Doctor Who: Partners In Crime

Doctor WhoThe 741st episode of Doctor Who (the 43rd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Kicking off the fourth season of the revived series, this episode brings back Catherine Tate’s character from The Runaway Bride (2006’s Christmas special episode) as the Doctor’s new companion. The season’s running theme – the return of Rose – is also introduced in this episode with a cameo appearance by Billie Piper, though fan sites have already reported her presence at location filming. Read more

Charlton Heston, actor, dies

Charlton Heston in Planet Of The ApesOscar-winning actor Charlton Heston dies at the age of 84. Renowned for a string of tough-guy roles in major big-screen epics that earned him an Academy Award for best actor in 1959’s Ben-Hur, Heston appeared in other blockbusters such as El Cid and The Ten Commandments; genre fans may know him best for two SF films, Soylent Green and the 1968 smash hit Planet Of The Apes. His outspoken political views were on display as much as his acting skills, ranging from marching to Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to serving as president of the National Rifle Association. He had also served as a past president of the Screen Actors’ Guild.

STS-131

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Discovery is launched on the 131st shuttle flight, a 15-day resupply mission to the International Space Station. Equipment and experiment packages are transferred to the station from a logistics module in the shuttle cargo bay. The joint portion of the flight features the largest female astronaut contingent in orbit at any one time to date, with three of Discovery’s six crewmembers plus station astronaut Tracy Dyson. Aboard Discovery for her 38th flight are Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James Dutton, and mission specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Naoko Yamazaki, Clayton Anderson and Stephanie Wilson.

Project Yellow Sphere

The enigmatically titled internet short film Project Yellow Sphere debuts, revealed to be a semi-serious, six-minute live-action-plus-CGI proof-of-concept trailer for a potential Pac-Man movie. Shot and produced entirely at commercial production house Steelehouse Productions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it’s the closest anyone has gotten to mounting a long-talked about Pac-Man film. Read more Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

The Expanse: Here There Be Dragons

The ExpanseThe 21st 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. Terry Chen (Continuum) guest stars.

Honor Blackman, actress, dies

Honor Blackman in The AvengersHonor Blackman, who rose to fame portraying Cathy Gale in the second and third seasons of The Avengers, dies at the age of 94. Despite her success in The Avengers, she left her starmaking role behind to graduate to big screen spy antics in the James Bond film Goldfinger. Other movie roles included Jason And The Argonauts and Bridget Jones’s Diary, with TV roles in Danger Man, The Saint, Columbo, The Upper Hand, and a guest starring role in parts 9-12 of the 1986 Doctor Who story The Trial Of A Time Lord.

Star Trek Collection: The Final Frontier

Star Trek Collection: The Final FrontierOn “First Contact Day”, La-La Land Records releases Star Trek Collection: The Final Frontier, a 4-CD box set collecting frequently-requested and previously unreleased music from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, as well as premiering new recordings of unused Jerry Goldsmith music from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The label claims this is their final Star Trek CD release, which proves to be somewhat inaccurate. Read more