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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.
SpaceX launches its second Dragon unmanned cargo vehicle, this time as the first privately-owned spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Carrying only supplies, equipment and experiments, the Dragon capsule carries out a program of closing to within a certain distance of the station and then slowly approaches until it is close enough to be grabbed by the station’s remote manipulator arm and attached to a docking port under the station crew’s control. The Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the station report that the interior of the capsule has a “new car smell” that is quite noticeable when compared to the atmosphere aboard the station. Over the course of a week, fresh cargo is unloaded into the station from the Dragon capsule, and cargo intended for return to Earth is loaded into the capsule. NASA is satisfied with the results and contracts SpaceX to begin routine cargo flights via Dragon later in the year.
The 766th episode of Doctor Who (the 68th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. This is the first part of a two-part story which revives the classic series reptile race, the Silurians, last seen on Doctor Who in 1984.
Actor Richard Biggs, best known to Babylon 5 fans as Dr. Stephen Franklin, dies of a ruptured aorta at the age of 43. An actor perhaps better known to the general public for numerous long-running soap opera roles, Biggs played Dr. Franklin for all five seasons of Babylon 5, but also enjoyed long runs on Guiding Light (a show on which he was still currently appearing at the time of his death) and Days Of Our Lives. At one point before pursuing acting, Biggs actually studied to become a real doctor. Throughout his acting career, he also actively taught acting, and most recently had embarked on a touring acting workshop with his friend and former B5 co-star Jason Carter. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
The 21st episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. John Savage and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star in the season finale.
The 100th 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 in the fifth season finale, which is also the final episode to be aired on the WB network; a fan campaign to save the series will see Buffy picked up for a sixth season by rival network UPN.
The 22nd and final episode of Highlander: The Raven, starring Amanda Gracen and Paul Johannson, airs in syndication; the series is a spinoff from Highlander: The Series.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 69th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Duncan Regehr (Wizards & Warriors, V) and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) guest star.
UPN airs the 15th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, closing out the series slightly truncated first season (since it debuted at mid-season instead of the fall).
The seventh 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 22nd 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. Roger Daltrey of The Who guest stars in the first season finale.
NBC airs the 52nd episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. This is the third season finale, and is nearly the end of the series, but a fan letter-writing campaign helps convince NBC to renew the series.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 43rd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Guest star Barrie Ingham, who guest starred in a 1960s Doctor Who story, becomes a rare instance of an actor to receive on-screen credit in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.
NASA engineers complete a multi-year project to completely reprogram Voyager 2 during the unmanned space probe’s five-year journey from Saturn to Uranus. A planet receiving only a fraction of the sunlight that made photography possible at Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus requires much longer exposures, slower camera shutter speeds, and incredibly precise camera tracking. To compensate for the extreme lag in comunications to and from Uranus, data compression algorithms are devised using techniques that simply didn’t exist at the time of Voyager 2’s construction and original programming, but the compression scheme is an all-or-nothing proposition: it ties up Voyager 2’s backup computer, meaning that a failure of the main computer during a critical maneuver could send the probe off-course, perhaps even colliding with the bodies it intends to study.
BBC 1 premieres the fourth and final 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.
NOAA’s GOES-5 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 85 degrees west longitude on Earth, a position which will change several times over GOES-5’s career until 1988, allowing it to monitor weather over the continental United States and Europe. GOES-5’s primary set of “eyes” will fail in 1984, forcing NOAA to return GOES-1 and GOES-4 to service until a replacement can be launched in 1987. Its usefulness as a weather satellite at an end, GOES-5 will be boosted into a graveyard orbit in 1990.
Arcade game maker Midway introduces the coin-op video game Rally-X in American arcades. The game, originated in Japan by Namco, is rolled out at a 1980 trade show for amusement and arcade machine operators alongside another Namco/Midway import, Pac-Man. With its more-accessible-to-mainstream-America race car elements, Rally-X is considered the hot favorite of the two, possibly a major hit in the making.
Under license from Namco, the game’s Japanese originators, Midway Manufacturing introduces the obsession that is Pac-Man to American arcades. Titled Puck-Man in its homeland (due to the yellow character’s resemblance to a round hockey puck), Midway swaps vowels for fear that vandals will turn the letter P into an F on the arcade cabinets. With its cute characters and instinctive game play, Pac-Man catches on immediately, propelling the video game industry into overdrive.
The week-long syndication window opens for the 21st episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Mark Goddard (Lost In Space) guest stars in a remake of the 1961 One Step Beyond episode The Room Upstairs.
The third episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) and Milton Johns (Doctor Who, The Empire Strikes Back) also star.
The 72nd episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part one of the story now collectively known as The Chase, featuring the Doctor’s third struggle against the Daleks.
The CW airs the 91st episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. This is the fourth season finale.
SpaceX launches its second Dragon unmanned cargo vehicle, this time as the first privately-owned spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Carrying only supplies, equipment and experiments, the Dragon capsule carries out a program of closing to within a certain distance of the station and then slowly approaches until it is close enough to be grabbed by the station’s remote manipulator arm and attached to a docking port under the station crew’s control. The Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the station report that the interior of the capsule has a “new car smell” that is quite noticeable when compared to the atmosphere aboard the station. Over the course of a week, fresh cargo is unloaded into the station from the Dragon capsule, and cargo intended for return to Earth is loaded into the capsule. NASA is satisfied with the results and contracts SpaceX to begin routine cargo flights via Dragon later in the year.
The 766th episode of Doctor Who (the 68th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. This is the first part of a two-part story which revives the classic series reptile race, the Silurians, last seen on Doctor Who in 1984. 
UK cable channel Disney XD airs the 18th episode of K-9. The Australian-made series features no Doctor Who-related characters other than K-9. 
Actor Richard Biggs, best known to Babylon 5 fans as Dr. Stephen Franklin, dies of a ruptured aorta at the age of 43. An actor perhaps better known to the general public for numerous long-running soap opera roles, Biggs played Dr. Franklin for all five seasons of Babylon 5, but also enjoyed long runs on Guiding Light (a show on which he was still currently appearing at the time of his death) and Days Of Our Lives. At one point before pursuing acting, Biggs actually studied to become a real doctor. Throughout his acting career, he also actively taught acting, and most recently had embarked on a touring acting workshop with his friend and former B5 co-star Jason Carter. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
The 25th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN, bringing the series’ first season to an end. Matt Winston guest stars. 
The 21st episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. John Savage and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star in the season finale.
The 100th 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 in the fifth season finale, which is also the final episode to be aired on the WB network; a fan campaign to save the series will see Buffy picked up for a sixth season by rival network UPN.
The 22nd and final episode of Highlander: The Raven, starring Amanda Gracen and Paul Johannson, airs in syndication; the series is a spinoff from Highlander: The Series. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 69th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Duncan Regehr (Wizards & Warriors, V) and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) guest star. 
UPN airs the 15th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, closing out the series slightly truncated first season (since it debuted at mid-season instead of the fall). 
The seventh 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 22nd 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. Roger Daltrey of The Who guest stars in the first season finale.
NBC airs the 52nd episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. This is the third season finale, and is nearly the end of the series, but a fan letter-writing campaign helps convince NBC to renew the series.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 43rd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Guest star Barrie Ingham, who guest starred in a 1960s Doctor Who story, becomes a rare instance of an actor to receive on-screen credit in both Doctor Who and Star Trek. 
NASA engineers complete a multi-year project to completely reprogram Voyager 2 during the unmanned space probe’s five-year journey from Saturn to Uranus. A planet receiving only a fraction of the sunlight that made photography possible at Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus requires much longer exposures, slower camera shutter speeds, and incredibly precise camera tracking. To compensate for the extreme lag in comunications to and from Uranus, data compression algorithms are devised using techniques that simply didn’t exist at the time of Voyager 2’s construction and original programming, but the compression scheme is an all-or-nothing proposition: it ties up Voyager 2’s backup computer, meaning that a failure of the main computer during a critical maneuver could send the probe off-course, perhaps even colliding with the bodies it intends to study.
BBC 1 premieres the fourth and final 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. 
NOAA’s GOES-5 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 85 degrees west longitude on Earth, a position which will change several times over GOES-5’s career until 1988, allowing it to monitor weather over the continental United States and Europe. GOES-5’s primary set of “eyes” will fail in 1984, forcing NOAA to return GOES-1 and GOES-4 to service until a replacement can be launched in 1987. Its usefulness as a weather satellite at an end, GOES-5 will be boosted into a graveyard orbit in 1990.
Arcade game maker Midway introduces the coin-op video game Rally-X in American arcades. The game, originated in Japan by Namco, is rolled out at a 1980 trade show for amusement and arcade machine operators alongside another Namco/Midway import, Pac-Man. With its more-accessible-to-mainstream-America race car elements, Rally-X is considered the hot favorite of the two, possibly a major hit in the making. 
Under license from Namco, the game’s Japanese originators, Midway Manufacturing introduces the obsession that is Pac-Man to American arcades. Titled Puck-Man in its homeland (due to the yellow character’s resemblance to a round hockey puck), Midway swaps vowels for fear that vandals will turn the letter P into an F on the arcade cabinets. With its cute characters and instinctive game play, Pac-Man catches on immediately, propelling the video game industry into overdrive. 
The week-long syndication window opens for the 21st episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Mark Goddard (Lost In Space) guest stars in a remake of the 1961 One Step Beyond episode The Room Upstairs.
The third episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) and Milton Johns (Doctor Who, The Empire Strikes Back) also star.
The 299th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Roger Delgado and Damaris Hayman guest star. 
The 72nd episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part one of the story now collectively known as The Chase, featuring the Doctor’s third struggle against the Daleks. 
The 154th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Gary Crosby and Bonnie Beecher star.
The 83rd episode of the science fiction anthology series Tales Of Tomorrow airs on ABC. Much of the second season is missing, including this episode.