The 753rd episode of Doctor Who (the 55th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Billie Piper, Elisabeth Sladen, Bernard Cribbins and Noel Clarke guest star. This episode brings back Dalek creator Davros for his first appearance in the series since 1988, and is the conclusion of the two-part season finale.
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British toymaker Character Options releases a boxed set of action figures based on the Daleks as seen in the classic Doctor Who series, reflecting various Dalek redesigns and color schemes from 1963 through the ’70s.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 26th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Niall Matter (Primeval: New World) guest stars in the third season premiere.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 27th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Niall Matter (Primeval: New World) guest stars.
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Director Jud Taylor, best known to genre fans for helming several third season episodes of the original Star Trek, dies at the age of 76. In addition to his directing duties, he served as vice president of the Directors’ Guild of America from 1977 to 1981, and then served a term as the body’s president until 1983; the years he spent advocating the cause of film and television directors are considered among the most influential in the DGA’s history, during which he helped open doors for both female and minority directors, and had a tremendous effect on directors’ creative rights, pensions, and pay. He was active behind the camera as recently as the 2000s, during which he directed several episodes of Law & Order: SVU.
NASA’s Phoenix lander samples the soil of Mars, and it finds not only water, but an unusual soil composition which would make living off the land unlikely for human travelers. The soil sample in question contains perchlorate, a chemical used on Earth to make solid rocket fuel. So while a hypothetical Mars colony couldn’t use the planet’s own soil for farming, it could certainly launch a rocket or two. But missions scientists are quick to point out that while the presence of perchlorate in the Martian dirt may be unfriendly to humans, there may still have been life on the planet at some point which adapted to that chemical; it may also be a localized phenomenon unique to Phoenix’s polar landing site. (There are some plants on Earth capable of processing perchlorate-infused soil, but they’re generally not regarded as viable crops.) The Phoenix probe’s mission is extended to the end of September so it can continue its studies, and could be extended again at the end of that period, though the harsh Martian winter is likely to deny the non-roving Phoenix the kind of longevity enjoyed by its more mobile siblings, Spirit and Opportunity.
British toymaker Character Options releases a boxed set of action figures based on characters from the Doctor Who episodes The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky. These are the first Sontaran action figures since one of the last waves of Dapol action figures in the late 1990s.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 28th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Star Trek: Generations) guest stars.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 29th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 30th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 31st episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars.
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Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
British toymaker Character Options releases a boxed set of action figures based on characters from the Doctor Who episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End. This features the first Davros action figure since the earliest waves of Dapol action figures in the late 1980s.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 32nd episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars.
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Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 33rd episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars. As a side-effect of the 2007-2008 Writers’ Guild strike, the series goes on an extended hiatus after this episode, not to return until the summer of 2009.
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Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
China launches its third crewed space mission, Shenzhou 7, into Earth orbit. For the first time, a full complement of three taikonauts is aboard (Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng), and in another Chinese space first, Zhigang and Boming exit the spacecraft for a 22-minute spacewalk. Also during this flight, Shenzhou 7 passes within 30 miles of the International Space Station, posing no hazard but raising security concerns from the United States government. Because the customary solar panels of the Shenzhou spacecraft have not been installed to allow for the spacewalk (and unobstructed television coverage of the spacewalk), the mission lasts only three days.
Detected only 20 hours before, the meteoroid designated 2008 TC3 burns up and explodes in Earth’s atmosphere, exploding 23 miles above the Sudanese desert. Estimated to be over ten feet in diameter prior to losing most of its mass to heating in the Earth’s atmosphere, 2008 TC3 is thought to have weighed in at approximately 80 tons; hundred of fragments with a total weight of a little over 20 pounds are recovered from the desert. This is the first Near-Earth Object detected prior to impact or destruction by the NASA-funded Spaceguard survey, though the time between detection, confirmation and arrival is less than a day.
The eighteenth full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-13. Yuri Lonchakov and Michael Fincke take up residence on the ISS for 199 days. Arriving with them on the ISS for a ten-day stay is space tourist and computer game mogul Richard Garriott (creator of the series of Ultima role-playing games, which feature his alter ego “Lord British” as their benevolent ruler), who returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-11 with the Expedition 16 crew. Like other “space tourists” before him, Garriott pays for his own Soyuz seat and mission training. While aboard, Garriott films Apogee Of Fear, which he later calls “the first science fiction film actually filmed in space”, with the help of his crewmates; NASA later objects to the movie when it discovers that its astronauts were recruited as actors and crew. Obviously bitten by the space acting bug, Fincke would later guest star in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
More about the Ultima games in Phosphor Dot Fossils
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Sparking the biggest outcry since Tom Baker’s departure, actor David Tennant announces that the four special Doctor Who episodes in production for 2009 will be his last in the role, after which he’ll hand off the reins to a new actor. Likewise, Russell T. Davies has already announced that he will give up his position as Doctor Who showrunner to concentrate on non-genre projects, and will be succeeded by multiple-Hugo-winning writer Steven Moffat (who has penned such fan favorites as Blink and The Girl In The Fireplace). Naturally, speculation about the actor who will play the Doctor’s eleventh incarnation runs rampant.
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Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on a 15-day mission to the International Space Station, carrying more supplies and equipment than any previous shuttle flight bound for the station. Also on tap is a major spacewalk to repair part of the solar panel assembly on the station which allows it to track the sun. Aboard Endeavour for her 22nd flight are Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Steve Bowen, Don Pettit, Shane Kimbrough, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Sandra Magnus. Magnus remains on the International Space Station, while ISS crewmember Greg Chamitoff returns from a six-month stint in space aboard the shuttle.
Silva Screen Records releases a CD of Murray Gold’s soundtrack music from the fourth season of new Doctor Who. Also included is music from the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage Of The Damned.
La-La Land Records releases Bear McCreary’s soundtrack from the NBC series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
The internet-based fan film Star Trek: Phase II releases its fifth full-length episode, Blood And Fire, Part I. Writer David Gerrold directs an adapted version of his rejected TNG script.
The 754th episode of Doctor Who (the 56th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. David Morrisey (David Tennant’s former co-star on Blackpool) guest stars as a man who claims to be another incarnation of the Time Lord, sparking speculation that Morrisey may also be Tennant’s sucessor in the role of the Time Lord.
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