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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 fourth 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).
Label Logic releases Threesome, Volume 1 by The Lickerish Quartet, a trio of former members of Jellyfish, kicking off a crowd-funded trilogy of power pop EP releases.
The 23rd 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 in the first season finale.
Part of the 31st full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-04M. Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba take up residence on the ISS for 124 days, becoming part of the Expedition 31/32 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2012 aboard the same vehicle.
Composer, arranger and orchestrator Alexander Courage, composer of the theme from the original Star Trek, dies at the age of 88. Courage was responsible for writing the iconic main theme as well as the scores for the show’s two pilot episodes. When Star Trek went to series, however, Roddenberry – ahead of the curve on almost every imaginable marketing angle – wrote and published lyrics to Courage’s theme, thereby earning 50% of the profit from any future use of that music, a move which alienated the composer. Due to Star Trek using a library approach to its music, however, Courage’s music resurfaced in almost every episode in some capacity. Courage began orchestrating and arranging for other composers, including John Williams (The Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park) and Jerry Goldsmith, who asked Courage to write a few pieces for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture which utilized the original TV theme.
The 88th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, and Von Flores. The fourth season finale also marks the final appearance of Robert Leeshock as a series regular.
The 20th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Lisa Ann Cabasa and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 99th 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 66th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau. Lisa Howard (Highlander) guest stars in the third season finale.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 112th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars in the fifth season finale.
The 21st episode of Highlander: The Raven, starring Amanda Gracen and Paul Johannson, airs in syndication; the series is a spinoff from Highlander: The Series.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 84th shuttle mission, a ten-day flight with a visit to the Mir space station. Among the supplies hauled to Mir by Atlantis is a new oxygen generator to replace one damaged by a fire aboard the station in February. The crew for Atlantis’ 18th flight is Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Eileen Collins, mission specialists Michael Foale, Carlos Noriega, Edward Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy and cosmonaut Elena Kondakova. Foale remains to take up residence on Mir, while American astronaut Jerry Linenger leaves the station to return with the shuttle crew, having spent 132 days in space.
The sixth 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 21st 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. Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) guest stars.
NASA’s Magellan space probe, which has been mapping the planet Venus from orbit since September 1990, completes the first phase of its map-making mission, completing radar imaging of more than 80% of the planet’s surface. NASA authorizes an extended mission, lasting into 1992, which will yield a more complete map of the Venusian surface, including its polar regions.
BBC 1 premieres the third 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.
The week-long syndication window opens for the 20th episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Frank Ashmore (V) guest stars.
The second 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 79th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. This episode is the fourth season finale.
The 21st episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. George Sewell and Gabrielle Drake guest star.
NASA launches the Nimbus 2 satellite, designed to observe weather patterns from orbit and test new weather and climate detection technologies. Nimbus 2’s only means of data storage fails within weeks, and that system’s only backup fails later in the year. Nimbus 2 is shut down in 1969 when the system it uses to maintain orientation to Earth’s horizon also fails.
The 71st episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part four of the story now collectively known as The Space Museum. Peter Craze and Jeremy Bulloch guest star.
The final manned Mercury flight, Mercury 9 (nicknamed Faith 7) puts astronaut Gordon Cooper in orbit for over a day. Over the course of 34 hours, Cooper circles Earth 22 times, performing small-scale experiments and photography tasks. With Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton grounded due to health issues, only six of the Mercury seven have flown. Development of a two-seater descendant of the Mercury design (initially called “Big Mercury” but now known as Gemini) is well underway, along with the development of the Apollo spacecraft that will succeed Gemini and take men to the moon. Cooper is the last solo American space pilot until Mike Melvill flies the experimental SpaceShip One into suborbital space in the 21st century.
Showtime broadcasts the fourth 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).
Label Logic releases Threesome, Volume 1 by The Lickerish Quartet, a trio of former members of Jellyfish, kicking off a crowd-funded trilogy of power pop EP releases. 
The CW airs the 90th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin.
The 23rd 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 in the first season finale.
Part of the 31st full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-04M. Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba take up residence on the ISS for 124 days, becoming part of the Expedition 31/32 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2012 aboard the same vehicle.
The 765th episode of Doctor Who (the 67th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Toby Jones guest stars. 
UK cable channel Disney XD airs the 16th episode of K-9. The Australian-made series features no Doctor Who-related characters other than K-9. 
Australia’s Nine Network airs the seventh episode of K-9, an episode not broadcast in the UK by Disney XD. 
Composer, arranger and orchestrator Alexander Courage, composer of the theme from the original Star Trek, dies at the age of 88. Courage was responsible for writing the iconic main theme as well as the scores for the show’s two pilot episodes. When Star Trek went to series, however, Roddenberry – ahead of the curve on almost every imaginable marketing angle – wrote and published lyrics to Courage’s theme, thereby earning 50% of the profit from any future use of that music, a move which alienated the composer. Due to Star Trek using a library approach to its music, however, Courage’s music resurfaced in almost every episode in some capacity. Courage began orchestrating and arranging for other composers, including John Williams (The Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park) and Jerry Goldsmith, who asked Courage to write a few pieces for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture which utilized the original TV theme.
The 24th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN. 
The 88th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, and Von Flores. The fourth season finale also marks the final appearance of Robert Leeshock as a series regular.
The 20th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Lisa Ann Cabasa and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 99th 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.
Warner Bros. releases R.E.M.‘s 12th album, Reveal, featuring the single “Imitation Of Life”. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 112th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars in the fifth season finale. 
The 21st episode of Highlander: The Raven, starring Amanda Gracen and Paul Johannson, airs in syndication; the series is a spinoff from Highlander: The Series. 
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 84th shuttle mission, a ten-day flight with a visit to the Mir space station. Among the supplies hauled to Mir by Atlantis is a new oxygen generator to replace one damaged by a fire aboard the station in February. The crew for Atlantis’ 18th flight is Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Eileen Collins, mission specialists Michael Foale, Carlos Noriega, Edward Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy and cosmonaut Elena Kondakova. Foale remains to take up residence on Mir, while American astronaut Jerry Linenger leaves the station to return with the shuttle crew, having spent 132 days in space.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 68th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Andrea Martin (Saturday Night Live) guest stars. 
UPN airs the 14th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 
The sixth 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 21st 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. Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) guest stars.
NASA’s Magellan space probe, which has been mapping the planet Venus from orbit since September 1990, completes the first phase of its map-making mission, completing radar imaging of more than 80% of the planet’s surface. NASA authorizes an extended mission, lasting into 1992, which will yield a more complete map of the Venusian surface, including its polar regions.
NBC airs the 51st episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 42nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 
BBC 1 premieres the third 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. 
The week-long syndication window opens for the 20th episode of The Next Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Frank Ashmore (V) guest stars.
The science fiction TV movie-of-the-week Man From Atlantis III: Killer Spores airs on NBC, starring Patrick Duffy and Belinda J. Montgomery. James B. Sikking (Hill Street Blues) guest stars. 
The second 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 79th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. This episode is the fourth season finale.
The 21st episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. George Sewell and Gabrielle Drake guest star.
The 298th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Roger Delgado, John Ringham and Bernard Kay guest star.
NASA launches the Nimbus 2 satellite, designed to observe weather patterns from orbit and test new weather and climate detection technologies. Nimbus 2’s only means of data storage fails within weeks, and that system’s only backup fails later in the year. Nimbus 2 is shut down in 1969 when the system it uses to maintain orientation to Earth’s horizon also fails.
The 71st episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part four of the story now collectively known as The Space Museum. Peter Craze and Jeremy Bulloch guest star.
The 153rd episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Richard Deacon and Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet) star.
The final manned Mercury flight, Mercury 9 (nicknamed Faith 7) puts astronaut Gordon Cooper in orbit for over a day. Over the course of 34 hours, Cooper circles Earth 22 times, performing small-scale experiments and photography tasks. With Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton grounded due to health issues, only six of the Mercury seven have flown. Development of a two-seater descendant of the Mercury design (initially called “Big Mercury” but now known as Gemini) is well underway, along with the development of the Apollo spacecraft that will succeed Gemini and take men to the moon. Cooper is the last solo American space pilot until Mike Melvill flies the experimental SpaceShip One into suborbital space in the 21st century.
The 82nd episode of the science fiction anthology series Tales Of Tomorrow airs on ABC. Much of the second season is missing, including this episode.