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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.
The 46th 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 in the second season finale.
Syfy airs the 69th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Tembi Locke (Sliders) and Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 776th episode of Doctor Who (the 78th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1, guest starring Suranne Jones. The episode is written by novelist and comics writer Neil Gaiman, and the script had originally been intended for the previous season.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 132nd shuttle flight, a 12-day resupply and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. A “mini research module” built by the Russian space agency is attached to the station, along with cargo and supplies. Upgrades to the station’s solar power arrays are conducted during spacewalks. Aboard Atlantis for her last planned flight (an additional mission will later be scheduled for Atlantis in 2011) are Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen. This is the last shuttle flight for over six months.
The European Space Agency launches a single Ariane 5 rocket to deliver a pair of unmanned space telescopes to the L2 LaGrange point trailing Earth. The super-cooled Herschel Space Observatory will search for objects at the far-infrared end of the spectrum, while the Planck Space Observatory will scan the microwave spectrum. Though both telescopes are sent to the same general region of space, they are entirely separate spacecraft which will operate independently of one another.
The 120th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on UPN. James Marsters and Alyson Hannigan also star.
The 160th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Will Sasso guest stars.
After a seven-year gap since the BBC cancelled the original series, Fox premieres Doctor Who: The Movie as its Tuesday Night Movie (and, if ratings prove to be a success story, a backdoor pilot for a series). Depicting the seventh Doctor’s regeneration into the eighth (Paul McGann), this is effectively the 698th episode of Doctor Who, and guest stars Yee Jee Tso and Eric Roberts as the Master. US ratings ultimately prove to be a disappointment, and this remains the only televised adventure of the eighth Doctor (though this incarnation of the Time Lord is carried forward in novels, comics and audio stories). Doctor Who does not make a full return to TV until 2005.
The 42nd episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Adam West (Batman), Frank Gorshin (Batman), Martin Mull, and Jason Carter (Babylon 5) guest star.
The TV movie TekJustice, the fourth feature-length movie based on William Shatner’s cyberpunk novel series, premieres in syndication. The Canadian-made movie stars Greg Evigan (My Two Dads), Eugene Clark (Night Heat), William Shatner (Star Trek), and Torri Higginson (Stargate Atlantis), and features Sandahl Bergman (Conan The Barbarian, Xanadu). This is the final movie in the TekWar series; it will resume as a weekly TV series airing as part of the Universal Action Pack syndication package in December 1994.
Silva Screen Records releases Doctor Who: Earthshock – Classic Music From the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Volume 1, the first reprint on CD of the now-out-of-print ’80s soundtrack album Doctor Who: The Music. The album includes compositions dating back to the 1960s and as recent as 1984 from BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Delia Derbyshire, Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke, and Peter Howell. Material is added that was not present on the original vinyl release.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 70th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mark Lenard (Planet Of The Apes) guest stars as Spock’s father Sarek, the first original series character to appear since the cameo appearance of Dr. McCoy in the series pilot.
Atari releases the vector graphics arcade game Tempest, created by programmer Dave Theurer. This is the first game to use Atari’s “Quadrascan” vector display, capable of displaying a limited color palette instead of the strictly black & white graphics of the company’s previous vector games.
The final first-generation Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz 40, is launched on a week-long spaceflight by the Soviet Union. With Leonid Popov and Romanian cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu aboard, Soyuz 40 visits space station Salyut 6 for several days, and is the last spacecraft to dock at the five-year-old space station. The Soyuz 40 crew returns to Earth on May 22nd. Future Soyuz launches will use the upgraded Soyuz-T vehicles.
The 11th episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins, and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Christopher Connelly (The Lieutenant, Peyton Place) guest star.
The first American space station, Skylab, is launched unmanned atop the last Saturn V rocket ever to be flown. Within minutes, however, it’s obvious that the space station – whose habitable space is actually the heavily modified third stage of the Saturn V – is already in serious trouble. Launch vibrations rip off one of the solar panels, and the other panel fails to automatically open. With less than two weeks before the first Skylab crew is due to lift off, the clock is ticking for mission planners to devise contingency and repair procedures.
The sixth episode of the syndicated science fiction Science Fiction Theatre airs on stations across the U.S. Hosted by Truman Bradley, the episode stars Otto Kruger, John Howard and Vera Miles.
The CW airs the 113th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. This is the fifth season finale.
The 46th 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 in the second season finale.
Syfy airs the 69th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Tembi Locke (Sliders) and Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.
The 776th episode of Doctor Who (the 78th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1, guest starring Suranne Jones. The episode is written by novelist and comics writer Neil Gaiman, and the script had originally been intended for the previous season. 
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 132nd shuttle flight, a 12-day resupply and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. A “mini research module” built by the Russian space agency is attached to the station, along with cargo and supplies. Upgrades to the station’s solar power arrays are conducted during spacewalks. Aboard Atlantis for her last planned flight (an additional mission will later be scheduled for Atlantis in 2011) are Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen. This is the last shuttle flight for over six months.
The European Space Agency launches a single Ariane 5 rocket to deliver a pair of unmanned space telescopes to the L2 LaGrange point trailing Earth. The super-cooled Herschel Space Observatory will search for objects at the far-infrared end of the spectrum, while the Planck Space Observatory will scan the microwave spectrum. Though both telescopes are sent to the same general region of space, they are entirely separate spacecraft which will operate independently of one another.
The 706th episode of Doctor Who (the eighth since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Shaun Dingwall guest stars. 
The 50th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise airs on UPN. Jordan Lund and Robert O’Reilly guest star. 
The 49th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise airs on UPN. Keith Carradine (Deadwood) guest stars. 
Dennis McCarthy‘s soundtrack from the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot movie Broken Bow is released on CD, including the theme song “Faith Of The Heart”, sung by Russell Watson. 
The 120th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on UPN. James Marsters and Alyson Hannigan also star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 131st episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. 
The 160th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Will Sasso guest stars.
Showtime airs the 99th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Saul Rubinek guest stars.
UPN airs the 66th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 
After a seven-year gap since the BBC cancelled the original series, Fox premieres Doctor Who: The Movie as its Tuesday Night Movie (and, if ratings prove to be a success story, a backdoor pilot for a series). Depicting the seventh Doctor’s regeneration into the eighth (Paul McGann), this is effectively the 698th episode of Doctor Who, and guest stars Yee Jee Tso and Eric Roberts as the Master. US ratings ultimately prove to be a disappointment, and this remains the only televised adventure of the eighth Doctor (though this incarnation of the Time Lord is carried forward in novels, comics and audio stories). Doctor Who does not make a full return to TV until 2005. 
The 42nd episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Adam West (Batman), Frank Gorshin (Batman), Martin Mull, and Jason Carter (Babylon 5) guest star.
The TV movie TekJustice, the fourth feature-length movie based on William Shatner’s cyberpunk novel series, premieres in syndication. The Canadian-made movie stars Greg Evigan (My Two Dads), Eugene Clark (Night Heat), William Shatner (Star Trek), and Torri Higginson (Stargate Atlantis), and features Sandahl Bergman (Conan The Barbarian, Xanadu). This is the final movie in the TekWar series; it will resume as a weekly TV series airing as part of the Universal Action Pack syndication package in December 1994.
Silva Screen Records releases Doctor Who: The Five Doctors – Classic Music From the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Volume 2, the first reprint on CD of the now-out-of-print ’80s soundtrack album Doctor Who: The Music II. Music is featured from BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Jonathan Gibbs, Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke, and Peter Howell. 
Silva Screen Records releases Doctor Who: Earthshock – Classic Music From the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Volume 1, the first reprint on CD of the now-out-of-print ’80s soundtrack album Doctor Who: The Music. The album includes compositions dating back to the 1960s and as recent as 1984 from BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Delia Derbyshire, Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke, and Peter Howell. Material is added that was not present on the original vinyl release. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 70th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mark Lenard (Planet Of The Apes) guest stars as Spock’s father Sarek, the first original series character to appear since the cameo appearance of Dr. McCoy in the series pilot. 
The 19th episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 airs on KTMA, an independent TV station in Minneapolis, starring Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, and Josh Weinstein. 
ITV airs the 76th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Tom Chadbon guest stars.
Atari releases the vector graphics arcade game Tempest, created by programmer Dave Theurer. This is the first game to use Atari’s “Quadrascan” vector display, capable of displaying a limited color palette instead of the strictly black & white graphics of the company’s previous vector games. 
The final first-generation Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz 40, is launched on a week-long spaceflight by the Soviet Union. With Leonid Popov and Romanian cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu aboard, Soyuz 40 visits space station Salyut 6 for several days, and is the last spacecraft to dock at the five-year-old space station. The Soyuz 40 crew returns to Earth on May 22nd. Future Soyuz launches will use the upgraded Soyuz-T vehicles.
The 11th episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins, and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Christopher Connelly (The Lieutenant, Peyton Place) guest star.
The fifth episode of Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic series Survivors airs on BBC1. 
The first American space station, Skylab, is launched unmanned atop the last Saturn V rocket ever to be flown. Within minutes, however, it’s obvious that the space station – whose habitable space is actually the heavily modified third stage of the Saturn V – is already in serious trouble. Launch vibrations rip off one of the solar panels, and the other panel fails to automatically open. With less than two weeks before the first Skylab crew is due to lift off, the clock is ticking for mission planners to devise contingency and repair procedures.
The third episode of The Tomorrow People series premieres on ITV. Francis de Wolff guest stars. 
The 117th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part three of the story now collectively known as The Gunfighters.
The 56th episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson. Herb Vigran guest stars.
The sixth episode of the syndicated science fiction Science Fiction Theatre airs on stations across the U.S. Hosted by Truman Bradley, the episode stars Otto Kruger, John Howard and Vera Miles.