8-Bit Weapon releases its soundtrack album from Nokia’s mobile phone game Reset Generation. 
Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
8-Bit Weapon releases its soundtrack album from Nokia’s mobile phone game Reset Generation.
Composer, arranger and orchestrator Alexander Courage, composer of the theme from the original Star Trek, dies at the age of 88. Courage was responsible for writing the iconic main theme as well as the scores for the show’s two pilot episodes. When Star Trek went to series, however, Roddenberry – ahead of the curve on almost every imaginable marketing angle – wrote and published lyrics to Courage’s theme, thereby earning 50% of the profit from any future use of that music, a move which alienated the composer. Due to Star Trek using a library approach to its music, however, Courage’s music resurfaced in almost every episode in some capacity. Courage began orchestrating and arranging for other composers, including John Williams (The Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park) and Jerry Goldsmith, who asked Courage to write a few pieces for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture which utilized the original TV theme.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 60th episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Richard Hatch guest stars.
The 747th episode of Doctor Who (the 49th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Felicity Kendall guest stars.
The independently-released album Parliament Of Fooles is released by Rubber Universe, a collective of musicians paying tribute to the musical of The Alan Parsons Project without actually covering any of the band’s songs. Project vocalist Eric Woolfson and guitarist Ian Bairnson make guest appearances.
Director and former actor Joseph Pevney, the man behind the camera for many of the original Star Trek‘s best-remembered segments, dies at the age of 96. A veteran of classic ’60s, ’70s and ’80s television, he also directed numerous episodes of Wagon Train, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Mission: Impossible, The Munsters, Bonanza, and The Incredible Hulk. Before embarking on his directing career in 1950, he also worked as an actor, with his first exposure to showbiz in a 1924 Vaudeville show.
Radio signals from the Martian surface indicating the successful landing of NASA’s unmanned Phoenix probe near the north pole of Mars. (To put this feat in perspective: the past several unmanned probes to land safely on Mars used a “bouncing airbag” approach; the last time a lander actually made it to the surface intact with braking thrusters and landing pads – and no airbags – was in 1976, when NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 landers successfully touched down on the planet.) The first stationary (i.e. non-rover) Mars lander since the Viking probes of the 1970s, Phoenix will stay in one spot to conduct three months of studies. Also like the Vikings, Phoenix has a soil-sampling arm and an on-board laboratory to help it determine the presence of water or water ice in its polar vicinity.
Big Finish Productions releases the 108th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Colin Baker and Maggie Stables.
Comedy great Harvey Korman, known for his long run on the Carol Burnett Show and Blazing Saddles, dies at the age of 81. Along with Tim Conway, he was a staple of Burnett’s comedy sketch show, though an attempt to spin that success off into his own series ran aground in 1977. A year later, still a comedy fixture, he racked up his most infamous genre credit: appearing as multiple characters in the almost-trippy Star Wars Holiday Special, including one of the better moments of actual comedy in the show, the “stir whip, stir whip, whip whip, stir!” chef. After appearing in Blazing Saddles, he appeared in several more Mel Brooks films, and did countless TV guest starring gigs.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 61st episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Richard Hatch and Mark Sheppard guest star.
The 748th episode of Doctor Who (the 50th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Alex Kingston guest stars as River Song, the character’s first appearance in the series (and her last adventure chronologically). This is the first part of a two-part story.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on the 123rd shuttle flight, a two-week mission to install a major laboratory module to the International Space Station. The pressurized module of Japan’s Kibo laboratory joins the unpressurized section installed on a previous flight, complete with its own robotic arm controlled inside. Aboard Discovery for her 35th flight are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham, mission specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan and Mike Fossum, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who remains on the International Space Station. Station astronaut Garrett Reisman returns to Earth aboard Discovery.
Big Finish Productions releases the 13th episode of the new Eighth Doctor Who audio dramas, starring Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith.
Robert Justman, who along with Gene Roddenberry shepherded the original Star Trek from an untried pilot to its three years on the air (and came along for the ride with the inception and first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation), dies at the age of 81 from complications associated with Parkinson’s Disease. Originally an assisant director on the rejected pilot episode The Cage, he stuck around to become a producer and one of Roddenberry’s right-hand men. While at Desilu Studios (the makers of the original Star Trek, later bought by Paramount) he also produced the pilot episode of Mission: Impossible; his pre-Trek credits included several episodes of The Outer Limits, numerous Disney Sunday Movies, and The Adventures Of Superman.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 62nd episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Dean Stockwell guest stars.
The 749th episode of Doctor Who (the 51st since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Alex Kingston guest stars as River Song, the character’s first appearance in the series (and her last adventure chronologically). This is the second part of a two-part story.
Atlantic Records releases the debut Little Boots album Hands, featuring the singles “New In Town”, “Stuck On Repeat”, and “Remedy”.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 63rd episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) guest stars. Numerous factors – including a lengthy recent strike among members of the Writers’ Guild of America and Sci-Fi Channel’s scheduling decisions – controversially spread the last season out over two years; the series goes on hiatus until 2009.
The 750th episode of Doctor Who (the 52nd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. David Troughton and Lesley Sharp guest star.
The Star Trek fan production Of Gods And Men releases its third and final webisode to the internet. Directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok) and with a script by several writers associated with 1990s TV Star Trek, it also boasts appearances by Star Trek cast members Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Garrett Wang, and Russ himself, among others.
Longtime special effects and makeup wizard Stan Winston, a four-time Oscar winner with a resume loaded with some of the most influential genre films in movie history, dies at the age of 62 after struggling for seven years with multiple myeloma. His four Oscar wins – two for Terminator 2, one for Jurassic Park, and one for Aliens – are just the tip of the iceberg; his makeup and effects skills also earned him Oscar nominations for such films as Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and AI. Other movie credits included The Wiz, Predator, Friday The 13th Part III, The Thing, Interview With The Vampire and – most recently – Iron Man. His early career was spent in TV, with work on Roots, Amazing Stories and even creating the costumes for Chewbacca’s family in the Star Wars Holiday Special. In 1994, with James Cameron and Scott Ross, he co-founded visual effects house Digital Domain, which grew into a serious competitor in the effects business with its contributions to movies like Titanic, X-Men, Fight Club, The Fifth Element, Speed Racer, Star Trek: Nemesis, and the Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean series.
Adrenaline Records releases the album Bedtime With The Beatles, Part Two by Jason Falkner, an album of relaxing instrumental covers of Beatles classics.
The 751st episode of Doctor Who (the 53rd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Billie Piper and Bernard Cribbins guest star.
Big Finish Productions releases the 109th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Sylvester McCoy.
Walt Disney Records releases Thomas Newman’s soundtrack from the Pixar film WALL-E, including the Michael Crawford and Louis Armstrong songs heard in the movie as well as a new Peter Gabriel song.
The 752nd episode of Doctor Who (the 54th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Billie Piper and Bernard Cribbins guest star. This episode brings back Dalek creator Davros for his first appearance in the series since 1988, and is the first half of a two-part season finale.
Actor Don S. Davis, best known for his long stint in the role of General George Hammond on Stargate SG-1, dies of a heart attack at the age of 65. Though his film and TV career didn’t begin in earnest until the early 1980s, by that time he had earned a doctorate in theater arts and had spent a decade sharing those skills with others as a teacher. One of his early gigs was standing in for Dana Elcar on the set of MacGyver, where he met future SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson. He originated the character of Hammond in the premiere episode of Stargate SG-1, and his final appearance in the role is in the upcoming direct-to-DVD movie Stargate Continuum, due in late July. In addition to reprising his SG-1 role on sister series Stargate Atlantis, he has appeared on such series as The Dead Zone, Highlander, The Outer Limits, The X-Files and Twin Peaks.
Big Finish Productions releases the 14th episode of the new Eighth Doctor Who audio dramas, starring Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith.
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.
Big Finish Productions releases the 110th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton.