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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.
Legendary television writer/producer Steven Bochco dies at the age of 74. Widely associated with TV police dramas, including the genre-changing shows Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, Bochco created numerous popular series, including L.A. Law and Doogie Howser M.D. He also had numerous genre credits, ranging from co-writing the 1972 sci-fi cult classic Silent Running (a very early entry in his career), to co-creating (with Harve Bennett) two 1970s TV iterations of H.G. Wells’ timeless story, The Invisible Man and Gemini Man. He also wrote an episode of the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone, and created a series pilot, NYPD 2069, which aired as a one-off TV movie in 2004. (Another series pilot, Vampire, went no further than the pilot stage in 1979.)
The 64th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) guest stars.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 15th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
The 176th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and Robert Patrick. David Duchovny appears as Agent Mulder; Nicholas Lea guest stars.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 54th episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. This episode marks a major turning point in the series as the show’s main characters and titular space station secede from the Earth government of which they’ve been a part since the beginning of the series. The episode features an unprecedented amount of CGI for an individual episode of a television series, and goes on to win a Hugo Award for Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation.
Simon & Schuster releases the audio drama Star Trek: Envoy – A Captain Sulu Adventure, starring George Takei (Star Trek), on cassette and CD. This is a rare foray into full-cast audio drama as opposed to the publisher’s usual standard audiobooks.
GNP Crescendo releases a CD of Jay Chattaway’s soundtrack music from original Star Trek: Voyager television series, presenting the score from the two-hour pilot, The Caretaker.
The 19th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Michael Horse (Twin Peaks) and Donnelly Rhodes (Battlestar Galactica) guest star.
Fox airs the 22nd episode of the sci-fi western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, and Christian Clemenson. John Pyper-Ferguson (Caprica), Debra Jo Rupp (That ’70s Show), and Timothy Leary guest star.
Baen Books publishes the first novel in the Honor Harrington series, “On Basilisk Station” by David Weber. A military science fiction story with a female protagonist set in the vein of the Horatio Hornblower novels, the book quickly gains a loyal audience; luckily, Weber and Baen have a second novel already prepared.
Timothy Zahn’s novel “Star Wars: The Last Command”, the concluding part of the hugely popular trilogy of officially licensed follow-ups to the original trilogy, is released by Bantam Books. As with the first two installments of the new trilogy (which will become known years later alternately as the Zahn Trilogy or the Thrawn Trilogy), “The Last Command” climbs to the top of the bestseller lists, and the future of a sprawling print-fiction Star Wars empire is assured in the process. With no new movies for the books to clash with, many fans regard their story developments as “official.”
NBC airs the 70th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Liz Torres (Gilmore Girls), Vaughn Armstrong (Star Trek: Enterprise), and Ed Wasser (Babylon 5) guest star.
The fifth episode of George Lucas’ historical adventure series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles airs on ABC, starring Sean Patrick Flanery. Ronny Coutteure and Bryan Pringle (Brazil) guest star.
The 63rd episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Wayne Robson (The Red Green Show) and Tony Franciosa (Search) star in an episode written by Harlan Ellison.
CBS airs the 21st episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Edward Albert guest stars.
A Split Enz album with identity issues, the group’s sixth studio album is released as Corroboree in Australia and New Zealand, and as Waiata in all other territories. Again produced by David Tickle, this album continues with the punchier True Colours sound and yields the international hit “History Never Repeats”, whose video becomes one of the very first ever played by a new American music video channel, MTV.
ABC airs the third episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp. June Lockhart (Lost In Space) guest stars.
The 317th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Roger Delgado and Clive Morton guest star. This is the first appearance of the Sea Devils, identified here as an offshoot of the Silurian species.
BBC2 airs the 38th episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Adapted by David Climie from a story by Peter Phillips, the story stars Peter Barkworth and features an appearance by the Daleks (complete with David Graham providing their voices) from the series’ BBC stablemate, Doctor Who. Directed by Peter Cregeen, a future BBC Head of Series who would become infamous for cancelling Doctor Who after its 1989 season, this episode closes the third season, but no longer exists in the BBC’s archives.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 115th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. Peter Wyngarde (Department S, Flash Gordon) guest stars.
The U.S. Weather Bureau announces plans to expand its Weather Radio service across the country, with forecasts now prepared and worded for public consumption (as opposed to the service’s original 1950s mission of providing weather information for airline pilots). Concentrated primarily in coastal areas and a handful of inland population centers, the Weather Radio network has yet to become the Bureau’s primary means of disseminating emergency weather information, a mission it won’t take on until the 1970s.
The 11th episode of Sydney Newman’s spy series The Avengers, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee, airs on UK broadcaster ABC. This episode is now missing from the archives, but will be recreated in audio form in the 21st century by Big Finish Productions.
The 26th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Albert Salmi and Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island) star in an episode scripted by Serling from a story by George Clayton Johnson (Logan’s Run).
The very first weather satellite, TIROS-1, is launched by the United States. Built under contract by RCA, the nearly-300-pound satellite’s black & white cameras offer the first view of Earth’s cloud systems and weather patterns from orbit. Tiros-1 remains operational for just 78 days, but proves the viability of relying on satellites for weather observation and forceasting.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, in order to meet its producers’ requests for more unusual sound effects and music than is presently held in its sound library, establishes the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in room 13 of the BBC’s Maida Vale recording studios. Concentrating on tape manipulation and found sounds altered with analog effects (and only later delving into the earliest waves of analog synthesizers), the Workshop produces music for such legendary BBC productions as The Quatermass Experiment and the theme music for Doctor Who. Founding members include Desmond Briscoe, Daphne Oram and Dick Mills.
The second episode of Jordan Peele’s revival of Rod Serling’s science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone streams on CBS All Access. The episode is a re-imagining of Richard Matheson’s classic original Twilight Zone episode, Nightmare At 20,000 Feet. 
The CW airs the 60th episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Brandon Routh, and Tala Ashe. Paul Reubens guest stars.
The first episode of Jordan Peele’s revival of Rod Serling’s science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone streams on CBS All Access. Kumail Nanjiani stars. 
Legendary television writer/producer Steven Bochco dies at the age of 74. Widely associated with TV police dramas, including the genre-changing shows Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, Bochco created numerous popular series, including L.A. Law and Doogie Howser M.D. He also had numerous genre credits, ranging from co-writing the 1972 sci-fi cult classic Silent Running (a very early entry in his career), to co-creating (with Harve Bennett) two 1970s TV iterations of H.G. Wells’ timeless story, The Invisible Man and Gemini Man. He also wrote an episode of the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone, and created a series pilot, NYPD 2069, which aired as a one-off TV movie in 2004. (Another series pilot, Vampire, went no further than the pilot stage in 1979.)
The 64th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) guest stars.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 15th mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts. 
The 176th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and Robert Patrick. David Duchovny appears as Agent Mulder; Nicholas Lea guest stars.
The 51st episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. 
Cable channel TNT premieres the 99th episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. Walter Koenig (Star Trek) guest stars. 
Pocket Books releases the non-fiction behind-the-scenes book “Star Trek: Voyager: A Vision Of The Future” by Stephen Edward Poe. (In 1968, under the pseudonym Stephen Whitfield, Poe co-authored the original “Making Of Star Trek” with Gene Roddenberry). 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 113th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 54th episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. This episode marks a major turning point in the series as the show’s main characters and titular space station secede from the Earth government of which they’ve been a part since the beginning of the series. The episode features an unprecedented amount of CGI for an individual episode of a television series, and goes on to win a Hugo Award for Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation. 
Simon & Schuster releases the audio drama Star Trek: Envoy – A Captain Sulu Adventure, starring George Takei (Star Trek), on cassette and CD. This is a rare foray into full-cast audio drama as opposed to the publisher’s usual standard audiobooks. 
GNP Crescendo releases a CD of Jay Chattaway’s soundtrack music from original Star Trek: Voyager television series, presenting the score from the two-hour pilot, The Caretaker. 
Fox airs the 22nd episode of the sci-fi western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, and Christian Clemenson. John Pyper-Ferguson (Caprica), Debra Jo Rupp (That ’70s Show), and Timothy Leary guest star.
Baen Books publishes the third novel in the Honor Harrington series, “The Short Victorious War” by David Weber.
Baen Books publishes the first novel in the Honor Harrington series, “On Basilisk Station” by David Weber. A military science fiction story with a female protagonist set in the vein of the Horatio Hornblower novels, the book quickly gains a loyal audience; luckily, Weber and Baen have a second novel already prepared. 
Timothy Zahn’s novel “Star Wars: The Last Command”, the concluding part of the hugely popular trilogy of officially licensed follow-ups to the original trilogy, is released by Bantam Books. As with the first two installments of the new trilogy (which will become known years later alternately as the Zahn Trilogy or the Thrawn Trilogy), “The Last Command” climbs to the top of the bestseller lists, and the future of a sprawling print-fiction Star Wars empire is assured in the process. With no new movies for the books to clash with, many fans regard their story developments as “official.”
NBC airs the 70th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Liz Torres (Gilmore Girls), Vaughn Armstrong (Star Trek: Enterprise), and Ed Wasser (Babylon 5) guest star.
The fifth episode of George Lucas’ historical adventure series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles airs on ABC, starring Sean Patrick Flanery. Ronny Coutteure and Bryan Pringle (Brazil) guest star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 92nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dwight Schultz (The A-Team) guest stars. 
The 63rd episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Wayne Robson (The Red Green Show) and Tony Franciosa (Search) star in an episode written by Harlan Ellison.
CBS airs the 21st episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Edward Albert guest stars.
A Split Enz album with identity issues, the group’s sixth studio album is released as Corroboree in Australia and New Zealand, and as Waiata in all other territories. Again produced by David Tickle, this album continues with the punchier True Colours sound and yields the international hit “History Never Repeats”, whose video becomes one of the very first ever played by a new American music video channel, MTV. 
ABC airs the third episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp. June Lockhart (Lost In Space) guest stars.
The Odyssey² video game console’s answer to Asteroids, UFO!, hits stores. 
The 20th episode of Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica airs on ABC. 
The 22nd episode of The Tomorrow People is broadcast on ITV. 
The tenth episode of The Sixth Sense airs on ABC, starring Gary Collins. Stefanie Powers (The Girl From UNCLE, Hart To Hart) guest stars.
The 317th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Roger Delgado and Clive Morton guest star. This is the first appearance of the Sea Devils, identified here as an offshoot of the Silurian species.
BBC2 airs the 38th episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Adapted by David Climie from a story by Peter Phillips, the story stars Peter Barkworth and features an appearance by the Daleks (complete with David Graham providing their voices) from the series’ BBC stablemate, Doctor Who. Directed by Peter Cregeen, a future BBC Head of Series who would become infamous for cancelling Doctor Who after its 1989 season, this episode closes the third season, but no longer exists in the BBC’s archives. 
The 156th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This episode is now missing from the BBC’s archives.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 115th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. Peter Wyngarde (Department S, Flash Gordon) guest stars.
The U.S. Weather Bureau announces plans to expand its Weather Radio service across the country, with forecasts now prepared and worded for public consumption (as opposed to the service’s original 1950s mission of providing weather information for airline pilots). Concentrated primarily in coastal areas and a handful of inland population centers, the Weather Radio network has yet to become the Bureau’s primary means of disseminating emergency weather information, a mission it won’t take on until the 1970s.
The 11th episode of Sydney Newman’s spy series The Avengers, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee, airs on UK broadcaster ABC. This episode is now missing from the archives, but will be recreated in audio form in the 21st century by Big Finish Productions.
The 26th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Albert Salmi and Russell Johnson (Gilligan’s Island) star in an episode scripted by Serling from a story by George Clayton Johnson (Logan’s Run).
The very first weather satellite, TIROS-1, is launched by the United States. Built under contract by RCA, the nearly-300-pound satellite’s black & white cameras offer the first view of Earth’s cloud systems and weather patterns from orbit. Tiros-1 remains operational for just 78 days, but proves the viability of relying on satellites for weather observation and forceasting.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, in order to meet its producers’ requests for more unusual sound effects and music than is presently held in its sound library, establishes the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in room 13 of the BBC’s Maida Vale recording studios. Concentrating on tape manipulation and found sounds altered with analog effects (and only later delving into the earliest waves of analog synthesizers), the Workshop produces music for such legendary BBC productions as The Quatermass Experiment and the theme music for Doctor Who. Founding members include Desmond Briscoe, Daphne Oram and Dick Mills.