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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. It features Lee Marvin in front of a high-tech viewscreen, but this is no starship – Gene-ology opens its investigation into a very unusual foray into "true crime" with Gene Roddenberry adapting the particulars of a notorious Seattle murder case into dramatic form. It's also a career milestone for Gene: the last script he would write for a show that he didn't also create. 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 "Queen Anne Killer Unidentified: The Michael Olds Story". 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. 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.
Showtime broadcasts the second episode of The Man Who Fell To Earth, a series continuation of the 1976 David Bowie film, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Bill Nighy, Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Prodigy), and Jimmi Simpson (Westworld).
Actress Grace Lee Whitney, a familiar face of ’60s TV who had a recurring role in the first season of Star Trek as Yeoman Janice Rand, dies at the age of 85. Compared to most of her castmates, her brief tenure aboard the Enterprise was tumultuous, ending just eight episodes into her stint as an intended semi-regular character. Her dismissal from the show led to a career downturn and battles with alcohol addiction, from which she recovered, reprising the role of Rand in cameo scenes in several of the Star Trek films, an episode of Voyager, and the Hugo-nominated fan-made episode World Enough And Time in 2007.
The fan-produced Star Trek production Starship Exeter releases its second episode after a delay of several years; though filmed in 2004 (and partially released at the time), the complete episode has not been released until now. The episode is co-written by Dennis Russell Bailey, who also had a hand in writing the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Tin Man.
The 21st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. John Barrowman (Torchwood, Doctor Who) guest stars.
The 763rd episode of Doctor Who (the 65th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Alex Kingston reprises the role of River Song in the second half of a two-part story that also brings back the Weeping Angels.
The 11th episode of Joss Whedon’s futuristic “spy-fi” series Dollhouse airs on Fox, starring Eliza Dushku. Aisha Hinds (Invasion, Under The Dome) and Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One) guest star.
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover becomes stuck in an area of soft, dusty soil in which its wheels can no longer gain traction. Efforts to simulate the problem on Earth begin, as well as studies to see if Spirit can free itself, but attempts to wiggle or rotate the rover’s wheels on Mars produce no results (and eventually wear out the independent motor of another of its wheels). The attempts to free Spirit from its Martian sandtrap continue through early 2010.
The man who could arguably be considered the most high-profile (and controversial) producer of 20th century Doctor Who dies at the age of 54. John Nathan-Turner took over the reins of the Doctor’s adventures in 1980, drastically revamping the show’s look, sound, and feel, and forever altering its course by replacing Tom Baker as the lead actor in 1981; Nathan-Turner personally selected each of the following Doctors – Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy – for the remainder of the show’s tenure on BBC-TV. Always a staunch champion for the series at a point when its support among the BBC brass was at an all-time low, John Nathan-Turner attracted both attention and criticism for getting well-known performers to do guest stints on the show. It was under JN-T’s reign that Doctor Who was put on an 18-month “hiatus” (originally a full-scale cancellation), and eventually was dropped altogether.
The 18th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Rainn Wilson (The Office, Star Trek: Discovery) and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 97th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alyson Hannigan also star. Clare Kramer guest stars.
The 64th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 110th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars.
SuperTracks releases the Doctor Who soundtrack, with music by John Debney, John Sponsler, and Louis Febre. As with many other SuperTracks releases during this period, this soundtrack is not studio-sanctioned.
The week-long American syndication window opens for the 24th and final episode of Gerry Anderson’s sci-fi police series Space Precinct. With the series’ continuation dependent upon its American ratings, Space Precinct is not renewed for a second season after it fails to carve out a niche in a very crowded genre field in syndication. The series will air later in the UK.
The 20th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. John Shea and Patrick Kilpatrick guest star.
The fourth episode of Escape From Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Steve Bisley (Mad Max).
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 19th episode of the fantasy series Highlander, starring Adrian Paul (War Of The Worlds), Alexandra Vandernoort, and Stan Kirsch, and based on the mythology created in the 1986 movie of the same name.
NBC airs the 49th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Jenny Gago (Alien Nation, Dangerous Minds) and James Sloyan guest star.
After much pre-publicity billing it as – at long last – the Lucasfilm-authorized continuation of the storyline, Timothy Zahn’s novel “Star Wars: Heir To The Empire” is released by Bantam Books. Introducing Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde and Mara Jade, among other characters later regarded by fans as mission-critical to the overall Star Wars storyline, the book also introduces the former Imperial capitol world Coruscant (a rare bit of naming that originates in non-movie media and is later carried over to “official” media). The first of a trilogy of novels, “Heir” forces its way to the top of the bestseller lists.
Virgin Records releases the Roy Orbison album In Dreams: The Greatest Hits, which consists entirely of new recordings of Orbison’s most popular songs (since the original masters are in legal limbo due to the bankruptcy of Monument Records, Orbison’s former label); the compilation is timed to land near the release of the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, which used “In Dreams” in a pivotal scene.
NBC airs the first night of Kenneth Johnson’s heavily-promoted sci-fi miniseries V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler. The big-budget special effects and sci-fi concepts allow Johnson to slip the audience a story about resisting fascism; the ratings are high enough for NBC to already be considering a follow-up.
BBC 1 premieres the first episode of the short-run series The Nightmare Man, written by former Doctor Who script editor Robert Holmes, directed by ’70s Doctor Who director Douglas Camfield, and starring many faces familiar to fans of that series. Not intended to be an ongoing series, this one-off four-part serial is commissioned to fill a gap in the BBC’s summer schedule.
Corvus Systems, makers of hard disk drives for the Apple II and other microcomputers, releases the Corvus OmniNet, the first local area networking hardware/software bundle aimed at small businesses, schools, and even high-end home users. Since Corvus’ 5 and 10 megabyte hard disk drives for the Apple II had initial price tags in the $5,000 range, Corvus also created the OmniNet hub to allow small businesses and schools to maximize that investment by allowing multiple computers to access it. Forseeing the future of the business market, Corvus also makes OmniNet cards for the IBM PC. Though Ethernet is already in use at this time, its expensive hardware and installation is generally limited to large business customers.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise, a full-sized, full-weight test article not intended for orbital flight, is mated to an external tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters and rolled out to Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral for engineering fit-checks of the redesigned launch pad (a hand-me-down from the Apollo era, where the same pad had launched all but one of the Saturn V rockets). Enterprise remains on the pad for over a month, providing the first photo opportunity of the full-size shuttle launch stack in all of its glory.
The week-long syndication window opens for the 18th episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Martine Beswick (Thunderball, From Russia With Love) and Craig Littler (Jason Of Star Command) guest star.
The TV movie-of-the-week Future Cop airs on ABC, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times), involving a veteran LAPD cop who is assigned a rookie trainee who turns out to be an android. The movie achieves a high enough rating to return as a short-lived series in 1977, though the show will also become the subject of a lawsuit over its premise.
The 20th episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. George Sewell and Grant Taylor guest star.
The 69th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part two of the story now collectively known as The Space Museum. Peter Craze and Jeremy Bulloch guest star.
Showtime broadcasts the second episode of The Man Who Fell To Earth, a series continuation of the 1976 David Bowie film, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Bill Nighy, Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Prodigy), and Jimmi Simpson (Westworld).
The CW airs the 88th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin.
Actress Grace Lee Whitney, a familiar face of ’60s TV who had a recurring role in the first season of Star Trek as Yeoman Janice Rand, dies at the age of 85. Compared to most of her castmates, her brief tenure aboard the Enterprise was tumultuous, ending just eight episodes into her stint as an intended semi-regular character. Her dismissal from the show led to a career downturn and battles with alcohol addiction, from which she recovered, reprising the role of Rand in cameo scenes in several of the Star Trek films, an episode of Voyager, and the Hugo-nominated fan-made episode World Enough And Time in 2007.
The fan-produced Star Trek production Starship Exeter releases its second episode after a delay of several years; though filmed in 2004 (and partially released at the time), the complete episode has not been released until now. The episode is co-written by Dennis Russell Bailey, who also had a hand in writing the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Tin Man. 
The 21st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. John Barrowman (Torchwood, Doctor Who) guest stars.
Greenleaf publishes Mike Smith’s book Warnings: The True Story Of How Science Tamed The Weather, serving both as a history of severe weather forecasting in the U.S. and the evolution of the modern-day watch/warning system, and Smith’s memoir about his weather-related business ventures. 
The 763rd episode of Doctor Who (the 65th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Alex Kingston reprises the role of River Song in the second half of a two-part story that also brings back the Weeping Angels. 
UK cable channel Disney XD airs the 12th episode of K-9. The Australian-made series features no Doctor Who-related characters other than K-9. 
The 11th episode of Joss Whedon’s futuristic “spy-fi” series Dollhouse airs on Fox, starring Eliza Dushku. Aisha Hinds (Invasion, Under The Dome) and Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One) guest star.
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover becomes stuck in an area of soft, dusty soil in which its wheels can no longer gain traction. Efforts to simulate the problem on Earth begin, as well as studies to see if Spirit can free itself, but attempts to wiggle or rotate the rover’s wheels on Mars produce no results (and eventually wear out the independent motor of another of its wheels). The attempts to free Spirit from its Martian sandtrap continue through early 2010.
Suckadelic Records releases the Suckadelic album Supervillains, a musical mash-up of soundbytes of TV and movie villains. 
Pocket Books releases the officially-sanctioned Star Trek: Voyager episode guide “The Star Trek: Voyager Companion” by Paul Ruditis.
The 21st episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN. 
The man who could arguably be considered the most high-profile (and controversial) producer of 20th century Doctor Who dies at the age of 54. John Nathan-Turner took over the reins of the Doctor’s adventures in 1980, drastically revamping the show’s look, sound, and feel, and forever altering its course by replacing Tom Baker as the lead actor in 1981; Nathan-Turner personally selected each of the following Doctors – Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy – for the remainder of the show’s tenure on BBC-TV. Always a staunch champion for the series at a point when its support among the BBC brass was at an all-time low, John Nathan-Turner attracted both attention and criticism for getting well-known performers to do guest stints on the show. It was under JN-T’s reign that Doctor Who was put on an 18-month “hiatus” (originally a full-scale cancellation), and eventually was dropped altogether. 
The 18th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Rainn Wilson (The Office, Star Trek: Discovery) and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 97th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alyson Hannigan also star. Clare Kramer guest stars.
Pocket Books releases the post-TV-series sequel novel “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Avatar, Book One”, written by S.D. Perry. 
The 64th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 110th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars. 
SuperTracks releases the Doctor Who soundtrack, with music by John Debney, John Sponsler, and Louis Febre. As with many other SuperTracks releases during this period, this soundtrack is not studio-sanctioned. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 66th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Andrew Robinson and Paul Dooley guest star. 
UPN airs the 12th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Carolyn Seymour (Survivors) guest stars. 
The week-long American syndication window opens for the 24th and final episode of Gerry Anderson’s sci-fi police series Space Precinct. With the series’ continuation dependent upon its American ratings, Space Precinct is not renewed for a second season after it fails to carve out a niche in a very crowded genre field in syndication. The series will air later in the UK.
The 20th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. John Shea and Patrick Kilpatrick guest star.
The fourth episode of Escape From Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Steve Bisley (Mad Max).
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 19th episode of the fantasy series Highlander, starring Adrian Paul (War Of The Worlds), Alexandra Vandernoort, and Stan Kirsch, and based on the mythology created in the 1986 movie of the same name.
NBC airs the 49th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Jenny Gago (Alien Nation, Dangerous Minds) and James Sloyan guest star.
The debut album by San Francisco-based industrial band Sharkbait, Blowtorch Facelift, is released. 
After much pre-publicity billing it as – at long last – the Lucasfilm-authorized continuation of the storyline, Timothy Zahn’s novel “Star Wars: Heir To The Empire” is released by Bantam Books. Introducing Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde and Mara Jade, among other characters later regarded by fans as mission-critical to the overall Star Wars storyline, the book also introduces the former Imperial capitol world Coruscant (a rare bit of naming that originates in non-movie media and is later carried over to “official” media). The first of a trilogy of novels, “Heir” forces its way to the top of the bestseller lists.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 40th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 
Virgin Records releases the Roy Orbison album In Dreams: The Greatest Hits, which consists entirely of new recordings of Orbison’s most popular songs (since the original masters are in legal limbo due to the bankruptcy of Monument Records, Orbison’s former label); the compilation is timed to land near the release of the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, which used “In Dreams” in a pivotal scene. 
NBC airs the first night of Kenneth Johnson’s heavily-promoted sci-fi miniseries V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler. The big-budget special effects and sci-fi concepts allow Johnson to slip the audience a story about resisting fascism; the ratings are high enough for NBC to already be considering a follow-up. 
Atari releases the arcade video game Arabian, developed by Sun Electronics. 
BBC 1 premieres the first episode of the short-run series The Nightmare Man, written by former Doctor Who script editor Robert Holmes, directed by ’70s Doctor Who director Douglas Camfield, and starring many faces familiar to fans of that series. Not intended to be an ongoing series, this one-off four-part serial is commissioned to fill a gap in the BBC’s summer schedule. 
Corvus Systems, makers of hard disk drives for the Apple II and other microcomputers, releases the Corvus OmniNet, the first local area networking hardware/software bundle aimed at small businesses, schools, and even high-end home users. Since Corvus’ 5 and 10 megabyte hard disk drives for the Apple II had initial price tags in the $5,000 range, Corvus also created the OmniNet hub to allow small businesses and schools to maximize that investment by allowing multiple computers to access it. Forseeing the future of the business market, Corvus also makes OmniNet cards for the IBM PC. Though Ethernet is already in use at this time, its expensive hardware and installation is generally limited to large business customers.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise, a full-sized, full-weight test article not intended for orbital flight, is mated to an external tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters and rolled out to Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral for engineering fit-checks of the redesigned launch pad (a hand-me-down from the Apollo era, where the same pad had launched all but one of the Saturn V rockets). Enterprise remains on the pad for over a month, providing the first photo opportunity of the full-size shuttle launch stack in all of its glory.
The week-long syndication window opens for the 18th episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Martine Beswick (Thunderball, From Russia With Love) and Craig Littler (Jason Of Star Command) guest star.
The TV movie-of-the-week Future Cop airs on ABC, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times), involving a veteran LAPD cop who is assigned a rookie trainee who turns out to be an android. The movie achieves a high enough rating to return as a short-lived series in 1977, though the show will also become the subject of a lawsuit over its premise. 
Warner Bros. Records releases – in Europe only – the Electric Light Orchestra live album The Night The Light Went On (In Long Beach) (over the objections of Jeff Lynne). 
The 20th episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. George Sewell and Grant Taylor guest star.
The 296th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Roger Delgado, John Ringham and Bernard Kay guest star.
The 69th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part two of the story now collectively known as The Space Museum. Peter Craze and Jeremy Bulloch guest star.
The 151st episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Neville Brand and George Takei star.
The 80th episode of the science fiction anthology series Tales Of Tomorrow airs on ABC, starring James Dean and Rod Steiger.