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Charles McGraw guest stars.
The 69th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on UK cable/satellite comedy channel Dave. Richard Glover (Into The Woods, Rogue One) guest stars. 
The 117th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW.
NASA’s Juno space probe makes a third close swing past Jupiter, but engineering problems make it a blind pass: concerns over stuck valves in the engine leads ground controllers to cancel a planned engine burn to shorten the length of Juno’s orbit, and then mere hours before its latest close pass, Juno goes into a safe mode which shuts down all instruments and cameras pending intervention from Earth. Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton assures that Juno could, theoretically, complete its mission with longer, unadjusted orbits if need be; Juno’s next close pass by Jupiter is expected to happen in December, impacting all future events in the mission plan.
The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and accompanying Schiaparelli Entry Demonstration Lander arrive at the red planet, with the orbiter successfully completing a lengthy engine burn to put it into orbit around Mars; it is the second ESA orbiter to reach Mars, with Mars Express still operating in an elliptical polar orbit. The lander, however, is not so lucky in reaching its goal: its signal, monitored both by the Trace Gas Orbiter and by Mars Express, abruptly ends near the surface; later analysis, and a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sighting of debris on Mars, lead ESA engineers to conclude that the lander’s parachute was jettisoned too soon, leaving it to plummet to the ground. This is but the first wave of an expected ExoMars program, a joint venture between ESA and the Russian space program.
The second uprated Soyuz MS vehicle is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew of Soyuz MS-02 are International Space Station Expedition 49 crew members Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko, and Shane Kimbrough; these three will become the Expedition 50 crew in November, and will return to Earth in February 2017 aboard the same vehicle.
The 39th episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures airs on CBBC, starring Elisabeth Sladen (Doctor Who). 
La-La Land Records releases a 3-CD set of Bear McCreary’s soundtrack from the Fox action series Human Target. 
ABC airs the 29th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost. 
British satellite channel Sky One premieres the first episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, months ahead of the first season premiere in North America on the Sci-Fi Channel. The remainder of the season airs first in the UK due to Sky One’s financial contribution to the production of the series (without which it’s unlikely that Sci-Fi Channel alone would’ve continued production). 
The Jason Falkner five-song CD EP Bliss Descending is released. 
The 17th episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, continuing Dirk Maggs’ adaptation of Douglas Adams’ novel Life, The Universe, And Everything with most of the original radio cast. 
The 59th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head and Alyson Hannigan also star. James Marsters guest stars.
Evan H. Chen’s soundtrack from the Babylon 5 sequel series Crusade is released on Sonic Images Records. 
Arista Records releases Eurythmics‘ eighth album, Peace, the band’s first new material in ten years. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 152nd episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 
The tenth episode of the Sci-Fi Channel original series Welcome To Paradox airs, a loosely-connected anthology of science fiction stories set in Betaville, a utopian future city whose incredible technology has frequently unintended side-effects. Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact) stars in a story co-written by SF novelist Robert Chilson.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 72nd episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. 
The 25th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Lisa Howard, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau.
Polygram releases the Cardigans album Gran Turismo, featuring the singles “Erase / Rewind” and “My Favourite Game”. 
The third episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel Return Of The Jedi airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. 
Virgin Publishing releases the 15th Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures novel, Millennial Rites by Craig Hinton, featuring the TARDIS team of the sixth Doctor and Melanie. 
Virgin Publishing releases the 43rd book in the Doctor Who: The New Adventures range, Head Games by Steve Lyons. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 130th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 
NBC airs the 34th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Susan Anton and Marjorie Monaghan (Space Rangers) guest star.
Warner Bros. Records releases the second Traveling Wilburys album, paradoxically titled Volume Three, featuring the singles “She’s My Baby” and “Inside Out”. 
The 22nd episode of Black Adder airs on BBC1, starring Rowan Atkinson. 
The 672nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Michael Sheard, Simon Williams and Terry Molloy guest star in the opening story of the 25th season. The Daleks make their first appearance since 1985, and this is the final original series story to feature them. This episode also marks a major shift away from the comedy-oriented stories of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
The 662nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Richard Briers guest stars as the Chief Caretaker.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the fourth episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the first episode featuring a new alien race devised by Gene Roddenberry, the scheming, money-hungry Ferengi. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the fourth episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, starring John D. LeMay, Wendy Robie and Chris Wiggins. Hilary Shepherd (Power Rangers) guest stars. 
BBC1 premieres the 43rd episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Barbara Shelley guest stars. 
The fourth episode of Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking science documentary series Cosmos premieres on PBS. A popular history of science and scientific theory vs. tradition and superstition, segueing into Sagan’s field of expertise (astrophysics), Cosmos is a major milestone in American documentary filmmaking and the popularization of science and the scientific method (and makes an instant celebrity out of Sagan).
The 39th 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. Robert Davi and Marc Alaimo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars
Epic Records releases Reality Effect, the second album by British new wave band The Tourists (featuring future Eurythmics Annie Lennix and Dave Stewart). The album features the singles “So Good To Be Back Home Again” and a cover of “I Only Want To Be With You”, which charts in the UK. 
The 18th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Anne Lockhart (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars.
Electric Light Orchestra‘s seventh album, Out Of The Blue, is released, featuring the singles “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, “Turn To Stone” and “Mr. Blue Sky”. Perhaps reflecting the now-widespread fascination with science fiction, this is the first ELO album to depict the band’s logo as a giant spaceship, a theme which is carried over into the extravagant set for the world tour that takes up ELO’s schedule for the next year. 
The 41st episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) and Erik Estrada (CHiPs) guest star.
The seventh episode of Land Of The Lost premieres on NBC, as the Marshall children nearly fall victim to mind-altering Sleestak technology. 
The seventh episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring Jackson Bostwick, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne.
ITV airs the fifth episode of the mystery/spy-fi series Strange Report in the U.K., starring Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas, and Anneke Wills (Doctor Who). (The series is an international co-production and airs in the United States on NBC.) Jeremy Bulloch (The Empire Strikes Back, Chocky) guest stars.
ABC airs the 31st episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. 
ABC broadcasts the sixth episode of the Filmation animated series Fantastic Voyage, based on the 1966 movie of the same name. Marvin Miller, Ted Knight, and Jane Webb lead the voice cast.
Launched four months before, NASA/JPL’s unmanned Mariner 5 space probe reaches the planet Venus. With its cameras removed to make way for other instrumentation, Mariner 5 provides valuable data on the makeup of the Venusian atmosphere and the probable conditions on the surface, corroborating what the Soviet Union’s successful landing of Venera 4 had found: a planet whose dense atmosphere traps heat and carbon dioxide, resulting in oven-like temperatures and ground-level pressures. NASA attempts to keep Mariner 5 functioning months after its flyby of Venus for tandem measurements of solar wind with Mariner 4, which has now passed beyond Martian orbit, but contact cannot be reliably maintained with Mariner 5 long enough to conduct the experiment.
The 35th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.
The 63rd episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Paul Fix guest stars.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 82nd episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg.
The sixth episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Charles McGraw guest stars.