The Flash: Armageddon, Part 4
The CW airs the 154th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Javicia Leslie (Batwoman) and Tony Curran (Defiance, Doctor Who) guest star.
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Michael Lamper, musician, dies
L.A. session musician Michael Lamper, who had worked with groups as diverse as The Allman Brothers, Quiet Riot, and Los Lobos, dies at the age of 61. He had also played on solo albums by Tommy Shaw of Styx, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees, and numerous others. He was also married (since 1992) to Star Trek: The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis, and had played a non-speaking background role as one of the brutish Gatherers in the third season episode The Vengeance Factor.
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The Orville: Mad Idolatry
Fox airs the 12th episode of the science fiction comedy-drama The Orville, starring and created by Seth McFarlane, closing the show’s first season. Lenny Von Dohlen (Twin Peaks, Red Dwarf) guest stars.
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Arrow: Irreconcilable Differences
The 124th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW.
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Arrow: What We Leave Behind
The 101st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW.
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AKATSUKI arrives at Venus
The Japanese space probe AKATSUKI, launched in 2010 but left in an orbit around the sun by an engine glitch, catches up with its original target, the planet Venus, and fires its attitude control thrusters. The lengthy engine burn slows AKATSUKI enough to be captured by Venus’ gravity, in an elliptical 13-day orbit that brings the probe within 250 miles of the Venusian clouds it was sent to study at its closest, and nearly a quarter million miles away from the planet at the furthest. Another engine burn is planned for March 2016 to circularize and shorten AKATSUKI’s orbit so it can begin its observations of the planet’s weather patterns.
Eureka: O Little Town…
Syfy airs the 53rd episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) guest stars in a Eureka holiday special.
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Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
The longest-serving astronaut retires
A veteran of the Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, 74-year-old astronaut John Young retires from NASA, capping off a 42-year career with the space agency. Young joined NASA in 1962 after hearing President Kennedy’s historic directive to launch a manned mission to the moon, and only three years later Young flew with Mercury veteran Gus Grissom on Gemini 3, the first manned two-person NASA mission. Young commanded Gemini 10 in 1966, was the command module pilot for the moon-orbiting Apollo 10 mission, and in 1972, Young commanded Apollo 16, landing in the moon’s mountainous Descartes region. Young commanded the first space shuttle mission, the maiden flight of Columbia in 1981, and commanded the ninth shuttle flight in 1983. Young had also served as the Chief Astronaut, determining crew assignments and making personnel decisions. In the wake of the Challenger disaster in 1986, Young became one of NASA’s most outspoken critics, and was reassigned to the position of special assistant for engineering, operations and safety – a move he regarded as a political one.
The Dark Angel: Gill Girl
The 29th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Ashley Scott (Birds Of Prey, Jericho) guest stars.
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Sliders: Mother And Child
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 61st episode of the science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, and Charlie O’Connell.
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Mission accomplished! Now keep going.
Beating the odds imposed upon it by the unforgiving environment around the planet Jupiter and its major moons, and engineering challenges such as a high-gain antenna that never unfurled properly after its 1989 launch, NASA’s Galileo space probe completes its two-year mission. Since the spacecraft is still intact and reasonably healthy, NASA gains a two-year extension, which it calls the Galileo Europa Mission, focusing on the two innermost large moons, icy Europa and volcanic Io. Trajectories are planned to fly Galileo even closer to these moons than ever before, though the harsh radiation zone around Jupiter itself could fry Galileo’s main computer and end the mission at any time.
The X-Files: Christmas Carol
The 103rd episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Sheila Larken guest stars.
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Galileo takes the plunge
After five months of independent flight, the Galileo atmospheric probe slams into the atmosphere of giant planet Jupiter at a speed over 100,000mph, burrowing over a hundred miles into the huge planet’s dense atmosphere before the heat of entry and the atmospheric pressure crush the probe. Deploying a parachute to slow its descent, the probe survives for nearly an hour, its sensors finding a surprisingly dry atmosphere. As it plummets toward the center of Jupiter, the Galileo probe registers 450mph winds, but never finds any hints of anything resembling a solid surface. The sum total of the probe’s sensor readings – the entirety of our data gathered directly within the atmosphere of Jupiter – tops out at 460 kilobytes of data.
Babylon 5: A Spider In The Web
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 28th episode of Babylon 5. Michael Beck (The Warriors, Xanadu) and Adrienne Barbeau (Grease, Escape From New York) guest star.
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Star Trek: TNG: Chain Of Command, Pt. I
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 135th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ronny Cox (Robocop) and David Warner (Tron, Time Bandits) guest star.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation now streaming on Paramount Plus
Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis, Part 3
The 679th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story, guest starring Anton Diffring and Fiona Walker, is the final original series Cybermen episode. Jazz great Courtney Pine and his band make a cameo appearance.
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Doctor Who: Dragonfire, Part 3
The 669th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. David Selby (Dark Shadows) guest stars as Glitz; this story introduces Sophie Aldred as new TARDIS traveler Ace. Bonnie Langford makes her final appearance as Melanie. This story concludes the 24th season.
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Doctor Who now streaming on Britbox
2010: The Year We Make Contact
The big-screen sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact, starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and Bob Balaban, arrives in theaters. Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “2010: Odyssey Two”, Peter Hyams’ movie is visually stunning, especially since none of the original setpieces or models remained from 2001, having been destroyed following production at Stanley Kubrick’s direct instruction. Though heavily hyped, 2010 proves disappointing for moviegoers expecting more of 2001‘s trippy imagery.
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Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast
Blake’s 7: Orbit
BBC1 premieres the 60th episode of Terry Nation’s science fiction series Blake’s 7. John Savident guest stars.
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Blake’s 7 now streaming on Britbox
Astronauts: Episode 7
ITV premieres the seventh episode of the sitcom Astronauts, concerning a fictional British space station crew aboard Skylab. This episode closes the first season of the show, and the show has proven popular enough to film a second season in 1982, though those episodes won’t air until 1983.
Cosmos: The Persistence Of Memory
The 11th episode of Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking science documentary series Cosmos premieres on PBS. A popular history of science and scientific theory vs. tradition and superstition, segueing into Sagan’s field of expertise (astrophysics), Cosmos is a major milestone in American documentary filmmaking and the popularization of science and the scientific method (and makes an instant celebrity out of Sagan).
Tales Of The Unexpected: The Stinker
ITV airs the 32nd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Denholm Elliott guest stars.
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Monkey: Monkey Swallows The Universe
The fourth episode of the English-dubbed Japanese action series Monkey airs on BBC2. The series is a translation and dub of a fancifully satirical Japanese adaptation of the Chinese novel “Journey To The West”, starring Masaaki Sakai. 
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
After a tortured development history dating back to aborted early 1970s attempts to relaunch Star Trek on the big screen, Paramount premieres the much-anticipated (and much hyped) Star Trek: The Motion Picture in theaters. At over two hours, and boasting one of Jerry Goldsmith’s best movie scores, the movie bewilders viewers as much as it thrills them. Paramount claims not to make a profit on the movie at all – primarily by including all of the development costs of years of early movie attempts and the never-made Star Trek Phase II television series as part of the movie’s price tag – but, despite its assertion that the movie lost money, the studio begins making plans for a sequel.
Project UFO Sighting 4021: The Superstition Mountain Incident
The 21st episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Dr. Joyce Brothers guest stars.
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Shazam!: The Past Is Not Forever
The 14th episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring Jackson Bostwick, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne.
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Shazam! now streaming on Amazon Prime
Apollo 17: the last man on the moon
The final manned lunar landing mission lifts off atop a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 17 is the first mission to include a qualified geologist, Harrison Schmitt, in its crew; Gene Cernan and Schmitt descend to the surface aboard the lunar lander Challenger, where the last two men to walk on the moon spend a total of 22 hours exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley. For the third mission in a row, a lunar rover is stowed into one side of the lander. Astronaut Ron Evans orbits overhead in the command/service module America. The astronauts return on December 19th, bringing home nearly 250 pounds of lunar soil and rock samples.
Strange Report: Report 1553: Racist – A Most Dangerous Proposal
ITV airs the 11th episode of the mystery/spy-fi series Strange Report in the U.K., starring Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas, and Anneke Wills (Doctor Who). (The series is an international co-production and airs in the United States on NBC.)
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Land Of The Giants: A Place Called Earth
ABC airs the 38th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Warren Stevens guest stars.
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Land Of The Giants now streaming on Amazon Prime