The sixth episode of Sydney Newman’s spy series The Avengers, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee, airs on UK broadcaster ABC. Written by Dennis Spooner (Doctor Who) and featuring Kenny Baker (Star Wars) in an uncredited role, this is one of only three first season episodes of The Avengers that still exists in its entirety.
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The 23rd episode of the spy-fi series Adam Adamant Lives! airs on BBC1, starring Gerald Harper and Juliet Harmer. Along with much of the rest of the second season, this episode is missing from the BBC’s archives.
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British broadcaster ABC airs the 109th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. Ron Moody (Into The Labyrinth) guest stars.
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The 149th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This story sees the return of the Cybermen in a completely redesigned, more menacing form. This episode is now missing from the BBC’s archives. 
The 102nd episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Peter Mark Richman (Electra Woman and Dyna-Girl) guest stars.
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BBC2 airs the 31st episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Adapted by Owen Holder from a story by John Wyndham, the story stars Keith Barron. This episode no longer exists in the BBC’s archives.
In advance of the Viking and Voyager interplanetary missions, which will need more powerful boosters to heft heavier spacecraft into deep space, NASA conducts a test launch of the Titan IIIe/Centaur launch stack, an experimental combination of the venerable Titan rocket and a liquid-fueled Centaur upper stage. Previous Centaur upper stages were attached to wider Atlas rockets, so the unusual bulb-shaped payload shroud of the Centaur is of concern when placed atop the Titan, which has a more narrow diameter; if successful, however, this configuration could launch payloads three times larger than an Atlas/Centaur combination. The test flight, originally scheduled for January 24th, actually fails – a loose part causes the Centaur stage to fizzle rather than fire – and the rocket is destroyed in mid-air. However, with worries about the large Centaur payload atop the narrow Titan rocket laid to rest, NASA approves the Titan IIIe/Centaur for flight, beginning with the launch of a joint American/German science satellite, HELIOS-1, later in 1974.
The 15th episode of The Tomorrow People is broadcast on ITV.
The 52nd episode of The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson, airs on NBC. Helen Hunt (Mad About You, Twister) guest stars.
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The 475th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Milton Johns and John Arnatt guest star.
This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
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The sixth episode of Watermark Radio’s syndicated sci-fi radio drama Alien Worlds is broadcast across the U.S., created by Lee Hensen and starring Roger Dressler, Linda Gary, and Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
BBC1 premieres the 32nd episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Colin Baker (Doctor Who) and Valentine Dyall guest star.
Midway releases the arcade video trivia game Professor Pac-Man, a quiz game tenuously connected to the company’s string of Pac-Man sequels. Few cabinets are produced due to very low early sales, so Professor Pac-Man is a rare find.
The 15th episode of the science fiction series The Powers Of Matthew Star airs on NBC, starring Peter Barton and Louis Gossett Jr. Richard Herd (V, T.J. Hooker) guest stars.
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The 12th episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999), Jeremy Bulloch (The Empire Strikes Back) and Ed Bishop (UFO) guest star in the second season closer. The series will return in late 1986 under the title Chocky’s Challenge.
The 56th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) stars.
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The 14th episode of the syndicated Alexander and Ilya Salkind-produced Superboy series, starring John Haymes Newton and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Stuart Whitman guest stars in an episode written by Eisner Award-winning comic writers Mike Carlin (currently editor of DC’s Superman comics) and Andy Helfer.
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The 15th episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger.
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The 40th episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger. Clayton Landey guest stars.
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Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Aleksandr Balandin lift off from the Soviet Union aboard Soyuz TM-9, on their way to a stay aboard the Mir space station. Upon arriving at the station, an inspection of their spacecraft reveals that some of the Soyuz’ thermal blankets detached themselves during launch, though ground controllers decide against such drastic measures as cutting the mission short or launching Soyuz TM-10 early as a rescue mission. Solovyev and Balandin remain aboard Mir for 179 days, greeting the station’s next crew in August and returning to Earth without incident.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 87th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Whoopi Goldberg guest stars as Gloria. From Cleveland.
The 36th episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). Tristan Rogers (General Hospital) and Janet Gunn (Silk Stalkings) guest star.
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Fox airs the 19th episode of the sci-fi western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, and Christian Clemenson. Clyde Kusatsu and Kenneth Tigar guest star.
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The 16th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, and guest starring Jerry Hardin and William B. Davis.
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The 37th episode of the supernatural crime series Forever Knight airs in syndication, starring Geraint Wyn-Davies, Catherine Disher, Nigel Bennett, and John Kapelos. Claire Rankin guest stars.
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The 58th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Fred Willard, Beverly Garland, Harve Presnell, and Brad Garrett guest star.
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Christopher Franke’s second soundtrack from the TV series Babylon 5 is released on Sonic Images Records; this is the second compilation soundtrack from the popular science fiction series.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on a ten-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Over 30 hours of spacewalks are conducted to repair and upgrade Hubble with new parts, and the shuttle engines are fired in short, steady bursts to raise the telescope’s orbit by over eight miles before it is released again. Aboard Discovery on her 22nd flight are Commander Kenneth Bowersox, Pilot Scott Horowitz, and mission specialists Mark Lee, Steven Hawley, Gregory Harbaugh, Steven Smith and Joseph Tanner.
Cable channel TNT premieres the 92nd episode of J. Michael Straczynski’s science fiction series Babylon 5. The episode breaks the record-setting string of consecutive episodes of American television written by a single writer, with series creator J. Michael Straczynski having written the previous 52 episodes (53 if the series finale, filmed at the end of the fourth season, is included). Straczynski writes this one as well, but shares a story credit with Harlan Ellison.
Fox premieres