What tomorrow looked like yesterday

theLogBook.com is a chronicle of how we used to imagine the future - an ever-expanding logbook of what our entertainment, our culture, and even our brightest minds thought would happen. It's nostalgia - and some real history - that always looks to the future.

Created & curated by Earl Green


Latest Podcasts

Gene-ology 61 – Affair At The Trading Post Gene-ology: A Roddenberry Podcast

Welcome to Gene-ology, where we explore the earliest TV writing works of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek! It's a Gene-ology first – a Wrangler script written by someone other than Gene himself.  Does future Star Trek writer George Slavin's "Affair At The Trading Post" fit in with Pitcairn's world… and does it still feel like a Gene Roddenberry show? Join us as we dig into the Roddenberry archives and discuss how Gene’s early writing shaped the groundbreaking worlds he would later bring to our screens. Hosted by Earl Green and Ashley Thomas Guest starring Cody Banning as Pitcairn and Alyx Banning as Monacita 🌟 About Gene-ology: Gene-ology is a Roddenberry Entertainment podcast dedicated to exploring the formative years of Gene Roddenberry’s career before Star Trek. We explore his early TV scripts—including unproduced works—and examine the evolution of his storytelling. Buckle in and get ready for Gene-ology! 🔍 In This Episode: A breakdown of key moments and themes from Wrangler, “Affair at the Trading Post” Insight into Gene Roddenberry’s early career and how this episode fits into his body of work. How the themes in this episode connect to the larger Roddenberry universe. 💬 Join the Conversation: What do you think of Wrangler, “Affair at the Trading Post"? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments! 🔔 Subscribe and Stay Tuned: Make sure to subscribe for more deep dives into Gene Roddenberry’s earliest TV writing. We release new episodes every other week! Follow us on Social Media: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/MissionLogPod X: https://x.com/MissionLogPod THREADS: https://www.threads.net/@roddenberrypodcasts FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MissionLogPod Gene-ology is produced by Roddenberry Entertainment. Executive producer Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry. Visit https://Podcasts.Roddenberry.Com for more great content. 💖 Support the Show: Join our Patreon for exclusive content, and connect with fellow fans in our Discord community. Every contribution helps us continue our mission to explore the early works of Gene Roddenberry. https://www.Patreon.com/MissionLogPod
  1. Gene-ology 61 – Affair At The Trading Post
  2. Gene-ology 60 – A Time For Hanging
  3. Gene-ology 59 – Episode At The Bar-M
  4. Gene-ology 58 – Wrangler
  5. Have More Hot Takes, Will Still Travel

Retrogram #7718: B.S.W. Retrogram – theLogBook.com

The week of May 2, 1977: Before the Dark Times, before the Empire – well, approximately three weeks before the Dark Times and before the Empire – television sci-fi is just doing its thing on both sides of the Atlantic, unaware that audience expectations are about to change drastically. Retrogram examines five shows that were on the air during one of the last few weeks before a little movie called Star Wars took the world by storm. (1:06:06) Right-click here and “save as” to download the podcast – trust me, it sounds better this way than it does on 8-track. Links: Feel free to help support the show at Patreon or Ko-Fi! November 1983 in theLogBook’s History Timeline Special thanks to Ashley Thomas – The Nerdy Blogger (and all of our other Patreon supporters) Support Retrogram by purchasing through links and search boxes in theLogBook.com Store. The #1 song of that week… Music (in order): “Great Dark Spot” by Jahzzar (betterwithmusic.com) CC BY-SA “O Crebro do Morto” by Dr. Frankenstein (freemusicarchive.org) CC BY-SA “Queen” by Soft and Furious (freemusicarchive.org) CC BY-SA (break music) “League Of Mice” by Dee Zee (freemusicarchive.org) CC BY-SA “Nine Stones” by Andrew Howes (freemusicarchive.org) CC BY-SA “Theme from Man From Atlantis” by Fred Karlin “AVV Revisited” by Hermelin (freemusicarchive.org) CC BY-SA
  1. Retrogram #7718: B.S.W.
  2. Retrogram #9060: What Did You Do During The Syndication Wars?
  3. Retrogram #8347: The Day After The Day Of The Doctor
  4. Retrogram #7152: 72 @ 50, Part 1
  5. Retrogram #2214: The Little Black Bags

It happened on this date…

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Published On: January 22, 2021

WandaVisionStreaming service Disney Plus releases the third episode of WandaVision, created for TV by Jac Schaeffer and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Kathryn Hahn.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Published On: January 22, 2019

The FlashThe CW airs the 102nd episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin.

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Published On: January 22, 2019

Blue Origin NS-10Commercial spaceflight operator Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, launches its tenth New Shepard flight. The uncrewed (but human-rated) capsule includes several payloads designed by NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. As with past missions, both the capsule and its single-stage suborbital booster come in for soft landings near Blue Origin’s Texas launch facility. This is the fourth flight for the third New Shepard reusable capsule, as well as the fourth flight for the third New Shepard reusable booster.

Published On: January 22, 2017

Masaya NakamuraMasaya Nakamura, the founder of pioneering Japanese video game maker Namco, dies at the age of 91. Founded in 1955 as Nakamura Manufacturing Co., Namco was an early proponent of video game development in Japan, though it saw its earliest successes as the Japanese distributor of Atari arcade games imported from the U.S. After moderately successful early coin-ops such as Gee Bee, Namco quickly established itself as a global powerhouse with the release of such perennial classics as Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position, and Xevious, among many others. Namco’s growth in the 1980s was so explosive that it absorbed Japanese film studio Nikkatsu in 1993 (several of whose titles Nakamura oversaw as executive producer), and later merged with Bandai in 2005.

More about Namco in Phosphor Dot Fossils

Published On: January 22, 2016

Blue Origin NS-3Commercial spaceflight operator Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, launches its third New Shepard flight. The uncrewed (but human-rated) capsule and its single-stage suborbital booster come in for soft landings near Blue Origin’s Texas launch facility, marking the first reflight of an already-flown booster. This is the second flight for the second New Shepard reusable capsule, as well as the second flight for the second New Shepard reusable booster; both will be flown again.

Published On: January 22, 2014

ArrowThe 34th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest stars.

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Published On: January 22, 1999

The Outer LimitsShowtime airs the 88th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) guest stars in the fifth season premeire, written by A.L. Katz (Tales From The Crypt).

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Published On: January 22, 1998

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Endeavour is launched on a nine-day mission to dock with the Russian Mir space station. Routine resupply activities are carried out, along with crew rotations. Endeavour’s crew for her 12th flight consists of Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Joe Edwards, Payload Commander Bonnie Dunbar, and mission specialists Michael Anderson, James Reilly, Salizhan Sharipov and Andrew Thomas. Thomas remains on Mir, while David Wolf returns to Earth aboard Endeavour.

Published On: January 22, 1997

Hubble Space TelescopeNASA’s Hubble Space Telescope does some interstellar storm spotting, capturing an image of funnel-cloud-shaped structures in the Lagoon Nebula, 5,000 light years away from Earth. Similar to the star-forming structures in the Eagle Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula’s star-birthing clouds are seen to be twisting into tornado-like shapes, possibly due to interactions of gases with extreme hot and cold temperatures, not unlike the weather processes leading to tornado formation on Earth.

Published On: January 22, 1995

Earth 2NBC airs the ninth episode of the science fiction series Earth 2, starring Debrah Farentino, Clancy Brown, and Antonio Sabato Jr. Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Jeff Kober (China Beach) guest star.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Published On: January 22, 1992

Quantum LeapNBC airs the 65th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Tamlyn Tomita (Babylon 5) guest stars.

This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Published On: January 22, 1992

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Discovery lifts off for an eight day Spacelab mission, with an multi-national crew participating in “IML-1” (International Microgravity Laboratory) experiments. Discovery’s crew for this flight consists of Commander Ronald Grabe, Pilot Stephen Oswald, mission specialists Norman Thagard, David Hilmers, and William Readdy, and payload specialists Roberta Bondar and Ulf Merbold.

Published On: January 22, 1986

ELOElectric Light Orchestra‘s eleventh album, Balance Of Power, is released, featuring the single “Calling America”. This is the final release by ELO before Jeff Lynne officially disbands the group, as well as the final album containing anything remotely resembling the lineup of ELO’s ’70s heyday. Drummer Bev Bevan later recuits new musicians and other former ELO members to form ELO Part II.

More about ELO in Music Reviews

Published On: January 22, 1984

MacintoshApple Computer releases a new home and business computer, the Macintosh, with a sharp black & white display and an eye-grabbing, object-oriented graphical user interface. Early software includes the what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) word processor MacWrite and the graphics program MacPaint, the combination of which jumpstarts an entire new industry, “desktop publishing” – typesetting via computer instead of manual layout. This decisive step away from the now-seven-year-old Apple II architecture is Apple’s answer to the IBM PC.

Published On: January 22, 1980

The Martian ChroniclesNBC airs the second installment of the lavish three-part miniseries based on Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. Adapted for TV by respected SF author Richard Matheson, the miniseries has already taken an embarrassing public beating by none other than Bradbury itself, inspiring NBC to yank the heavily-publicized off of the fall 1979 schedule and burn off the miniseries in January 1980 prior to the 1980 Winter Oympics. Rock Hudson, Darren McGavin, Fritz Weaver and Roddy McDowall star. The miniseries is a co-production between NBC and the BBC (who won’t air it until later in 1980).

More about The Martian Chronicles in the LogBook

Published On: January 22, 1980

Hitchhiker's Guide To The GalaxyThe ninth episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio, continuing the second series of the now-hit cult science fiction phenomenon. (Some elements of the second radio series will go on to form the basis of Adams’ novel The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.)

More about The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy in the LogBook

Published On: January 22, 1975

LandsatNASA launches its second Landsat satellite, originally named ERTS-2 (Earth Resource Technology Satellite) and still based on the Nimbus experimental weather and Earth-observation satellites. Originally intended to be online for a year, Landsat 2 functions through 1982, carrying a suite of instruments and sensors nearly identical to that of Landsat 1.

Published On: January 22, 1967

It's About TimeThe 19th episode of the time travel sitcom It’s About Time, created by Sherwood Schwarz (I Dream Of Jeannie) and starring Frank Aletter, Jack Mullaney, and Imogene Coca, is broadcast on CBS. With the series’ ratings having slowly dropped, a major rethink of the premise is implemented in this episode, which returns not only the astronauts but also their cave-dwelling neighbors into the modern day for the remainder of the series run.

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Published On: January 22, 1965

TIROSNASA and the United States Weather Bureau launch the ninth experimental TIROS weather satellite, TIROS-9. Heavier than any of the other TIROS experimental satellites, and with cameras mounted on opposite sides of the satellite’s cylindrical body to keep the Earth in view at all times. The result, in February, is the first-ever snapshot of the entire world’s weather patterns within a single day. TIROS-9 also carries other upgrades being considered for an upcoming fleet of full-time operational weather satellites, and remains in service for three and a half years.

Published On: January 22, 1960

13 Demon StreetThe 13th and final episode of the syndicated horror anthology series 13 Demon Street airs on stations across the U.S., hosted by Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man), and created (and frequently written and directed) by Curt Siodmak.

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Babylon 5 on Blu-Ray in theLogBook.com Store
Babylon 5 on Blu-Ray in theLogBook.com Store
Get Atari 2600+ hardware and software in theLogBook.com Store