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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.
NASA launches the Lucy spacecraft on its twelve-year mission to study select specimens of the Trojan asteroid swarms that both precede and trail the planet Jupiter at the stable LaGrange points in its orbit. Lucy’s complex trajectory calls for it to conduct gravity assist flybys of Earth in 2022 and 2024, and to survey the main asteroid belt body 52246 Donaldjohanson in 2025, en route to reaching its first Trojan asteroid, 3548 Eurybates, in 2027. Future targets include 15094 Polymele later in 2027, 11351 Leucus and 21900 Orus in 2028, and – after a further gravity assist flyby of Earth in 2030 – the binary Trojan pair 617 Patroclus-Menoetius in 2033. Lucy’s name is not an abbreviation; it is named after a famous fossil skeleton discovered in 1971 by a team led by anthropologist David Johanson; it is hoped that studying the Trojan asteroids will lead to discoveries that make them similar “missing links” in the solar system’s own fossil record.
Cable channel Disney XD airs the 58th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Space Rangers) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) guest star.
Cable channel Disney XD airs the 57th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Space Rangers) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) guest star in the two-part fourth season premiere.
China’s Shenzhou 11 mission is launched, the country’s sixth crewed flight, with a two-man crew consisting of Jing Haipeng (veteran of the Shenzhou 7 and Shenzhou 9 missions) and rookie taikonaut Chen Dong. The vehicle’s destination is the recently-launched Tiangong-2 space station, where it berths for nearly a month, giving the crew more room to perform experiments and Earth observations. Shenzhou 11 returns to Earth in November after a full month in orbit.
HBO premieres the third episode of Westworld, starring Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, and Evan Rachel Wood. Gina Torres (Firefly, Cleopatra 2525) guest stars.
The 25th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Michael Jai White (For Better Or Worse, Black Dynamite) guest stars.
Cable channel AMC premieres the seventh episode of The Walking Dead, a series based on the popular zombie comic of the same name, starring Andrew Lincoln. This is the second season premiere.
The second episode of the superhero series Birds Of Prey, based on characters from the DC Comics universe, airs on the WB, starring Ashley Scott, Dina Meyer, Rachel Skarsten, Shemar Moore, Ian Abercrombie, and Mia Sara.
The 104th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on UPN. James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alyson Hannigan also star.
NASA/JPL’s Galileo unmanned space probe makes the closest flybys yet of Io, the volcanically hyperactive moon of Jupiter which made headlines when Voyager scientists spotted an eruption in 1980. The new images give the best view yet of Io’s inhospitable surface, including a volcanic crater, 47 miles across, named after the Brazilian god of thunder, Tupan Patera – an eye-searingly colorful region even in natural light.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 115th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars.
HarperCollins publishes the non-fiction book Doctor Who: Regeneration by Philip Segal with Gary Russell; the book serves primarily as Segal’s memoir of his long struggle to bring Doctor Who to American airwaves, resulting only in the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann.
The second episode of the sequel series Team Knight Rider airs in syndication, starring Brixton Karnes, Christine Steel, Duane Davis, and Nick Wechsler.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the sixth episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. This episode marks the first appearance of Kevin Smith as Ares, the god of war.
Having performed together in Crowded House and Split Enz, Neil Finn and Tim Finn release the first Finn Brothers album, simply titled Finn. The album includes the singles “Suffer Never” and “Only Talking Sense”.
The second episode of She-Wolf Of London is broadcast in syndication in North America, a co-production between Universal Studios and British broadcaster HTV, and starring Kate Hodge and Neil Dickson.
The 25th episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger.
The second episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger.
The 11th 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.) W. Morgan Sheppard, Concetta Tomei, Bill Maher and Andreas Katsulas (Babylon 5) guest star. After this episode airs, ABC pulls the show from its prime time schedule for six months.
CBS airs the fourth episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Merritt Butrick (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan), Jeffrey Combs (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and (in her first TV appearance) Mayim Bialik (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory) guest star.
NASA temporarily loses contact with unmanned space probe Voyager 1 as it cruises toward Saturn. A science experiment is conducted which requires Voyager to point its antenna away from Earth and enter a rolling maneuver, but ground controllers do not hear back from Voyager 1 when they expect to receive the signal that the experiment has ended. A tracking station in Australia sends a wide-beam command to Voyager 1 to reorient itself; it is later discovered that, attempting to regain its orientation with respect to Earth, Voyager 1’s star tracker locked on to Alpha Centauri instead of Canopus, pointing its antenna dish five degrees away from Earth. Normal operations resume once Voyager is pointed correctly. A similar problem will again cause Voyager 1 to break contact after a course correction burn in December.
ABC airs the sixth episode of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, part of the Krofft Supershow Saturday morning children’s programming block. This is part two of a two-part story, each episode lasting only around 12 minutes.
The 28th and final episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring John Davey, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne. Andrew Stevens (Dallas) guest stars in the series finale.
The first in a new generation of weather satellites operating in geosynchronous orbit for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, GOES-1, is launched from Cape Canaveral. An acronym for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-1 is positioned over the Indian Ocean, where it is expected to become but the first in a constellation of weather satellites monitoring Earth’s atmosphere in both visible and infrared light. In 1978, GOES-1 will be repositioned over the Pacific Ocean, which it will monitor until it is decommissioned in 1985, after almost ten full years of operation.
The sixth 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.
UK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 29th episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.
The 87th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part one of the story now collectively known as The Myth Makers. This episode is missing from the BBC’s archives.
The People’s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, the 22-kiloton Project 596. Though the Chinese nuclear program did receive an early boost from Soviet researchers, much of the research and production of Chinese nuclear weapons has taken place without outside help since the initiation of the Chinese nuclear weapons development program in 1959. Within three years of this test, China will have developed hydrogen bomb technology.
British broadcaster ABC airs the sixth episode of Pathfinders In Space, a follow-up series to Target Luna, produced by future Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. Peter Williams stars in a script written by Malcolm Hulke (Doctor Who) and Eric Paice (Star Maidens). Though the original master tape of this episode was later wiped for reuse, film recordings of all seven episodes would be recovered and released on DVD in the 21st century.
NASA launches the Lucy spacecraft on its twelve-year mission to study select specimens of the Trojan asteroid swarms that both precede and trail the planet Jupiter at the stable LaGrange points in its orbit. Lucy’s complex trajectory calls for it to conduct gravity assist flybys of Earth in 2022 and 2024, and to survey the main asteroid belt body 52246 Donaldjohanson in 2025, en route to reaching its first Trojan asteroid, 3548 Eurybates, in 2027. Future targets include 15094 Polymele later in 2027, 11351 Leucus and 21900 Orus in 2028, and – after a further gravity assist flyby of Earth in 2030 – the binary Trojan pair 617 Patroclus-Menoetius in 2033. Lucy’s name is not an abbreviation; it is named after a famous fossil skeleton discovered in 1971 by a team led by anthropologist David Johanson; it is hoped that studying the Trojan asteroids will lead to discoveries that make them similar “missing links” in the solar system’s own fossil record.
The CW airs the 93rd episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin.
Cable channel Disney XD airs the 58th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Space Rangers) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) guest star. 
Cable channel Disney XD airs the 57th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Space Rangers) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) guest star in the two-part fourth season premiere. 
China’s Shenzhou 11 mission is launched, the country’s sixth crewed flight, with a two-man crew consisting of Jing Haipeng (veteran of the Shenzhou 7 and Shenzhou 9 missions) and rookie taikonaut Chen Dong. The vehicle’s destination is the recently-launched Tiangong-2 space station, where it berths for nearly a month, giving the crew more room to perform experiments and Earth observations. Shenzhou 11 returns to Earth in November after a full month in orbit.
HBO premieres the third episode of Westworld, starring Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, and Evan Rachel Wood. Gina Torres (Firefly, Cleopatra 2525) guest stars. 
The 25th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Michael Jai White (For Better Or Worse, Black Dynamite) guest stars.
Cable channel AMC premieres the seventh episode of The Walking Dead, a series based on the popular zombie comic of the same name, starring Andrew Lincoln. This is the second season premiere. 
The 25th episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures airs on CBBC, starring Elisabeth Sladen (Doctor Who). 
Harper publishes the non-fiction book Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN by Susanne Daniels and Cynthia Littleton, who had first-hand knowledge of both short-lived television networks’ dealings. 
The fourth episode of Tim Kring’s sci-fi/superhero series Heroes airs on NBC, starring Adrian Pasdar, Jack Coleman, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, and Milo Ventimiglia. 
The 30th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN. 
The second episode of the superhero series Birds Of Prey, based on characters from the DC Comics universe, airs on the WB, starring Ashley Scott, Dina Meyer, Rachel Skarsten, Shemar Moore, Ian Abercrombie, and Mia Sara.
The 104th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on UPN. James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alyson Hannigan also star.
NASA/JPL’s Galileo unmanned space probe makes the closest flybys yet of Io, the volcanically hyperactive moon of Jupiter which made headlines when Voyager scientists spotted an eruption in 1980. The new images give the best view yet of Io’s inhospitable surface, including a volcanic crater, 47 miles across, named after the Brazilian god of thunder, Tupan Patera – an eye-searingly colorful region even in natural light.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 115th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Adrienne Wilkinson guest stars. 
The 68th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, and Von Flores. 
HarperCollins publishes the non-fiction book Doctor Who: Regeneration by Philip Segal with Gary Russell; the book serves primarily as Segal’s memoir of his long struggle to bring Doctor Who to American airwaves, resulting only in the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann. 
The second episode of the sequel series Team Knight Rider airs in syndication, starring Brixton Karnes, Christine Steel, Duane Davis, and Nick Wechsler.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 74th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the sixth episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. This episode marks the first appearance of Kevin Smith as Ares, the god of war. 
Having performed together in Crowded House and Split Enz, Neil Finn and Tim Finn release the first Finn Brothers album, simply titled Finn. The album includes the singles “Suffer Never” and “Only Talking Sense”. 
NBC airs the 57th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell.
The second episode of She-Wolf Of London is broadcast in syndication in North America, a co-production between Universal Studios and British broadcaster HTV, and starring Kate Hodge and Neil Dickson.
Fox Network airs the fifth episode of Kenneth Johnson’s sci-fi cop series Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint. Gwynyth Walsh (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 51st episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Kathryn Leigh Scott (Dark Shadows) and Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) guest star. 
The 25th episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger.
The 11th 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.) W. Morgan Sheppard, Concetta Tomei, Bill Maher and Andreas Katsulas (Babylon 5) guest star. After this episode airs, ABC pulls the show from its prime time schedule for six months. 
CBS airs the fourth episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Merritt Butrick (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan), Jeffrey Combs (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and (in her first TV appearance) Mayim Bialik (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory) guest star.
Decca Records releases the first solo album by Lindsey Buckingham, Long Distance Voyager, featuring the single “Trouble”. 
The 50th episode of Star Blazers, an English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, airs in syndication across the U.S. 
NASA temporarily loses contact with unmanned space probe Voyager 1 as it cruises toward Saturn. A science experiment is conducted which requires Voyager to point its antenna away from Earth and enter a rolling maneuver, but ground controllers do not hear back from Voyager 1 when they expect to receive the signal that the experiment has ended. A tracking station in Australia sends a wide-beam command to Voyager 1 to reorient itself; it is later discovered that, attempting to regain its orientation with respect to Earth, Voyager 1’s star tracker locked on to Alpha Centauri instead of Canopus, pointing its antenna dish five degrees away from Earth. Normal operations resume once Voyager is pointed correctly. A similar problem will again cause Voyager 1 to break contact after a course correction burn in December.
The 85th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. 
CBS airs the sixth episode of Filmation’s live-action Saturday morning science fiction series Ark II. 
The 434th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Judith Paris guest stars as Eldrad.
The 31st episode of Gerry Anderson’s space adventure series Space: 1999 airs on British broadcaster ITV, starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Catherine Schell. 
NBC airs the sixth episode of Monster Squad, a live-action Saturday morning comedy starring Fred Grandy. Sid Haig (Jason Of Star Command) guest stars.
ITV premieres the first episode of horror anthology Beasts, created and written by Nigel Kneale (Quatermass). Geoffrey Bateman (Versailles) stars.
ABC airs the sixth episode of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, part of the Krofft Supershow Saturday morning children’s programming block. This is part two of a two-part story, each episode lasting only around 12 minutes. 
The 28th and final episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring John Davey, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne. Andrew Stevens (Dallas) guest stars in the series finale.
The seventh episode of Gerry Anderson’s space adventure series Space: 1999 premieres on British broadcaster ITV. Julian Glover guest stars. 
The first in a new generation of weather satellites operating in geosynchronous orbit for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, GOES-1, is launched from Cape Canaveral. An acronym for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-1 is positioned over the Indian Ocean, where it is expected to become but the first in a constellation of weather satellites monitoring Earth’s atmosphere in both visible and infrared light. In 1978, GOES-1 will be repositioned over the Pacific Ocean, which it will monitor until it is decommissioned in 1985, after almost ten full years of operation.
The seventh episode of Sid & Marty Krofft’s Far-Out Space Nuts airs on CBS, starring Bob Denver (Gillgan’s Island) and Chuck McCann (Herbie Rides Again). 
British broadcaster Thames Television airs the 132nd episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Linda Thorson. 
The sixth 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.
UK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 29th episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.
The 87th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part one of the story now collectively known as The Myth Makers. This episode is missing from the BBC’s archives. 
The People’s Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, the 22-kiloton Project 596. Though the Chinese nuclear program did receive an early boost from Soviet researchers, much of the research and production of Chinese nuclear weapons has taken place without outside help since the initiation of the Chinese nuclear weapons development program in 1959. Within three years of this test, China will have developed hydrogen bomb technology.
British broadcaster ABC airs the sixth episode of Pathfinders In Space, a follow-up series to Target Luna, produced by future Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. Peter Williams stars in a script written by Malcolm Hulke (Doctor Who) and Eric Paice (Star Maidens). Though the original master tape of this episode was later wiped for reuse, film recordings of all seven episodes would be recovered and released on DVD in the 21st century.