Midway releases the arcade video game Pac-Land, a game placing Pac-Man in a side-scrolling 2-D world similar to that of Super Mario Bros. 
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The sixth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Michelle Phillips (Knots Landing) and W. Morgan Sheppard (Max Headroom) guest star.
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Mute Records releases the Depeche Mode album Some Great Reward, featuring the single “People Are People”, which becomes the group’s signature song for years to come. (more…)
A&M Records releases David Shire’s soundtrack from the movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Available only briefly – the label doesn’t keep the title in print after the movie proves not to be a blockbuster – the soundtrack has yet to be reissued in any form and is an exceedingly rare collectors’ item. The album includes a version of the theme tune by Andy Summers of The Police. (more…)
NBC airs the second episode of the weekly series based on Kenneth Johnson’s alien invasion epic V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Diane Badler. (more…)
The seventh episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. David Carradine (Kung Fu), Stephanie Beacham (seaQuest DSV), and Stephen Greif (Blake’s 7) guest star.
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Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on a week-long satellite deployment mission, delivering a Canadian communications satellite and another American SYNCOM defense communications satellite into orbit. Using the MMU jet packs, Discovery’s crew retrieve two satellites placed into the wrong orbits by malfunctioning boosters after a shuttle mission earlier in the year, returning them to the cargo bay for return to Earth. Discovery’s crew consists of Commander Frederick Hauck, Pilot David Walker, and mission specialists Anna Fisher, Dale Gardner, and Joseph Allen.
NBC airs the third episode of Kenneth Johnson’s sci-fi series V, starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Diane Badler. (more…)
The eighth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Season Hubley guest stars.
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The week-long national syndication window opens for the seventh episode of George A. Romero’s Tales From The Darkside anthology series. Nile Lanning and Eric Jason guest star. (more…)
The ninth and final studio album from Split Enz, See Ya Round, is released. Originally slated to be a farewell EP by the remaining band members following the departure of Tim Finn (and new drummer recruit Paul Hester), it blossoms into a full-length album thanks to new original material by Hester, bassist Nigel Griggs, and a jam or two between all the band members. Though Split Enz embarks on a lengthy farewell tour (and releases a double album of some of the best performances from that tour), this remains the group’s final studio album. (more…)
ABC airs the Lucasfilm TV movie The Ewok Adventure, starring Eric Walker, Warwick Davis, Fionnula Flanagan, and Aubree Miller. Written by veteran animation writer Bob Carrau and directed by John Korty (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman), this is the first live-action TV set in the Star Wars universe since the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. The movie will become known by the alternate title Ewoks: Caravan of Courage outside of the United States. (more…)
The ninth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Cristina Raines (Centennial), Marius Goring, Tony Anholt (Space: 1999), and Zienia Merton (Space: 1999) guest star.
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Ballantine Books publishes The Odyssey File by Arthur C. Clarke and filmmaker Peter Hyams, chronicling the authors’ collaboration to translate Clarke’s novel 2010: Odyssey Two into the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Their lengthy international correspondence in 1983 and early 1984 was conducted by then-groundbreaking means of pre-internet e-mail exchanges. (more…)
The tenth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Susan George (Straw Dogs) and Patrick Mower (Emmerdale Farm) guest star.
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The big-screen sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact, starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and Bob Balaban, arrives in theaters. Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “2010: Odyssey Two”, Peter Hyams’ movie is visually stunning, especially since none of the original setpieces or models remained from 2001, having been destroyed following production at Stanley Kubrick’s direct instruction. Though heavily hyped, 2010 proves disappointing for moviegoers expecting more of 2001‘s trippy imagery. 
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The long-awaited, long-delayed feature film adaptation Dune premieres, based on the best-selling SF novel by Frank Herbert. Starring Kyle McLachlan (Twin Peaks), Sean Young (Blade Runner), featuring Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Sting (lead singer of The Police), and directed by David Lynch (The Elephant Man, Twin Peaks), the movie meets with very mixed reviews, compressing many of the book’s events into a narrative that viewers not already familiar with the book find confusing. (more…)
The unmanned Vega 1 space probe is launched by the Soviet Union on a dual mission to drop off a lander at Venus and then to intercept Halley’s Comet in 1986. Derived from the USSR’s earlier Venera Venus landers, Vega will test a refined landing system for landing on Venus by balloon, and will then join an international fleet of unmanned spacecraft attempting to take advantage of Halley’s visit to the inner solar system in late 1985 and early 1986.
The 11th episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) guest stars.
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Just days after its twin lifts off, the unmanned Vega 2 space probe is launched by the Soviet Union on a dual mission to drop off a lander at Venus and then to intercept Halley’s Comet in 1986. Derived from the USSR’s earlier Venera Venus landers, Vega 2 will test a refined landing system for landing on Venus by balloon, and will then join an international fleet of unmanned spacecraft attempting to take advantage of Halley’s visit to the inner solar system in late 1985 and early 1986.
Coleco Industries formally announces the complete discontinuation of its Adam computer and the Colecovision home video game console, after revealing a $55,000,000 loss for 1984, a loss incurred largely by the market failure of Adam; only the hugely popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, another Coleco product, keep the company from losing any more money. Coleco’s remaining game and computer stock is sold to closeout retail chain Odd Lot, and the video game market crash claims another victim.
Polygram Records releases the album The History Mix, Volume I by former 10cc members Godley & Creme. Accompanied by a video that anticipates the “morphing” digital effects of the 1990s, the album’s single is “Cry”, though most of the album heavily remixes of the duo’s past work with 10cc. (more…)
The 629th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, premiering the 22nd season of the series. Maurice Colbourne, Brian Glover and Faith Brown guest star in a story tying into both the first Cybermen story (1966’s The Tenth Planet) and the public’s fascination with the close approach, in 1985, of Halley’s Comet. This is also the first episode in Doctor Who’s new format for the 22nd season, which aired one 50 minute episode on the show’s more “traditional” Saturday night time slot. (more…)
The seventh episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television, beginning the series’ second season. The second season is titled Chocky’s Children. Jeremy Bulloch (The Empire Strikes Back) guest stars. (more…)
The 630th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, premiering the 22nd season of the series. Maurice Colbourne, Brian Glover and Faith Brown guest star in a story tying into both the first Cybermen story (1966’s The Tenth Planet) and the public’s fascination with the close approach, in 1985, of Halley’s Comet.
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 Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars. (more…)
Varese Sarabande releases an album of re-recorded orchestral suites recreating the music from the 1960s TV series Star Trek, arranged and conducted by original series composer Fred Steiner and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. (more…)
The 631st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Nabil Shaban makes his first appearance as Sil, with Martin Jarvis (Titanic) guest starring as the Governor. This is also one of Jason Connery’s first television jobs before moving on to the fantasy series Robin Of Sherwood. (more…)
The ninth episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars. (more…)
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the shortest shuttle flight since the 1981 test flights, lasting only three days. A classified Defense Department payload is delivered to orbit, with the help of the first Inertial Upper Stage booster developed by the U.S. Air Force. This mission is the first time that shuttles had to be swapped out prior to flight – thermal tile issues on Challenger prevented that shuttle from being used for this mission – as well as the first instance of a shuttle launch scrubbed because of concerns over freezing weather and ice at the launch site. Discovery returns via the Kennedy Space Center runway, with Commander Ken Mattingly, Pilot Loren Shriver, mission specialists Ellison Onizuka and James Buchli, and payload specialist Gary Payton aboard.
The 632nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Nabil Shaban makes his first appearance as Sil, with Martin Jarvis (Titanic) guest starring as the Governor. This is also one of Jason Connery’s first television jobs before moving on to the fantasy series Robin Of Sherwood.
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
CBS premieres the first episode of the science fiction series Otherworld, following an American family’s attempts to stay alive in an alternate world with a totalitarian government. Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) guest stars. (more…)
The tenth episode of Chocky airs on Thames Television. Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest stars. (more…)
The 633rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Kate O’Mara (Dynasty) guest stars as the Rani, a new Time Lady foe for the Doctor, with Anthony Ainley appearing as the Master. (more…)
CBS premieres the second episode of the science fiction series Otherworld. Mark Lenard (Star Trek, Planet Of The Apes) and Robert O’Reilly (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star. (more…)