Hawkeye: Partners, Am I Right?
Streaming service Disney Plus releases the fourth episode of Hawkeye, created for TV by Jonathan Igla and starring Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld.
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Rene Auberjonois, actor, dies
Actor Rene Auberjonois, best known in genre circles for playing security chief Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for seven years, dies of metastatic lung cancer at the age of 79. A Tony-winning stage actor who didn’t break into films until Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H in 1970, he quickly became a familiar face on TV (Night Gallery, Ellery Queen, The Jeffersons, The Bionic Woman, Man From Atlantis, Wonder Woman, Beyond Westworld) and in movies (King Kong, The Big Bus, Eyes Of Laura Mars); the early 80s saw a new focus on voice roles for animation, including Smurfs, Super Friends, Challenge Of The Gobots), as well as the regular role of uptight chief of staff Clayton Endicott III on the political comedy Benson from 1980 through 1986. After Benson’s run, more voice work beckoned, including the role of Louis in Disney’s The Little Mermaid in 1989. 1991 saw his first appearance in the Star Trek universe, as warmongering conspirator Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, a role which landed on the cutting room floor until those scenes were reinstated for the home video release. In 1992, he was cast as Odo, a pivotal regular character on Deep Space Nine, winning him a new generation of fans as the series ran through 1999. Other genre roles include guest stints on The Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Stargate SG-1, Warehouse 13, The Librarians, and Star Trek: Enterprise (though in a role unrelated to Odo). From 2004 through 2008, he was a regular on the William Shatner legal dramedy Boston Legal.
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine now streaming on Paramount Plus
John Glenn, the last Mercury astronaut, dies
The last living member of the original Mercury astronaut group, former Senator John Glenn, dies at the age of 95. Born in 1921, Glenn was a decorated combat pilot who flew during World War II and the Korean War, before turning his piloting skills to testing experimental aircraft. This brought him to NASA’s attention, and he made the first orbital flight by an American astronaut in 1962. Upon returning from that historic flight, he was removed from NASA’s flight rotation by the request of President Kennedy, who didn’t want to risk the life of a national hero. Glenn then turned to the equally high-stakes world of politics, first running for Congress in 1964, but not winning a Senate seat until 1974. Glenn remained in Congress through 1998, at which point he finally returned to orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery, the oldest space traveler to have done so.
Legends Of Tomorrow: The Chicago Way
The CW airs the 24th episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Arthur Darvill, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz and Victor Garber. John Barrowman (Torchwood) and NEal McDonough guest star.
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The Flash: Running To Stand Still
The 32nd episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin, airs on the CW. Mark Hamill (Star Wars, The Flash) guest stars.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the Battlestar Galactica
Sci-Fi channel airs the first part of the miniseries re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. A reboot rather than a sequel to the late ’70s series, this more hard-edged version of the story plays fast and loose with many of the character outlines and is influenced heavily by the post-9/11-attacks western mindset. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell star, with the script written by Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Hotly anticipated due to over a year’s worth of speculation about the far-reaching changes to the show’s story outline, the miniseries is an instant hit.
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Battlestar Galactica now streaming on Amazon Prime
Level 9: A Price To Pay
UPN broadcasts the seventh episode of the near-future sci-fi series Level 9, starring Fabrizio Filippo (Queer As Folk, Delilah & Julis), Kate Hodge (She-Wolf Of London), and Michael Kelly (House Of Cards). William Russ (Boy Meets World) guest stars.
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Star Trek: Insurrection soundtrack
GNP Crescendo releases a CD of Jerry Goldsmith’s music from the movie Star Trek: Insurrection.
Aquila: An Elephant Surrounded By Blind Men
The tenth episode of children’s science fiction series Aquila premieres on BBC1, starring Ben Brooks and Craig Vye.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Wish
The 43rd episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, and Alyson Hannigan also star. Emma Caulfield Ford guest stars as Anya.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Ted
The 23rd episode of Joss Whedon’s trend-setting supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, and Alyson Hannigan also star. John Ritter (Three’s Company) guest stars.
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Lois & Clark: Stop The Presses
The 75th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher.
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Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman now streaming on Amazon Prime
Galileo’s last visit home
Catching the last gravity assist on its four-year “VEEGA” tour of the inner solar system, NASA/JPL’s Galileo spacecraft swings past Earth one last time, conducting further tests of its imaging system and other instruments by examining Earth and its moon. Galileo now sets its sights on the outer solar system, where it will take up an orbit around giant planet Jupiter in 1995, studing the planet and its atmosphere, its moons, and its unfriendly-to-spacecraft radiation environment. Efforts to release the vehicle’s stuck high-gain antenna continue, though NASA admits that, within a few months, they will have to begin planning for a mission that can only make use of the low-bit-rate medium-gain antenna.
Super Force: Made For Each Other – Part 2
The 33rd episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers).
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Superboy: Into The Mystery
The 88th episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs.
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Galileo’s antenna problem
Launched in 1989 via Space Shuttle, the unmanned Galileo probe reveals a significant technical problem during its first flyby of Earth: the umbrella-like high-gain antenna, allowing it to send its observations of Jupiter and its moons back to Earth at high speed, is stuck in a partly-open, partly-closed configuration that prevents its use. Ground engineers at JPL have to devise data compression schemes, and a tight record/playback schedule, that will allow Galileo to take all of its planned observations and send them back to Earth at a lower bit rate than planned. It is theorized that the long delays in Galileo’s launch – the probe was ready for launch in 1982 but had to wait through delays in the early shuttle program and was then kept in storage in the aftermath of the Challenger disaster – allowed the antenna’s lubricant to dry up. Galileo won’t reach its target planet, Jupiter, until 1995.
Super Force: Come Home To Die
The ninth episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers).
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Superboy: Mindscape
The 62nd episode of the syndicated series Superboy, starring Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, airs.
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Dracula: The Series: Get A Job
The 11th episode of Dracula: The Series airs in syndication, starring Bernard Behrens, Geordie Johnson, and Mia Kirshner.
Galileo visits a small blue planet
NASA/JPL’s Galileo space probe reaches the second destination on the lengthy “VEEGA” (Venus/Earth/Earth Gravity Assist) flight path that will eventually take it to Jupiter. This leg of Galileo’s journey brings it back to its home planet, Earth, where crystal-clear images of the planet are obtained from the perspective of a passing spacecraft. Galileo will loop past Earth once more at a later date en route to Jupiter.
Amazing Stories: What If…?
The 35th episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC.
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Amazing Stories now streaming on Amazon Prime
Amazing Stories: Remote Control Man
The tenth episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. Ed McMahon, Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team), Barbara Billingsley (Leave It To Beaver), Gary Coleman (Diff’rent Strokes), Richard Simmons, and Clara Peller guest star.
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Amazing Stories now streaming on Amazon Prime
Atari sues Coleco over Atari compatibility
With sales of the Atari 5200 console already seriously impacted by the rival Colecovision video game system, and perhaps hoping to distract from a potentially alarming earnings statement issued the same day, Atari files suit against Coleco over the first add-on produced for Colecovision: Expansion Module #1, which allows Colecovision owners to play Atari 2600 games (and entices 2600 owners to trade up to Colecovision, since their existing game libraries won’t automatically become useless). Atari sues for patent infringement, while Coleco immediately countersues, claiming that Atari is violating antitrust and monopoly laws.
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The first hint of the crash
Warner Communications, the parent company of video game manufacturer Atari, issues an earnings statement in which it anticipates losing money in the fourth quarter of 1982. The losses are attributed to product returns and other shortfalls experienced by Atari, despite the acquisition of licenses for home video games based on Pac-Man and E.T. The reaction on Wall Street is immediate, and a massive sell-off of video game related stock leaves the entire industry reeling within a week. The industry is seeing the first hint of the bust that will end the boom years.
Defender
After a mad last-minute rush to prepare it for display at the 1980 Amusement Machine Operators of America (AMOA) trade show, Williams Electronics debuts what will become its most successful arcade game, Defender. With a more complex control panel than nearly any video game since Computer Space, Defender is ignored at AMOA, only to become a top earner in arcades (and a source of bragging rights for those who master the control scheme).
Flash Gordon soundtrack
Elektra Records releases an album of rock group Queen‘s soundtrack from the cult science fiction classic Flash Gordon. The album, which omits Howard Blake’s orchestral score and leads off with the single “Flash’s Theme”, is a European chart-topper (and gets a surprising amount of airplay elsewhere for a mostly-instrumental soundtrack album).
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Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast
Doctor Who: Nightmare Of Eden, Part 3
The 520th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. David Daker and Peter Craze guest star in a strangely-timed (just before Christmas?) anti-drug story.
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Invisible Man: The Klae Dynasty
NBC airs the tenth episode of The Invisible Man, starring David McCallum (The Man From UNCLE, Colditz), Melinda Fee, and Craig Stevens. Nancy Kovack and Peter Donat (Time Trax) guest star.
The Starlost: The Implant People
The 12th episode of the short-lived Canadian-made science fiction series The Starlost, The Implant People, premieres. Donnelly Rhodes guest stars.