Retrogram #7913: Three Shows, Three Mile Island
theLogBook.com releases the 27th episode of the Retrogram podcast, hosted by Earl Green, covering the following shows from the week of March 26th, 1979:
- Blake’s 7: The Keeper
- The Incredible Hulk: No Escape
- Tales Of The Unexpected: Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat
George Romero, director, dies
Pioneering horror film director George A. Romero dies at the age of 77 after a battle with lung cancer. In 1968, his low-budget shocker Night Of The Living Dead all but gave birth to the zombie horror genre. Some of his later films attempted to tackle different subject matter, meeting with box office indifference until he returned to the zombie genre with Dawn Of The Dead (1976), which earned back more than 100 times its production budget. High-profile works after that included the Stephen King-written Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and a third film in his zombie cycle, Day Of The Dead (1985). Sticking this time with his connection to the genre, Romero continued to be involved in spinoffs for comics, internet shorts, and further films, including Road Of The Dead, a movie he promoted shortly before his death. His movies remain immensely influential in the horror genre.
Martin Landau, actor, dies
Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau, a fixture of genre TV and movies since the late 1950s, dies at the age of 89. The star of such series as Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999, Landau was also a renowned acting teacher, and was in demand both before and after his TV heyday with roles in North By Northwest, Crimes And Misdemeanors, and Ed Wood, in which his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in his waning years brought him an Academy Award. He worked steadily through his eighties, in both on-screen roles and voice roles, with some projects yet to be released at the time of his death.
Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor
In a specially shot trailer aired after BBC1’s live coverage of the Wimbledon men’s tennis finals, the first female Doctor Who is unveiled in the form of actress Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch, Black Mirror, Attack The Block). Her first appearance in the role proper will presumably take place at the end of outgoing star Peter Capaldi’s final episode, to be aired on Christmas Day 2017. The transition to a new Doctor also includes the transition to new showrunner Chris Chibnall, whose first season will be broadcast in 2018.
Trevor Baxter, actor, dies
British actor Trevor Baxter, best known in genre circles for a one-off appearance in the 1970s Doctor Who story The Talons Of Weng-Chiang as Professor George Litefoot, dies at the age of 84. Though his guest role on Doctor Who lasted six half-hour episodes, his double-act chemistry with fellow guest star Christopher Benjamin was memorable enough that there was brief discussion at the BBC of possibly launching the two Victorian-era characters in their own TV spinoff. That idea was quickly shelved, but Big Finish Productions, the makers of audio Doctor Who, would revive it in the 21st century, leading to the popular audio series Jago & Litefoot, which ran for nearly a decade. Baxter’s list of guest starring roles spans almost the entirety of classic British TV, and he acted on stage on the West End and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was also a prolific playwright in his own right.
Water washes out ISS spacewalk
A two-man spacewalk outside the International Space Station is called off when water begins collecting inside the helmet of astronaut Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit. Originally scheduled as a six-and-a-half-hour maintenance spacewalk, the EVA is called off at one hour and the astronauts make a hasty return to the airlock. Once inside, an estimated half liter of water is found inside Parmitano’s space helmet; the remainder of the tasks scheduled for this spacewalk are rescheduled for a later EVA.
Eureka: Just Another Day…
Syfy airs the 77th and final episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Debrah Farentino (Earth 2), James Callis (Battlestar Galactica), Felicia Day (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Tembi Locke (Sliders), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Grant Imahara (Mythbusters) guest star in the series finale.
More about Eureka in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
Dawn orbits Vesta
Launched in 2007, NASA’s unmanned space probe Dawn enters orbit of Vesta, one of the largest bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Over time, the mission plan calls for Dawn to spiral down to lower orbits to explore and map Vesta from orbit, trying to determine what secrets the large asteroid has about the earliest days of the solar system. If all goes well, Dawn will remain at Vesta until 2012, and will depart to explore another asteroid, Ceres, arriving there in 2015.
Eureka: A New World
Syfy airs the 45th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) and Tembi Locke (Sliders) guest star.
More about Eureka in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
Stargate Atlantis: The Rising
Sci-Fi Channel airs the two-hour premiere episode of Stargate Atlantis, a new spinoff of Stargate SG-1. SG-1 stars Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks makes guest starring appearances in the episode, which sees the departure of an Earth expedition on a one-way journey through the Stargate to an alien base in the Pegasus Galaxy. The new series launch is well-received, with the existing Stargate fanbase eagerly awaiting the spinoff.
More about Stargate Atlantis in theLogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Stargate Atlantis now streaming on Amazon Prime
V revival runs aground
Sources within NBC reveal to the media that a revival of the ’80s science fiction series V, being written by its creator, Kenneth Johnson, is languishing in a development hell from which neither the network nor its corporate cousin under the Vivendi-Universal umbrella, the Sci-Fi Channel, wants to rescue it. The project, titled V: The Second Generation, simply hasn’t excited anybody enough to greenlight it past the script stage. NBC has passed on V for now, and even Sci-Fi has turned back the lizard invasion. NBC’s executive in charge of miniseries and movies-of-the-week urges Johnson to continue rewrites rather than abandoning ship.
Farscape: The Flax
Sci-Fi Channel premieres the 12th episode of Farscape. At this point, episodes begin airing more or less in order of production.
More about Farscape in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Farscape now streaming on Amazon Prime
Sliders: New Gods For Old
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 74th episode of the science fiction series Sliders, starring Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, Robert Floyd, and Tembi Locke.
More about Sliders in the LogBook
Sliders now streaming on Amazon Prime
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Stargate SG-1: Legacy
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the 47th episode of Stargate SG-1.
More about Stargate SG-1 in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Stargate SG-1 now streaming on Amazon Prime
The Outer Limits: The Inheritors
Showtime airs the 103rd episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. This is a remake of a two-part episode from the 1960s series.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Perversions Of Science: Ultimate Weapon
The ninth episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
The Outer Limits: The Message
Premium cable channel Showtime airs the 17th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Marlee Matlin and Larry Drake guest star.
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Jupiter eats a comet
Its collision with the solar system’s largest planet predicted over a year in advance, the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 begin impacting Jupiter’s atmosphere in an astronomical event lasting six days. With Earth-based telescopes watching, as well as cameras and instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope, Galileo and even Voyager 2, huge explosions are witnessed as the cometary chunks slam into Jupiter’s southern hemisphere at over 200,000 miles per hour, leaving dark “scars” larger than the diameter of Earth visible on the planet’s atmosphere and releasing more heat than the surface of the sun. Galileo is still over a year away from arriving at Jupiter.
Landsat 4
NASA launches Landsat 4, the fourth Landsat Earth resource observation satellite and the first to be redesigned from the ground up (previous Landsats had been based on NASA’s Nimbus satellites from the 1960s and ’70s). For the first time, Landsat data processing and distribution is handled by another government agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, which partners with NASA on all future Landsat satellites. Landsat 4 is the first Landsat to link up to NASA’s TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellite) system, thus enabling real-time data transmission to Earth even when Landsat 4 isn’t passing over a ground station. Landsat 4 remains operational through the end of 1993.
Star Wars filming wraps
After grueling location shooting in Tunisia and lengthy studio filming at Elstree Studios in England, principal photography wraps up on George Lucas’ Star Wars. But returning to America, Lucas finds his newly-founded special effects studio, Industrial Light & Magic, in disarray, and months of miniature and second-unit filming must still be done before the planned (and later rescheduled) release date of Christmas 1976.
Survivors: A Beginning
The 13th episode of Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic series Survivors, A Beginning premieres on the BBC, bringing the first season to an end. This is the final episode to feature Carolyn Seymour, and the last episode to be written by series creator Terry Nation.
Space Race
Atari releases its second arcade game: the very first video racing game, Space Race. Devised to fulfill a contractual game development obligation to rival manufacturer Bally Midway, the game is released by Midway under the title Asteroid, though Atari releases its own “clone” (of its own game) under the title Space Race on this date.
The Tomorrow People: The Vanishing Earth, Part 2
The 11th episode of The Tomorrow People is broadcast on ITV. Kevin Stoney (Doctor Who) and John Woodnutt (Knights Of God) guest star in the second part of a four-part serial.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 lifts off, with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard. This is the first mission scheduled to attempt a landing on the moon, with Armstrong and Aldrin aboard the lunar module while Collins remains in orbit in the command/service module.
Doctor Who: The War Machines, Part 4
The 126th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. TARDIS traveler Dodo remains in modern day London at the end of the story, which also concludes the series’ third season.
More about Doctor Who in the LogBook
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Trinity
The United States Army, and a retinue of scientists who have participated in the top-secret Manhattan Project to create a workable atomic bomb before the then-hostile governments of Germany or Japan can do so, carry out the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in human history, generating a massive explosion with a yield of 22 kilotons of TNT. This is the final test before the deployment of two nuclear weapons in the United States’ war with Japan mere weeks later. Manhattan Project scientists present to witness the test include Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann.