Roddenberry Podcasts

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 transp...

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 Worl...

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 t...

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 transpor...

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 e...

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...

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 filmm...

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, La...

What if Star Trek had spun off into a full-blown sitcom starring Lwaxana Troi? To kick off Season 15 of The Trek Files , Larry Nemecek welcomes actor, writer, comedian, and Star Trek: Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome for a deep dive into an early-1990s pitch centered on Majel Barrett Roddenberry's Betazoid ambassador. The document up for discussion is a never-produced sitcom concept built around Lwa...

Tim Russ joins Mission Log for a wide-ranging conversation about his life before, during, and after Star Trek: Voyager . From music to directing, from the discipline of Tuvok to the chaos of television production, Tim shares stories from a career that stretches far beyond the Delta Quadrant. Along the way, we dig into how characters are shaped, how stories are told, and why sometimes the most logi...

After our Mission Log: Reactor review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 10,  " Rubincon ," it's time to open the hailing frequencies. On this week's Mission Log Live , John and Jessica welcome callers to share their reactions to Starfleet Academy's first season finale. Listeners have thoughts on Nus Braka 's past and his future, and predictions (and wish lists) for the second season. If you...

Mission Log Reactor wraps up Season 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with our recap and review of Episode 10, " Rubincon ." Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion take their seats in the jury box as Nus Braka puts the Federation itself on trial . With an Omega particle threat hanging over billions of lives, the crew of the Athena must hold things together while the cadets step up in ways no one exp...

After our Mission Log: Reactor review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 9, " 300th Night ," it's time to open the hailing frequencies. On this week's Mission Log Live , John and Jessica welcome callers to share their reactions to the first part of Starfleet Academy's first season finale. Listeners have thoughts on Caleb 's behavior, theories aplenty about how the cliffhanger plays out, and t...

We're back with a fresh recap & review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 9, "300th Night"! Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion celebrate the Academy's 300th night with Klingon bonding rituals, awkward turbo-lift heart-to-hearts, and one very questionable plan involving a stolen shuttle. Meanwhile, the return of the Omega particle raises the stakes across Federation space as the ca...

After our Mission Log: Reactor review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 8, " The Life of the Stars ," it's time to open the hailing frequencies. On this week's Mission Log Live , John and Jessica welcome callers to share their reactions to an episode that blends Thornton Wilder's Our Town with some deeply emotional Star Trek history. Listeners weigh in on the role of the humanities at Starfl...

A quick check-in from John about the future of Mission Log . After wrapping Star Trek: Voyager , the show has been in transition, and this update shares what's next. We'll cover what's happening behind the scenes, what's coming up (including Enterprise ), and how you can stay connected while we prepare for the next chapter. Mission Log isn't going anywhere. This is just a brief transmission to say...

We're back with a fresh recap and review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 8, " The Life of the Stars ." In this spoiler-heavy discussion, Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion set the stage for an episode that stretches from Thornton Wilder's Our Town to SAM's home planet and straight into some of the biggest emotional questions of the season. Trauma, time, theater, and the Doctor'...

Spring Break for Starfleet Academy means desert weddings, warp slugs, forged transcripts, and a brand-new word entering the Trek lexicon: Ko'Zeine . After our spoiler-heavy review on Mission Log: Reactor , it was your turn to take the mic. On this week's Mission Log Live, callers weighed in on tonal whiplash, Darem's royal detour, Genesis' risky shortcut to command, and whether Caleb is the hero w...

We're back with a fresh recap & review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 7, "Ko'Zeine." Spring Break hits Starfleet Academy, and while some cadets plan a quiet getaway, others get swept into royal weddings, questionable science experiments, and decisions that could derail a pre-command future. Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion unpack the cultural clash on the Khionian "sunset mo...

After our Mission Log Reactor recap of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 6, " Come, Let's Away ," we opened the channel, and our Star Trek Pals delivered. This week's live discussion dives deep into the moral calculus of trusting Nus Braka (again), whether Starfleet's diplomacy still works in a fractured galaxy, and if the Federation's reputation for paternalism is something it simply can't sha...

Before she was Tasha Yar, she was Lieutenant Commander Macha Hernandez . For the Season 14 finale of The Trek Files , Denise Crosby joins Larry Nemecek to revisit her original 1987 audition sides for Star Trek: The Next Generation, including early character descriptions that reveal a very different version of the Enterprise's security chief. Denise first read for Deanna Troi before Gene Roddenberr...

We're back with a fresh recap & review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 6, " Come, Let's Away "! Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion get out of the classroom and take a field trip into danger, with Nus Braka as a guest lecturer. Hope you studied up, there'll be tests. So. many. tests. Join us for a spoiler-heavy Star Trek podcast as we break down all the latest from this exciting...

Mission Log Live is all about the conversation. Following our Mission Log Reactor discussion of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 5, " Series Acclimation Mil ," we open the channel to our listeners for a wide-ranging call-in discussion that explores SAM's journey, manufactured intelligence, and what it means to "understand" humanity at all. Callers bring deeply personal reactions to SAM's story...

In this very special episode of The Trek Files , actor Robin Curtis joins us to revisit a little-known chapter in Saavik's story, one that never made it to screen. Drawing from a pair of early  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home script drafts, we explore a scene that implies Saavik is pregnant with Spock's child, a narrative thread begun in  Star Trek III but quietly dropped by the time the final film...

We're back with a fresh spoiler-heavy recap and review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , Season 1, Episode 5, "Series Acclimation Mil." Jessica Lynn Verdi and John Champion enroll in a class on the unknowable, following SAM as she tries to understand organic life and the legacy of Benjamin Sisko. Along the way, we dig into big questions about identity, predestination, and whether learning can ever...