Travel back in time

2005
Lost: Abandoned

LostABC airs the 30th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost. Malcolm David Kelley guest stars as Walt. Read more (more…)

Categories Lost, Season 2, TelevisionTags
Invasion: Fish Story

InvasionABC premieres the seventh episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. Read more (more…)

Categories Invasion, TelevisionTags
Night Stalker: The Source

Night StalkerABC airs the sixth episode of Frank Spotnitz’ sci-fi/horror series Night Stalker, a re-imagining of the 1970s series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, starring Stuart Townsend (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). ABC cancels the series after this episode, leaving four episodes unaired (which will later appear on Sci-Fi Channel and on the DVD release); this also means that the series ends with part one of what was intended to be a two-part story. Read more (more…)

Rediscovering Lost Scores, Volume 2 (soundtrack)

SoundtrackEast Side Digital releases the Rediscovering Lost Scores soundtrack compilations, featuring Wendy Carlos’ music from The Shining, Tron, Woundings and more. Read more (more…)

Hayabusa on Itokawa

HayabusaA second attempt is made by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to bring its unmanned space probe, Hayabusa, close enough to gather a sample of surface material from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. It attempts to deploy a mini-rover called Minerva to explore Itokawa from the surface, but a glitch results in a trajectory that leaves Minerva tumbling into space, never to reach Itokawa. Hayabusa lands on Itokawa’s surface itself, though mission controllers don’t realize this for several more days. Contact is lost with Hayabusa for a short while, and when it is regained, the vehicle has left the surface and gone into safe mode.

Invasion: The Cradle

InvasionABC premieres the eighth episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars. Read more (more…)

Categories Invasion, TelevisionTags
Confessions Of The Game Doctor

Confessions Of The Game DoctorRolenta Press publishes Confessions Of The Game Doctor, the memoirs of Bill Kunkel (1950-2011), one of the founding editors of Electronic Games Magazine. Read more (more…)

Doctor Who: Children In Need Special

Doctor WhoDavid Tennant and Billie Piper star in a “special scene” written and filmed for the BBC’s Children In Need telethon. Not a spoof sketch, the short “mini-episode” bridges the gap between The Parting Of The Ways and the upcoming Christmas special, The Christmas Invasion. Though it can be considered an official part of the storyline, this is not considered a standalone episode of Doctor Who. Read more (more…)

Invasion: The Dredge

InvasionABC premieres the ninth episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. Read more (more…)

Categories Invasion, TelevisionTags
Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets

Sarah Jane SmithBig Finish Productions releases the sixth Sarah Jane Smith audio drama, a Doctor Who audio spinoff starring Elisabeth Sladen, reprising her TV role. Stephen Greif (Blake’s 7) guest stars. Read more (more…)

Invasion: Origin Of Species

InvasionABC premieres the tenth episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. Read more (more…)

Categories Invasion, TelevisionTags
Homeward, Hayabusa!

HayabusaJAXA’s unmanned Hayabusa spacecraft fires its ion engines to depart asteroid 25143 Itokawa, embarking on a five-year trek back to Earth to return surface samples it obtained of the asteroid. Hayabusa has experienced numerous technical glitches, and continues to experience further problems, including a total loss of contact with Earth for several weeks. Only two out of the vehicle’s four ion engines are still functional, and its battery system is only partially reliable, but it is carrying its precious cargo of the first sample material from an asteroid back to Earth.

The Complete Sounds Of Katamari (soundtrack)

The Complete Sounds Of KatamariColumbia Japan releases the soundtrack album The Complete Sounds Of Katamari, with selections from (and paying tribute to) the first three Katamari Damacy video games. Read more (more…)

Categories Music, SoundtracksTags
Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion

Doctor WhoThe 712th episode of Doctor Who (the 14th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. David Tennant spends much of his first episode portraying an unconscious tenth Doctor, recovering from his regeneration; Penelope Wilton guest stars as Harriet Jones. This is the first episode of Doctor Who intended to be a Christmas special since 1965. Read more (more…)

2006
Who revival kicks BBC into Hyperdrive

HyperdriveWhile the much-talked-about Red Dwarf movie continues to languish in the realm of big-screen vaporware, the BBC lines up its successor. According to a report in the London Times, the new Doctor Who series has put science fiction back on the British broadcasting map, with the BBC’s rivals at ITV preparing a series called Primeval with a multi-million-pound budget and CGI dinosaur effects. In the meantime, the BBC announces a new science fiction comedy for BBC2 called Hyperdrive, which is said to “consciously echo” Red Dwarf, which remains the highest-rated sitcom in BBC2′s history.

Mittens required on Pluto

PlutoScientists are already aware that Pluto is really cold, but recent observations suggest that it’s even colder than they had imagined. New radio telescope measurements of Pluto’s surface indicate that it’s a brisk -382 degrees Fahrenheit (scientists had earlier estimated a positively summery -364). Part of the reason for the slight chill in the air – if indeed there was any there – is that Pluto is on the outbound train. The tiny planet’s highly inclined orbit isn’t centered around the sun, while the solar system’s other worlds are more or less centered; part of Pluto’s orbit carries it further away from the sun and “under” the plane shared by the other planets. Curiously enough, however, the surface of Charon – Pluto’s nearly-identical-twin moon – is determined to be warmer than Pluto itself. The readings are taken by the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Stargate SG-1: The Fourth Horseman – Part 2

Stargate SG-1The 184th 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 (Farscape) and Tony Todd guest star. Read more (more…)

Invasion: Us Or Them

InvasionABC premieres the 11th episode of Shaun Cassidy’s sci-fi/horror series Invasion, starring William Fichtner (Contact), Eddie Cibrian, and Lisa Sheridan. Read more (more…)

Categories Invasion, TelevisionTags
Hyperdrive: A Gift From The Glish

HyperdriveThe first episode of the science fiction sitcom Hyperdrive premieres on BBC2, starring Nick Frost, Miranda Hart and Kevin Eldon. Read more Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

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Stargate SG-1: Collateral Damage

Stargate SG-1The 185th episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks. Read more (more…)

Stardust comes home

StardustNASA’s unmanned Stardust space probe successfully returns its samples of comet and interstellar dust to Earth. A few minutes after 5:00am Eastern time, the Stardust sample return capsule makes a soft landing in Utah, its record-setting 29,000mph return to Earth slowed by a series of parachutes. (Before Stardust’s return, the fastest vehicle to enter Earth’s atmosphere was the capsule bringing home the crew of Apollo 10 in May 1969.) It is hoped that analysis of the tiny particles captured in cakes of a special porous material called aerogel will shed some light on the origins of the solar system. The “mother ship” portion of the Stardust probe is left on a course that will put it into a permanent orbit around the sun. Stardust was launched in February 1999, and gathered its samples from the cloud of gas and dust surrounding Comet Wild-2 in January 2004, zipping through the comet’s coma at 13,000mph.