The 601st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master, and the episode introduces a robotic companion intended to be portrayed by a real robot, Kamelion. Kamelion’s designer dies prior to production, however, leaving minimal documentation for the robot’s operation; Kamelion’s further appearances are written out of the show and the robot only makes one further appearance. This brings Doctor Who’s 20th season to a close; the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors, airs later in the year as a stand-alone with a budget and production schedule separate from the rest of the season’s episodes. 
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Electric Light Orchestra bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt goes solo, releasing an album of distinctly ELO-esque tunes on the Polygram label. Virtually all of Groucutt’s bandmates appear on his first album, with the notable exception of ELO frontman Jeff Lynne. (more…)
CBS airs the fourth episode of the fantasy/comedy series Wizards and Warriors, starring Jeff Conaway (Grease, Babylon 5), Walter Olkewicz, Duncan Regehr, and Julia Duffy (Newhart). (more…)
The sixth episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their movie roles. (more…)
NBC premieres the two-hour TV movie Special Bulletin, presented in the style of a live breaking news report, and conceived, written, and directed by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (later creators of the late ’80s series Thirtysomething). As is often the case with fictional presentations produced in the style of a news broadcast, some audience members are genuinely alarmed by the movie, despite frequent on-screen disclaimers advising those watching that it is just a movie. (more…)
Segaa releases the arcade game Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator in American arcades. The vector graphics coin-op, simulating the “tactical views” seen on the Enterprise in the first two Star Trek movies, is the first officially licensed Star Trek video game. It also reflects some corporate synergy: Sega was, at the time, also owned by Paramount Pictures parent company Gulf + Western. 
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Activision releases Dracula for the Intellivision home video game system, one of numerous Imagic titles exclusive to that system. (more…)
Imagic releases the No Escape! cartridge for the Atari 2600 home video game system. (more…)
The 20th episode of the science fiction series The Powers Of Matthew Star airs on NBC, starring Peter Barton and Louis Gossett Jr. Jon Gries (Martin, The Pretender) guest stars.
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The seventh episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their movie roles; Billy Dee Williams provides the voice of Lando Calrissian. (more…)
NBC airs the 18th episode of James D. Parriott’s time travel series Voyagers!, starring Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce. Sam Scarber guest stars as Joe Louis. NBC cancels the series after this broadcast, with two remaining episodes being delayed until they are “burned off” in a summer time slot.
Williams Electronics releases the arcade video game Motorace USA, a scrolling racing game developed by Japanese game manufacturer IREM (who were also behind the Williams-licensed hit Moon Patrol). In other regions the same game is known as Traverse USA and Zippy Race. (more…)
The eighth episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their movie roles; Billy Dee Williams provides the voice of Lando Calrissian. (more…)
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off into orbit for the first time, after extensive technical and mechanical issues keep the shuttle on the pad well past its original January launch date. The payload for this flight is NASA’s own TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellite), designed to keep the shuttle in constant contact with ground controllers even if its orbit takes it out of direct communications. The five-day flight also sees the first spacewalk of the shuttle program. Challenger’s crew consists of Commander Paul Weitz, Pilot Karol Bobko, and mission specialists Donald Peterson and Story Musgrave.
The 21st episode of the science fiction series The Powers Of Matthew Star airs on NBC, starring Peter Barton and Louis Gossett Jr. Kevin Hooks (The White Shadow, He’s The Mayor) guest stars.
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ITV airs the 70th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Bryan Marshall guest stars in the sixth season premiere.
CBS airs the fifth episode of the fantasy/comedy series Wizards and Warriors, starring Jeff Conaway (Grease, Babylon 5), Walter Olkewicz, Duncan Regehr, and Julia Duffy (Newhart). (more…)
The ninth episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their movie roles; Billy Dee Williams provides the voice of Lando Calrissian. (more…)
I.R.S. Records releases R.E.M.‘s debut album Murmur, featuring the single “Radio Free Europe”. (more…)
CBS Records releases the Dave Edmunds solo album Information, featuring the singles “Slipping Away” and “Information” (both produced by Jeff Lynne of ELO fame). (more…)
The 22nd episode of the science fiction series The Powers Of Matthew Star airs on NBC, starring Peter Barton. This is actually the series pilot, which differs from the rest of the series in numerous major ways, but since the series had been cancelled by this point, it was aired as the final episode.
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ITV airs the 71st episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Bernard Cribbins guest stars.
The tenth and final episode of Brian Daley’s radio drama adaptation of the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back airs on National Public Radio stations in the U.S. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their movie roles; Billy Dee Williams provides the voice of Lando Calrissian. (more…)
Soyuz T-8 lifts off from the Soviet Union, intended to dock with space station Salyut 7. Cosmonauts Vladimir Titov, Gennady Strekalov and Aleksandr Serebrov are due to take up residence on the station, but discover that the ejection of the nose cone of the Soyuz rocket – which protects the non-aerodynamic Soyuz vehicle during launch – has caused critical damage to the vehicle’s communication equipment. The mission is called off for safety reasons, and the crew returns to Earth after only two days.
ITV airs the 72nd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Hayley Mills guest stars.
Trying to join the ranks of game companies producing home computers, Mattel Electronics licenses a low-end computer from a Hong Kong manufacturer and releases it in the United States as the Aquarius home computer. The age of Aquarius is short-lived, however, as Mattel is incurring serious losses from slowing Intellivision sales, and the Aquarius computer quickly proves to be underpowered next to even its cheapest competitors (the Mattel programmers tasked with creating games and software for it refer to it as the “system for the ’70s”). (more…)
Activision releases the Happy Trails cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system. (more…)
NOAA’s GOES-6 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 135 degrees west longitude on Earth, a position which will change several times over GOES-5’s career until 1988, allowing it to monitor weather over the continental United States and Europe. GOES-5’s primary set of “eyes” will fail in 1989, leaving GOES-7 as the sole working GOES weather satellite until the mid-1990s. Even while “blind”, GOES-5 will serve as a communications relay satellite until its boost to “graveyard” orbit and shutdown in 1992.
ITV airs the 73rd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Hugh Fraser guest stars.
Atari releases the arcade video game Arabian, developed by Sun Electronics. (more…)
NBC airs the first night of Kenneth Johnson’s heavily-promoted sci-fi miniseries V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler. The big-budget special effects and sci-fi concepts allow Johnson to slip the audience a story about resisting fascism; the ratings are high enough for NBC to already be considering a follow-up. (more…)
NBC airs the second night of Kenneth Johnson’s heavily-promoted sci-fi miniseries V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler. The big-budget special effects and sci-fi concepts allow Johnson to slip the audience a story about resisting fascism; the ratings are high enough for NBC to have Johnson and Warner Bros. begin work on a sequel. (more…)
Mere weeks before Return Of The Jedi arrives in theaters, Atari releases the arcade game Star Wars in the United States, in both upright (standing) and cocktail (sit-down) models, complete with almost-intelligible sample voices from the movie of the same name. Players strafe the Death Star at lightning speeds (thanks to vector graphics, which can draw faster than full-screen raster graphics) after fending off TIE fighters. The Force is with us… for 25 cents. (more…)
ITV airs the 74th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. David Cassidy (The Partridge Family) and Darren McGavin (Kolchak: The Night Stalker) guest star.
ITV airs the 75th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Susan Penhaligon guest stars.