Berkley Books publishes the novelization Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death Machine by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston, a print adaptation of the television story The Gun On Ice Planet Zero. 
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BBC1 premieres the 18th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Jane Sherwin guest stars. This episode is the beginning of a story arc running through the remainder of the second season, concerning Blake’s search for the Federation’s central control facility; to up the stakes, the character of Gan (played by David Jackson) is killed off, though the first choice of series creator Terry Nation would have been the popular character of Vila. (more…)
The TV movie-of-the-week Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Patrick Collins. The movie revolves around the inaugural cross-country trip of an atomic-powered luxury passenger train; the expense involved in creating the sets and miniatures for that train will prove to be an expensive debacle for NBC when the ratings drop perilously for the weekly episodes afterward. Steve Lawrence, Char Fontane, Don Stroud, and Keenan Wynn guest star.
The 26th 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.
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Having originally announced a programmable video game console in 1977 before almost cancelling the project, Magnavox launches its first cartridge-based video game console, the Odyssey². Though intended to compete with the Atari VCS, the Odyssey² is at a disadvantage thanks to its underpowered Intel processor and a limited graphics set. (more…)
Magnavox releases the video game cartridge Speedway! / Spin-Out! / Crypto-Logic! for the Odyssey² video game system. This is the pack-in game included with every system. (more…)
The 503rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. John Woodvine (Knights Of God) and Lalla Ward guest star. Valentine Dyall makes his first appearance as the Black Guardian. This is the final six-part Doctor Who story to be broadcast.
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 sixth episode of Watermark Radio’s syndicated sci-fi radio drama Alien Worlds is broadcast across the U.S., created by Lee Hensen and starring Roger Dressler, Linda Gary, and Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). (more…)
The fourth episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Sam Groom (Police Surgeon, Otherworld) guest star.
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BBC1 premieres the 19th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. John Savident and Peter Miles guest star. This continues a story arc concerning Blake’s search for the Federation’s central control facility. (more…)
The second episode of Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Patrick Collins. Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Larry Linville (M*A*S*H) guest star. (more…)
Cashing in on gamers’ desire to fly down a tightly-enclosed trench blowing away enemy spaceships, Cinematronics introduces the “Vectorbeam”-powered arcade game Starhawk.
The 51st episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Judge Reinhold and Rick Springfield guest star.
More about Wonder Woman in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
This series is not fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The 504th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. John Woodvine (Knights Of God) and Lalla Ward guest star. Valentine Dyall makes his first appearance as the Black Guardian. This is the final six-part Doctor Who story to be broadcast.
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 Watermark Radio’s syndicated sci-fi radio drama Alien Worlds is broadcast across the U.S., created by Lee Hensen and starring Roger Dressler, Linda Gary, and Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Hans Conreid guest stars. (more…)
The 16th episode of Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica, Murder On The Rising Star, airs on ABC. Brock Peters guest stars. (more…)
The 52nd episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Jeremy Slate guest stars.
More about Wonder Woman in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
This series is not fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Mushroom Records releases the fourth Split Enz album, Frenzy, recorded after a long period of unemployment for the band, which went to the UK to find fame and became stranded there, too broke to return home. Most members of the group are dissatisfied with the finished album, feeling that it lacks the spark of demos they recorded during their England downtime, but it yields a genuine hit: Tim Finn’s punk-styled anthem “I See Red”. (more…)
BBC1 premieres the 20th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. This is the first Blake’s 7 episode written by renowned Doctor Who writer and script editor Robert Holmes. (more…)
The third episode of Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Patrick Collins. Nehemiah Persoff guest stars. (more…)
The 505th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Woodvine (Knights Of God) and Lalla Ward guest star. Valentine Dyall makes his first appearance as the Black Guardian. This story concludes the 16th season and the Key to Time storyline, and marks the end of Mary Tamm’s single season as the Doctor’s companion, Romana.
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 eighth episode of Watermark Radio’s syndicated sci-fi radio drama Alien Worlds is broadcast across the U.S., created by Lee Hensen and starring Roger Dressler, Linda Gary, and Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Hans Conreid guest stars. (more…)
The 17th episode of Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica airs on ABC. Ray Bolger guest stars. (more…)
The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 32 on a long-duration mission to space station Salyut 6, with cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin aboard. Over a record-setting 175 days, the new station crew conducts necessary repairs and upgrades to the station’s hardware, as well as conducting various experiments. With the arrival of equipment sent in the unmanned Progress 5 freighter in March, this is the first space crew to have a means to see ground controllers via a video link, rather than talking to them via radio; the cosmonauts also look forward to seeing family members during planned teleconferences. This is also the first crew to vacation in space, permitted a five-day break over May Day. Due to a major technical problem in the next manned Soyuz flight, the crew of Salyut 7 sets its duration record without a single visit from another cosmonaut.
The fifth episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) guest stars in an episode that is decidedly more sci-fi than most of the series.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
BBC1 premieres the 21st episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Kevin Stoney and John Abineri guest star. (more…)
The fourth episode of Supertrain airs on NBC, starring Edward Andrews and Patrick Collins. Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H), Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), Victor Buono (Batman, Man From Atlantis) and Billy Barty guest star. (more…)
The 27th 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. Victoria Carroll and Don Marshall guest star.
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As it nears its closest approach to the planet Jupiter, NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe detects the first likely signs of a ring system around Jupiter’s equatorial region. Barely visible until Voyager 1 is behind the planet and can see them through scattered sunlight, the rings are only about 20 miles thick, but are over 150,000 miles in diameter. The lead time between Voyager 1’s visit and Voyager 2’s later flyby allows ground controllers to plan a better observation campaign for Voyager 1’s sister ship, and the rings are observed in more detail by the later Galileo and New Horizons missions.
The ninth episode of Watermark Radio’s syndicated sci-fi radio drama Alien Worlds is broadcast across the U.S., created by Lee Hensen and starring Roger Dressler, Linda Gary, and Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Janet Waldo (Battle Of The Planets) guest stars. (more…)
The unmanned NASA/JPL space probe Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to the giant planet Jupiter, a little over 200,000 miles away. While Voyager’s higher-resolution cameras trump any of the Pioneer images of Jupiter, the real revelation proves to be Jupiter’s four largest moons, revealing a smooth-but-cracked icy surface on Europa, craters on Ganymede and Callisto, and the colorful mountains of Io, whose biggest secret goes undiscovered until a few days after Voyager 1’s closest flyby.
The sixth episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Severn Darden (Battle For The Planet Of The Apes) guest star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
BBC1 premieres the 22nd episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. Tom Chadbon guest stars. This continues the story arc concerning Blake’s search for the Federation’s central control facility. (more…)
Space Shuttle Columbia is officially rolled out of the Rockwell International construction facility in Palmdale, California, even though her outer “skin” is still unfinished – NASA technicians continue working on perfecting the first spaceworthy shuttle’s thermal tiles for much of the next year, delaying the first launch until sometime in 1981 (just another in a series of delays for a vehicle that had been intended to fly as early as 1977).
Following five years of research and development, Netherlands-based Philips Electronics demonstrates one of the earliest iterations of the compact audio disc, an optical disc in the now-familiar five-inch size which can be read by a CD player with a laser diode. Philips and Sony, who have been developing the new medium in parallel, will later join forces and create a standard for audio compact discs in 1980, introducing the CD as a consumer product in the early 1980s despite resistance from record companies with a vested interest in vinyl LPs (and only a begrudging acceptance of audio cassettes). In addition to higher audio fidelity and a more durable medium (an optical disc encased in a plastic shell, protecting the physical surface that is so often damaged with vinyl), the CD and its player can also compensate for any damage suffered by the disc through error correction.