"Gremlins" wins five Saturn Awards 1985

Steven Spielberg's horror/comedy classic, Gremlins, was nominated for nine Saturn Awards and won five at the 12th annual ceremony, held June 9, 1985.

It won Best Horror Film, beating Firestarter, Dreamscape, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Polly Holliday (Flo on Alice) won Best Supporting Actress, beating Dame Judith Anderson for her performance in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.  Joe Dante won Best Director and Jerry Goldsmith won Best Music.  Gremlins won Best Special Effects for Chris Walas.

Corey Feldman was nominated for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, along with Drew Barrymore for Firestarter and Ke Huy Quan for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Dick Miller was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.  Chris Columbus was nominated for Best Writing and Greg LaCava was nominated for Best Make-up.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was nominated for six awards but did not win any of them.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was nominated for seven awards but did not win either.

"Alien" released 1979

Ridley Scott's horror classic Alien was released into theatres June 22, 1979.  Its legacy is one of the most successful science fiction/horror franchises in history.  It starred Tom Skerritt (favorite), Sigourney Weaver (big favorite), and Veronica Cartwright (favorite). 

It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.  It was nominated for Best Art Direction - Set Direction. Its soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

Alien won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Ridley Scott and Best Supporting Actress for Veronica Cartwright.  Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress.

In 2002, it was selected by the Library of Cngress for preservation in the National Film Registry.  The American Film Institute named it as the 7th best science fiction film.

"The Twilight Zone" episode "The Invaders" airs 1961

Another classic and probably one of the most beloved episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Invaders, aired January 27, 1961.  Starring the amazing Agnes Moorehead, it was the only episode to have one character and no dialogue. 

Ms. Moorehead played a lonely woman in remote house who is terrorized by miniature aliens, after finding a spaceship on her roof.  They hit her with ray guns that give her radiation burns, the cut her hand and her foot with a knife, but she eventually gets the upper hand.

The episode was written by Richard Matheson, directed by Douglas Heyes (he is the voice of the alien commander at the end) and scored by Jerry Goldsmith.

According to imdb.com, one of the alien astronauts' names was Grissom, as in Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who was killed in the Apollo 1 fire, which occurred exactly six years to the day after this episode aired.