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Star Trek Television

Star Trek: The Menagerie, Part 1

Star TrekThe 11th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. In an effort to save costs, Gene Roddenberry devises a framing story – referred to behind the scenes as “the envelope” – allowing footage from the rejected 1964 pilot episode The Cage to be used within the context of Star Trek’s current cast as a flashback to a previous crew of the Enterprise. Malachi Throne guest stars in the new footage; Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver are seen in the original footage from The Cage for the first time.

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Star Trek Television

Star Trek: Journey To Babel

Star TrekThe 39th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek premieres on NBC. Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard guest star as Spock’s parents in their first appearance in the Star Trek mythology (in fact, their only appearance prior to the animated series or the movies, despite the characters’ prominence), and Kirk gets into a knife fight trying to salvage interplanetary diplomacy. This episode’s depiction of Vulcan/Andorian unease would become a significant element of the later Star Trek TV spinoff Enterprise.

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Movies Star Wars Television

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Star WarsHeavily promoted and given a prime-time slot on a Friday night in a world starved for more Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special unfolds on CBS, enveloping millions of viewers in the slowly-dawning horror that the promise of a new adventure for Luke, Han and friends has lured them into watching a third-rate variety show, albeit one in which the character of Boba Fett makes his first appearance. George Lucas disowns the Holiday Special almost immediately, and it is never allowed to be repeated again.

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Atari VCS Video Games

Cosmic Creeps

Cosmic CreepsTelesys releases the video game cartridge Cosmic Creeps for the Atari 2600 home video game system, just in time for the Christmas buying season. A glut of new releases for the 2600 by the end of the year, many from third-party companies like Telesys, causes some consumer confusion which has unexpected consequences for the entire industry.

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