Commercial spaceflight operator Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, launches its twelfth New Shepard flight. The uncrewed (but human-rated) capsule includes 38 experimental payloads, some of them designed by NASA, Columbia University, and two winners of an “art in space” contest sponsored by rock group OK Go. As with past missions, both the capsule and its single-stage suborbital booster come in for soft landings near Blue Origin’s Texas launch facility. This is the sixth flight for the third New Shepard reusable capsule, as well as the sixth flight for the third New Shepard reusable booster.
Streaming service CBS All Access debuts two installments of Short Treks, a series of 15-20 minute short stories set in the Star Trek universe, both of them animated. Ephraim And DOT, a comical return to the era of the original Star Trek, is directed by composer Michael Giacchino, while The Girl Who Made The Stars is the first Star Trek production in 53 years to feature an entirely African-American cast, writer, director, and composer. The voices of Kenric Green (The Walking Dead) and Kirk Thatcher (Star Trek IV) are featured in the first studio-produced Star Trek animation since the early 1970s.
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Episodes 37-46 of the science fiction series The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), premiere on streaming service Amazon Prime. Burn Gorman (Torchwood) joins the show’s cast for the fourth season.
Streaming service Disney+ premieres the the sixth episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV series set in the Star Wars universe, starring Pedro Pascal. Mark Boone Jr. (Sons Of Anarchy), Bill Burr (Breaking Bad), Clancy Brown (Highlander, Earth 2), Natalia Tena (the Harry Potter films, Game Of Thrones), and Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) guest star. 
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The chief designer of the 6502 microprocessor (a device credited with breaking Intel’s near-monopoly on the market and kick-starting the personal computer revolution), Chuck Peddle dies at the age of 82. Having already gained experience as part of the team that developed Motorola’s 6800 chip, Peddle realized that there was a need for a cheaper alternative. (At over $300 upon its introduction in 1973, the 6800 was still prohibitively expensive.) Motorola showed no interested in developing an inexpensive alternative, so Peddle defected to rival chip maker MOS, where he brought the 6502 chip to market. Within a few years of its introduction, the 6502 was already the heart of the Apple II, the earliest Atari home computers, the Commodore VIC-20, and the BBC Micro. Variants of the 6500 processor family powered the Commodore 64, the Atari VCS, and the Nintendo Entertainment System, among countless others. He was often credited as the father of the personal computer.
Streaming service Disney+ premieres the the seventh episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV series set in the Star Wars universe, starring Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers (Rocky, In The Heat Of The Night), and Gina Carrano. Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and Werner Herzog guest star. (more…)
In development since 2010, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space vehicle lifts off atop an Atlas V rocket on its first flight, scheduled to take it to the International Space Station. A software and sensor mishap after second stage separation results in the vehicle putting itself into an orbit unable to reach the station, after burning enough fuel to make a major orbital correction impossible. Boeing and NASA settle on an alternate flight plan to allow for other engineering tests in orbit before the vehicle’s planned return to Earth on land a few days later. There is no crew aboard for this first flight, though Boeing contends that astronauts aboard might have been able to override the engineering problems that resulted in the incorrect orbital insertion.
The eleventh Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, premieres, starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, alongside original trilogy stars Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Ian McDiarmid, and Harrison Ford (Carrie Fisher appears pothumously in scenes originally filmed for, but cut from, The Force Awakens in 2015). Perhaps inevitably, given the late 2010s’ tendency to politicize popular culture and its followers, and with the weight of fan expectations of a satisfying conclusion to the saga on it, the film proves somewhat controversial. Shortly after its release, work on future Star Wars feature films at Disney-owned Lucasfilm comes to a halt, and the franchise becomes a mainstay of Disney’s streaming video service.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space vehicle ends its uncrewed maiden voyage by successfully landing with its combination of parachutes and impact-cushioning airbags at White Sands, New Mexico. Intended to visit the International Space Station on its first flight, the Starliner’s flight plan changed unexpectedly when a software and sensor mishap during launch put it into the wrong orbit, and used more fuel than expected, making it impossible to reach the same orbit as the ISS. Despite the mishaps, both Boeing and NASA expect the Starliner’s second flight, scheduled for 2020, to include a crew of astronauts.
Streaming service Disney+ premieres the the eighth episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV series set in the Star Wars universe, starring Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers (Rocky, In The Heat Of The Night), and Gina Carrano. Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and Jason Sudeikis guest star in the first season finale. (more…)
theLogBook.com releases the 13th episode of the Retrogram podcast, hosted by Earl Green, covering the following shows from the week of December 28th, 1969:
- Mission: Impossible: The Amnesiac
- Land Of The Giants: Our Man O’Reilly
- Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space Part 1
Songwriter and occasional actor Neil Innes, best known for his association with Monty Python, The Rutles, and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, dies unexpectedly at the age of 75. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s hit “I’m The Urban Spaceman” brought him into the orbit of the Beatles, and he contributed a background track to their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour. His participation in a later parody of the Beatles, the Rutles, led to TV specials and well-received albums, which counted among their fans and participants the former members of the Beatles themselves. Innes contributed material to the shortened final season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which made him one of only two members outside of the Python troupe to write material for the show (the other was future Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy creator Douglas Adams); his work with the Pythons continued into their feature films in the 1970s and early ’80s; he was also a cast member in the Pythons’ live performances during this period.
The 854th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1 (the 155th episode since the series’ revival). Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill star. Lenny Henry (Neverwhere) and Stephen Fry guest star in the premiere of the modern series’ 12th season; Sacha Dhawan (An Adventure In Space And Time) guest stars as a new incarnation of the Master.
The 855th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1 (the 156th episode since the series’ revival). Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill star. Lenny Henry (Neverwhere) and Sacha Dhawan guest star.
Streaming service CBS All Access debuts the tenth episode of Short Treks, a series of 15-20 minute short stories set in the Star Trek universe. This short story sets up the upcoming new series Star Trek: Picard.
The 168th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Grant Gustin, Tyler Hoechlin, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Melissa Benoist, and Ruby Rose guest star in the continuation of a major crossover event uniting all of the CW’s DC Comics-inspired series.
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The CW airs the 68th episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Brandon Routh, and Tala Ashe. Jon Cryer and Grant Gustin guest star in a special episode serving as part of the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover event.
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The first episode of Armando Iannucci’s sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 premieres on HBO, starring Hugh Laurie (House), Josh Gad, Lenora Crichlow (Being Human), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending), and Zach Woods (The Office, Silicon Valley). Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager) guest stars.
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Avenue 5 now streaming on HBO Max
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The CW airs the tenth episode of Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose and Rachel Skarsten.
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Batwoman now streaming on HBO Max
The 169th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW.
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The CW airs the 69th episode of Legends Of Tomorrow, starring Caity Lotz, Matt Ryan, Brandon Routh, and Tala Ashe.
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Streaming service CBS All Access debuts the first episode of Star Trek: Picard, starring Patrick Stewart as a retired Jean-Luc Picard encountering a mystery that forces him to come out of retirement, set over 20 years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars.
The second episode of Armando Iannucci’s sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 premieres on HBO, starring Hugh Laurie (House), Josh Gad, Lenora Crichlow (Being Human), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending), and Zach Woods (The Office, Silicon Valley). Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager) and Neil Casey (Other Space) guest star.
More about Avenue 5 in the LogBook
Avenue 5 now streaming on HBO Max
The CW airs the 11th episode of Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose and Rachel Skarsten.
More about Batwoman in theLogBook.com Store
Batwoman now streaming on HBO Max
The 170th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. This is the series finale.
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