The third episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops, Intelligent Listening For Beginners, premieres on the BBC. 
Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
The third episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops, Intelligent Listening For Beginners, premieres on the BBC.
The Soviet Union launches Soyuz TM-3 on an eight-day mission into space which includes a visit to space station Mir. Cosmonauts Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Muhammed Faris (the latter of whom is the first Syrian space traveler) return to Earth at the end of the mission, along with Mir crew member Yuri Romanenko, while Alexander Viktorenko takes Romanenko’s slot on Mir. In order to leave the newer vehicle docked to Mir as an escape craft, the Soyuz TM-3 crew returns aboard Soyuz TM-2.
The fourth episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops, Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits, premieres on the BBC. Daniel Benzali and Robert Jezek guest star.
RCA Records releases The Best of A Flock Of Seagulls, a retrospective of the new wave group’s heyday.
The sixth episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops premieres on BBC2.
Island Records issues Yoyo, the second album by rock group Bourgeois Tagg, fronted jointly by Brent Bourgeois and Larry Tagg. This album is produced by Todd Rundgren, who also recruits most of the band members to play on his next album. The biggest hit turns out to be the ballad “I Don’t Mind At All”, written by Bourgeois and guitarist Lyle Workman; the band breaks up at a later date.
The seventh episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops premieres on BBC2.
A&M Records releases Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack from the movie The Untouchables.
Nintendo releases The Legend Of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, having already released a version early in 1986 in Japan. Rolled out with a major advertising campaign, Zelda revitalizes and redefines the video adventure game genre, as well as players’ expectation of electronically-moderated role-playing games, and spawns one of Nintendo’s most profitable major tentpole franchises.
The eighth episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops premieres on BBC2. Geoffrey Bayldon guest stars.
The ninth and final episode of Chris Boucher’s futuristic police drama Star Cops, Little Green Men and Other Martians, premieres on BBC2. Originally intended to lead into a second season, this is the last episode of the series. 
IRS Records releases R.E.M.‘s fifth album, Document, featuring the singles “The One That I Love” and “Its the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)”. This is the band’s last IRS release before signing with Warner Bros.
UK regional broadcaster TVS premieres the first episode of Richard Cooper’s alternate-history series Knights Of God, portraying a struggle between oppressive government and rugged resistance fighters in a post-civil-war UK. Gareth Thomas (Blake’s 7) and Patrick Troughton (Doctor Who) star; though filmed in 1985, it is Troughton’s final televised role (he died earlier in 1987). The series has never been repeated.
The 656th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. The 24th season also opens the era of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. Kate O’Mara guest stars as the Rani. For the first time, the series features CGI effects.
Atari Games releases the arcade video game Pac-Mania, licensed from Namco, the Japanese developers behind Pac-Man, of which this game is an isometric 3-D remake.
UK regional broadcaster TVS airs the second episode of Richard Cooper’s alternate-history series Knights Of God, portraying a struggle between oppressive government and rugged resistance fighters in a post-civil-war UK. Tenniel Evans guest stars.
The 13th episode of Black Adder airs on the BBC, starring Rowan Atkinson. Geoffrey McGivern (Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) guest stars in the first episode of the third season.
The 657th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. The 24th season also opens the era of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. Kate O’Mara guest stars as the Rani.
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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Art Of Noise releases its third album, In No Sense? Nonsense!. Now consisting only of Anne Dudley and J.J. Jeczalik, the group’s popular direction continues, with a cover of the Dragnet theme song (used heavily to promote a big-screen remake/spoof of the cop show starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks) and an instrumental from the Fat Boys’ movie Disorderlies, “Roller 1”.
The seventh episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) W. Morgan Sheppard and Concetta Tomei guest star.
The first episode of the young-adult-audience science fiction series Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future premieres in syndication, starring Tim Dunigan, Maurice Dean Wint (Robocop: Prime Directive), Jessica Steen, and Sven-Ole Thorsen. The series is launched alongside a Mattel toy line whose vehicles are intended to interact with visual cues built into episodes of the show, an idea that works better in theory than it does in execution. Bruce Gray guest stars.
UK regional broadcaster TVS airs the third episode of Richard Cooper’s alternate-history series Knights Of God, portraying a struggle between oppressive government and rugged resistance fighters in a post-civil-war UK. Christopher Bowen guest stars.
The 658th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. The 24th season also opens the era of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. Kate O’Mara guest stars as the Rani.
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
The 14th episode of Black Adder airs on BBC1, starring Rowan Atkinson.
CBS premieres the first episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, Once Upon A Time In The City Of New York, starring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and Roy Dotrice. Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) guest stars.
The eighth episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) Rosalind Chao guest stars.
UK regional broadcaster TVS airs the fourth episode of Richard Cooper’s alternate-history series Knights Of God, portraying a struggle between oppressive government and rugged resistance fighters in a post-civil-war UK. Nigel Stock and Michael Sheard (The Empire Strikes Back) guest star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the first episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, starring John D. LeMay, Wendy Robie and Chris Wiggins. Gordon Michael Woolvett (Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda) guest stars. The series has no story connections to the movie franchise of the same name, and was originally developed under the title The 13th Hour.
The national syndication window opens for the two-hour premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Encounter At Farpoint. Written by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and original series story editor D.C. Fontana, this episode introduces the fan favorite nemesis Q, as played by John de Lancie. Though it’s not tied to any network, some of the stations carrying TNG in syndication – including major-market stations – air TNG in prime-time in place of their usual network programming.
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