theLogBook.com is a chronicle of how we used to imagine the future – an ever-expanding
logbook of what our entertainment, our culture, and even our brightest minds thought would happen.
It’s nostalgia – and some real history – that gives factual context to the fiction, cultural
context to the factual, and always looks to the future.

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Published On: July 7, 2009

SyfyThe Sci-Fi Channel, launched in 1992, implements a major rebranding campaign, in the process renaming itself Syfy (a change that meets with some derision from the genre fan community). Unlike the generic term “sci-fi”, the new name can be copyrighted and marketed more aggressively. (Though the “Syfy” spelling was originated by a fan-run website called Syfy Portal, that site’s owners sold that brand earlier in the year, renaming their site Airlock Alpha in the process.) Along with the rebranding comes a somewhat more expansive view of what constitutes genre programming, with reality shows and sports programming (some of it shared with other cable channels under Comcast/Universal ownership) now, another move that meets with criticism and will be somewhat reduced over time.

Published On: July 7, 1992

Mann & MachineThe eighth episode of the science fiction police series Mann & Machine, co-created by Dick Wolf and Robert de Laurentiis, is broadcast on NBC, starring David Andrews and Yancy Butler. (The series has already been cancelled at this point; NBC is burning off the remaining episodes in off-season time slots.)

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.

Published On: July 7, 1988

PhobosThe Soviet Union launches the first of two unmanned Phobos space probes, designed to investigate the largest of Mars’ two asteroid-like moons and deliver a lander to analyze that moon’s surface. With multiple nations pitching in resources to help the mission succeed, including the United States, the Phobos program is intended to be the definitive Mars exploration program of the 1980s, as well as the debut of a new Soviet interplanetary vehicle to take over from the Zond/Venera design in use since the 1960s.

Published On: July 7, 1983

AtariWith the video game industry crash taking its toll, and Atari’s financial status in free-fall, CEO Ray Kassar resigns from the company shortly after a disastrous earnings report showing two straight quarters of multi-million dollar losses – the first Warner Communications suffered since the year before it bought Atari and installed Kassar as CEO. Kassar has also drawn fire for accusations that he sold thousands of shares of his Warner stock minutes prior to the fateful December 1982 announcement that heralded the beginning of the industry’s downturn. Kassar is replaced by former Philip Morris marketing VP James Morgan, who has no prior experience in the consumer electronics field; his previous experience has been in tobacco marketing.

Absolutely no generative AI was used in the creation of the content on this website.
It’s mostly just some guy named Earl.

EG