After dismal second-quarter earnings reports lead to weeks of massive sell-offs of Warner Communications and Texas Instruments stock (among many other companies tied into the field of computer and video games), investment firm Prudential-Bache Securities – usually a staunch supporter of tech stocks – kicks the industry crash into high gear with a simple warning: do not buy. Stock prices for video game and computer companies tumble precipitously for the remainder of 1983, driving some of the industry’s longest-lived players out of the business (or out of business altogether). Even relatively stable stocks such as Apple and Coleco take a major hit; computer manufacturers and arcade-only game makers who have made it through the first half of 1983 unscathed find their stock valued at half of what it was worth just weeks before. In many respects this marks the end of the home-grown American video game industry: the next wave of successful products will arrive from Japan, and American software houses will rely on those machines to run their products.
ITV premieres the eighth episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab. This episode is the beginning of the slightly shorter second (and final) season of Astronauts.
The sixth episode of The Black Adder airs on the BBC, starring Rowan Atkinson. This concludes the first series of Blackadder, though it will be some time (and a fair amount of reworking the show’s basic premise) before it returns.
ITV premieres the ninth episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab.
A small object hits one of the windows aboard the Soviet Union’s Salyut 7 space station, leaving a noticeable dent on its exterior layer but not causing enough damage to vent the station’s atmosphere into space (luckily for resident cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who might have to evacuate in their Soyuz T-9 vehicle in such an emergency). Though speculations include a micrometeoroid or wayward debris from a previous space mission, the exact cause of the impact is never confirmed.
ITV premieres the tenth episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab.
ITV premieres the 11th episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab.
ITV premieres the 12th episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab.
ITV airs the 83rd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Stephen Greif (Blake’s 7) and Jacqueline Hill (Doctor Who) guest star.
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ITV premieres the 13th episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab. This is the final episode of the second season and of the series.
Taking off on a six-day satellite deployment mission, Space Shuttle Challenger also lifts the first African-American astronaut into orbit. A satellite deployment is carried out for India, along with continuing experiments to observe the performance of the shuttle in conditions of extreme cold with limited exposure to the sun. Aboard Challenger for this flight are Commander Richard Truly, Pilot Daniel Brandenstein, and mission specialists Dale Gardner, Guion Bluford, and William Thornton.
ITV airs the 84th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Richard Basehart guest stars in the sixth season finale.
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POlygram Records releases the Big Country album The Crossing, featuring the singles “In A Big Country” and “Fields of Fire”.
Software company Imagic, which started out marketing games for the Atari VCS before branching out into the Intellivision, Colecovision, home computer and even Odyssey2 markets, nixes plans to sell public stock in the company. Shortly afterward, 40 of Imagic’s 170 employees are laid off, with every indiciation that more employees will follow as the company tries to stay afloat. Potential investors are told that Imagic’s initial public offering has been delayed until early 1984, but stock in the company is never sold.
NBC airs the 17th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker, opening the third season.
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NBC airs the 18th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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For the first time in history, a launch abort escape system saves its crew from a doomed launch. When a fuel spill is ignited at the base of the launch vehicle for Soyuz T-10-A – an otherwise routine mission to Soviet space station Salyut 7 – the entire rocket catches fire, and ground controllers quickly discover that cables running from their bunker to the vehicle have been severed, preventing them from remotely activating the launch escape tower. A radio frequency backup system finally sends the signal, and the tower blasts the Soyuz capsule free of its doomed rocket just two seconds prior to a massive explosion on the pad. The capsule brings the crew to a safe, but rough, landing a few miles away, while the launch pad fire burns out of control for nearly a day.
In what is perhaps the most tangible event of the entire video game industry crash in 1983, Atari dumps 14 truckloads of unsold game cartridges and other parts in the Alamagordo, New Mexico city dump, with security guards standing by to keep curious onlookers from grabbing any “souvenirs” before concrete is poured over them. The unsold merchandise is stock left over from the closure of Atari’s cartridge assembly plant in El Paso, Texas. Second-quarter earnings report reveal that Atari has lost over $300,000,000 since the beginning of 1983.
Months after his resignation as CEO of Atari, Ray Kassar is hit with charges of insider trading by the Securities & Exchange Commission. At issue, according to the SEC, is the sudden sale of 5,000 shares in Atari’s parent company, Warner Communications, 23 minutes before a statement was issued indicating that Atari would not meet shareholders’ expectations in the fourth quarters of 1982. Other Atari executives are also charged with similar last-minute sell-offs.
The first episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal premieres on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale (Quatermass, Falcon Crest), Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon), and Michael D. Roberts (Baretta, The First Family). Terry Kiser (Weekend At Bernie’s) guest stars in the series premiere, concerning a man who has the ability to shapeshift into any animal.
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NBC airs the 19th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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NBC airs the 20th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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The second episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts. Jonathan Goldsmith (who will later gain fame as an advertising spokesman for Dos Equis beer) guest stars.
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NBC airs the 21st episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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The third and final game in Epyx’s “Apshai trilogy” is released for various home computer platforms. Gateway To Apshai continues the trend of pushing traditionally turn-based computer RPGs toward real-time action games, a trend that will culminate in the smash success of the unrelated NES game The Legend Of Zelda years later.