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Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Coming Of Age

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 18th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In an rare example of what passes for a “story arc” in early TNG, the characters of Admiral Quinn and the disagreeable Commander Remmick make their first of two first-season appearances. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Heart Of Glory

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 19th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the first episode of the series to focus on the Klingon race – a holdover from the original series and movies that series creator Gene Roddenberry had planned to avoid revisiting until co-producer (and fellow classic Trek producer) Bob Justman convinced him otherwise during pre-production, leading to the very late creation of a “Klingon Marine” named Worf. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Arsenal Of Freedom

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 20th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the second of three occasions in the series in which the Enterprise’s saucer section is separated from the rest of the ship. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Skin Of Evil

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 22nd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This marks the final appearance of Denise Crosby as series regular Lt. Tasha Yar; the actress has decided to move on to less limited roles. Crosby returns to TNG several times, and later hosts several documentaries on the Star Trek phenomenon. Read more

Max Headroom: Neurostim

Max HeadroomThe 12th 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.) This is the final episode to air on ABC; two further episodes, Lost Tapes and Baby Grobags, aren’t seen until the series goes into reruns on cable years later. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: We’ll Always Have Paris

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 23rd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is one of the late first season episodes most notably affected by the Writers’ Strike, as filming had to begin without a completed final draft script. Michelle Phillips guest stars. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Conspiracy

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 24th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the goriest episode of the series’ entire run; even improved make-up effects in later seasons never quite match up to this story’s exploding head and torso (graphic visuals which any network with creative input or oversight would likely have nixed). Despite ending on an obvious cliffhanger, this story is never revisited by any later episodes or spinoff series. Read more

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Neutral Zone

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 25th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This episode marks the end of the first season (with no guarantee, due the 1988 Writers’ Guild strike, that the series will be back in production anytime soon), and the return of the Romulans to the Star Trek universe, a sign that Gene Roddenberry is relaxing his stance on revisiting elements of the original series. Read more

Soyuz TM-5

Soyuz TM-5Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev, Viktor Savinykh and Aleksandr Aleksandrov lift off for a week-long visit to Soviet space station Mir aboard Soyuz TM-5. Numerous biological and astronomical experiments are conducted by the blended crew, and at the end of the week of joint activities, the Soyuz TM-5 crew use the older TM-4 capsule to return home, leaving the station crew with a newer vehicle.

The changing climate

EarthA leading NASA climate scientist, Dr. James E. Hansen, addresses the United States Congress with a warning: the past five months of 1988, the hottest months in the history of weather records, are the beginning of a dangerous trend in Earth’s climate history, and studies conducted by experts show that the cause is increasing man-made pollution. Though Hansen’s claims will continue to be debated for decades (while only slow progress is made in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in that same time), the five-month period in question will not be the last consecutive stretch of rising worldwide temperatures.

Phobos 1 launched

PhobosThe Soviet Union launches the first of two unmanned Phobos space probes, designed to investigate the largest of Mars’ two asteroid-like moons and deliver a lander to analyze that moon’s surface. With multiple nations pitching in resources to help the mission succeed, including the United States, the Phobos program is intended to be the definitive Mars exploration program of the 1980s, as well as the debut of a new Soviet interplanetary vehicle to take over from the Zond/Venera design in use since the 1960s.