Following eleven days of precursory earthquake activity, Mt. St. Helens, a volcano in Washington which has been dormant for over a century, emits a small eruption of ash and steam. Similar eruptions continue on an hourly basis, though the frequency will gradually diminsh through April. This activity lasts barely a month before ending, at least for a week or two. The north face of Mt. St. Helens begins bulging noticeably, and emergency planners fight to keep sightseers away from the mountain while drawing up evacuation plans for nearby populated areas. Some locals vow to remain despite possible evacuation orders.
NBC airs the 21st episode of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. Sid Haig (Jason Of Star Command), Pamela Hensley and Michael Ansara guest star. 
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ITV airs the 14th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Andrew Ray and Judy Geeson guest star.
The sixth episode of a vastly retooled Battlestar Galactica (or, depending on how you look at it, the show’s 27th episode) premieres on ABC. (more…)
Construction begins on what is intended to be the fourth and final member of the current Space Shuttle fleet, Atlantis. With four orbiters in service, NASA will be one step closer to the routine, almost-weekly schedule of orbital flights envisioned in the Nixon-era mandate for the shuttle. Refinements and improvements in the process of constructing the shuttle fleet make Atlantis the lightest shuttle to date, over three tons lighter than Columbia.
BBC1 premieres the 39th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7, ending the third season and seeing out series regular Jan Chappell (Cally) and the Liberator. This is the last script written for the series by Terry Nation, as he has decided to try his fortunes as a writer and producer in Hollywood, and is intended to be the series finale. When broadcast on the BBC, a voice-over on the end credits informs viewers that Blake’s 7 will return in 1981 – something that even the cast and crew aren’t aware of until then. Gareth Thomas guest stars as Blake. (more…)
Microsoft enters the computer hardware business with a Z80 processor card for the Apple II computer. This peripheral allows the Apple II to run the CP/M operating system and Microsoft BASIC (the Apple II is well on its way to dominating the home computer market at this point). Selling it for nearly $350 is responsible for bringing in the bulk of Microsoft’s revenue between now and the introduction of Microsoft DOS for the IBM PC.
NBC airs the 22nd episode of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. Sid Haig (Jason Of Star Command), Pamela Hensley and Michael Ansara guest star. This concludes the series’ first season, and a significant rethink of the show’s premise and cast takes place before a second season begins filming. The series will return in 1981. (more…)
The 54th 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. Marc Alaimo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars.
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
ITV airs the 15th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Miriam Margolyes guest stars in the first episode not based on a Dahl short story.
The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 35 en route to space station Salyut 6 for a long-duration stay. Cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin set a new space endurance record with their 185-day stay, lasting until October 1980. Ryumin had been a member of the last Salyut 6 crew as well, having stayed on the station for six months in 1979, and was not originally scheduled for this mission, rotated into the prime crew due to the illness of the originally assigned crew member. Four other crews visit Salyut 6 during the Soyuz 35 crew’s stay. By the end of this mission, Ryumin holds a personal record for the most time accrued in space by a human being – 352 days, barely two weeks short of a full year of spaceflight experience.
Two years after the shutdown of its orbiter leaves it sending observations of the Martian environment back to Earth at a low bit rate, the Viking 2 lander’s batteries are depleted and the second spacecraft to land on Mars shuts down permanently. Its three-and-a-half-year operational lifespan has been a bonus round for a robotic vehicle expected to function for a few months in Mars’ harsh weather.
The 54th 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. This episode concludes the third season.
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
ITV airs the 16th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Ron Moody (Into The Labyrinth) guest stars.
The seventh episode of a vastly retooled Battlestar Galactica (or, depending on how you look at it, the show’s 28th episode) premieres on ABC. Wolfman Jack guest stars. (more…)
In contrast to 1977, where no toy licensee had a lock on the right to make Star Wars toys until weeks after the movie’s premiere, Kenner rolls out the first toys for The Empire Strikes Back nearly a month ahead of the movie; kids (and their long-suffering parents) make the first wave of figures an immediate sell-out, despite not knowing anything about the movie’s plotline. 
ITV airs the 17th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Elaine Stritch and Shane Rimmer (Thunderbirds) guest star.
The eighth episode of a vastly retooled Battlestar Galactica (or, depending on how you look at it, the show’s 29th episode) premieres on ABC. Wolfman Jack guest stars. (more…)
RSO Records releases a double LP of John Williams’ soundtrack from The Empire Strikes Back, a full month in advance of the movie’s release. The booklet-style album cover includes an extensive interview with Williams, as well as numerous notes on the making of a movie the public has yet to see.
Atari scores a direct hit on arcades everywhere with Missile Command, a game which reminds video game-obsessed youth that the Cold War is still on. (In the months it takes to develop the game, programmer Dave Theurer has recurring nuclear-war-themed nightmares.) Cementing the trakball as a viable controller for fast-paced, non-sports games, Missile Command inspires a popular home video game cartridge (which, in the interest of not giving young gamers nightmares, dispenses with the Cold War theme in favor of a science-fiction explanation of the missiles’ origin).
Magnavox releases the video game Alpine Skiing! for the Odyssey² home video game system in North America, designed and programmed by Ed and Linda Averett. The game is released later in Europe for the equivalent Videopac console, and in France for the Jopac. (more…)
Magnavox releases the video game Showdown In 2100 A.D.! for the Odyssey² home video game system in North America, designed and programmed by Ed and Linda Averett. The game is released later in Europe for the equivalent Videopac console, and in France for the Jopac. (more…)
Magnavox releases the video game Invaders From Hyperspace! for the Odyssey² home video game system in North America, designed and programmed by Ed and Linda Averett. The game is released later in Europe for the equivalent Videopac console, and in France for the Jopac. (more…)
Magnavox releases the educational video game I’ve Got Your Number! for the Odyssey² home video game system in North America, designed and programmed by Ed and Linda Averett. The game is released later in Europe for the equivalent Videopac console, and in France for the Jopac. (more…)
ITV airs the 18th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Joan Collins guest stars.
Writers Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova win a copyright infringement/breach of contract lawsuit against Paramount Television, ex-Paramount exec Terry Keegan, and ABC-TV over the short-lived 1976/77 TV series Future Cop, which they contend that the studio and network launched within months of an option lapsing on Brillo, an Ellison/Bova “robot cop” pilot script submitted in 1973. After a four-year wait to get the case into court, a jury takes only four weeks to find that the similarities between Brillo and Future Cop outweigh the differences, and award the writers $182,500 in compensatory damages and $154,500 in punitive damages, falling a bit short of the $3,000,000 sought. Ellison spends part of his proceeds from the suit to buy a billboard across from Paramount Pictures bearing the warning, “Writers, don’t let them steal from you!”
The ninth episode of a vastly retooled Battlestar Galactica (or, depending on how you look at it, the show’s 30th episode) premieres on ABC. Dana Elcar, Bill Cort and Ned Romero guest star. (more…)
ITV airs the 19th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Joseph Cotten and Maureen O’Brien (Doctor Who) guest star.
The tenth episode of a vastly retooled Battlestar Galactica (or, depending on how you look at it, the show’s 31st episode) premieres on ABC. This is the final episode of the original Battlestar Galactica. Dirk Benedict stars as Starbuck. (more…)
With the Jupiter encounter behind it, NASA’s Voyager 2 unmanned spacecraft is given a new backup mission plan, replacing the original Jupiter/Saturn backup plan implemented after a radio receiver failure befell the spacecraft in 1978. Intended to reap the minimum acceptable science observations (including photography) and transmit them to Earth should Voyager 2’s ability to receive new commands be lost, this new backup mission load now includes automated observation plans for Saturn and Uranus, the latter of which will not be reached until 1986.
ITV airs the 20th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. John Mills and Michael Gambon guest star.
ITV airs the 21st episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Helmut Griem guest stars.
Folllowing a lull in its recent frequent earthquake and minor volcanic activity, the summit of Mt. St. Helens in Washington disappears in a massive landslide, releasing a powerful (300mph) lateral explosion that flattens nearby forest land ahead of a devastating release of debris and snowmelt mud known as a lahar. Within an hour, with the summit crater exposed, the remaining magma stored under Mt. St. Helens surges upward, resulting in a massive eruption from the summit, lasting nine hours and wiping out hundreds of square miles of forest and killing dozens of people, including geologists who had been on station to monitor the volcano’s activity. Following the eruption, Mt. St. Helens is over 1,000 feet shorter, its peak replaced by a mile-wide crater. This is the first significant volcanic eruption on the American mainland since 1915.
Apple Computer introduces the newest upgrade of its Apple II architecture, the oversized Apple III computer, aimed squarely at the business computing market that Apple has stumbled into as a result of VisiCalc‘s success. The monolithic machine suffers from technical problems from the outset, resulting in recalls and repairs to most early adopters’ Apple III units. With barely 100,000 units sold over three years, Apple pulls the Apple III off the market before 1984 is out.
With expectations riding higher than they probably ever will for another sequel in movie history, the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, hits theaters and kicks off a whole new wave of merchandise. Yoda, AT-ATs, and The Imperial March are unleashed on the world, while the cliffhanger ending hooks everyone in for the third movie with a shocking revelation about Luke’s lineage. (more…)