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Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: Castrovalva, Part 1

Doctor WhoThe 554th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, ending a trilogy of stories themed around the Doctor’s regeneration and the reintroduction of the Master. Peter Davison makes his debut as the fifth Doctor, and Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master. The 19th season sees Doctor Who’s first move away from Saturday nights on the BBC’s schedule, with the series now airing on Monday and Tuesday nights.

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Atari VCS Video Games

Yars’ Revenge

Atari 2600Atari releases the original title Yars’ Revenge for the Atari VCS home video game console. Despite not being a port of a popular arcade game (though it started out as an attempt to port Star Castle to the VCS), Yars’ Revenge sells well thanks for favorable reviews and good word-of-mouth. A pack-in comic from DC Comics, “Yars’ Revenge: The Qotile Ultimatum”, is included.

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Television

Darkroom: Episode 6

DarkroomNBC airs the sixth episode of Darkroom, a horror anthology hosted by James Coburn. The series features multiple stories per episode; this installment includes Lost In Translation, guest starring Whit Bissell, and Guillotine, guest starring Dick Balduzzi.

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Video Games

Ms. Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-ManMidway delivers the long-anticipated sequel to Pac-Man to eager arcade operators. Ms. Pac-Man – a game which originated not from Pac-Man’s creators in Japan, but from an American “enhancement kit” maker called General Computer Corporation – arrives in arcades and immediately starts to break earnings records, eventually becoming the top-earning coin-op video game in American history.

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Television

Darkroom: Episode 7

DarkroomNBC airs the seventh and final episode of Darkroom, a horror anthology hosted by James Coburn. This installment includes the stories Exit Line (written by the future creators of Murder, She Wrote), Who’s There?, guest starring Grant Goodeve (Eight Is Enough), and The Rarest Of Wines.

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Music Video Games

Pac-Man Fever

Pac-Man FeverCBS unleashes a particularly virulent strain of Pac-Man Fever into record stores, courtesy of rock group Buckner & Garcia, and there is no cure in sight. With musical odes to the arcade games Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Defender, Frogger, Asteroids, Berzerk, Centipede, and even the relatively obscure coin-op Mouse Trap, this album’s release probably marks the high point of the video game industry “boom” – the apex at which public awareness of video games is at the saturation point, having seeped into the rest of pop culture.

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Crewed Spaceflight Endeavour Space Shuttle

Endeavouring to keep spares on hand

EndeavourAt Rockwell International, a spare Space Shuttle crew module is assembled alongside components intended for the orbiters Discovery and Atlantis, and though the spare isn’t intended for a specific shuttle yet to be built, it will find a purpose in the wake of the 1986 Challenger disaster: the spare crew module will become one of many completed shuttle spares that will eventually be assembled in the late 1980s as the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Challenger’s replacement and the last space shuttle constructed.

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Video Games

Mythicon: the myth begins!

Fire Fly by MythiconCupertino businessman Larry Jones incorporates Mythicon, a new video game software publisher focused entirely on providing games for the Atari VCS. With the knowledge that the market for VCS software is already becoming flooded, Mythicon’s business model involves selling games for a price point just under $10 each, and distributing them in grocery stores and drug stores rather than the usual retail chain outlets. Only three games – all three regarded as some of the worst yet produced for the VCS – are released before Mythicon closes up shop.

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Atari VCS Video Games

Demon Attack and other Imagic firsts

AvalancheImagic, recently formed from a group of ex-Atari programmers, releases its first wave of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system. The first group of games includes Demon Attack, the pool game Trick Shot and the first-person space flight sim Star Voyager. With silver foil boxes and game artwork utilizing miniature models, the Imagic games have a distinctive look on the store shelves, and the games themselves quickly acquire the company a good reputation..

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