Roddenberry Podcasts

Enterprise discovers its first uninhabited Earth-like planet, and the crew can't wait to get their boots on the ground. What's the worst that could happen? Well, a camping trip turns into a nightmare when a mysterious storm and a little airborne pollen send everyone into a paranoid frenzy.

This week on Mission Log, John and Holly explore "Strange New World," where Trip's suspicions of T'Pol take a dangerous turn and the Vulcans might actually have a point about taking precautions.

When fear brings our deepest prejudices to the surface, can we really claim to have...

Enterprise is only two weeks into its mission, and already Hoshi is wondering if she made a terrible career choice. A derelict ship full of alien corpses doesn't help.

This week on Mission Log, John and Holly take on "Fight or Flight," as Archer and T'Pol debate compassion versus caution, Hoshi discovers just how much pressure comes with being humanity's resident language expert, and one innocent space slug raises some complicated questions about adaptation and invasive species.

When doing the right thing puts everyone at risk, how far should a captain go? And sometimes, is...

A request to drive a Rolls-Royce led Ernie Over into the Roddenberry household and a job that reached far beyond the driver's seat. For The Trek Files' season 15 finale, Gene Roddenberry's last personal assistant and driver joins Larry Nemecek to remember the man behind Star Trek, 35 years after his passing.

Beginning with a referral from former guest Fred Bronson, Ernie recalls a role that grew to include studio visits, fan correspondence, household responsibilities, and anticipating Gene's everyday needs. His memories reveal small but telling gestures of consideration, including Gene's habit of checking Ernie's availability before planning a...

Mission Log launches into Star Trek: Enterprise as Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew take humanity's first big steps into deep space. Their mission? Return an injured Klingon to his homeworld, avoid an interstellar incident, and try not to let the Vulcans spoil all the fun. But with mysterious aliens, a temporal cold war, and a crew that's still figuring out how to work together, the NX-01 has a few surprises waiting for it. John Champion and new co-host Holly Amos examine the risks of exploration, the challenges of overcoming prejudice, and the importance of knowing when to listen...

Before bonus features and streaming clips, seeing Star Trek's bloopers could mean a trip to a convention, or a carefully negotiated loan from Gene Roddenberry himself.

Dan Madsen returns to The Trek Files to join Larry Nemecek for a look at an August 9, 1974 letter to British fan organizer Jenny Elson. With preparations underway for what her committee billed as the first British Star Trek convention, Elson hoped to secure an essential attraction: the famous blooper reel. Gene was willing to help, but his instructions covered everything from insurance and screening fees to protecting the film and getting...

How much screen time does it take to leave a lasting impression? For Brian Volk-Weiss, two of Star Trek's most memorable captains made their mark in just a handful of scenes.

The Nacelle Company founder joins Larry Nemecek to revisit the script introductions of Rachel Garrett in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Edward Jellico in "Chain of Command, Part I." Their conversation explores Garrett's sacrifice, Jellico's uneasy relationship with the Enterprise crew, and why both characters became essential choices for Nacelle's Star Trekaction figures.

Known for Star Trek documentaries including The Center Seat, Brian shares how his...

Can Holly Amos make it through an entire podcast without mentioning Star Trek? We're about to find out! In part two of our listener Q&A, we're getting to know Mission Log's new co-host beyond the final frontier. From baseball and boy bands to favorite books, travel adventures, and the unlikely combination of brie cheese and Nerds candy, no topic is off limits. Well, except one. And Holly almost makes it.

And the wait is nearly over! Mission Log returns to regular episode coverage on October 22 with Star Trek: Enterprise, starting with "Broken Bow." It's been a...

The Trek Files welcomes back Dan Madsen to revisit a revealing 1968 exchange between seventeen-year-old MaryLou "Mandi" Tamborello of the Nimoyan Fellowship and Gene Roddenberry's attorney, Leonard Maizlish. After offering photographic prints reproduced from Star Trek film clips, Mandi found herself explaining her intentions to a lawyer and promising to stop selling the pictures. Maizlish's reply offers an unexpected combination of reassurance, a firm refusal to authorize sales, and a possible arrangement to reimburse her costs.

For Dan, the situation feels familiar. He recalls how his own teenage fan newsletter attracted Paramount Licensing's attention, how Gene Roddenberry supported...

As Star Trek celebrates its 60th anniversary, The Trek Files welcomes a performer who was there before the beginning and then came back for the episode that introduced the series to television audiences. Stunt performer Sandy Gimpel first entered the Star Trek universe as one of the Talosians in "The Cage." When the series went into production, she returned to inhabit one of its most memorable creatures: the shape-shifting M-113 creature, better known to generations of fans as the Salt Vampire, in "The Man Trap."

This week's document is an excerpt from George Clayton Johnson's June 16, 1966 final d...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season finale "Tomorrow's Enterprise" with Jessica and John, and then John and Holly return with Mission Log Live to hear what listeners thought of this season's time-bending wrap-up.

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Tomorrow's Enterprise," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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You asked, Holly answers! Before Mission Log sets a course for Star Trek: Enterprise, we put our new co-host through a listener-supplied Trek interrogation. Holly talks about growing up with Star Trek, the characters and episodes closest to her heart, her work as an archivist, and even makes a case for some of Trek's less-loved corners.

Plus, we look ahead to what Holly and John are most excited to explore when Mission Log tackles Enterprise. We'll be back with one more Q&A (this time, Anything But Star Trek) before Enterprise officially goes into the Mission Log...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Once La'an a Time" with Jessica and John, and then John and Holly return with Mission Log Live to hear what listeners thought of what was a decidedly more surreal episode than usual!

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Once La'an a Time," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Not everyone who appeared on Star Trek got a line, a screen credit, or even their name on the call sheet. Nearly sixty years later, that can turn a face clearly visible on screen into a genuine archival mystery.

This week, The Trek Files welcomes veteran Deep Space Nine assistant director B.C. Cameron for a look at the working life of Hollywood's background performers. The starting point is a mystery explored in the latest Inside the Roddenberry Archive: identifying Al Jones, an uncredited performer prominently seen as one of the thralls in "The Gamesters of Triskelion."...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Orders Of Magnitude" with Jessica and John, and then John and Holly return with Mission Log Live to take listeners' calls about the ethics and the potential plot impacts of the episode!

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Orders Of Magnitude," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Last week, The Trek Files followed Gene Roddenberry to the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, where he hoped to convince a skeptical audience of serious science-fiction fans that his new television series was worthy of their attention. This week, Glen E. Swanson, author of Inspired Enterprise, returns to examine what happened next.

Our document is a December 1966 letter from science-fiction fan Mike Deckinger, who tells Desilu that he was among more than 1,000 people who watched Roddenberry preview Star Trek at Tricon and witnessed the audience give him a standing ovation. By then, Star Trek had been...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the saucy, soapy plot developments of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Like Chronitons Through The Hourglass" with Jessica and John, and then John and Holly return with Mission Log Live for insightful discussions, meaningful pauses, totally expected plot twists, surprisingly persistent soft focus, and listener calls!

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Off-Hour," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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On September 8, 1966, Star Trek made its American television debut. But just days earlier, Gene Roddenberry was in Cleveland trying to convince some science fictionfans that his new television series deserved to be taken seriously.

On this special 60th anniversary edition of The Trek Files, Glen E. Swanson, author of Inspired Enterprise, returns to examine Roddenberry's appearance at Tricon, the 24th World Science Fiction Convention, over Labor Day weekend in 1966. Our document of the week is the March 8 invitation from Tricon chairman Ben Jason asking Roddenberry to attend the convention, speak to the fans, and bring along both...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Off-Hour" with Jessica and Mike Richards, while Holly and Heather Rae count down with Mission Log Live's callers weighing in on the latest episode.

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Off-Hour," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Recorded live at STLV, filmmaker and author Jeffrey Morris returns to The Trek Files with a 1989 research report on the landmark Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Who Watches the Watchers." The production notes scrutinize everything from radiation exposure and memory modification to the logic of sending Riker and Troi undercover, and even question whether Picard telling a Mintakan to "shoot me" feels a little too much like a Kirk move.

Morris calls "Who Watches the Watchers" not his favorite or even the best episode of Star Trek, but the most important: a story about a society...

Mission Log: Reactor recaps the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Level-Five Transporter Accident" with John and Jessica, while Holly and Ashley see if Mission Log Live's listeners felt the puppet love, or if they felt the episode had too many strings attached.

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Level-Five Transporter Accident," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Mission Log: Reactor gives John and Jessica the chance to recap the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "A Case Of Chiaroscuro", followed by Mission Log Live, where not all of our callers saw it as an issue painted in stark black & white.  Ashley and Heather hear a fascinating range of opinions on this moody episode in nearly every shade of grey.

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Human Best Friend," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Norman Spinrad's original March 1967 story outline for "The Planet Eater" introduced Star Trek to an unstoppable machine roaming the galaxy, consuming planets for fuel and leaving destruction in its wake. By the time it reached television, the story had a new title, "The Doomsday Machine," and became one of the most celebrated episodes of the original series.

Author and filmmaker Jeffrey Morris joins Larry Nemecek at Star Trek Las Vegas to revisit that original outline and consider its warning through a distinctly 21st-century lens. Drawing from his new book, A Future Askew, Jeffrey explores artificial intelligence, social...

Who am I, where am I, and why did I wake up with two podcasts, one them dressed as a Mugato?  Mission Log: Reactor gets the party started as John and Jessica recap Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "Human Best Friend", followed by Mission Log Live, where John and Holly hear our callers' opinions (but no karaoke open mic night)!

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Human Best Friend," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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What did Star Trek fans have to say in 1976?

John Champion returns to The Trek Files for a look through Gene Roddenberry's fan correspondence. This season's selection captures a moment in Star Trek history, ten years after the original series debuted, but before the arrival of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

A Cincinnati attorney credits Spock's logic for helping persuade a jury. An artist shares his hand-painted "Mr. Spock" portrait… on an egg. A teacher explains how she's bringing Star Trek into the classroom, while another fan gently reminds Gene that he still owes her frie...

It's two podcasts for the price of one! Mission Log: Reactor gets creeped out as John and Jessica recap Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' house of space horrors, "The Griffin Incident", followed by Mission Log Live, where John and Holly scare up a number of reactions from our callers!

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Authors John and Maria Jose Tenuto return to The Trek Files to share a seemingly ordinary filming notice distributed to guests at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during production of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But for John, it's much more than a production handout, it's a family keepsake.

In April 1986, John's parents unknowingly visited the aquarium on a day when Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and the Star Trek IV cast were filming. They saved the notice, recorded the production on a home VHS camcorder, and brought home an extraordinary piece of behind-the-scenes history. Decades later, that f...

After our Mission Log: Reactor review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season four premiere, "Valles Marineris," it's time to open the hailing frequencies. On this week's Mission Log Live, John and Holly say "hey" not to dinosaurs, but to our callers, sharing their reactions to the season premiere!

If you missed our Mission Log: Reactor episode covering "Valles Marineris," be sure to check it out on YouTube for our full recap and review.

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Following last week's look at the earliest concepts for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Larry Nemecek welcomes back author and historian Ben Robinson to examine Gene Roddenberry's handwritten response and the surprising conversation it sparked.

Revisiting documents first explored in earlier seasons of The Trek Files, Larry and Ben trace the pivotal weeks of September 1986, when Gene challenged early ideas for a Starfleet Academy-centered series, questioned the show's heavy emphasis on Klingons, and argued that Star Trek's true strength had never been its characters alone but the stories it told.

Some of Gene's observations proved r...

We're back! And it's time to go BACK in time with Strange New Worlds!

Join us Mondays at 7PM PT/10PM ET for our live talkback for each episode, FREE on Patreon. We'll hear your thoughts and questions as we embark on this journey together! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/MissionLog

Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion return to Mission Log Reactor to chat about the Strange New Worlds Season 4 premiere, "Valles Marineris," and the question isn't WHERE are we...it's WHEN are we... SPOILERS ABOUND.

Also!

For more...

It's been a long road… and Mission Log is finally back with a long-overdue check-in. John, Norman, and Rod talk about where the show has been, what's ahead, and how the journey continues as we set a course for Star Trek: Enterprise. Along the way, they reflect on the evolution of the show, the state of Roddenberry Entertainment, and what it takes to keep a 2,000+ episode legacy going strong.

Oh, and before we're done, a new voice joins the conversation. Stay tuned.

Hosted by John Champion and Norman Lao

Special guest Rod Roddenberry

Before Captain Picard. Before the Enterprise-D. Before Gene Roddenberry stepped back into the captain's chair of his own creation...

This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek is joined by author and Star Trek historian Ben Robinson to examine one of the earliest surviving documents in the development of Star Trek: The Next Generation: a September 1986 memo from writer Greg Strangis to producer Rick Berman outlining the first concepts for a new Star Trek television series.

The document reveals some fascinating ideas: a Starfleet Academy setting, a young captain, a Klingon observer serving aboard a...

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is regarded as one of the finest entries in the franchise, but even classics continue to evolve right up until release.

This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes authors and historians John and Maria Jose Tenuto to examine a fascinating production document: a March 23, 1982 retake script created just weeks before the film premiered. The pages reveal subtle but important changes to some of the movie's most memorable moments, from Kirk's first encounter with David Marcus to the famous "Remember" scene between Spock and McCoy.

How much...

What if Star Trek's most iconic technology was really just a clever budget solution?

This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes back actor, writer, and Does It Fly? co-host Tamara Krinsky to explore one of the foundational documents of Star Trek: an excerpt from Gene Roddenberry's August 1966 Writer-Director Information guide. Among its many insights is an early explanation of the transporter, the device that would become one of the franchise's most recognizable inventions.

What began as a practical solution to avoid expensive weekly landing sequences quickly evolved into a storytelling engine unlike anything...

Before Star Trek or The Lieutenant Gene Roddenberry explored his role as a television creator by developing a series for one of Hollywood's biggest stars: Joan Crawford.

This week, Larry welcomes Roddenberry Podcasts Technical Director and Gene-ology co-host Earl Green to examine a 1961 memo in which Gene proposes major revisions to The Joan Crawford Show, a legal drama pilot titled A Man's World. The project never made it to series, but the document reveals a writer already demonstrating the storytelling instincts, character focus, and production savvy that would later define his career.

Along the way, E...

Earlier this season, we explored an unusual piece of Star Trek history: a proposed sitcom starring Lwaxana Troi. Now, the story takes an unexpected turn.

When listeners helped identify one of the creators behind the never-produced project, The Trek Files tracked down writer and media innovator Jack Myers, who hadn't seen the pitch document in decades. Together, Larry and Jack revisit Lwaxana in the 24th Century, uncovering how the project came together, Majel Barrett Roddenberry's personal investment in the series, and why Hollywood never gave it a chance.

Jack shares memories of Majel's determination, her...

The story of Star Trek's officially licensed 1994 stage production continues this week on The Trek Files as actor Adrian Cohen returns to share even more memories from Star Trek: The Lost Voyage of the Enterprise.

Using a rare 1995 review from Total Theatre Magazine as the document of the week, Adrian and Larry Nemecek dig deeper into the ambitious London production that somehow brought transporters, Klingons, time travel, and a full-scale Enterprise bridge to the live stage — all during the height of 1990s Trek mania.

This time, Adrian shares stories from the chaotic opening night when th...

Before there was streaming Trek or "immersive experiences," there was something almost unbelievable: an officially licensed Star Trek stage play in London in 1994.

This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes actor Adrian Cohen (credited at the time as Adrian Neil), who played Mr. Spock in the ambitious theatrical production mounted during the height of the Star Trek: The Next Generation era. Using a clipping from the London Evening Standard as the document of the week, Adrian recounts the surreal experience of stepping onto a full-scale Enterprise bridge in front of packed houses of passionate British...

Thirty years ago, Star Trek: First Contact brought one of the franchise's most important moments to life: humanity's first meeting with the Vulcans. This week on The Trek Files, host Larry Nemecek welcomes actor, writer, and Does It Fly? co-host Tamara Krinsky for a uniquely personal look behind the scenes of that iconic sequence.

Using an original production call sheet from April 23, 1996, the conversation takes us to the nighttime shoot at Charlton Flats in the Angeles National Forest, where dozens of extras helped populate the post-war settlement that would witness history. Among them was a young aspiring...

The Trek Files welcomes back visual effects veteran Stuart Ziff for a firsthand trip into the making of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This time, the documents are original production call sheets from April 1986, detailing the now-legendary "B-Tank" shoot where the Klingon Bird-of-Prey splashed down into San Francisco Bay with George and Gracie the humpback whales.

Stu recalls the practical filmmaking wizardry behind the scenes: giant wave machines, lightning rigs, whale effects, and an enormous outdoor water tank built on the Paramount lot. Along the way, he shares stories about building a mechanical whale eye (for...

Before Star Trek: The Motion Picture reached theaters, its visual effects production was already becoming legendary… for all the wrong reasons.

This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes visual effects veteran Stuart Ziff for a firsthand account of the chaotic early days of TMP production under Robert Abel & Associates. Using internal memos and legal correspondence from 1977 and 1978, Larry and Stu trace the rapidly escalating budget, the mounting pressure from Paramount, and the growing realization that the ambitious effects work was spiraling out of control.

But this isn't just a story about production disaster. St...