Bally introduces the Bally Professional Arcade home video game system, based on some of the same technology that Bally and its Midway division have been using in arcade games. This means the Bally Professional Arcade is perfectly suited to home versions of such Midway coin-ops as Space Zap and Wizard Of Wor – possibly the earliest instance of real arcade fidelity in a home game system. Its tiny keypad also allows Bally to claim that the Professional Arcade is a home computer waiting to happen. 
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The 451st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Bennett, Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin guest star.
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 34th episode of The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson, airs on ABC. Jeff Corey (Star Trek, Babylon 5) and Gary Lockwood (The Lieutenant, 2001: a space odyssey) guest star.
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The sixth episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. Varian hangs up his traveling shoes to get married; his bride, naturally, doesn’t survive to the end of the episode. (more…)
ABC airs both parts of a two-part episode of Future Cop as its Friday night movie, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times). Albert Salmi and Gerrit Graham guest star. (more…)
Toho releases The 452nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Bennett, Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin guest star.
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!
Order Earl Green’s book VWORP!1 from theLogBook.com Store
The 35th episode of The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson, airs on ABC.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The seventh episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. The travelers visit an unusual circus from which there is no escape. (more…)
The 453rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. John Bennett, Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin guest star. This episode brings Doctor Who’s 14th season to an end.
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!
Order Earl Green’s book VWORP!1 from theLogBook.com Store
ABC airs the fourth episode of Future Cop, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times). (more…)
The eighth episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. The travelers stumble into a deadly escalation of a war between the sexes. Joan Collins guest stars. (more…)
The ninth episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres. The promise of shelter for the night turns into a waking nightmare (not to mention an episode that would’ve been ideal for a Halloween special). (more…)
ABC airs the fifth episode of Future Cop, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times). Peter Donat (Time Trax) guest stars. (more…)
ABC airs the sixth episode of Future Cop, starring Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy), Michael J. Shannon, and John Amos (Good Times). Joan Collins (Dynasty) guest stars. The series is cancelled following the broadcast of this episode, but will reappear a year later as a new pilot for NBC. (more…)
The 36th episode of The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson, airs on ABC. Elisha Cook Jr. (Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek, Batman) guest stars in the final episode of season two, and the final episode to air on ABC. (NBC will pick the series up for a third season.)
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The science fiction TV movie-of-the-week Man From Atlantis II: The Death Scouts airs on NBC, starring Patrick Duffy and Belinda J. Montgomery. (more…)
NBC airs the pilot of Quark, a new series from Get Smart creator Buck Henry which marks an unlikely combination of science fiction and sitcom. The pilot broadcast gets enough attention to merit a series pickup, but within weeks, Henry’s writing staff is presented with a much meatier target for satire than Star Trek, which Quark originally sets out to parody. 
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The first episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle premieres on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) and Milton Johns (Doctor Who, The Empire Strikes Back) also star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
After spending months in development, the much-publicized big-screen relaunch of Star Trek is cancelled by Paramount. Unable to find a satisfactory script, and having great difficulty negotiating with the stars of the TV series, Star Trek: Planet Of The Titans is dumped by the studio, with no other plans to revive Star Trek in the works. Mere weeks later, a record-breaking movie not originating from Paramount convinces the studio to get back into the big-budget science fiction space race.
The 79th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. This episode is the fourth season finale.
More about The Six Million Dollar Man in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
This series is not fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The second episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) and Milton Johns (Doctor Who, The Empire Strikes Back) also star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The science fiction TV movie-of-the-week Man From Atlantis III: Killer Spores airs on NBC, starring Patrick Duffy and Belinda J. Montgomery. James B. Sikking (Hill Street Blues) guest stars. (more…)
With the 1972 agreement having resulted in the successful Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the United States and the Soviet Union formally renew the Space Cooperation Agreement. As an immediate goal to build on Apollo-Soyuz, both countries hold tentative discussions about docking the American Space Shuttle (which, it is still assumed, will be in space before the 1970s are out) and a Soviet Salyut space station. Though the shuttle’s first flight is still being delayed, the biggest hurdle will prove to be international relations, specifically a renewed chilling of the Cold War thanks to the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
NBC premieres the made-for-TV movie Spectre, starring Robert Culp, Gig Young, John Hurt and Majel Barrett. Created and co-written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Spectre is an atypical Roddenberry project, dealing in magic and the occult rather than science fiction. It is intended to serve as a series pilot, though no series is ordered. (more…)
The third episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) and Milton Johns (Doctor Who, The Empire Strikes Back) also star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Boasting a story and characters with universal appeal, a magnificent soundtrack, and special effects unlike anything that had been seen before, George Lucas’ Star Wars arrives, changing the movie industry and geekdom forever. Word-of-mouth – to say nothing of lines of moviegoers winding around the block, eager to immediately see the movie again – spreads like wildfire, and suddenly it’s okay to be a science fiction fan.
RSO Records releases a double LP of John Williams’ soundtrack from Star Wars, coinciding with the movie’s release. A fold-out poster of publicity artwork of the climactic Death Star dogfight is included. The album becomes a chart-topper by the end of the year, and cover versions by other artists are released even before the year is out. Many listeners become lifelong film score fanatics on the spot. (more…)
The fourth episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) also stars.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Apple Computer introduces the Apple II home computer system, a pre-built 4K computer (with an optional upgrade to 48K) capable of displaying color graphics on a TV or monitor, and storing programs on either cassette or floppy disk. The computer ships with an implementation of BASIC written by Steve Wozniak, with an optional pair of paddle controllers for games. The system also has an open architecture, with space for expansion cards (and no restriction on what cards can be developed, or by whom). (more…)
The fifth episode of children’s fantasy series King Of The Castle is broasdcast on HTV. The series is created by Bristol-based writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (Sky, Doctor Who), and stars Philip Da Costa. Talfryn Thomas (Survivors) also stars.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The Alan Parsons Project releases its second album, I Robot, including the singles “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You”, “Breakdown” and “Don’t Let It Show” (the latter of which is covered latered by Pat Benatar). The album is loosely themed around fear of the future and technology, a far cry from the original plan for a concept album built around Isaac Asimov’s story “I, Robot” (though Asimov allows the album’s title since it lacks the comma). This is the Project’s first album on Arista Records. (more…)
The tenth and final episode of the short-lived NBC series The Fantastic Journey premieres, airing in a time slot intended to burn off the remaining episode outside of any crucial ratings periods. Cheryl Ladd and Gerald McRaney guest star. (more…)
The unexpected runaway success of a dark horse in the summer movie race makes for a mad dash for the toy rights. The winner of that race is Kenner Products, the toy division of cereal maker General Mills, and the prize is the exclusive license to market toys and other products based on Star Wars. Prior to the movie’s release, however, George Lucas has convinced 20th Century Fox to allow him to keep all toy licensing rights, meaning that ongoing licensing payments are made directly to Lucas, providing him with the lion’s share of his future wealth. Kenner executive Bernard Loomis finds himself fighting to convince his own sales team that this movie will attract more than a momentary audience. With the late start and the long lead time on design, tooling and manufacture, Loomis concocts an audacious marketing scheme involving an “empty box” available by Christmas.
No sooner has Paramount’s movie arm axed Star Trek‘s big screen comeback than the studio’s television division announces the unthinkable: Paramount will form its own network, to premiere in February 1978, taking on ABC, CBS, and NBC in prime time. Leading off the new network’s first night will be a two-hour, made-for-TV Star Trek movie starring William Shatner and most of the original cast (with Leonard Nimoy notable by his absence), who will then go on to star in a weekly series chronicling the further adventure of the Enterprise. Gene Roddenberry will return as the creator of the new series. But within just a few weeks, it becomes apparent that the “big three” networks are ready to play hardball to keep Paramount’s network off the air, from leaning on their advertisers to avoid buying ad time on the new network, to quietly threatening to stop picking up Paramount-produced series for their own fall schedules.