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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(You can also manually look up any other date, browse a year, or go through the whole timeline.)

Published On: May 21, 2005

Doctor WhoThe 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. Read more

Published On: May 21, 2003

EnterpriseThe 51st episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN, ending the show’s second season with a setup for the third year, which will involve the Enterprise penetrating the territory of the Xindi, an unknown race that launched a deadly sneak attack on Earth. The show’s producers are consciously mirroring recent history, with the Xindi attack paralleling the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Read more

Published On: May 21, 1983

The Empire Strikes BackCapping off the original movie trilogy that began with Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back is released. Though there will be a small number of TV projects, as well as ongoing comic and prose fiction publishing, a popular role-playing game and video games, this is the last Star Wars movie for 16 years. Read more

Published On: May 21, 1980

The Empire Strikes BackWith expectations riding higher than they probably ever will for another sequel in movie history, the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, hits theaters and kicks off a whole new wave of merchandise. Yoda, AT-ATs, and The Imperial March are unleashed on the world, while the cliffhanger ending hooks everyone in for the third movie with a shocking revelation about Luke’s lineage. Read more

Published On: May 21, 1977

SpectreNBC 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. Read more

Published On: May 21, 1966

Doctor WhoThe 118th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part four of the story now collectively known as The Gunfighters. This is the final episode of the original series with an episode title independent of the story’s overall umbrella title; all future episodes will simply be “part one,” “part two,” etc. of their respective stories.

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

Published On: May 21, 1959

Godzilla Raids AgainToho Studios release the first Godzilla movie sequel, Godzilla Raids Again, directed by Motoyoshi Oda. (Significant alterations to the movie, including a different title, will be made for its eventual U.S. release.) Read more

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

EG