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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.
Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, who remained in the command module Columbia in orbit of the moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon, dies at the age of 90 after battling cancer. Upon returning to Earth, Collins opted to retire from NASA and found work within the United States government, leading to his becoming the first director of the National Air & Space Museum, a facility which had yet to open at the time he took charge of it. Collins wrote a memoir, Carrying The Fire, in 1974, one of the earliest astronaut memoirs (and the first from a member of the crew charged with making the first lunar landing). Prior to Apollo 11, he had flown with John Young aboard Gemini 10, and prior to that had distinguished careers as both a fighter pilot and a test pilot. He applied for the second group of NASA astronauts, but didn’t make the cut until NASA was recruiting its third class.
The CW airs the 130th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) guest stars.
JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, declares the Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite a total loss, having lost all contact with it. Though the diagnosis of the evidence to date is ongoing, engineers conclude from the available data that Hitomi entered an uncontrolled spin and broke up in orbit. JAXA offers apologies not only to other countries’ space agencies who supplied equipment for Hitomi, as well as to astronomers who had hoped to use the satellite.
An unmanned Progress cargo vehicle, designated Progress M-27M, is launched by Russia to ferry 6,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station. But Progress ends up in the wrong orbit, tumbling out of control, with Russian ground controllers unable to send remote commands to the vehicle. Plans to dock the Progress capsule to the ISS are called off as further attempts are made to regain control; since the Progress is in the wrong orbit, it poses no present danger to the station.
Story:Professor Peter Schickele charts the life and career of P. D. Q. Bach, the twenty-first of famed composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty children. Professor Schickele covers the three main phases of P. D. Q.’s musical output: the Initial Plunge, the Soused period and, finally, Contrition. He also delves into the legacy of P. D. Q. Bach, those he has influenced (or at least prevented from making the same mistakes) and a history of the rediscovery of the works of this justly underappreciated artist.
Review: The guys of Spinal Tap ain’t got nothin’ on Peter Schickele. In the late 1960’s, Schickele began performing the “lost” works of little-known composer P. D. Q. Bach, described by Schickele as the “oddest of Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty-odd children.” He even adopted a fictional version of himself, Professor Peter Schickele, to differentiate when he is working in the real world from when he is working in P. D. Q.’s. In the years since, he has built up an enormous life story for P. D. Q., which was first set down as a single biography in this book. Also similar to the later Spinal Tap, Schickele portrays P. D. Q. himself, although given the character’s position in history, only through portraits. Schickele is an accomplished musician and composer, having written many award-winning pieces and even several movie scores (including genre work, such as the film Silent Running). All of this is evident in the text of “The Definitive Biography”, a book that any fan of music, classical or otherwise, should read.
The 731st episode of Doctor Who (the 33rd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Hugh Quarshie (Star Wars Episode I) and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) guest star. This is the second part of a two-part story.
The 198th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, and Annabeth Gish. David Duchovny returns in an episode he also directed and co-wrote.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station. Aboard the Soyuz for an eight-day stay on the ISS are cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, and multi-millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, the first space traveler to buy his own seat aboard a spacecraft. NASA is less than thrilled with the presence of a “tourist” in space, and refuses to allow Tito to train in advance for activities in the American-built segments of the station. This crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31.
Showtime airs the 118th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Laura Leighton (Melrose Place, Pretty Little Liars) guest stars.
The eighth episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head and Alyson Hannigan also star.
Premium cable channel Showtime airs the 34th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Neil Patrick Harris (A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Starship Troopers) guest stars.
The 46th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Mitch Pileggi. Charles Martin Smith (Starman, The Untouchables) and William B. Davis guest star.
The eighth episode of the science fiction series VR.5 airs on Fox, starring Lori Singer (Fame), Michael Easton (Total Recall 2070), and Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer).
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on an eight-day mission to delivery both classified and unclassified Defense Department payloads into Earth orbit. Aboard the shuttle for this flight are Commander Michael Coats, Pilot Blaine Hammond, and mission specialists Guion Bluford, Gregory Harbaugh, Richard Hieb, Donald McMonagle and Charles Veach.
CBS airs the 40th episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Edward Albert guest stars.
The 12th episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) This is the final episode to air on ABC; two further episodes, Lost Tapes and Baby Grobags, aren’t seen until the series goes into reruns on cable years later.
NASA has to borrow some of its own spare parts back from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum to begin engineering mock-up work on the unmanned Venus radar mapping probe Magellan. As JPL works on modifications to a backup central bus component left over from the Voyager program, a physical copy of that bus from an engineering backup of the Voyager spacecraft is loaned back to JPL, shipped to Pasadena from Washington, D.C. (This loan saves JPL the trouble of building another replica of the bus, the central hub of the spacecraft containing its computer and electrical systems, which could add significant cost to the preparations.) The real Magellan, due to be launched soon after the currently grounded space shuttle program resumes, will cut costs by incorporating unused backup equipment from its predecessors, including a Voyager central bus and high-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna spare from the Mariner missions to Mars, and a Galileo data handling system.
The fifth episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) Robert O’Reilly guest stars.
The feature-length combination of the first two episodes of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed and Nickolas Grace, and featuring a very modern musical treatment by Irish band Clannad. Infusing the familiar tale with elements of Pagan mythology, this proves to be one of the most enduring and influential takes on Robin Hood, and finds international popularity. (Repeats both in the UK and internationally will air the two parts of the story separately.)
NOAA’s GOES-6 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 135 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 1989, leaving GOES-7 as the sole working GOES weather satellite until the mid-1990s. Even while “blind”, GOES-5 will serve as a communications relay satellite until its boost to “graveyard” orbit and shutdown in 1992.
ABC airs the 30th episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp. Dixie Carter (Designing Women) and Gay Rowan (The Starlost) guest star in the second season finale.
The eighth episode of Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Joey Aresco. Clyde Kusatsu, Cleavon Little, and Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes, Fantastic Journey) guest star.
ITV airs the sixth episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Joan Collins and John Gielgud guest star.
The second of two one-hour Wonder Woman specials airs on ABC, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Lynda Day George (Mission: Impossible) guest stars. Weekly hour-long episodes begin later in the year.
NASA formally asks various major players in the aerospace industry for proposals for what the agency sees as its two major projects for the 1970s: an orbiting space station and a reusable Space Shuttle to make routine flights from Earth to the station – which NASA hopes will be a “50 man space base” – and back again, with supplies, experiments, and new crew members. (Within mere weeks, the hypothetical station’s equally hypothetical crew will be downsized to a dozen.) In the event that the development curve on the Space Shuttle proves to be a long one, NASA says it will keep Apollo and even Gemini spacecraft in service to make flights to the station.
Lakeshore Records digitally releases an album of selections from JNami Melumad‘s soundtrack to the first season of the streaming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 
Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, who remained in the command module Columbia in orbit of the moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon, dies at the age of 90 after battling cancer. Upon returning to Earth, Collins opted to retire from NASA and found work within the United States government, leading to his becoming the first director of the National Air & Space Museum, a facility which had yet to open at the time he took charge of it. Collins wrote a memoir, Carrying The Fire, in 1974, one of the earliest astronaut memoirs (and the first from a member of the crew charged with making the first lunar landing). Prior to Apollo 11, he had flown with John Young aboard Gemini 10, and prior to that had distinguished careers as both a fighter pilot and a test pilot. He applied for the second group of NASA astronauts, but didn’t make the cut until NASA was recruiting its third class.
The CW airs the 130th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) guest stars.
The CW airs the 77th episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Brandon Routh, and Tala Ashe.
JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, declares the Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite a total loss, having lost all contact with it. Though the diagnosis of the evidence to date is ongoing, engineers conclude from the available data that Hitomi entered an uncontrolled spin and broke up in orbit. JAXA offers apologies not only to other countries’ space agencies who supplied equipment for Hitomi, as well as to astronomers who had hoped to use the satellite.
An unmanned Progress cargo vehicle, designated Progress M-27M, is launched by Russia to ferry 6,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station. But Progress ends up in the wrong orbit, tumbling out of control, with Russian ground controllers unable to send remote commands to the vehicle. Plans to dock the Progress capsule to the ISS are called off as further attempts are made to regain control; since the Progress is in the wrong orbit, it poses no present danger to the station.
Story: Professor Peter Schickele charts the life and career of P. D. Q. Bach, the twenty-first of famed composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty children. Professor Schickele covers the three main phases of P. D. Q.’s musical output: the Initial Plunge, the Soused period and, finally, Contrition. He also delves into the legacy of P. D. Q. Bach, those he has influenced (or at least prevented from making the same mistakes) and a history of the rediscovery of the works of this justly underappreciated artist.
The 731st episode of Doctor Who (the 33rd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Hugh Quarshie (Star Wars Episode I) and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) guest star. This is the second part of a two-part story. 
The 71st episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN. 
The 198th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, and Annabeth Gish. David Duchovny returns in an episode he also directed and co-wrote.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station. Aboard the Soyuz for an eight-day stay on the ISS are cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, and multi-millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, the first space traveler to buy his own seat aboard a spacecraft. NASA is less than thrilled with the presence of a “tourist” in space, and refuses to allow Tito to train in advance for activities in the American-built segments of the station. This crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31.
Showtime airs the 118th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Laura Leighton (Melrose Place, Pretty Little Liars) guest stars.
UPN airs the 115th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 44th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. 
The eighth episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head and Alyson Hannigan also star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 77th episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. Marjorie Monaghan (Space Rangers) guest stars. 
The 63rd episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. 
The eighth episode of the science fiction series VR.5 airs on Fox, starring Lori Singer (Fame), Michael Easton (Total Recall 2070), and Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer).
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on an eight-day mission to delivery both classified and unclassified Defense Department payloads into Earth orbit. Aboard the shuttle for this flight are Commander Michael Coats, Pilot Blaine Hammond, and mission specialists Guion Bluford, Gregory Harbaugh, Richard Hieb, Donald McMonagle and Charles Veach.
The 49th episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs.
CBS airs the 40th episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Edward Albert guest stars.
The 12th episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) This is the final episode to air on ABC; two further episodes, Lost Tapes and Baby Grobags, aren’t seen until the series goes into reruns on cable years later. 
NASA has to borrow some of its own spare parts back from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum to begin engineering mock-up work on the unmanned Venus radar mapping probe Magellan. As JPL works on modifications to a backup central bus component left over from the Voyager program, a physical copy of that bus from an engineering backup of the Voyager spacecraft is loaned back to JPL, shipped to Pasadena from Washington, D.C. (This loan saves JPL the trouble of building another replica of the bus, the central hub of the spacecraft containing its computer and electrical systems, which could add significant cost to the preparations.) The real Magellan, due to be launched soon after the currently grounded space shuttle program resumes, will cut costs by incorporating unused backup equipment from its predecessors, including a Voyager central bus and high-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna spare from the Mariner missions to Mars, and a Galileo data handling system.
The fifth episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) Robert O’Reilly guest stars. 
The feature-length combination of the first two episodes of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed and Nickolas Grace, and featuring a very modern musical treatment by Irish band Clannad. Infusing the familiar tale with elements of Pagan mythology, this proves to be one of the most enduring and influential takes on Robin Hood, and finds international popularity. (Repeats both in the UK and internationally will air the two parts of the story separately.)
NOAA’s GOES-6 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 135 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 1989, leaving GOES-7 as the sole working GOES weather satellite until the mid-1990s. Even while “blind”, GOES-5 will serve as a communications relay satellite until its boost to “graveyard” orbit and shutdown in 1992.
ABC airs the 30th episode of Stephen J. Cannell’s superhero comedy series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Connie Sellecca, and Robert Culp. Dixie Carter (Designing Women) and Gay Rowan (The Starlost) guest star in the second season finale.
The eighth episode of Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Joey Aresco. Clyde Kusatsu, Cleavon Little, and Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes, Fantastic Journey) guest star. 
ITV airs the sixth episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Joan Collins and John Gielgud guest star.
The ninth episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk premieres on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno. Jennifer Darling (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) guest stars. 
The second of two one-hour Wonder Woman specials airs on ABC, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Lynda Day George (Mission: Impossible) guest stars. Weekly hour-long episodes begin later in the year. 
The fourth episode of the children’s science fiction series Sky airs on ITV, created and written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin (later the creators of K-9 for Doctor Who). 
The 347th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars.
NASA formally asks various major players in the aerospace industry for proposals for what the agency sees as its two major projects for the 1970s: an orbiting space station and a reusable Space Shuttle to make routine flights from Earth to the station – which NASA hopes will be a “50 man space base” – and back again, with supplies, experiments, and new crew members. (Within mere weeks, the hypothetical station’s equally hypothetical crew will be downsized to a dozen.) In the event that the development curve on the Space Shuttle proves to be a long one, NASA says it will keep Apollo and even Gemini spacecraft in service to make flights to the station.
The 32nd episode of Batman airs on ABC. Frank Gorshin guest stars as the Riddler. 
The 61st episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Franchot Tone and Liam Sullivan star in an episode written by Serling.
CBS broadcasts the fourth episode of the anthology series ‘Way Out, hosted by author Roald Dahl. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) stars.
ABC airs the 15th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Mike Connors guest stars.
The 104th and final episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson.