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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.
Streaming service CBS All Access releases the 25th episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Michelle Yeoh, Alan Van Sprang (Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, The Tudors), Sonja Sohn (The Wire), and Ethan Peck (10 Things I Hate About You) guest star.
The 217th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mitch Pileggi, Annabeth Gish, and William B. Davis guest star in the season eleven finale.
The CW airs the 63rd episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) and John Barrowman (Torchwood) guest star in a musical episode.
The CW airs the 31st episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Arthur Darvill, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz and Victor Garber. John Barrowman (Torchwood) and Neal McDonough guest star.
Silva Screen Records releases Murray Gold’s soundtrack music from the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas special, A Christmas Carol. This is the first time in the revived series that a single episode has gotten an individual soundtrack release; Katherine Jenkins’ song “Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know)” is inclucded.
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 21st mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts.
The 131st episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Corin Nemec. Michael Shanks guest stars in the season six finale, which was originally envisioned as the end of the series and a jumping-off point into feature films, though the series would ultimately be renewed by Sci-Fi Channel.
The sixth episode of the science fiction comedy series The Strangerers is broadcast on Sky One, created and written by Rob Grant (Red Dwarf), starring Mark Williams and Jack Docherty. Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7) guest stars.
Showtime airs the 54th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Jason Priestly (Beverly Hills 90210) guest stars and directs.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 38th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Guest starring are three actors who played Captain Kirk’s Klingon adversaries in various episodes of the original Star Trek: John Colicos (Battlestar Galactica) as Kor, Michael Ansara as Kang, and William Campbell as Koloth.
The second episode of RoboCop: The Series airs in syndication, starring Richard Eden, Yvette Nipar, Blu Mankuma, and Andrea Roth. Chris Wiggins (Friday The 13th: The Series) guest stars.
The 24th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. This episode, delayed from earlier in the season to avoid being seen as a parody of the then-in-progress Persian Gulf War, closes the fourth season.
At the insistence of Congress, NASA submits a significant redesign of the long-overdue and over-budget Space Station Freedom for approval. Where previous design changes tried to retain a massive “dual keel” allowing for experiment modules and other activities that could be performed a safe distance away from the station’s habitation modules, the new Space Station Freedom clusters all of its modules together in one place and removes the dual keel structure permanently. Scoffing at the truncated new design, critics refer to the newly-submitted proposal as “Space Station Fred” instead of “Space Station Freedom”.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 19th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the first episode of the series to focus on the Klingon race – a holdover from the original series and movies that series creator Gene Roddenberry had planned to avoid revisiting until co-producer (and fellow classic Trek producer) Bob Justman convinced him otherwise during pre-production, leading to the very late creation of a “Klingon Marine” named Worf.
CBS airs the 21st episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. William Peterson (CSI) and George Dzundza star in an episode comprised of two short stories, Need To Know and Red Snow.
Segaa releases the arcade game Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator in American arcades. The vector graphics coin-op, simulating the “tactical views” seen on the Enterprise in the first two Star Trek movies, is the first officially licensed Star Trek video game. It also reflects some corporate synergy: Sega was, at the time, also owned by Paramount Pictures parent company Gulf + Western.
The 553rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing a trilogy of stories themed around the Doctor’s regeneration and the reintroduction of the Master. Janet Fielding joins the cast as new companion Tegan. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master.
The 53rd episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno.
NBC airs the 21st episode of Leslie Steven’s “spy-fi” series Search, starring Tony Franciosa and Burgess Meredith. Sebastian Cabot (Ghost Story) and Diana Muldaur (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star.
The 11th episode of Larry Cohen’s science fiction series The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes and produced by Quinn Martin’s QM Productions, premieres on ABC. Jack Warden (Crazy Like A Fox) and Susan Oliver (Star Trek) guest star.
NASA launches the Ranger 9 lunar probe, built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and intended to go directly to the moon, transmitting pictures of the surface back to Earth until it impacts the lunar surface. Despite NASA scientists’ insistence that the last Ranger probe carry scientific instruments and not just cameras, Ranger 9 is outfitted with cameras only; as a tradeoff, scientists get to nominate its target on the surface, selecting the crater Alphonsus, suspected to be a site of lunar volcanism. Ranger 8 functions flawlessly, sending live video back to Earth until impacting in the crater floor, and for the first time the terminal descent of one of the Ranger probes is broadcast live on TV. This concludes the Ranger program, as NASA now needs to switch its efforts to the unmanned Surveyor lunar landers to find out if the moon’s surface can support the weight of a manned lander. The basic architecture of the Ranger spacecraft is adopted as the heart of the ongoing Mariner planetary space probe series, up to and including the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn ’77 missions (later renamed Voyager) over a decade later.
NBC airs the 25th episode of the military drama The Lieutenant, created and produced by future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and starring Gary Lockwood (2001: a space odyssey) and Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE).
The 18th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part five of the story now collectively known as Marco Polo. The entirety of this story has since been lost by the BBC archives.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 78th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman. This, the series’ third season closer, is Blackman’s final appearance in The Avengers before departing the show to co-star in the James Bond film Goldfinger. This is also the last episode shot on videotape; future seasons will be shot on film after American reruns of this season turn The Avengers into an overseas hit.
ABC airs the 86th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Lois Maxwell (the James Bond films’ original Miss Moneypenny) guest stars.
The newly formed Weather Bureau-Army-Navy Severe Weather Unit‘s second attempt to warn the public that tornado formation is possible within a specific area strikes paydirt. Again covering a large area including portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, later expanded to include states east of this area, this forerunner of modern tornado watches is right on the money, predicting an outbreak of more than 20 tornadoes in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Kentucky. Despite the advance notification, the Severe Weather Unit has work to do in educating the public about its bulletins: over 200 deaths still occur as a result of the tornadoes.
The 25th episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series, Tales Of Tomorrow, airs on ABC, with each episode’s opening titles proclaiming that the series is produced “in cooperation with the Science-Fiction League of America”, a collective of sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon among its members. This episode is no longer in the archives and may be lost.
The CW airs the 32nd episode of Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Michael Bishop, and Alex Garfin. 
The CW airs the 28th episode of Batwoman starring Javicia Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, and Meagan Tandy.
Fox airs the 23rd episode of the science fiction drama-comedy The Orville, starring and created by Seth McFarlane. Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager) and Norm MacDonald guest star. 
Streaming service CBS All Access releases the 25th episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Michelle Yeoh, Alan Van Sprang (Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, The Tudors), Sonja Sohn (The Wire), and Ethan Peck (10 Things I Hate About You) guest star. 
The 217th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mitch Pileggi, Annabeth Gish, and William B. Davis guest star in the season eleven finale. 
The CW airs the 63rd episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) and John Barrowman (Torchwood) guest star in a musical episode.
The CW airs the 31st episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Arthur Darvill, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz and Victor Garber. John Barrowman (Torchwood) and Neal McDonough guest star.
Silva Screen Records releases Murray Gold’s soundtrack music from the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas special, A Christmas Carol. This is the first time in the revived series that a single episode has gotten an individual soundtrack release; Katherine Jenkins’ song “Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know)” is inclucded. 
ABC airs the 60th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost. Mira Furlan (Babylon 5) and Nestor Carbonell guest star. 
Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack to the first season of Lost is released on Varese Sarabande Records. 
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the 21st mini-episode of Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone Wars animated shorts. 
The 131st episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Corin Nemec. Michael Shanks guest stars in the season six finale, which was originally envisioned as the end of the series and a jumping-off point into feature films, though the series would ultimately be renewed by Sci-Fi Channel.
The sixth episode of the science fiction comedy series The Strangerers is broadcast on Sky One, created and written by Rob Grant (Red Dwarf), starring Mark Williams and Jack Docherty. Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7) guest stars.
Showtime airs the 54th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Jason Priestly (Beverly Hills 90210) guest stars and directs.
Virgin Publishing releases the 20th Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures novel, The English Way of Death by Gareth Roberts, featuring the TARDIS team of the fourth Doctor, Romana, and K-9. 
Virgin Publishing releases the 48th book in the Doctor Who: The New Adventures range, Sleepy by Kate Orman. 
Sony Music Japan releases David Matthews and Kentarou Hata’s soundtrack from Yamato 2520, a revival of Space Battleship Yamato. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 38th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Guest starring are three actors who played Captain Kirk’s Klingon adversaries in various episodes of the original Star Trek: John Colicos (Battlestar Galactica) as Kor, Michael Ansara as Kang, and William Campbell as Koloth. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 170th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This episode’s special makeup effects win an Emmy Award; it is directed by Gates McFadden. 
The second episode of RoboCop: The Series airs in syndication, starring Richard Eden, Yvette Nipar, Blu Mankuma, and Andrea Roth. Chris Wiggins (Friday The 13th: The Series) guest stars.
The 24th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. This episode, delayed from earlier in the season to avoid being seen as a parody of the then-in-progress Persian Gulf War, closes the fourth season. 
At the insistence of Congress, NASA submits a significant redesign of the long-overdue and over-budget Space Station Freedom for approval. Where previous design changes tried to retain a massive “dual keel” allowing for experiment modules and other activities that could be performed a safe distance away from the station’s habitation modules, the new Space Station Freedom clusters all of its modules together in one place and removes the dual keel structure permanently. Scoffing at the truncated new design, critics refer to the newly-submitted proposal as “Space Station Fred” instead of “Space Station Freedom”.
The sixth episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. This concludes the first season, but the BBC rushes a second season into production due to the popularity of the first six episodes. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 19th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the first episode of the series to focus on the Klingon race – a holdover from the original series and movies that series creator Gene Roddenberry had planned to avoid revisiting until co-producer (and fellow classic Trek producer) Bob Justman convinced him otherwise during pre-production, leading to the very late creation of a “Klingon Marine” named Worf. 
CBS airs the 21st episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. William Peterson (CSI) and George Dzundza star in an episode comprised of two short stories, Need To Know and Red Snow.
Segaa releases the arcade game Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator in American arcades. The vector graphics coin-op, simulating the “tactical views” seen on the Enterprise in the first two Star Trek movies, is the first officially licensed Star Trek video game. It also reflects some corporate synergy: Sega was, at the time, also owned by Paramount Pictures parent company Gulf + Western. 
The 553rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing a trilogy of stories themed around the Doctor’s regeneration and the reintroduction of the Master. Janet Fielding joins the cast as new companion Tegan. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master.
The 53rd episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno.
NBC airs the 21st episode of Leslie Steven’s “spy-fi” series Search, starring Tony Franciosa and Burgess Meredith. Sebastian Cabot (Ghost Story) and Diana Muldaur (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star.
The 265th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. John Abineri and Ronald Allen guest star. 
The 11th episode of Larry Cohen’s science fiction series The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes and produced by Quinn Martin’s QM Productions, premieres on ABC. Jack Warden (Crazy Like A Fox) and Susan Oliver (Star Trek) guest star.
NASA launches the Ranger 9 lunar probe, built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and intended to go directly to the moon, transmitting pictures of the surface back to Earth until it impacts the lunar surface. Despite NASA scientists’ insistence that the last Ranger probe carry scientific instruments and not just cameras, Ranger 9 is outfitted with cameras only; as a tradeoff, scientists get to nominate its target on the surface, selecting the crater Alphonsus, suspected to be a site of lunar volcanism. Ranger 8 functions flawlessly, sending live video back to Earth until impacting in the crater floor, and for the first time the terminal descent of one of the Ranger probes is broadcast live on TV. This concludes the Ranger program, as NASA now needs to switch its efforts to the unmanned Surveyor lunar landers to find out if the moon’s surface can support the weight of a manned lander. The basic architecture of the Ranger spacecraft is adopted as the heart of the ongoing Mariner planetary space probe series, up to and including the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn ’77 missions (later renamed Voyager) over a decade later.
NBC airs the 25th episode of the military drama The Lieutenant, created and produced by future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and starring Gary Lockwood (2001: a space odyssey) and Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE). 
The 18th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part five of the story now collectively known as Marco Polo. The entirety of this story has since been lost by the BBC archives.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 78th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman. This, the series’ third season closer, is Blackman’s final appearance in The Avengers before departing the show to co-star in the James Bond film Goldfinger. This is also the last episode shot on videotape; future seasons will be shot on film after American reruns of this season turn The Avengers into an overseas hit.
The 114th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Howard Morris, Patricia Berry, and Jack Albertson star.
ABC airs the 86th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Lois Maxwell (the James Bond films’ original Miss Moneypenny) guest stars.
The newly formed Weather Bureau-Army-Navy Severe Weather Unit‘s second attempt to warn the public that tornado formation is possible within a specific area strikes paydirt. Again covering a large area including portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, later expanded to include states east of this area, this forerunner of modern tornado watches is right on the money, predicting an outbreak of more than 20 tornadoes in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Kentucky. Despite the advance notification, the Severe Weather Unit has work to do in educating the public about its bulletins: over 200 deaths still occur as a result of the tornadoes.
The 25th episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series, Tales Of Tomorrow, airs on ABC, with each episode’s opening titles proclaiming that the series is produced “in cooperation with the Science-Fiction League of America”, a collective of sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon among its members. This episode is no longer in the archives and may be lost.