Logan's Run (TV series)

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Logan's Run
Gregory Harrison as Logan 5, Heather Menzies as Jessica 6, and Donald Moffat as Rem
Genre	Science fiction
Created by	based on characters created by William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson, & David Zelag Goodman
Starring	Gregory Harrison Heather Menzies Donald Moffat Randy Powell
Music by	Laurence Rosenthal (theme, pilot and 3 episodes) Jerrold Immel Bruce Broughton Jeff Alexander
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	14
Production
Executive producers	Ivan Goff Ben Roberts
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Goff-Roberts-Steiner Productions MGM Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 16, 1977 (1977-09-16) – February 6, 1978 (1978-02-06)

Logan's Run is an American science fiction television series, a spin-off from the 1976 film of the same name. The series starred Gregory Harrison as Logan 5 (the title character), Heather Menzies as Jessica 6, and Randy Powell as Francis 7. This series was aired on CBS from September 16, 1977, to February 6, 1978.

The series maintains the basic premise and visual style of the film in that Logan and Jessica have escaped from the "City of Domes" so that they will not have to die upon reaching the age of 30. The series differs from the plot of the movie in various ways, and depicts Logan and Jessica on the run in each episode in various locations on future Earth as they search for the mythical place known as "Sanctuary". Logan and Jessica are also assisted in each episode by an android called REM (acronym for Reclective – meaning self-programming, problem-solving – Entity Mobile), a character created for the series and played by Donald Moffat.^[1]

The series lasted only 14 episodes before it was cancelled due to its low rating. Three additional episodes were filmed but never aired.^[2][3]

The series depicted Logan and Jessica escaping from the City of Domes only to be pursued by Francis (Randolph Powell) and various other Sandmen. Traveling in the "SolarCraft," a futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle which they find in an abandoned building in the remains of Washington DC, they embark on a trek through post-apocalyptic United States to find Sanctuary. On their journey, they encounter strange human societies, robots and aliens. The domed city (including Carousel) was seen only in the pilot and two other episodes, using recycled footage from the film. In a change from the book and film, the television series had the city secretly run by a cabal of older citizens who promised Francis a life beyond the age of 30 as a city elder if he can capture the fugitives. Logan and Jessica were joined on their journey by an android named Rem (played by Donald Moffat), whom they encounter in a futuristic city run by robots.

• Gregory Harrison as Logan 5
• Heather Menzies as Jessica 6
• Donald Moffat as Rem, an android whose technological skill and tools often help the runners.
• Randy Powell as Francis 7 (only appears in six of the fourteen episodes all the main cast members were credited with)

D. C. Fontana served as story editor and worked alongside several other writers from Star Trek as well as one of the original novel's authors. Executive producers were Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had created Charlie's Angels the year before.

The pilot episode, which began with a condensed retelling of the original film's concept was written by William F. Nolan, co-author of the original novel, with Saul David, the original producer of the film and the TV series (until he was dismissed), and series producer Leonard Katzman. When the pilot was presented to the network, CBS asked to have part of the pilot re-shot with changes to the plot, including the introduction of a cabal of city elders who secretly ruled over the Domed city. This change alters Francis 7's motivations for pursuing Logan. In the film, his intent is to kill Logan for betrayal, but due to the introduction of the cabal, Francis is offered by them the chance to live beyond age 30 as a reward for bringing Logan and Jessica back to the city.

Goff and Roberts were brought on board by MGM when original producer of the TV show (and producer of the film) Saul David was fired from the project and the pilot episode went through reshoots, rewriting and re-editing prior to being green-lit for production as a series. The line producer for the series was Leonard Katzman.

Fontana commissioned Harlan Ellison to write a treatment for one episode ("Crypt" which was heavily revised) and David Gerrold to write a teleplay ("Man Out of Time"). Gerrold's script was rewritten by someone else, prompting Gerrold to use his pen name "Noah Ward" (a homonym of "no award") on the episode.

In a 2017 interview, Heather Menzies stated that Dirk Benedict and her Sound of Music co-star Nicholas Hammond also auditioned for the role of Logan 5. When asked for her opinion on the series' quick demise, she replied: "I think they needed to spend more money on the visuals. Star Wars came out around that time and we couldn't really compete with that".^[4]

The series' main theme tune was composed by Laurence Rosenthal. Most of the Incidental music was also by Rosenthal, Some additional music was composed by Bruce Broughton, Jerrold Immel. But there are many tunes in the series taken from various library music album. Some says it's from Chappell Records.

Despite its brief run, the show was sold overseas. It was shown in the United Kingdom by the ITV network in early 1978, though times varied per region. It was also shown in Australia late 1977, in France in 1978, in Spain in 1982 and in Italy in 1984. It was also broadcast on Channel One in New Zealand.

The Mego Corporation had planned to release a line of Logan's Run toys in conjunction with the series. Prototypes were made for several 10" action figures, but the cancellation of the show prompted Mego to change their minds and cancel production.^[5]

The complete run of the series was released by Warner Home Video on Region 1 DVD on April 10, 2012.^[6]

• Richard Blackburn. "Logan's Run Takes the Sci Fi Challenge". Circus. No 168: 10 November 1977. pp 26 to 28.
• "CBS Confirms Logan" in "Log Entries". Starlog. No 7: August 1977. p 9.
• Lee Winfrey. "Logan's Stumbling Instead of Running". Macon Telegraph & News. 30 October 1977. p 22.
• Jo Larkin. "Logan Still Running". Look-in: Junior TVTimes. No 15: week ending 8 April 1978. p 15.
• "Logan's Run". Look-in: Junior TVTimes. No 5: week ending 28 January 1978. p 15.
• "Logan's Run". TV Guide. 10 September 1977. p 70.
• SF Galore. No 1: Fall 1977.

• Logan's Run at IMDb