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 gives factual context to the fiction, cultural context to the factual, and always looks to the future.
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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 Disney+ releases the the 18th episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, starring Pedro Pascal. Katee Sackhoff and Katy O’Brian guest star in an episode directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters).
The 18th episode of the science fiction series The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), is broadcast on cable channel Syfy. Chad L. Coleman (The Orville) and Terry Chen (Continuum) guest star.
The 108th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Lexa Doig (Andromeda) guest stars.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 125th shuttle flight, a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. Further spacewalks to repair the station’s solar arrays are conducted, as well as a repair to its on-board water system; with the power and water issues resolved, the station can now house a crew of six astronauts and cosmonauts. Aboard Discovery for her 36th flight are Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Koichi Wakata. Wakata stays aboard the station, while ISS crewmember Sandra Magnus returns to Earth aboard Discovery.
The Star Trek fan production Of Gods And Men releases its second webisode to the internet. Directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok) and with a script by several writers associated with 1990s TV Star Trek, it also boasts appearances by Star Trek cast members Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Garrett Wang, and Russ himself, among others.
The Cassini spacecraft is close enough to Saturn to observe unusual transitory “clumps” in the planet’s ring system. First spotted by the Voyager space probes in the early 1980s, these clumps zip around Saturn’s outermost rings, following the direction of the planet’s own motion, but until now it hasn’t been possible to get close enough to study those clumps. Unlike the Voyagers, however, Cassini won’t be zipping past the planet at the speed of a bullet – it will enter an orbit around the planet in July and keep an eye on things.
The 36th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Ashley Scott (Birds Of Prey, Jericho) guest stars.
Pay cable channel Showtime airs the 101st episode of Stargate SG-1. David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis), John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Tom McBeath guest star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 85th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Ted Raimi guest stars.
The third episode of the time-travel/crime series Crime Traveller is broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Anthony Horowitz (Foyle’s War), starring Michael French (Casualty) and Chloe Annett (Red Dwarf). Alexis Denisof (Angel) guest stars.
Fox airs the 12th episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks.
The 11th episode of a modern reboot of Dan Curtis’ gothic horror series Dark Shadows is broadcast on NBC, starring Ben Cross, Lysette Anthony, Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), and Jean Simmons.
Massachusetts computer manufacturer Symbolics Inc., a maker of LISP-based computers with customers ranging from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to movie studios, registers the first .com internet domain name, symbolics.com. Ironically, despite being further ahead of the internet curve than nearly any other commercial entity, Symbolics struggles to last into the 1990s; both the company’s assets and its domain name will be sold off in the 21st century.
The 623rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Robert Glenister (Life On Mars), Maurice Roeves (The Nightmare Man) and Christopher Gable guest star. This four-part story is the swan song of the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).
The 600th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master, though his role in part one is credited to a pseudonym, “James Stoker” – an anagram of “Master’s Joke”.
ITV airs the 12th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. John Mills guest stars.
The 393rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This episode marks the first-ever appearance of Davros in the series, as well as the first attempt to nail down an origin story for the Daleks themselves.
The 26th and final episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. Wanda Ventham guest stars in the curiously long-delayed series finale.
After a five-month design study focusing on alternatives to a winged (and manned) reusable first stage bosoter for the upcoming Space Shuttle, NASA settles on a configuration consisting of two solid rocket boosters strapped to the shuttle’s external fuel tank. Among the alternatives considered was the possibility of restarting production of the Saturn V rockets that launched Apollo and Skylab missions, with the shuttle and its fuel tank separating from the Saturn V’s first stage at high altitude (though in this configuration, a failure of the shuttle’s main engines would prove to be catastrophic). The SRB/tank configuration is expected to shave half a billion dollars off of the shuttle’s development costs.
The 239th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is the second story written by Robert Holmes. Part 2 is the only intact episode of this story remaining in the BBC’s archives.
The 27th episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Ed Asner guest stars.
Streaming service Disney+ releases the the 18th episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, starring Pedro Pascal. Katee Sackhoff and Katy O’Brian guest star in an episode directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters). 
The CW airs the 15th episode of Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose and Rachel Skarsten.
The 18th episode of the science fiction series The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), is broadcast on cable channel Syfy. Chad L. Coleman (The Orville) and Terry Chen (Continuum) guest star.
The 108th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Lexa Doig (Andromeda) guest stars.
Big Finish Productions releases the 158th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Colin Baker and Lisa Greenwood. 
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 125th shuttle flight, a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. Further spacewalks to repair the station’s solar arrays are conducted, as well as a repair to its on-board water system; with the power and water issues resolved, the station can now house a crew of six astronauts and cosmonauts. Aboard Discovery for her 36th flight are Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Koichi Wakata. Wakata stays aboard the station, while ISS crewmember Sandra Magnus returns to Earth aboard Discovery.
The Star Trek fan production Of Gods And Men releases its second webisode to the internet. Directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok) and with a script by several writers associated with 1990s TV Star Trek, it also boasts appearances by Star Trek cast members Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Garrett Wang, and Russ himself, among others. 
ABC premieres the 17th episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. James Frain (Tron Legacy, Star Trek: Discovery) and Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) guest star. 
The Cassini spacecraft is close enough to Saturn to observe unusual transitory “clumps” in the planet’s ring system. First spotted by the Voyager space probes in the early 1980s, these clumps zip around Saturn’s outermost rings, following the direction of the planet’s own motion, but until now it hasn’t been possible to get close enough to study those clumps. Unlike the Voyagers, however, Cassini won’t be zipping past the planet at the speed of a bullet – it will enter an orbit around the planet in July and keep an eye on things.
Big Finish Productions releases the 55th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Paul McGann, India Fisher, and Conrad Westmaas. 
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the second episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s post-apocalyptic series Jeremiah. 
The 36th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Ashley Scott (Birds Of Prey, Jericho) guest stars.
Pay cable channel Showtime airs the 101st episode of Stargate SG-1. David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis), John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Tom McBeath guest star.
UPN airs the 139th episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 85th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Ted Raimi guest stars. 
The third episode of the time-travel/crime series Crime Traveller is broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Anthony Horowitz (Foyle’s War), starring Michael French (Casualty) and Chloe Annett (Red Dwarf). Alexis Denisof (Angel) guest stars.
Fox airs the 12th episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the tenth episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride) guest stars. 
The 11th episode of a modern reboot of Dan Curtis’ gothic horror series Dark Shadows is broadcast on NBC, starring Ben Cross, Lysette Anthony, Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), and Jean Simmons.
Massachusetts computer manufacturer Symbolics Inc., a maker of LISP-based computers with customers ranging from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to movie studios, registers the first .com internet domain name, symbolics.com. Ironically, despite being further ahead of the internet curve than nearly any other commercial entity, Symbolics struggles to last into the 1990s; both the company’s assets and its domain name will be sold off in the 21st century.
The 623rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Robert Glenister (Life On Mars), Maurice Roeves (The Nightmare Man) and Christopher Gable guest star. This four-part story is the swan song of the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).
The 600th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master, though his role in part one is credited to a pseudonym, “James Stoker” – an anagram of “Master’s Joke”. 
The 574th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the first Cyberman story since 1975’s Revenge Of The Cybermen.
ITV airs the 12th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. John Mills guest stars.
The second episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Mark Wing-Davey plays the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox for the first time, a character he will also go on to play in the series’ television incarnation. 
The 393rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This episode marks the first-ever appearance of Davros in the series, as well as the first attempt to nail down an origin story for the Daleks themselves.
The eighth episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Farrah Fawcett Majors guest stars. 
The 26th and final episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. Wanda Ventham guest stars in the curiously long-delayed series finale.
After a five-month design study focusing on alternatives to a winged (and manned) reusable first stage bosoter for the upcoming Space Shuttle, NASA settles on a configuration consisting of two solid rocket boosters strapped to the shuttle’s external fuel tank. Among the alternatives considered was the possibility of restarting production of the Saturn V rockets that launched Apollo and Skylab missions, with the shuttle and its fuel tank separating from the Saturn V’s first stage at high altitude (though in this configuration, a failure of the shuttle’s main engines would prove to be catastrophic). The SRB/tank configuration is expected to shave half a billion dollars off of the shuttle’s development costs.
The 239th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is the second story written by Robert Holmes. Part 2 is the only intact episode of this story remaining in the BBC’s archives.
The 54th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek premieres on NBC. Long before contest-style “reality TV” exists, Roddenberry predicts it with unsettling accuracy, even if he’s a little bit off on the details. Ian Wolfe guest stars. 
The 54th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 103rd episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. 
The 27th episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Ed Asner guest stars.
ABC airs the 48th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Gregory Morton guest stars.
The 80th episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson.