The 642nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, marking the series’ return to the air (and to a 25-minute episode format) and reflecting its tenuous existence by depicting the Doctor being put on trial by his fellow Time Lords. Lynda Bellingham (All Creatures Great & Small) guest stars as the Inquisitor, with Michael Jayston as the Valeyard and David Selby (Dark Shadows) as Sabalon Glitz. The first four parts of the 14-part story are the final complete storyline written by former script editor Robert Holmes, who dies during production.

Four days after a party at Paramount Pictures to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original
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The 25th episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. Danny DeVito (Taxi) and Rhea Perlman (Cheers) guest star in the second season premiere, directed by DeVito.
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CBS airs the 25th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Jeff Yagher and Shelley Duvall star in an episode comprised of two short stories, George R.R. Martin’s The Once And Future King and A Saucer Of Loneliness, adapted by David Gerrold from Theodore Sturgeon’s short story. This episode opens the series’ second season.
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Paramount’s television division makes an announcement that sparks geek wars for years to come: Star Trek is coming back to television, but with a new cast and set in a different century, as Star Trek: The Next Generation. With Gene Roddenberry at the wheel once more, the new show – which will circumvent the network system completely by being sold directly to stations in syndication – will be set further in the future than the original series, with a new Enterprise and a budget of over one million dollars per episode. Paramount has decided on the risky syndication route after overtures to the three major networks provoke little enthusiasm; the new Fox network is more interested, but is unwilling to risk money on an order of more than a dozen episodes.
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The week-long national syndication window opens for
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Polarware (formerly Penguin Software) releases a remake of the