The 477th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Milton Johns and John Arnatt guest star. This is the first appearance of the Sontarans since 1975.
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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BBC1 premieres the ninth episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. David Bailie guest stars, and future series regular Glynis Barber makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance unrelated to her role in the show’s fourth season. 
“Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye“, the first print fiction follow-up to George Lucas’ Star Wars, is published by Ballantine Books. Written by Alan Dean Foster – who had ghost-written the novelization of Star Wars published under Lucas’ name – “Splinter” originates as a concept for a low-budget movie follow-up in the event that the movie bombs. By the time of its publication, it’s readily apparent to all that the movie has succeeded, and that a sequel will be coming, leaving “Splinter”‘s status in the storyline uncertain. The cover artwork is by Ralph McQuarrie, whose pre-production illustrations were of vital importance during the making of the original movie. 
The 478th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Milton Johns and John Arnatt guest star. This is the first appearance of the Sontarans since 1975.
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
BBC1 premieres the tenth episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Julian Glover guest stars.
With the BBC giving his creation a late-night time slot indicating that they don’t really know what to do with it, Douglas Adams bursts onto the scene with the premiere of his radio series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Another attempt at mixing comedy and science fiction, Adams’ densely-worded style of wit catches on with an audience that’s never heard anything like it before. Hitchhiker’s Guide goes on to conquer nearly every medium exposed to it in the years to come.
The 479th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the finale of Doctor Who’s 15th season, and the exit of Louise Jameson as Leela, who elects to remain on the Time Lord planet, Gallifrey. (Though this is technically the swan song for K-9, the Doctor reveals that he has built a backup.)
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
BBC1 premieres the 11th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. T.P. McKenna guest stars.
The second episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Mark Wing-Davey plays the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox for the first time, a character he will also go on to play in the series’ television incarnation.
BBC1 premieres the 12th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. This episode is the first part of a trilogy spanning the first and second seasons, involving the acquisition of a supercomputer called Orac.
The third episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
BBC1 premieres the 13th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. This episode is the second part of a trilogy spanning the first and second seasons, involving the acquisition of a supercomputer called Orac. Derek Farr guest stars.
The fourth episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio. Richard Vernon and Jim Broadbent guest star.
The sixth episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk premieres on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno. Pamela Shoop and Robert Alda guest star.
The first weekly episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Joanna Cameron (The Secrets Of Isis) and Robert Alda guest star. This is part one of a two-part story.
The fifth episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio. Roy Hudd guest stars. This is the first of two episodes co-written by John Lloyd, though his contributions are frequently downplayed by Adams in later years.
The second episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Joanna Cameron (The Secrets Of Isis) and Robert Alda guest star. This is part two of a two-part story.
The sixth episode of Douglas Adams’ breakthrough radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio. This is the second episode co-written by John Lloyd, though his contributions are frequently downplayed by Adams in later years. Due to the unexpected popularity of the six-episode series, the BBC asks Adams for more Hitchhiker’s Guide, but in the interim he has also taken on a new full-time job as script editor of Doctor Who, making it harder to simultaneously write another six-episode radio series.
The third episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Theodore Bikel guest stars.
The fourth episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Morgan Fairchild guest stars.
The fifth episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Madeleine Stowe guest stars in her second television role. This ends the series’ short first season, but CBS is only willing to renew it for another very short season in the fall of 1978.
Still stinging from the business decision to not bid on the Star Wars toy rights in 1977, toy maker Mego International grabs the license for Universal Studios and NBC’s upcoming science fiction series Buck Rogers In The 25th Century while the show is still in the earliest stages of pre-production. This lead time, unusual in the late ’70s toy business, will become more common in later years; Mego has action figures and vehicles ready to ship when the series premieres in late 1979.
The 12th episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno. James Sikking (Hill Street Blues) guest stars in the first season finale.
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
20th Century Fox files a lawsuit against Hollywood rival Universal Pictures over Universal’s upcoming made-for-TV science fiction saga Battlestar Galactica, which 20th Century Fox contends is a copy of its theatrical smash hit Star Wars. Specificially, the studio behind Star Wars claims that the television series infringes on the script for Star Wars, and requests an injunction to bring production to a halt and keep ABC from airing it. The first decision in the case won’t happen until 1980, by which time Battlestar Galactica will already have ended its TV run.
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The 480th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the first part of a season-long story arc – the first in Doctor Who’s history – involving the search for the Key to Time. This episode introduces Mary Tamm as Romana, a fellow Time Lord, as well as introducing the White Guardian to the Doctor Who mythos. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
The sixth episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Ellen Bry (St. Elsewhere) joins the cast in the premiere of the series’ short second season.
The TV movie-of-the-week Dr. Strange premieres on CBS, starring Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter, Clyde Kusatsu, and John Mills. Intended to serve as the pilot for a series, Dr. Strange goes no further in the 1970s as a film or TV character; a big-screen live-action movie based on the same character will appear in 2016.
The 481st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
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 seventh episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond, Robert F. Simon, Chip Fields and Ellen Bry. Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, The Bay) guest stars.
Still stinging from the business decision to not bid on the Star Wars toy rights, toy maker Mego International is first in line to get the toy license for Walt Disney Studios’ upcoming $20,000,000 science fiction movie The Black Hole, still in pre-production. The license includes action figures and vehicles, and banking on Star Wars levels of popularity, Mego has its products ready to go even before the movie hits theaters in late 1979 (only to see the movie flop in the US).