Blake’s 7 premieres
Terry Nation, the television writer who created Doctor Who’s greatest foes, the Daleks, graces the world with another science fiction creation on the BBC, Blake’s 7. Set centuries in the future, the show depicts a government so corrupt that the audience is left with a band of terrorists, guerilla fighters and deeply flawed human beings with whom to sympathize (and luckily, they have the cathedralesque Liberator, the fastest ship in the galaxy, on their side too). The show’s only drawback? Delivering post-Star Wars sci-fi action on the budget it inherited from the cop show that previously held that Monday night timeslot.
More about Blake’s 7 in the LogBook
Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast
Atari releases The Next Step Beyond: Tsunami
The week-long syndication window opens for the first episode of The Next Step Beyond, a revival of the 1950s/60s supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond. John Newland resumes his hosting and directing duties from the original series; Laraine Stephens (Matt Helm) guest stars. Though syndicated genre programming will become commonplace in the late 1980s, this is a rare example of a genre show produced for first-run syndication in the late 1970s.
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Logan’s Run: Futurepast
CBS airs the tenth episode of the TV adaptation of Logan’s Run. Mariette Hartley guest stars.