The 624th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Robert Glenister (Life On Mars), Maurice Roeves (The Nightmare Man) and Christopher Gable guest star. Peter Davison makes his exit at the fifth Doctor in this story, with the new Doctor, Colin Baker, given a brief scene at the end of the episode.
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
Like many other companies tied into the video game business – whose profits seem to be in an endless downward spiral – North American Phillips (formerly Magnavox) closes down production of Odyssey² hardware and software, and reassigns staff programmers to other products, including Phillips’ stand-alone word processor, VideoWriter, though few of the company’s former game designers remain with that project for long.
The 625th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story introduces Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor, though his traumatic regeneration leaves him violently unstable for the first time in the show’s history. Maurice Denham guest stars. 
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The 626th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story introduces Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor; Maurice Denham guest stars.
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 627th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story introduces Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor; Maurice Denham guest stars.
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
Activision releases the 
The 628th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story introduces Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor; Maurice Denham guest stars. This is also the finale of the series’ 21st season.
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 Soviet Union launches Soyuz T-11 en route to space station Salyut 7. Spending nearly eight days in orbit, cosmonauts Yuri Malyshev, Gennady Strekalov and the first space traveler from India, Rakesh Sharma, perform experiments aboard the station as well as bringing supplies. They return to Earth on April 11th aboard the station crew’s Soyuz T-10 capsule, leaving the newer Soyuz T-11 docked at Salyut 7 for the station crew’s use.
Mixing video highway hypnosis and a strangely hummable theme song, Japanese video game Tube Panic, from the makers of Crazy Climber and Moon Cresta, first appears in American arcades. Players have to fight motion sickness to keep blasting away at bad guys. The game achieves minor cult status but fails to become a smash hit at a time when arcade manufacturers desperately need one. (more…)
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off on the first mission to retrieve a satellite in orbit, repair it, and release it back into that orbit. Launched in 1980, prior to the first shuttle mission, the Solar Maximum (Solar Max) Satellite is outfitted with a mechanism to allow the shuttle’s remote manipulator arm to grasp it; however, two astronauts using Manned Maneuvering Units still have to nudge it into Challenger’s cargo bay. With repairs completed, Solar Max is returned to its orbit, where it lasts until 1989. Challenger’s crew on this flight consists of Commander Bob Crippen, Pilot Francis Scobee, and mission specialists Geroge Nelson, James Van Hoften and Terry Hart.
I.R.S. Records releases R.E.M.‘s second album, Reckoning. (more…)
Konami introduces the arcade game Time Pilot ’84 in the United States, dragging the popular Time Pilot style of game play two years into the future. (In many respects, it’s the same game with a new graphics set.) (more…)
Having received new orders from NASA, the still-functional Pioneer Venus Orbiter – launched in 1978 and in a high, looping orbit over Venus since it ceased active observations of the planet in 1981 – turns its instruments in the direction of Comet Encke, which is currently passing through the inner solar system. Rather than its cameras, the orbiter’s ultraviolet spectrometer is trained on the comet as Earth-based researchers try to determine the composition and rotational speed of Encke’s nucleus. The Pioneer Venus Orbiter will continue to observe other comets through the late 1980s.
Not quite ready to bring the Apple II line to an end, Apple Computer launches the Apple IIc, a smaller form-factor enhanced Apple IIe specifically designed for portability (an optional LCD monitor – with no backlighting – is also made available on this date). Introduced alongside the IIc is a new Apple operating system, ProDOS, meant to mimic some of the object-oriented features of the Macintosh user interface, as well as an Apple II mouse. Perhaps not surprisingly, Apple also chooses to quietly discontinue support for the Apple III on this date as well.
Scitron Digital releases the album Namco Video Game Music, collecting recordings of music and sounds from the company’s classic arcade games. (more…)
The feature-length combination of the first two episodes of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed and Nickolas Grace, and featuring a very modern musical treatment by Irish band Clannad. Infusing the familiar tale with elements of Pagan mythology, this proves to be one of the most enduring and influential takes on Robin Hood, and finds international popularity. (Repeats both in the UK and internationally will air the two parts of the story separately.)
Cinematronics releases the laserdisc-powered arcade video game Space Ace, with animation overseen by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth. (more…)
The third episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. John Abineri (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7) guest stars as Herne the Hunter.
NBC premieres the first part of its continuation of Kenneth Johnson’s alien invasion epic, V: The Final Battle. Heavily retooled without Johnson’s involvement, V is now focused on action and special effects spectacle, with in-fighting among the glamorous leaders of the Visitors providing a prime-time soap vibe. (more…)
NBC premieres the second part of its continuation of Kenneth Johnson’s alien invasion epic, V: The Final Battle. The birth of Robin’s alien-hybrid children is one of the genre cliffhangers of the decade. This marks the science fiction soundtrack debut of Dennis McCarthy, who later goes on to score most of the Star Trek spinoffs of the next three decades; he is tapped at a very late stage (mere days prior to broadcast) to rescore the entire miniseries – so late, in fact, that it’s ultimately impossible for him to redo the music for the first night in the time allotted. (more…)
NBC premieres the third and final part of its continuation of Kenneth Johnson’s alien invasion epic, V: The Final Battle. Now bearing little resemblance to the story Johnson originally hoped to tell with the sequel, the three-night event scores enough in the all-important Nielsen TV ratings to convince NBC to order a weekly series to be produced in time for 1984’s fall TV season. (more…)
Avalon Hill, a company best known for its boardgame and tabletop wargaming catalog, releases Shuttle Orbiter for the Atari 2600. (more…)
The fourth episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. Duncan Preston (Emmerdale) guest stars.
ITV airs the 85th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. George Peppard (The A-Team) guest stars in the seventh season premiere.
The fifth episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. Peter Hutchinson (Gems) and Stephanie Tague guest star.
ITV airs the 86th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Michael Jayston (Doctor Who: The Trial Of A Time Lord) guest stars.
Polydor Records releases an album of John Williams‘ soundtrack from Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, including the movie’s unique rendition of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”. (more…)
Atlantic Records releases James Horner‘s soundtrack from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, including an instrumental “pop version” of the movie’s main theme. (The same album will be given a compact disc release at a later date by GNP Crescendo Records.) (more…)
The sixth episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. John Rhys-Davies (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Sliders) guest stars in the first season finale.
ITV airs the 87th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Patrick O’Neal, Tom Smothers, and Lois Smith (True Blood, Twister) guest star.
Having already made a unique sample-based production sound evident on such albums as Yes’ 90125, Art Of Noise releases its first album, (Who’s Afraid Of?) The Art Of Noise, on ZTT Records. The single “Close (To The Edit)”, accompanied by a manic, surreal music video, becomes an immediate hit. At this time, the “band” consists of Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J.J. Jeczalik and Gary Langan. (more…)
ITV airs the 88th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Simon Cadell guest stars.
ITV airs the 89th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Brad Dourif guest stars.
Springboard Software releases the computer publishing software suite The Newsroom for the Apple II home computer system, a very early example of a desktop publishing system, complete with the ability to transfer files to, and collaborate with, users of the same software on other platforms such as the Commodore 64. (more…)
With producer Harve Bennett now firmly in creative control of the movie franchise, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock premieres in theaters, directed by Leonard Nimoy (who, since his character is being searched for, plays only a small role as an actor in the film). The movie is a direct sequel to the events of the previous film, and sets up story developments for the fourth Star Trek movie, effectively serving as the middle chapter of a trilogy. The movie’s success confirms Nimoy’s graduation from actor to director. (more…)