Four years after the band’s formal breakup, CBS Records releases (with cooperation from frontman Jeff Lynne) a three-CD Electric Light Orchestra box set, Afterglow. Serving primarily as an elaborate greatest hits collection, the primary draw is the third disc, featuring many previously unheard songs that were “orphaned” when the group’s 1983 album Secret Messages was cut down from a double album to a single LP shortly before publication. 
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Encouraged by the public interest in Voyager 2’s recent visit to Neptune, scientist Robert Farquhar and graduate student Alan Stern pitch a concept for a compact mission, using hardware derived from the Voyager program, to the planet Pluto. Named Pluto 350, for the 350-kilogram upper weight limit decided on as a feasible and affordable launch weight, their proposed mission would launch in November 2001, have a close encounter with asteroid 1442 Corvina in 2002, then a return to Earth to catch a gravity assist in 2005, with a further gravity assist at Jupiter boosting Pluto 350 to its final target in 2015. In addition to pitching this plan to NASA, Farquhar and Stern appeal to the public by publishing a detailed six-page mission plan in the pages of the Planetary Society’s newsletter. However, a tendency toward larger spacecraft – such as the Mariner Mark II architecture envisioned for the upcoming Cassini and CRAF missions – means that Pluto 350 is not given serious consideration by NASA.
CBS airs the 53rd episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Ron Perlman, Jo Anderson, and Roy Dotrice. Suzie Plakson guest stars.
CBS airs the 54th episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Ron Perlman, Jo Anderson, and Roy Dotrice. David Graf and Jeff Corey guest star.
Telstar Records re-releases the single The Prisoner, a techno/hip-hop reworking of the theme of the TV series by FAB and MC Number 6. The single will reach the charts for a couple of weeks, peaking at #56. (more…)
The Soviet Union launches Soyuz TM-10, carrying cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Gennady Strekalov to space station Mir for a long-duration stay in orbit. After a 130-day stay aboard Mir, the TM-10 crew returns, bringing with them Japanese TV reporter Toyohiro Akiyama, who would arrive aboard Mir via Soyuz TM-11 in December. Strekalov will return to serve another tour aboard Mir in the 1990s, becoming the first Russian cosmonaut to arrive in a Soyuz and return home in an American space shuttle.
CBS airs the 55th and final episode of Ron Koslow’s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, starring Ron Perlman, Jo Anderson, and Roy Dotrice. David Graf and Armin Shimerman guest star in the series finale.
Power pop supergroup Jellyfish releases its debut album Bellybutton through Charisma Records, including the hit singles “The King Is Half-Undressed” and “That Is Why”. Steady touring helps the group build an ardent fan base, especially in Japan. (more…)
Launched via space shuttle in May 1989, the long-delayed Magellan space probe reaches the planet Venus after an unusually long voyage (15 months) and begins an orbital insertion maneuver. Where most missions to Venus have reached the planet in only a few months, Magellan has had to make do without the more powerful Centaur liquid-fueled booster stage, resulting in a journey of a year and three months. (The Centaur upper stage had been cancelled after the Challenger disaster because it was felt that carrying an additional liquid-fueled rocket in a shuttle cargo bay was too risky.) Magellan is placed into an elliptical orbit, completely circling Venus every three hours, where it will conduct high-resolution radar mapping of the surface at the closest point in its orbit, and transmitting the resulting data to Earth while furthest from Venus. The first phase of the mapping mission will last through 1991.
Columbia Records releases the Toto compilation album Past To Present – 1977-1990, featuring the single “Out Of Love”; the album covers roughly the first half of the band’s career. (more…)
Catalogued, restored, remastered, and released for the first time ever, The Carl Stalling Project is released by Warner Bros. Records. The album is the first-ever release of the original soundtrack recordings from Stalling’s scoring sessions for the Warner Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies cartoons from the 1930s through the 1950s, featuring many of Stalling’s variations on tunes originally written by Raymond Scott (including the famous manic “Powerhouse” cue). Classic cartoon fans snap the album up and demand more. (more…)
Warner Bros. releases Angelo Badalamenti’s soundtrack from the surprise midseason TV hit Twin Peaks, featuring the show’s signature dreamy jazz-synth-driven score and songs with vocals by Julee Cruise (including the theme tune, “Falling”). Shortly after its release, and for quite some time afterward, this album is the best-selling TV soundtrack album ever. (more…)
NASA’s Magellan space probe, orbiting the planet Venus, has completed a checkout phase and begins its primary mapping mission, intended to gather data of the Venusian surface as high resolution as one kilometer per pixel. Rather than using visible light – which would yield only images of Venus’ dense clouds – Magellan uses radar to map the planet’s blistering hot surface. Launched in May 1989 via space shuttle, Magellan will continue mapping the surface of Venus through May 1991.
The first episode of the superhero series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character, premieres on CBS, starring John Wesley Shipp (Dawson’s Creek) and Amanda Pays (Max Headroom). Tim Thomerson and Lycia Naff (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star.
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Apollon Music, via its Compusic imprint, releases the album This Is Namco!, reinterpreting video game music from the celebrated game manufacturer’s back catalog. (more…)
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 74th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite a summer of rumors (spread primarily via pre-internet computer bulletin board systems) involving cast members being killed off in the conclusion of the Borg two-parter, the regular cast returns, leaving Riker with the task of recovering and restoring the Borg-abducted Captain Picard. A soundtrack album for both parts of the story is released in 1991 by popular demand. This episode opens the series’ fourth season. (more…)
The second episode of the superhero series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character, airs on CBS, starring John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays.
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NBC airs the 31st episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. David Newsom guest stars in the third season premiere. (more…)
The first episode of Dracula: The Series premieres in syndication in the United States, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s literary vampire lore, starring Bernard Behrens (NPR’s Star Wars radio series), Geordie Johnson (Largo Winch, Copper), and Mia Kirshner (The L Word, Star Trek: Discovery, Defiance). The series’ half-hour episodes were filmed in Luxembourg.
Nintendo releases the Dr. Mario cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System, giving everyone’s favorite Mushroom Kingdom plumper a medical degree and pitting him against viruses and germs, Tetris-style. (more…)
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 75th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Whoopi Goldberg, Theodore Bikel and Jeremy Kemp guest star in an episode that, for the first time in the Star Trek franchise, has no scenes on the bridge of the Enterprise. (more…)
The pilot movie of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). All future episodes will be 30 minutes long (with commercials), and in future reruns, the two-hour premiere will be broken up into four episodes: parts one and two of A Hero’s Welcome, and parts one and two of Too Late The Hero.
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NBC airs the 32nd episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Andrea Thompson (Babylon 5), Tia Carrere (Relic Hunter), and Patrick Warburton (The Tick) guest star.
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The second episode of Dracula: The Series airs in syndication, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s literary vampire lore, starring Bernard Behrens (NPR’s Star Wars radio series), Geordie Johnson (Largo Winch, Copper), and Mia Kirshner (The L Word, Star Trek: Discovery, Defiance).
The 53rd episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Sherman Howard guest stars as Lex Luthor in the third season premiere, which is written by Mike Carlin and Andy Helfer. “The Adventures of…” is added to the series title for the remainder of the show’s run.
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Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off to deliver another space probe whose launch has been delayed in recent years, the Ulysses mission. The remnant of a more elaborate (but ultimately scrapped) International Solar Polar mission, Ulysses is the first and only shuttle payload to use a two-stage booster to launch it from Earth orbit into a high, looping trajectory out of the plane of the ecliptic (roughly corresponding to the sun’s equator, around which the solar system’s planets orbit). Ulysses, built and managed by the European Space Agency, promises the first views of the sun’s polar regions. Discovery’s crew is Commander Richard N. Richards, Pilot Robert Cabana, and mission specialists William Shepherd, Bruce Melnick and Thomas Akers. Discovery lands at Edwards Air Force Base after four days in orbit.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 76th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (more…)
One of Atari’s most innovative games of the 1990s is released for the Atari 7800 home video game system. Ninja Golf is a game parodying both the glut of current sports simulations and martial arts fighting games – at the same time. Players take a swing at the ball, and then a swing at their throwing-star-hurling enemies. Despite its cheeky humor and innovative play, Ninja Golf doesn’t make much noise at retail – it’s stealthy, like a ninja. (more…)
The first episode of She-Wolf Of London premieres in syndication in North America, a co-production between Universal Studios and British broadcaster HTV, and starring Kate Hodge and Neil Dickson. The premiere episode is written by series creators and renowned horror filmmakers Mick Garris and Tom McLoughlin. The series is part of a bid by Universal to enter the first-run syndicated drama market that has arisen in the wake of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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NBC airs the 33rd episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell.
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The 54th episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs. Sherman Howard guest stars as Lex Luthor in an episode written by Mike Carlin and Andy Helfer.
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The third episode of Dracula: The Series airs in syndication, based very loosely on Bram Stoker’s literary vampire lore, starring Bernard Behrens (NPR’s Star Wars radio series), Geordie Johnson (Largo Winch, Copper), and Mia Kirshner (The L Word, Star Trek: Discovery, Defiance). Geraint Wyn Davies – who will later gain fame as a heroic vampire in the series Forever Knight – guest stars.
Warner Bros. Records releases the Paul Simon solo album Rhythm Of The Saints, featuring the singles “The Obvious Child” and “Born At The Right Time”. (more…)
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 77th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (more…)
The second episode of She-Wolf Of London is broadcast in syndication in North America, a co-production between Universal Studios and British broadcaster HTV, and starring Kate Hodge and Neil Dickson.
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