The Varese Sarabande CD Club releases Jerry Goldsmith‘s rejected score from the 1988 film Alien Nation as a limited edition CD. 
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The 21st episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, continuing Dirk Maggs’ adaptation of Douglas Adams’ novel So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish. Christian Slater (Mr. Robot, Heathers) guest stars. (more…)
The final film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is released, starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ian McDiarmid. (more…)
The 707th episode of Doctor Who (the ninth since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. John Barrowman guest stars in the first appearance of Captain Jack Harkness (a character who will later led the spinoff series Torchwood); this is the first episode of a two-part story and is the first non-parody Doctor Who episode written by future showrunner Steven Moffat. The episode goes on to win a Hugo Award. (more…)
The 22nd episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, concluding Dirk Maggs’ adaptation of Douglas Adams’ novel So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore appears as himself. (more…)
The 708th episode of Doctor Who (the tenth since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. John Barrowman guest stars in the conclusion of a two-part story written by future showrunner Steven Moffat. The episode goes on to win a Hugo Award. (more…)
Reverberations Records releases the album Homemade Spaceship: The Music Of ELO by Parthenon Huxley, a member of The Orchestra (the successors to ELO Part II). The album covers numerous classic ELO songs, but with radically different arrangements. (more…)
Big Finish Productions releases the 69th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford. (more…)
The 23rd episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, the beginning of Dirk Maggs’ adaptation of Douglas Adams’ final Hitchhiker’s Guide novel, Mostly Harmless. Jonathan Pryce, Rula Lenska, Mitch Benn, and Andrew Secombe guest star. (more…)
Big Finish Productions releases the sixth Gallifrey audio drama, a Doctor Who audio spinoff starring Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson. (more…)
La-La Land Records releases Bear McCreary’s soundtrack from the first season of Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica reboot. Released by popular demand from the show’s fan base, the soundtrack displays the series’ rapidly evolving, complex musical direction, including the unusual dual main theme tunes (one used for broadcast in the UK, one used in the US). 
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The 709th episode of Doctor Who (the 11th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. John Barrowman and Annette Badland guest star. (more…)
The 24th episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, adapting the novel Mostly Harmless. Jonathan Pryce and Andrew Secombe guest star. (more…)
The 710th episode of Doctor Who (the 12th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. John Barrowman and Paterson Joseph guest star. (more…)
The 25th episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, adapting the novel Mostly Harmless. Griff Rhys Jones and Andrew Secombe guest star. (more…)
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is released, starring Christian Bale. Michael Caine, and Liam Neeson. (more…)
Big Finish Productions releases the fourth U.N.I.T. audio drama, a Doctor Who audio spinoff. Nicholas Courtney and David Tennant guest star in what is intended to be a “season finale”, though it will be several years before Big Finish revisits U.N.I.T. as its own audio spinoff. (more…)
The 711th episode of Doctor Who (the 13th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. The ninth Doctor regenerates, making him the second shortest-lived incarnation of the Time Lord (after Paul McGann); even Colin Baker outlasted Eccleston in the role. John Barrowman and Paterson Joseph guest star; David Tennant makes his first brief appearance as the tenth Doctor. (more…)
Computer pioneer Jack Kilby, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in creating the integrated cicruit, dies of cancer at the age of 81. A long-time employee of Texas Instruments, he co-invented the integrated circuit, which made the current advances in miniturization of computer technology possible. (Prior to that, even minimal computing power often occupied an entire room.) He also counted the handheld calculator among his inventions. Though he retired from TI in the early 80s, he continued to consult for the company until the time of his death.
The 26th episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is broadcast on BBC Radio, concluding Dirk Maggs’ adaptation of the novel Mostly Harmless. Maggs takes liberties with the end of Adams’ novel, negating the book’s original ending (for which Adams himself had expressed regret after publication) and reuniting most of the original cast for a happier ending than their characters met in print. (more…)
Decca Records releases 
Big Finish Productions releases the 70th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford. (more…)
Big Finish Productions releases the seventh Gallifrey audio drama, a Doctor Who audio spinoff starring Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson. (more…)
Wall Of Sound releases the second album by Röyksopp, The Understanding, along with an edition that includes a bonus disc. (more…)
After months on a precise interception course, NASA’s unmanned Deep Impact space probe meets up with Comet Tempel 1, firing a impactor into the comet’s nucleus to study the distribution and composition of the debris scattered by the resulting impact. The impactor had been released by the flyby spacecraft six days earlier, and transmitted its images and readings to the flyby vehicle, which records them and retransmits them to ground controllers on Earth. The two vehicles’ on-board software tracks the comet so precisely that the impact happens within a second of the anticipated timeline in the mission plan, kicking up enough cometary dust to obscure the view of the crater left on the comet’s nucleus. Following the Tempel 1 mission, the still-intact Deep Impact flyby vehicle is redirected for future missions to other objects in the solar system.
The surviving Apollo-Soyuz Test Project astronauts and cosmonauts gather at the Stafford Air & Space Museum (founded by Apollo-Soyuz commander Thomas Stafford) in Weatherford, Oklahoma to mark the 30th anniversary of the first international manned spaceflight. (theLogBook.com’s webmaster is in attendance.)
Prolific film and TV composer Joe Harnell, whose memorable themes introduced audiences to such shows as The Incredible Hulk, the original V miniseries and The Bionic Woman, dies of heart failure at the age of 80. Before breaking into film music, he toured America and Europe with the Glenn Miller Air Force Band, and then landed numerous gigs as a musical director for such legendary talents as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Beverly Sills, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne. He also released over a dozen albums of his own piano compositions. A three-time Emmy nominee for Best Dramatic Score, his atypical choice of a somber solo piano for the main titles of The Incredible Hulk was the beginning of a long partnership with writer/producer Kenneth Johnson, who also utilized his talents in V and Alien Nation, among other shows. He was also a film scoring lecturer and teacher in residence at the University of Southern California.
The 174th episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks. Claudia Black guest stars in the ninth season premiere. (more…)
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 20th episode of Stargate Atlantis. Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) guest stars in the second season premiere. (more…)
Sci-Fi channel airs the 14th episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. This episode begins the show’s highly anticipated second season; from the second season onward, all episodes premiere in North America. Kate Vernon guest stars. (more…)
Columbia Records Japan releases the soundtrack album from the Playstation 2 game Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy (translation: We Love Katamari). In the wake of the critical acclaim for the original game’s music and its soundtrack album, anticipation for this game’s soundtrack is high. (more…)
James Doohan, the actor known to millions as the original Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Scott, dies at the age of 85. A veteran TV and radio actor who also led Canadian troops during D-Day in World War II, he tried out a number of accents for what was originally a rather non-specific engineer character for Star Trek’s first season before settling on a Scottish accent; even after the series ended, his involvement with Star Trek continued, and he provided nearly every male voice outside of the show’s regular characters in the short-lived animated Star Trek series before reprising the role of Scotty in the first seven Star Trek films and a fan-favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease last year, and made a farewell appearance at Star Trek convention a few months later, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well.
The 175th episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks. Claudia Black guest stars. (more…)
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 21st episode of Stargate Atlantis. Beau Bridges and Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) guest star. (more…)
Sci-Fi channel airs the 15th episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Kate Vernon guest stars. (more…)