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: October 17, 2015

Doctor WhoThe 820th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1 (the 121st episode since the series’ revival), starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman. Maisie Williams (Game Of Thrones) guest stars in part one of a two-part story.

This entry is forthcoming.

Published On: October 17, 1996

NeverwhereThe sixth episode of Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry’s modern-day fantasy series Neverwhere airs on BBC2, starring Gary Bakewell, Laura Fraser, Hywel Bennett, and Paterson Joseph. Peter Capaldi (The Thick Of It, Doctor Who) and Freddie Jones (Children Of The Stones, Dune) guest star in the series finale.

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: October 17, 1995

Deadly GamesThe seventh episode of science fiction series Deadly Games is broadcast on UPN, starring James Calvert, Cynthia Gibb, and Chrstopher Lloyd (Taxi, Back To The Future); Leonard Nimoy serves as the series’ executive producer. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars in an episode directed by Adam Nimoy.

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: October 17, 1983

ColecovisionHaving claimed from the start that a computer add-on for its Colecovision console would be forthcoming, Coleco delivers on the promise with the first shipments of Adam home computer systems. Compatible with Colecovision games, Adam proves to be an immediate setback to the company due to serious technical problems and product failures, leading to a startling fourth-quarter shortfall at the end of 1983.

Published On: October 17, 1983

Track & FieldKonami introduces the arcade game Track & Field in the United States, a multi-event game built around a summer Olympic theme. Due to the nature of the game’s control scheme, the Track & Field coin-ops take a huge amount of abuse as players pound the action buttons to determine the “intensity” of their on-screen athletes’ movement. Read more

Published On: October 17, 1983

Gateway To ApshaiThe third and final game in Epyx’s “Apshai trilogy” is released for various home computer platforms. Gateway To Apshai continues the trend of pushing traditionally turn-based computer RPGs toward real-time action games, a trend that will culminate in the smash success of the unrelated NES game The Legend Of Zelda years later. Read more

Published On: October 17, 1962

Nick HolonyakWorking at General Electric’s New York R&D lab, scientist Nick Holonyak fires up the first working visible-spectrum light-emitting diode, producing a single small red light. (Texas Instruments had already created infrared LEDs the year before.) Too expensive to mass-produce initially, LEDs will become commonplace in calculators and other electronic devices in the 1970s, though more modern variants in the 1990s will lead to a revolution in lighting and display technology, resulting in flat-screen computer monitors and televisions and spinoff technology such as tablet computers and portable telephones with LED-based touchscreens – all unimaginable in 1962.

Published On: October 17, 1961

A For AndromedaThe third episode of the British science fiction series A For Andromeda, created and written by John Elliot and astronomer Fred Hoyle, is broadcast on the BBC, starring Esmond Knight and Julie Christie. Despite being considered a seminal early British science fiction series, much of A For Andromeda, including this episode, no longer exists in the BBC’s archives.

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: October 17, 1957

West PointThe fifth episode of the syndicated western series Boots and Saddles is broadcast in the United States, starring John Pickard. This episode is written by future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Hear more about it on the Gene-ology podcast

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

EG