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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. To fans, they were the Great Bird of the Galaxy and the First Lady of Star Trek. To their friends and co-workers, Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry were, perhaps, slightly less mythic figures with their own very human quirks, but still beloved and admired. In this panel from the TrekTalks 5 telethon in support of the Hollywood Food Coalition, Gene and Majel are remembered by those who knew them. Podcast hosted by Earl Green & Ashley Thomas TrekTalks panel hosted by John Champion Panel guests: Fred Bronson, Denise Crosby, Ernie Over, Rod Roddenberry 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 Memories of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry from those who knew and worked with them 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.
Streaming service CBS All Access debuts the first episode of Short Treks, a series of 15-20 minute short stories set in the Star Trek universe (in this instance, aboard the U.S.S. Discovery from Star Trek: Discovery). Mary Wiseman stars.
The CW airs the 47th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. This is the series’ third season premiere.
Silva Screen Records releases a 2-CD set of Murray Gold’s soundtrack music from the 2009 Doctor Who specials. For the first time, a Doctor Who soundtrack from the new series spans two discs, presenting most of the music recorded for David Tennant’s final five special episodes.
ABC airs the 48th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost, opening the show’s much-anticipated third season. Deep analysis of clues of the show’s backstory has now become a popular pastime, not simply an internet phenomenon. Elizabeth Mitchell (V), Michael Emerson, and Henry Ian Cusick join as series regulars; William Mapother and Brett Cullen guest star.
Privately-owned experimental space vehicle SpaceShip One makes its second qualifying flight into suborbital space, exceeding Mach 3 (the first privately owned vehicle to do so) and reaching an altitude of 112 kilometers. Brian Binnie pilots SpaceShip One for its third trip into space and earns the second set of FAA commercial astronaut wings as a result. A fourth trip is considered, but then cancelled to avoid any damage to the history-making vehicle. By this point, Virgin has already hired SpaceShip One designer Burt Rutan to build SpaceShip Two, a suborbtial passenger spacecraft which will take paying customers into space as part of the company’s “Virgin Galactic” service, based on the design of SpaceShip One. Rutan and investor (and Microsoft co-founder) Paul Allen also claim the $10,000,000 Ansari X Prize.
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey probe reaches Mars and settles into an orbit which will gradually be corrected by aerobraking (using the friction of the planet’s atmosphere to slow the vehicle down). Unlike the Mars Surveyor mission, Odyssey does not contain a landing probe, but will instead look at the planet from orbit. Another unique feature of Odyssey’s mission plan is the fact that it won’t be shut down when its scientific investigation has come to an end; it will be left in Mars orbit to serve as a communications relay satellite for future missions.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 92nd episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Ted Raimi and Kevin Smith guest star.
The 45th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau. Lisa Howard (Highlander) and Janet Kidder (Continuum, Star Trek: Discovery) guest stars in the third season premiere.
Big Finish Productions releases the second Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range (though the range is not yet monthly, a frequency that will be determined by sheer audience demand). Peter Davison and Mark Strickson star in a story written by Mark Gatiss, who also guest stars.
The 74th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Peter Donat (Time Trax) and Roy Thinnes (The Invaders) guest star in the fourth season premiere.
Fox airs the 25th episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks. Corey Feldman (The Goonies, The Lost Boys) guest stars, reuniting with former Stand By Me co-star Connell.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 21st episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Frank Langella, Louise Fletcher and Philip Anglim guest star. This is the second part of a three-part story.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 24th 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.
A decade after the premiere of the most recent Star Wars theatrical film (and a couple of years into a burgeoning new wave of Star Wars marketing whose most visible components are new original novels, a new action figure line, and popular role playing and computer games), George Lucas quietly announces in Daily Variety that he plans to produce – but not direct – a trilogy of prequel movies set prior to Star Wars. Though the announcement excites the Star Wars fan base, it’s one of many such announcements in the pages of Variety, many of which concern projects that never make it to the screen.
The 688th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Ian Hogg and Sylvia Sims guest star. This is the last story filmed for the original series, though it’s broadcast as the second story of the season.
CBS airs the 26th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) and Lukas Haas star in an episode comprised of two short stories, J. Michael Straczynski’s What Are Friends For? and Aqua Vita.
The first episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, premieres on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall (Predator, Harry And The Hendersons), and Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream, Cougar Town). Larry Linville (M*A*S*H) guest stars.
The 531st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Jacqueline Hill (who starred in early seasons of Doctor Who as Barbara, one of the Doctor’s first companions) guest stars.
The 24th episode of Star Blazers, an English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, premieres in syndication across the U.S.
The third series of BBC Schools’ radio series Exploration Earth is broadcast, which is effectively an educational one-off Doctor Who audio adventure starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. The BBC (and other publishers who licensed the title) will reissue this curiosity repeatedly in later years, frequently pairing it with the contemporary audio version of the TV serial Genesis Of The Daleks.
ABC airs the fifth episode of Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Lost Saucer, starring Jim Nabors (The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC) and Ruth Buzzi (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In).
ABC airs the fourth episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on Jeff Rice’s novel and the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, and starring Darren McGavin. Larry Storch and William Daniels guest star.
The 64th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris. Arthur Batanides guest stars.
The Soviet Union launches unmanned space probe Luna 7 to land on the moon, having spent months analyzing the failed flights of Luna 5 and 6 and implementing safeguards against those failures. Unforuntately, however, a different technical problem strikes Luna 7 just hours away from the moon’s surface, preventing it from firing its braking rockets. Luna 7 does reach the moon, but not at a survivable speed, crashing into the surface very close to its intended landing site.
The fourth episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison, based on Allen’s 1961 movie of the same name. Rita Gam and Alejandro Rey guest star.
The United States Federal Communications Commission places a ten-year hold on television station licenses for UHF channel 37. Channel 37’s bandwidth, in the 608-614 megahertz range, is vital to the burgeoning science of radio astronomy. The FCC immediately sets about reallocating channels on the UHF dial for 18 television stations across America, which had previously been allocated channel 37 on their licenses. One month later, the ban on broadcasting in that part of the spectrum is made global; no television station in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and several other countries will ever occupy those frequencies. When the ban comes up for review again in 1974, it will be made permanent, though a petition from radio astronomers to set aside channel 36 at that time will be denied.
Streaming service CBS All Access debuts the first episode of Short Treks, a series of 15-20 minute short stories set in the Star Trek universe (in this instance, aboard the U.S.S. Discovery from Star Trek: Discovery). Mary Wiseman stars. 
The CW airs the 47th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. This is the series’ third season premiere.
The 809th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1 (the 110th episode since the series’ revival), starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman.
The 56th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on UK cable/satellite comedy channel Dave. This is the beginning of Red Dwarf X, the first full season of the series since 1999. 
The 49th episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures airs on CBBC, starring Elisabeth Sladen (Doctor Who). Sinead Michael joins the cast. 
Silva Screen Records releases a 2-CD set of Murray Gold’s soundtrack music from the 2009 Doctor Who specials. For the first time, a Doctor Who soundtrack from the new series spans two discs, presenting most of the music recorded for David Tennant’s final five special episodes. 
ABC airs the 48th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost, opening the show’s much-anticipated third season. Deep analysis of clues of the show’s backstory has now become a popular pastime, not simply an internet phenomenon. Elizabeth Mitchell (V), Michael Emerson, and Henry Ian Cusick join as series regulars; William Mapother and Brett Cullen guest star. 
RealWorld Records releases Afro-Celt Sound System‘s fifth album, Anatomic. 
Privately-owned experimental space vehicle SpaceShip One makes its second qualifying flight into suborbital space, exceeding Mach 3 (the first privately owned vehicle to do so) and reaching an altitude of 112 kilometers. Brian Binnie pilots SpaceShip One for its third trip into space and earns the second set of FAA commercial astronaut wings as a result. A fourth trip is considered, but then cancelled to avoid any damage to the history-making vehicle. By this point, Virgin has already hired SpaceShip One designer Burt Rutan to build SpaceShip Two, a suborbtial passenger spacecraft which will take paying customers into space as part of the company’s “Virgin Galactic” service, based on the design of SpaceShip One. Rutan and investor (and Microsoft co-founder) Paul Allen also claim the $10,000,000 Ansari X Prize.
Fox airs the third episode of Joss Whedon’s science fiction series Firefly, starring Nathan Fillion. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) guest stars. 
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey probe reaches Mars and settles into an orbit which will gradually be corrected by aerobraking (using the friction of the planet’s atmosphere to slow the vehicle down). Unlike the Mars Surveyor mission, Odyssey does not contain a landing probe, but will instead look at the planet from orbit. Another unique feature of Odyssey’s mission plan is the fact that it won’t be shut down when its scientific investigation has come to an end; it will be left in Mars orbit to serve as a communications relay satellite for future missions.
UPN airs the 146th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, kicking off the show’s seventh and final season. Susanna Thompson guest stars as the Borg Queen. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 92nd episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Ted Raimi and Kevin Smith guest star. 
The 45th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, Von Flores, and Richard Chevolleau. Lisa Howard (Highlander) and Janet Kidder (Continuum, Star Trek: Discovery) guest stars in the third season premiere.
Big Finish Productions releases the second Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range (though the range is not yet monthly, a frequency that will be determined by sheer audience demand). Peter Davison and Mark Strickson star in a story written by Mark Gatiss, who also guest stars. 
The 74th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Peter Donat (Time Trax) and Roy Thinnes (The Invaders) guest star in the fourth season premiere.
Fox airs the 25th episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks. Corey Feldman (The Goonies, The Lost Boys) guest stars, reuniting with former Stand By Me co-star Connell.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 21st episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Frank Langella, Louise Fletcher and Philip Anglim guest star. This is the second part of a three-part story. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 24th 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.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 154th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ben Vereen guest stars. 
A decade after the premiere of the most recent Star Wars theatrical film (and a couple of years into a burgeoning new wave of Star Wars marketing whose most visible components are new original novels, a new action figure line, and popular role playing and computer games), George Lucas quietly announces in Daily Variety that he plans to produce – but not direct – a trilogy of prequel movies set prior to Star Wars. Though the announcement excites the Star Wars fan base, it’s one of many such announcements in the pages of Variety, many of which concern projects that never make it to the screen.
Virgin Records releases the Simple Minds compilation album Glittering Prize 81/92, a career retrospective covering from the band’s label debut (1980’s Empires and Dance) through their 1991 album (Real Life). 
The 688th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Ian Hogg and Sylvia Sims guest star. This is the last story filmed for the original series, though it’s broadcast as the second story of the season. 
The 11th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. Charles Augins guest stars. Stop shirkin’ and start workin’! 
The 646th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Lynda Bellingham, Michael Jayston, Nabil Shaban and Brian Blessed guest star. 
CBS airs the 26th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) and Lukas Haas star in an episode comprised of two short stories, J. Michael Straczynski’s What Are Friends For? and Aqua Vita.
CBS airs the second episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Annie Potts (Ghostbusters), Meg Foster, and Terry O’Quinn (Lost) star in three short stories; Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street) directs two of them. 
The first episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, premieres on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall (Predator, Harry And The Hendersons), and Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream, Cougar Town). Larry Linville (M*A*S*H) guest stars.
Stern Electronics releases the arcade laserdisc video game Cliff Hanger in the United States, utilizing footage culled from Hayao Miyazake’s anime Castle Of Cagliostro. 
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases Andrew Powell’s elaborately-titled cover album Andrew Powell and the Philharmonia Orchestra Play the Best of the Alan Parsons Project, featuring new orchestral arrangements of the Project’s back catalog devised by Powell (who also arranges the orchestral components of the Project’s recordings). 
The fourth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Horror airs on ITV. Barbara Kellerman guest stars.
The 531st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Jacqueline Hill (who starred in early seasons of Doctor Who as Barbara, one of the Doctor’s first companions) guest stars.
NBC airs the third episode of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. Cesar Romero (Batman) guest stars. 
The 24th episode of Star Blazers, an English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, premieres in syndication across the U.S. 
The third episode of the animated science fiction series Battle Of The Planets, The Space Mummy, airs nationwide in syndication. The series is a translation and English dub of the anime series Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman. 
The third series of BBC Schools’ radio series Exploration Earth is broadcast, which is effectively an educational one-off Doctor Who audio adventure starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. The BBC (and other publishers who licensed the title) will reissue this curiosity repeatedly in later years, frequently pairing it with the contemporary audio version of the TV serial Genesis Of The Daleks. 
The 407th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars.
ABC airs the fifth episode of Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Lost Saucer, starring Jim Nabors (The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC) and Ruth Buzzi (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In).
The 20th episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring John Davey, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne.
ABC airs the fourth episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on Jeff Rice’s novel and the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, and starring Darren McGavin. Larry Storch and William Daniels guest star. 
The fourth episode of the TV spinoff of Planet Of The Apes premieres on CBS. 
The 17th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Anne Revere guest stars.
The fourth episode of Leslie Steven’s “spy-fi” series Search airs on NBC, starring Hugh O’Brian and Burgess Meredith. Jo Ann Pflug guest stars. 
The 58th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. Sabrina Scharf guest stars as Miramanee; William Shatner is Kirok. 
The 64th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris. Arthur Batanides guest stars.
BBC2 premieres the first episode of a new science fiction anthology series, Out Of The Unknown, produced by former Out Of This World script editor (and protege of Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman) Irene Shubik. Adapted by Stanley Miller from a story by John Wyndham, the story stars Terence Morgan. 
The Soviet Union launches unmanned space probe Luna 7 to land on the moon, having spent months analyzing the failed flights of Luna 5 and 6 and implementing safeguards against those failures. Unforuntately, however, a different technical problem strikes Luna 7 just hours away from the moon’s surface, preventing it from firing its braking rockets. Luna 7 does reach the moon, but not at a survivable speed, crashing into the surface very close to its intended landing site.
The fourth episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison, based on Allen’s 1961 movie of the same name. Rita Gam and Alejandro Rey guest star.
The United States Federal Communications Commission places a ten-year hold on television station licenses for UHF channel 37. Channel 37’s bandwidth, in the 608-614 megahertz range, is vital to the burgeoning science of radio astronomy. The FCC immediately sets about reallocating channels on the UHF dial for 18 television stations across America, which had previously been allocated channel 37 on their licenses. One month later, the ban on broadcasting in that part of the spectrum is made global; no television station in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and several other countries will ever occupy those frequencies. When the ban comes up for review again in 1974, it will be made permanent, though a petition from radio astronomers to set aside channel 36 at that time will be denied.
The 122nd episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Lee Marvin stars.