The topic of discussion for Show #12 will be the 1976 film Logan's Run.
Yes, it's based on the William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson novel, but I've never read it. And yes, there was a short-lived TV series in 1977 starring Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies (14 episodes), but I never saw it.
If anyone has read the book or seen the tv show, I'd love to hear your impressions.
Links:
The World of Logan's Run: TV Series
a great site, chock full of info and newsletters, including interviews with William F. Nolan and a page dedicated to the remake currently being produced by Joel Silver
Vikki's Logan's Run TV Show Guide
TV.com: Logan's Run Episode Guide
Always nice to have a new KAMN...
"Run, runner!"
Nice! Looking forward to this old-school movie. One of the things I like about other than the terrific lines like...
"Fish, plankton, sea greens... protein from the sea!"
...is that it genuinely is SF, nicely translated to the screen. The dystopian/utopian society that Logan lives is is so richly imagined.
BTW, there's a terrific spoof of Logan's Run in the 1998 movie FREE ENTERPRISE.
Yeah, saw that movie (unfortunately) and the one highlight was the great Logan's Run scene. Wish the rest of it had been up to that par.
Dave, Dave, Dave. Free Enterprise is a funny movie. It's slow in a couple scenes, but it is a geek's life movie.
And it's far funnier than any crapfest that Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler has ever been in, but they keep making those, don't they?
Heh. Logan's Run was the movie that introduced me to T. S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." That's the main thing I remember about that movie. Oh, and the fact that kudzu had apparently taken over part of the world where The Old Man was.
I personally am convinced that Logan's Run is the all-time greatest late night movie of all time. Why?
Jenny Agutter, baby!
That, and the cheese. The Sweet, Sweet Cheese. Who can forget the Boxy Robot - Box? Or the Plastic Surgery A-Go-Go scene? Or Peter Frickin' Ustinov? Loved That Movie.
(It should be noted that my particular movie-tastes are, like David's, notoriously forgiving. To the point where I created my own acronym for it - IRLR).
I preferred the TV series to the movie. Mind you I saw the TV series first (thought the android character was cool)as a kid, didn't see the movie till much later.
Thought it was a case of another TV series cancelled too early.
I remember reading the paperback in high school (from the school libary no less), and the dedication list had to be close to a hundred things. One of the things that wasn't in the movie was a motorcycle type gang was one of the first things they encountered leaving the city. The gang rebeled by vowing to kill themselves at age 28 or something close to that. To get past the gang they each had to screw all the members of the opposite sex one right after another, and Logan had to cut so much flesh off the thigh of the girl he was running with. Yeah, a scene they could do without in the movie.
I don't recall as a particularly good read.
Liked the movie and the tv series.
"It should be noted that my particular movie-tastes are, like David's, notoriously forgiving."
Huh? Is that what people think? I happen to have extremely refined taste in films. Summer's the one who liked Free Enterprise.
There was also a short-lived comic book series or two based on the movie. It was published by Marvel and penciled by George Perez. If I remember correctly it was more elaborate than just a straight adaptation.
I saw the movie recently and didn't find it all that compelling. I fell asleep during there big conversation with the crazy old man they find in the hinterlands. Concepts like the whole "one for one" thing and "there is no sanctuary" betrayed the existence of a larger, darker more defined vision than the movie was giving us. If they had Logan slicing flesh off of Jessica 6's thigh, and gang-banging his way to safety (like fred says happened in the book) it might have given the whole thing some bite. The crappy, miniature special effects reminded me why the effects in Star Wars must have blown the collective mind of the 1970's movie audience.
Have you seen The Island? It seems like they took a lot of inspiration from Logan's Run.
KAMN is my #1 podcast right now... thanks for a great show!
I vote 'yea' for Free Enterprise.
I saw the film, I read the book, and I saw the TV series. And I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that the book was better than the movie, and that the movie was better than the series.
Some notable differences between the book and the movie. In the book, the age limit was not 30, it was 21. You got just seven years in each of the three phases of life. Another difference was that in the movie, the city was all there was, and everything outside was freedom. In the movie, the entire planet Earth was under the control of the system that compelled most human beings to die at 21. I say most, because of course the Earth was run by the elders. Third, and most important difference of all - in the book Sanctuary existed! And not only that, Logan and Jessica eventually find it. It's on the moon!
The movie also suffered from that tired old cliche that if you confuse a computer then not only will it explode, but the entire town/spaceship/whatever will also explode. Right.....
The TV series was even more daft. Francis was just illogical. Once the three of them (Logan, Jessica and Francis) were outside of the city, it should have been obvious to everyone - EVEN FRANCIS - that everything that he had been told by the city authorities was a lie. This being the case, why did he bother hunting them? We were expected to believe that this guy, Francis, was so mad that he was prepared to track down Jessica and Logan for the crime of being over thirty, even though he encountered many, many, many over-30s who had been born outside the city, yet for some reason he wasn't interested in capturing them. We were further expected to believe that Francis was so insanely bonkers that even having seen open skies and having breathed fresh air, and witnessed people living full lives, that he himself would voluntarily choose to go back to the city ... to be killed at 30. Madness! The android, Rem, was quite an interesting precursor to Data, but that little silver buggy that the good guys all drove around in (and never needed refueling) was very silly.
I would like to see someone make THE MOVIE OF THE BOOK. And by this, I mean, sticking to the plot of the book absolutely, including hiring only actors who were genuinely under 21. (Remember - the age limit was 21 in the book, not 30). The book was truly excellent. I recommend it.
Hey Jill,
Aside from the book comments, I couldn't agree more with your assessment of the movie and series. The movie certainly hasn't aged well, despite fanboy adoration of Jenny, and the series... shudder.
I knew there was a book, but neither the movie nor series inspired me to search it out. Looks like that will have to change.
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IMHO, the movie took extreme liberties with the book. But having said that, the book is very much a counter-counterculture treatise. Remember, the book was written in 1968, and you were told never to trust anyone over 30. What the authors were trying to say, in essence, is that growing old is part of life, and you lose so much when you deny that.
I remember the series being not very memorable. Perhaps it's most memorable for an episode written by Harlan Ellison (which of course got hacked, and he dropped a pseudonym on) in which Logan, Jessica, and Rem encounter a time traveler from the past. Turns out his actions were responsible for the dystopian mess the world became. Sounds a bit hackneyed (and maybe why Ellison disowned it) but in context of that series, it was kind of moving.
I have always found the story and indeed the film to be interesting. Its a good SF story and I will enjoy hearing your cast on it.
I'm a little hazy on the movie, since it's been so long. But, I don't remember hating it. Some of it was pretty nicely imagined and the concept was thought provoking.
The TV series was very forgettable, although I have to admit to watching it. I have to face facts, as someone who graduated high school in '81 I wathed EVERYTHING.
BTW, for Jenny Agutter Fanboys you can't do better than An American Werewolf in London. Great flick.
Oh, and I can't wait for the sequel to Free Enterprise. It was a hoot!
I always wondered what exactly those guns the guys in black (can't remember their title) were. They seemed to be lasers but the spat flames. And yes I realize it's a silly question but that's just the sort of thing that 13 year olds fixate over watching science fiction movies.
So if you guys could settle the question for me I'd very much appreciate it.
OOPS- my mistake. The episode I was thinking of was "Man Out of Time", and it was written by David Gerrold (of Tribbles fame), but he put the pseudonym on the script. Ellison did indeed write a script, and it bore his name on it. (And the story of that script is interesting, too...)
Jose, the guys in black were called Sandmen, and the guns they had were... guns that spat flames.
In the book, they were weapons almost like six-shooters: the Sandman could dial up a particular projectile (slug, sticky web, anasthetic). Additionally, each weapon was coded to the pore pattern of the assigned Sandman. If someone else (a runner) tried to grab a gun, an explosive device would be activated and the person would find their arm missing.
I had a college buddy who scratch-built a DS gun based on movie stills, and it was pretty damn cool.
"The crappy, miniature special effects reminded me why the effects in Star Wars must have blown the collective mind of the 1970’s movie audience"
Go Daniel! I loved how people were so disappointed in the plot of the latest SW trio, not realizing the plot of #4,5&6 was just as bad, the reason everyone loved it was 'cause of the effects. And that these days the effects are so much better, and the original SW seems cheesy. I imagine back in roman times, the avant gard of street theater goers were blown away when the actors first presented in front of a painted backdrop curtain.
Logan's Run is a classic I haven't seen since my teenage years. . . I remember wondering how the crystals were installed in their hands, and why not just add a drop of paint if you wanted to continue in society. I like Tim's comment about not trusting anyone over 30/growing old is part of life, but I'm sure in my callow youth I didn't get that out of the flick.
Or I may be confusing this with Soylent Green. It's been a while since I've seen either.
People didn't just love the first trilogy because of the effects. They liked the effects, they liked it because it had pirates, wizards, the boy who would be king, the damsel in distress, sword fights, gun fights, and cool aliens.
The second trilogy has characters created to fill specific plot points, not an interesting one in the bunch, besides the villian. The hero is a whining moron who gets played like a ukulele. He is defeated by his mentor, who we no reason to believe had the necessary skills to beat him.
The plots to all of them are typical fantasy plots... defeat the big bad guys. It's not what they do, it's how they do it. They did it better the first time around.
Interestingly enough, the "Logan's Run" novel has been elusive for me. I've been trying to find it at used bookstores ever since I posted this and asked for commentary on the book.
None of them had it, but one of them did have something called "Logan's World". But I didn't get it because I'm on a mission
So now I may have to expand my search to used bookstores farther away, yet my weekends are kinda full already.
Summer-
Powell's Books (www.powellsbooks.com) says they have it...
I've seen the audiobook of Logan's Run for sale a few times. It's eluded me too.
Yes, online is an option, but with used books, I hate not seeing the condition of the book before buying it.
Most of the time, I get a good copy, but every now and then a stinker pops up.
Powell's City of Books is a bibliophiles vacation destination. I'm near portland, and whenever I go to the city, I stop by for a hit. If there's a book they have that you want, put the word out, some loyal minion will stop by with a phone-cam and send you an image of the book's condition.
Wow, now this brings back memories. Ancient memories. I entered fandom (and convention fandom) at a time when the halls of cons were filled with runners and sandmen... Sandmen with butane filled blasters!
Fun, fun, fun!
As far as the film goes, what do you think about the idea that the film attempts to show the dark side of the 'Age of Aquarius' and then progresses to show the problems not adopting that ethos? In essence, the movie starts by showing the ultimate horror of literally 'not trusting anyone over 30' and then ends with showing what the over 30 crowd has done to the world to earn that mistrust.
Great movie. I haven't thought about Logan's Run for years. I am now 30, and watching the film again may have a creepier effect. Has anyone seen "The Island"? I haven't seen it and I was just wondering...
"Logan's World" was the sequel William Nolan wrote some ten-fifteen years after "Run". It's passing fair, but you won't miss much if you never pick it up.