Coleco Industries formally announces the complete discontinuation of its Adam computer and the Colecovision home video game console, after revealing a $55,000,000 loss for 1984, a loss incurred largely by the market failure of Adam; only the hugely popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, another Coleco product, keep the company from losing any more money. Coleco’s remaining game and computer stock is sold to closeout retail chain Odd Lot, and the video game market crash claims another victim.
Polygram Records releases the album The History Mix, Volume I by former 10cc members Godley & Creme. Accompanied by a video that anticipates the “morphing” digital effects of the 1990s, the album’s single is “Cry”, though most of the album heavily remixes of the duo’s past work with 10cc. 
The 629th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, premiering the 22nd season of the series. Maurice Colbourne, Brian Glover and Faith Brown guest star in a story tying into both the first Cybermen story (1966’s The Tenth Planet) and the public’s fascination with the close approach, in 1985, of Halley’s Comet. This is also the first episode in Doctor Who’s new format for the 22nd season, which aired one 50 minute episode on the show’s more “traditional” Saturday night time slot.
The seventh episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television, beginning the series’ second season. The second season is titled Chocky’s Children. Jeremy Bulloch (The Empire Strikes Back) guest stars.
The 630th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, premiering the 22nd season of the series. Maurice Colbourne, Brian Glover and Faith Brown guest star in a story tying into both the first Cybermen story (1966’s The Tenth Planet) and the public’s fascination with the close approach, in 1985, of Halley’s Comet.
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 eighth episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars.
Varese Sarabande releases an album of re-recorded orchestral suites recreating the music from the 1960s TV series Star Trek, arranged and conducted by original series composer Fred Steiner and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The 631st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Nabil Shaban makes his first appearance as Sil, with Martin Jarvis (Titanic) guest starring as the Governor. This is also one of Jason Connery’s first television jobs before moving on to the fantasy series Robin Of Sherwood.
The ninth episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the shortest shuttle flight since the 1981 test flights, lasting only three days. A classified Defense Department payload is delivered to orbit, with the help of the first Inertial Upper Stage booster developed by the U.S. Air Force. This mission is the first time that shuttles had to be swapped out prior to flight – thermal tile issues on Challenger prevented that shuttle from being used for this mission – as well as the first instance of a shuttle launch scrubbed because of concerns over freezing weather and ice at the launch site. Discovery returns via the Kennedy Space Center runway, with Commander Ken Mattingly, Pilot Loren Shriver, mission specialists Ellison Onizuka and James Buchli, and payload specialist Gary Payton aboard.
The 632nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Nabil Shaban makes his first appearance as Sil, with Martin Jarvis (Titanic) guest starring as the Governor. This is also one of Jason Connery’s first television jobs before moving on to the fantasy series Robin Of Sherwood.
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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CBS premieres the first episode of the science fiction series Otherworld, following an American family’s attempts to stay alive in an alternate world with a totalitarian government. Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) guest stars.
The tenth episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars.
The 633rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Kate O’Mara (Dynasty) guest stars as the Rani, a new Time Lady foe for the Doctor, with Anthony Ainley appearing as the Master.
CBS premieres the second episode of the science fiction series Otherworld. Mark Lenard (Star Trek, Planet Of The Apes) and Robert O’Reilly (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star.
The 11th episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) and Ed Bishop (UFO) guest star.
The Alan Parsons Project releases its eighth album, Vulture Culture, including the single “Let’s Talk About Me”.
The 634th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Kate O’Mara (Dynasty) guest stars as the Rani, a new Time Lady foe for the Doctor, with Anthony Ainley appearing as the Master.
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 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 635th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return as the second Doctor and Jamie, and the Sontarans appear for the first time since the Tom Baker era. Jacqueline Pearce (Blake’s 7) guest stars. Where previous “multi-Doctor” stories have been tied to a major anniversary of the show, this story is merely a celebration of the second Doctor, and marks Troughton’s final appearance in the series before his death.
The 636th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return as the second Doctor and Jamie, and the Sontarans appear for the first time since the Tom Baker era. Jacqueline Pearce (Blake’s 7) guest stars.
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 BBC announces that production of its popular science fiction series Doctor Who is to be paused to 18 months, allowing the show’s production staff to make alterations to the show’s content and style (at the request of BBC upper management following complaints of excessive depictions of violence), and affording the network an opportunity to redirect funds – temporarily – toward its new daytime TV service and the newly-started prime time soap opera EastEnders. Fans of the series rally to support the show, especially since several close to the production – including actor Colin Baker – reveal that the “18 month hiatus” is a cover for a complete cancellation of the show. Not helping matters is BBC1 Controller Michael Grade’s stated dislike for the series and its star.
The 637th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return as the second Doctor and Jamie, and the Sontarans appear for the first time since the Tom Baker era. Jacqueline Pearce (Blake’s 7) guest stars. This is Patrick Troughton’s final Doctor Who episode, and the last original series appearance of the Sontarans.
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 seventh episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. John Abineri (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) and John Nettles (Bergerac, Midsomer Murders) guest star in the second season premiere.
The 638th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7) and Dennis Carey guest star.
The 12th episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible) guest stars.
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Massachusetts computer manufacturer Symbolics Inc., a maker of LISP-based computers with customers ranging from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to movie studios, registers the first .com internet domain name, symbolics.com. Ironically, despite being further ahead of the internet curve than nearly any other commercial entity, Symbolics struggles to last into the 1990s; both the company’s assets and its domain name will be sold off in the 21st century.
The eighth episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. David de Keyser (Yentl) guest stars.
The 639th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Paul Darrow (Blake’s 7) and Dennis Carey 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!
Order Earl Green’s book VWORP!1 from theLogBook.com Store
NBC airs the 18th episode of Kenneth Johnson’s sci-fi series V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Diane Badler. Judson Scott (The Phoenix, Star Trek II) guest stars in an episode that, intended to be the season finale cliffhanger, instead turned out to be the series finale. (One episode, skipped early in the show’s running order, has yet to air.)