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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.
Cable channel Disney XD premieres the 30th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga.
The 84th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Neal McDonough (Boomtown) guest stars.
The eighth episode of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Agent Carter, starring Hayley Attwell as Agent Peggy Carter, is broadcast on ABC. Ralph Brown (Star Wars Episode I, Lexx) guest stars in the first season finale.
Writer, director and actor Harold Ramis dies after several years of battling vascular disease. An SCTV comedy veteran who went on to co-write Stripes, Animal House and Caddyshack, Ramis gained genre fame in 1984 for co-writing Ghostbusters, and starring in it as Dr. Egon Spengler, the brains of the ghostbusting operation. He did both again for the less successful Ghostbusters II in 1989, but went on to write and direct such films as Groundhog Day and Analyze This. Ramis was 69.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 133rd shuttle flight, a 13-day mission add a new (but familiar) module to the International Space Station. One of the logistics modules that has flown in the cargo bay of seven prior shuttle missions is attached to the ISS permanently, adding nearly 2,500 cubic feet of storage space to the facility. Also delivered to the station is Robonaut 2, an experimental robot designed to assist with routine tasks as well as spacewalks. Discovery’s 39th and final crew is Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Steve Bowen and Michael Barratt.
The 191st episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks.
The 29th episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, and Alyson Hannigan also star. James Marsters and Juliet Landau guest star.
The 18th episode of The Cape airs in syndication in North America, starring Corbin Bernsen and Adam Baldwin, presenting a fictionalized version of NASA’s shuttle program.
The 42nd episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Mitch Pileggi. Lance Guest (The Last Starfighter) guest stars.
The 45th episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Stuart Whitman, Salome Jens, Britt Ekland, and George Lazenby guest star.
CBS airs the 33rd episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Anthony James and Armin Shimerman guest star.
Astronomers both amateur and professional glimpse the first supernova to occur in the age of modern science. Given the name Supernova 1987A, the huge burst of light – visible to the naked eye in Earth’s southern hemisphere by the early summer months of 1987 before it begins fading out – is a collapsing star on the edge of the Tarantula Nebula. The star previously seen in that location is a blue supergiant, which wasn’t a likely candidate to go nova according to the existing theories of stellar evolution at the time. In the 1990s, the slowly expanding ring of debris rushing outward from Supernova 1987A becomes a favorite observation target for the Hubble Space Telescope. The supernova is more than 150,000 light years away from Earth’s solar system in the direction of the Large Magellenic Cloud.
The 618th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley appears as the Master, and Peter Wyngarde guest stars. Otherworldly location filming has been done at Lanzarote in the Canary Islands for this story.
ABC airs the 23rd episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp.
Released a couple of years after the movie that inspired it, Parker Brothers’ The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari VCS is the very first official Star Wars video game to hit the market. Though games inspired by the movies have been appearing since the first film was still in theaters, this is the first game officially licensed by Lucasfilm. It pits players against an endless onslaught of Imperial Walkers (and unlike the movie’s rebels, the player has no chance of surviving indefinitely).
The 505th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Woodvine (Knights Of God) and Lalla Ward guest star. Valentine Dyall makes his first appearance as the Black Guardian. This story concludes the 16th season and the Key to Time storyline, and marks the end of Mary Tamm’s single season as the Doctor’s companion, Romana.
The fourth episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. The travelers find a futuristic city where orphaned children have taken over and gone mad with their newfound power.
The eighth episode of The Changes airs on BBC1, adapting the novels of Peter Dickinson into a ten-part television serial starring Vicky Williams and Keith Ashton. Tom Chadbon (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) guest stars. The series was filmed in 1973, but has been held for broadcast until 1975.
The 26th and final episode of Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is broadcast on Anglia Television, starring Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad) and Irene Worth. Unusually, Orson Welles narrates throughout, rather than introducing and delivering a coda for the story as usual.
The 20th episode of the horror anthology series The Evil Touch airs on Australia’s Nine Network, hosted by Anthony Quayle (Strange Report). (The series will later appear in the U.S. and elsewhere in first-run syndication.) Leif Erickson (The High Chaparral) guest stars.
The 338th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the last story featuring Roger Delgado as the Master before the actor’s untimely death in June 1973. Madhav Sharma (Moonbase 3) guest stars.
NASA and JPL launch the unmanned Mariner 6 space probe on a mission to Mars, where it will be joined by its yet-to-be-launched identical twin, Mariner 7. Mariner 6 will take five months to reach the red planet, with its slightly faster sister ship mere days behind it, and will fly past Mars twice as close as the planet’s previous unmanned visitors.
The 195th 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.
The 24th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series The Time Tunnel airs on ABC, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. Robert Duvall, Whit Bissell, and Lee Meriwether geust star.
The 14th episode of Batman airs on ABC. David Wayne guest stars as The Mad Hatter. (This is part two of a two-part story; each week’s story unfolds in two half-hour episodes on Monday and Tuesday.)
UK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 22nd episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.
ABC airs the 22nd episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Stephen McNally, Richard Jaeckel, Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island), and Dabney Coleman (WarGames) star.
ABC airs the sixth episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Charles Aidman and William Schallert guest star.
Dulcima Records releases Johnny Douglas’ soundtrack from the 1981 animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends on digital platforms. 
theLogBook.com releases the 22nd episode of the Retrogram podcast, hosted by Earl Green, covering the following shows from the week of August 29th, 1976:
Cable channel Disney XD premieres the 30th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. 
The 84th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Neal McDonough (Boomtown) guest stars.
The eighth episode of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Agent Carter, starring Hayley Attwell as Agent Peggy Carter, is broadcast on ABC. Ralph Brown (Star Wars Episode I, Lexx) guest stars in the first season finale.
Dutton Books publishes The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty Year Voyager Mission, Prof. Jim Bell’s history of NASA’s Voyager mission to the outer solar system and beyond. 
Writer, director and actor Harold Ramis dies after several years of battling vascular disease. An SCTV comedy veteran who went on to co-write Stripes, Animal House and Caddyshack, Ramis gained genre fame in 1984 for co-writing Ghostbusters, and starring in it as Dr. Egon Spengler, the brains of the ghostbusting operation. He did both again for the less successful Ghostbusters II in 1989, but went on to write and direct such films as Groundhog Day and Analyze This. Ramis was 69.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 133rd shuttle flight, a 13-day mission add a new (but familiar) module to the International Space Station. One of the logistics modules that has flown in the cargo bay of seven prior shuttle missions is attached to the ISS permanently, adding nearly 2,500 cubic feet of storage space to the facility. Also delivered to the station is Robonaut 2, an experimental robot designed to assist with routine tasks as well as spacewalks. Discovery’s 39th and final crew is Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Steve Bowen and Michael Barratt.
ITV premieres the third episode of the science fiction series Primeval. 
Sci-Fi channel airs the 31st episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. 
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 38th episode of Stargate Atlantis. Connor Trinneer (Star Trek: Enterprise) guest stars. 
The 191st episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks. 
Big Finish Productions releases the sixth Dalek Empire audio drama, a Doctor Who audio spinoff starring Gareth Thomas (Blake’s 7) and Sarah Mowat. 
UPN airs the 110th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Charles Rocket guest stars. 
The 29th episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, and Alyson Hannigan also star. James Marsters and Juliet Landau guest star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 112th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) guest stars. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 40h episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. Ted Raimi, Karl Urban and Alexandra Tydings guest star. 
The 18th episode of The Cape airs in syndication in North America, starring Corbin Bernsen and Adam Baldwin, presenting a fictionalized version of NASA’s shuttle program. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 75th episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 87th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Richard Libertini guest stars. 
The 42nd episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Mitch Pileggi. Lance Guest (The Last Starfighter) guest stars.
The second episode of Russell T. Davies’ supernatural drama Century Falls airs on CBBC. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 114th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michelle Forbes guest stars as Ensign Ro. 
The 45th episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Stuart Whitman, Salome Jens, Britt Ekland, and George Lazenby guest star.
CBS airs the 33rd episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Anthony James and Armin Shimerman guest star.
Astronomers both amateur and professional glimpse the first supernova to occur in the age of modern science. Given the name Supernova 1987A, the huge burst of light – visible to the naked eye in Earth’s southern hemisphere by the early summer months of 1987 before it begins fading out – is a collapsing star on the edge of the Tarantula Nebula. The star previously seen in that location is a blue supergiant, which wasn’t a likely candidate to go nova according to the existing theories of stellar evolution at the time. In the 1990s, the slowly expanding ring of debris rushing outward from Supernova 1987A becomes a favorite observation target for the Hubble Space Telescope. The supernova is more than 150,000 light years away from Earth’s solar system in the direction of the Large Magellenic Cloud.
The 618th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley appears as the Master, and Peter Wyngarde guest stars. Otherworldly location filming has been done at Lanzarote in the Canary Islands for this story. 
ABC airs the 23rd episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp. 
Released a couple of years after the movie that inspired it, Parker Brothers’ The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari VCS is the very first official Star Wars video game to hit the market. Though games inspired by the movies have been appearing since the first film was still in theaters, this is the first game officially licensed by Lucasfilm. It pits players against an endless onslaught of Imperial Walkers (and unlike the movie’s rebels, the player has no chance of surviving indefinitely). 
The 505th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Woodvine (Knights Of God) and Lalla Ward guest star. Valentine Dyall makes his first appearance as the Black Guardian. This story concludes the 16th season and the Key to Time storyline, and marks the end of Mary Tamm’s single season as the Doctor’s companion, Romana.
The fourth episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. The travelers find a futuristic city where orphaned children have taken over and gone mad with their newfound power. 
The eighth episode of The Changes airs on BBC1, adapting the novels of Peter Dickinson into a ten-part television serial starring Vicky Williams and Keith Ashton. Tom Chadbon (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) guest stars. The series was filmed in 1973, but has been held for broadcast until 1975. 
The 26th and final episode of Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is broadcast on Anglia Television, starring Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad) and Irene Worth. Unusually, Orson Welles narrates throughout, rather than introducing and delivering a coda for the story as usual. 
The 20th episode of the horror anthology series The Evil Touch airs on Australia’s Nine Network, hosted by Anthony Quayle (Strange Report). (The series will later appear in the U.S. and elsewhere in first-run syndication.) Leif Erickson (The High Chaparral) guest stars.
The 338th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the last story featuring Roger Delgado as the Master before the actor’s untimely death in June 1973. Madhav Sharma (Moonbase 3) guest stars. 
NASA and JPL launch the unmanned Mariner 6 space probe on a mission to Mars, where it will be joined by its yet-to-be-launched identical twin, Mariner 7. Mariner 6 will take five months to reach the red planet, with its slightly faster sister ship mere days behind it, and will fly past Mars twice as close as the planet’s previous unmanned visitors.
The 195th 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.
The 24th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series The Time Tunnel airs on ABC, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. Robert Duvall, Whit Bissell, and Lee Meriwether geust star.
The 14th episode of Batman airs on ABC. David Wayne guest stars as The Mad Hatter. (This is part two of a two-part story; each week’s story unfolds in two half-hour episodes on Monday and Tuesday.) 
UK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 22nd episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.
ABC airs the 22nd episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Stephen McNally, Richard Jaeckel, Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island), and Dabney Coleman (WarGames) star.
The 54th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. John Anderson stars in an episode written by Serling.
ABC airs the sixth episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Charles Aidman and William Schallert guest star.
The 95th episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson.