Author: theLogBook.com

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

Doctor Who in the USA

Doctor WhoThe British science fiction series Doctor Who is broadcast in the United States for the first time on WPHL, an independent commercial TV station in Philadelphia. WPHL is among the first American stations to have purchased a syndication package of Doctor Who episodes, starrring Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor, from BBC Enterprises by way of Time-Life Television. The package includes the series’ first two color seasons, plus the first story from the 1972 season (the relatively recent Day Of The Daleks). The success of Star Trek reruns in syndication may well have indie stations convinced that Doctor Who is the next big thing…

Ghost Story: The Dead We Leave Behind

Ghost StoryNBC airs the second episode of the supernatural anthology series Ghost Story, produced by 1960s horror movie mogul William Castle and starring Sebastian Cabot. Jason Robards and Stella Stevens guest star in a script written by Robert Specht (The Immortal, Ark II). (This series will be retitled Circle Of Fear in 1973.) Read more

Magnavox Odyssey

Magnavox OdysseyAmerican television manufacturer Magnavox releases the world’s first home video game system, the Odyssey, based on the hardware of Ralph Baer’s Brown Box created at Sanders & Associates. The system includes not only two bulky controllers and six basic games, but colorful, semi-transparent overlays suitable for the two most common TV screen sizes and other playing pieces, such as cards and poker chips. Other games and a light gun accessory will be sold in 1973. Magnavox has been including the Odyssey in its in-person product demonstrations since spring 1972. Read more

Ghost Story: The Concrete Captain

Ghost StoryNBC airs the third episode of the supernatural anthology series Ghost Story, produced by 1960s horror movie mogul William Castle and starring Sebastian Cabot. Gena Rowlands guest stars in a script based on a short story by Elizabeth Walter, and directed by future Superman movie director Richard Donner. (This series will be retitled Circle Of Fear in 1973.) Read more

Night Gallery: The Return Of The Sorcerer

Night GalleryNBC airs the 30th episode of Night Gallery, an anthology series of original short plays and short story adaptations hosted by Rod Serling. Vincent Price and Bill Bixby guest star in the third season opener; the series has now been cut down to a half-hour time slot.

More about Rod Serling’s Night Gallery in the LogBook

The Sixth Sense: Dear Joan, We’re Going To Scare You To Death

The Sixth SenseThe 15th episode of The Sixth Sense airs on ABC, starring Gary Collins. Joan Crawford guest stars in what would prove to be her final on-screen role.

This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
More about The Sixth Sense in the LogBook

Gatchaman: Gatchaman vs. Turtle King

Kagaku Ninjatai GatchamanThe first episode of the animated science fiction series Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman airs on Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV. A creation of Tatsunoko Studios (Astro Boy), the series follows five young people with superpowers defending the world from the machinations of the sinister Galactus organization. This series will later be heavily edited – primarily for violence – and dubbed into English as Battle Of The Planets. Read more

Gatchaman: The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears

Kagaku Ninjatai GatchamanThe second episode of the animated science fiction series Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman airs on Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV. A creation of Tatsunoko Studios (Astro Boy), the series follows five young people with superpowers defending the world from the machinations of the sinister Galactus organization. This series will later be heavily edited – primarily for violence – and dubbed into English as Battle Of The Planets. Read more

Moody Blues: Seventh Sojourn

To Our Children’s Children’s ChildrenDecca Records releases the eighth album by the Moody Blues, Seventh Sojourn (the seven, in this case, referring to the seventh album by the band since the addition of Justin Hayward and John Lodge in the 1960s). The album includes the singles “Isn’t Life Strange” and “I’m Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band”.

More about Moody Blues in Music Reviews

Venus Orbiter Imaging Radar

VOIRA working group of scientists and engineers at NASA submit an official proposal for a spacecraft using synthetic aperture radar to map the surface of the planet Venus. Conceived as a mission that could be launched from a Titan IIIe or from the space shuttle, both of which still exist only on the drawing board, Venus Orbiter Imaging Radar (or VOIR) is designed to offer extensive mapping of Venus at a resolution much better than the coarse resolution of radar signals originating from Earth-based radio astronomy facilities such as Arecibo, along with such cutting-edge technologies as stereoscopic imaging and solar electric propulsion. Work on this mission will continue through the early 1980s, at which point it is cancelled by NASA and replaced by a cheaper mission intended to achieve the same goals, Magellan.

The Sixth Sense: With Affection, Jack The Ripper

The Sixth SenseThe 17th episode of The Sixth Sense airs on ABC, starring Gary Collins. Robert Foxworth (The Questor Tapes), Percy Rodrigues (Star Trek), and Patty Duke guest star.

This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
More about The Sixth Sense in the LogBook

NOAA-2

NOAA / ESSA satellite seriesNASA and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration launch NOAA-2, a weather satellite intended to operate in a near-polar low Earth orbit. NOAA-2 is based on the already-flown ITOS satellite design, and will function in orbit through October 1974, with a break of only a few months due to a failed vertical temperature profile radiometer instrument. NOAA-2 will be shut down in January 1975.