The five-month-long strike of unionized Hollywood writers comes to an end, allowing numerous television series and movies to go back into pre-production. With the American television network schedule introducing new shows as early as September in many cases, the “new fall season” does not begin on time, and most series do not have new episodes on the air until the critical Nielsen TV ratings sweeps month of November.
GNP Crescendo Records releases the first CD of Star Trek: The Next Generation soundtrack music, containing Dennis McCarthy’s music from the pilot movie, Encounter At Farpoint. 
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Welsh toymaker Dapol, renowned as a top model train manufacturer for the past five years, releases the first wave of 3 3/4″ action figures based on characters from Doctor Who, including a TARDIS and a limited run of a 25th anniversary playset featuring a motorized TARDIS console. The first of Dapol’s long-running series of Dalek toys is also included in this first wave, in a variety of colors. (more…)
The Soviet Union launches the Soyuz TM-6 mission to the Mir space station, with cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov, Valeri Polyakov and Abdul Ahad Mohmand aboard. Lyakhov and Mohmand remain aboard Mir for only a week, participating in experiments involving both crews, but Polyakov, a medical doctor, remains on Mir to monitor the Expedition 3 crew in the final months of their unprecedented one-year stay in orbit. This crew exchanges spacecraft with the station crew, returning home in the Soyuz TM-5 vehicle after a week on Mir, but their return is plagued by problems both technical and otherwise.
The Soviet Union loses contact with the Phobos 1 unmanned Mars probe during its interplanetary flight and is unable to re-establish contact. The cause of the vehicle’s loss is later traced to a typo in a single line of command code uplinked to its computer from the ground; this error changes a routine command to a command to shut down attitude control, leaving Phobos 1 tumbling through space, unable to point its antenna toward Earth. The mission is a complete loss.
Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, undock from the Mir space station and prepare to return home, jettisoning the orbital module of their Soyuz TM-5 space capsule per standard procedure. But their descent module – the only part of a Soyuz that ever returns to Earth intact – experiences numerous technical glitches, and ground controllers in the Soviet Union order them to stay in orbit for an extra day. That’s easy enough for engineers on Earth to say: the abandoned orbital module contains the only toilet facilities on a Soyuz spacecraft, leaving the crew to hold everything until their return on September 7th; there is also no fresh water available. Needless to say, Soviet mission planners redraw the rules of future missions to keep the orbital module attached until the last possible moment with safety guidelines.
The seventh episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. This episode, the second season opener, introduces the character of Kryten, though Kryten doesn’t stay aboard Red Dwarf until his next appearance in the third season. This is the only episode in which Kryten is played by David Ross (Robert Llewellyn plays the role when Kryten becomes a regular fixture). (more…)
The Schnell Fenster album The Sound Of Trees is released in America by Atlantic Records (having already been issued by EMI in Australia and New Zealand). The band is formed around former members of Split Enz, including founding guitarist Phil Judd, percussionist Noel Crombie, ’80s bassist Nigel Griggs, and guitarist Michael den Elzen (the only member of the group not to have played for Split Enz, though he has been a session player on a Tim Finn solo album). The single “Whisper” fails to take off in the States and the band breaks up after running up significant debts trying to promote the album. (more…)
The eighth episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. John Abineri guest stars. (more…)
CBS premieres the first episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: Destroy The Defendroids and The Adoption.
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The 
The 36th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Harry Morgan (M*A*S*H) stars in the third season premiere. The third season, still produced by CBS despite the cancellation of the series on the network’s schedule, is produced in Canada with the intention of increasing the number of episodes to make further syndication of the new Twilight Zone viable. The third season is overseen by Mark Shelmerdine (I, Claudius) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Jeremiah, Sense8), and is reformatted into single-story, half-hour episodes.
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CBS airs the second episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: Fugitive From Space and The Supermarket.
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Restless Records releases They Might Be Giants‘ second album, Lincoln, featuring the singles “Ana Ng” and “They’ll Need A Crane”. (more…)
The tenth episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. Mark Williams guest stars. (more…)
The first Space Shuttle launch in over two years since the Challenger accident, Discovery lifts off on a flight to test improved safety systems and procedures. The shuttle’s major payload is the second TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellite) launched by NASA (an identical satellite was lost in the Challenger explosion in 1986), as well as numerous smaller experiments. Problems with Discovery’s environmental system cause the crew cabin to be warmer than usual. Discovery’s crew for this flight consists of Commander Fred Hauck, Pilot Richard Covey, and mission specialists John Lounge, George Nelson, and David Hilmers.
The 37th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Marc Singer (V) stars.
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CBS airs the third episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: By The Skin Of The Dragon’s Teeth and At The Babysitter’s.
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The 11th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. Charles Augins guest stars. Stop shirkin’ and start workin’! (more…)
The 670th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Michael Sheard, Simon Williams and Terry Molloy guest star in the opening story of the 25th season. The Daleks make their first appearance since 1985, and this is the final original series story to feature them. (more…)
The 38th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Ted Shackelford (Space Precinct) stars.
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CBS airs the fourth episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: Cybron Strikes and The First Day Of School.
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The first episode of the syndicated Alexander and Ilya Salkind-produced Superboy series, starring John Haymes Newton and Stacy Haiduk, premieres. The premiere episode is written by Fred Freiberger, the producer behind Beyond Westworld and the final seasons of Star Trek and Space: 1999.
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The first episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger. The first episode, directed by Tobe Hooper, recounts the trial and execution of Krueger, as alluded to in the A Nightmare On Elm Street movie franchise.
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The 12th episode of the science fiction comedy Red Dwarf airs on BBC 2. Angela Bruce guest stars as the female Lister from the alternate universe, and Hattie Hayridge makes her debut as Hilly, an alternate female Holly (Hayridge joins the series full time in the third season). This is the final episode of Red Dwarf’s second season. (more…)
The 671st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Michael Sheard, Simon Williams and Terry Molloy guest star in the opening story of the 25th season. The Daleks make their first appearance since 1985, and this is the final original series story to feature them. This episode also marks a major shift away from the comedy-oriented stories of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
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CBS Records releases the album Fantasy by German band Münchener Freiheit (shortened to “Freiheit” for the English-speaking world). Issued in a German language edition earlier in the year, this version of the album features English lyrics and a different arrangement of the band’s best-known single, “Keeping The Dream Alive”. (more…)
The 39th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) stars.
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CBS airs the fifth episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: The Big Scoop and Overnight With The Scouts.
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The second episode of the syndicated Alexander and Ilya Salkind-produced Superboy series, starring John Haymes Newton and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Julie McCullough (Growing Pains, Robin’s Hoods) guest stars.
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The second episode of the horror anthology series Freddy’s Nightmares is broadcast in syndication in North America, hosted by Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger.
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Warner Bros. Records releases the Traveling Wilburys’ debut album Volume One, featuring the singles “Handle With Care” and “End Of The Line”. (more…)
The 672nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Michael Sheard, Simon Williams and Terry Molloy guest star in the opening story of the 25th season. The Daleks make their first appearance since 1985, and this is the final original series story to feature them. This episode also marks a major shift away from the comedy-oriented stories of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
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!
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The 40th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs in syndication. Eddie Albert stars in an episode written by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Jeremiah, Sense8).
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CBS airs the sixth episode of the animated series Superman, starring the voices of Beau Weaver and Ginny McSwain, and comprised of two stories: Triple-Play and The Circus.
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