1977 was a watershed year in popular culture. “Saturday
Night Fever” took disco from the clubs, put it out into mainstream America, and
made Vinnie Barbarino into a superstar. Steven Spielberg was about to unleash a
top secret UFO project called “Close Encounters of the third Kind”. And oh
yeah, there was a little space opera called “Star Wars”.
One would think that the producers of “Logan’s Run” had
struck gold and September of 1977 would have been the ideal time in all of
history to launch a new science fiction show on television. But “Logan’s Run”
had the decked stacked against from the beginning with a less-than-adequate
budget and a hostile network (CBS) who failed to promote the show and jerked
around with the timeslot, eventually sticking it on Monday nights opposite ABC’s
“Monday Night Football”, a show with a similar demographic.
Still, even though it lasted only fourteen episodes (three
of which CBS never bothered to air), the show managed to make an impact to
those young viewers who watched it back in 1977.
The series featured two insanely attractive leads—the charismatic
Gregory Harrison as Logan 5, and the beautiful Heather Menzies as Jessica 6.
The most frustrating aspect of “Logan’s Run” the series is the lost opportunity
to explore the dynamic of these two characters. Both the book and the feature
film have a strong erotic quality and the physical chemistry between Michael
York and the sensuous Jenny Agutter is one of the great pleasures of the 1976 movie.
Of course, in the sanitized world of network television circa 1977 it is
understandable this had to be toned down somewhat. But the producers went way
too far in the other direction—to the point where the relationship between
Logan and Jessica comes off as some sort of neutered down, awkward brother
sister thing. If only these two characters were permitted to have an adult,
romantic/sexual relationship the show would have been so much better.
Faring much better with the writers was the character of
Rem, an android that befriends Logan and Jessica in the 90 minute pilot episode
and joins them in their civilization-of-the-week adventure as they travel
across the parched post-apocalyptic earth of 2319 in a super cool hovercraft
SUV (actually, a really cool functional prop). Rem is an outstanding character
skillfully portrayed by the great character actor Donald Moffat. Rem is the
precursor to Data from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. And like Data was on
STTNG, Rem is the heart and soul of “Logan’s Run”.
Even though “Logan’s Run” the series was based on a popular
novel and hit movie adaption (a semi-hit anyway) and had two network-placed
executive producers (Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts), the true creative force being “Logan’s
Run” was the legendary “Star Trek” story editor Dorothy Fontana and
producer/show runner Leonard Katzman. The two of them were hot off “The
Fantastic Journey”, which had received a similar bastard-stepchild treatment by
NBC and was criminally axed after only ten episodes.
They bought to “Logan’s Run” the same sense of wonder and imagination that made “The Fantastic Journey” such a pleasure to watch. Most importantly, Dorothy Fontana brought her writer connections with her as well. So the list of writer contributors were some of the best science fiction television scribes of the era (or any era) including Harlan Ellison, Kathryn Powers, John Meredyth Lucas, and David Gerrold, who wrote the show’s best episode, the outstanding “The Man Out of Time”.
They bought to “Logan’s Run” the same sense of wonder and imagination that made “The Fantastic Journey” such a pleasure to watch. Most importantly, Dorothy Fontana brought her writer connections with her as well. So the list of writer contributors were some of the best science fiction television scribes of the era (or any era) including Harlan Ellison, Kathryn Powers, John Meredyth Lucas, and David Gerrold, who wrote the show’s best episode, the outstanding “The Man Out of Time”.
Like “The Fantastic Journey”, “Logan’s Run” featured an
array of memorable guest stars including Angela Cartwright, Linden Chiles,
Leslie Parrish, Christopher Stone, Ellen Weston, Mel Ferrer, Kim Cattrall, Mariette
Hartley, and Paul Schenar.
Besides fantastic guest stars, story editor Dorothy Fontana,
and imaginative stories from top science fiction writers, there is another
thing that “Logan’s Run” shares with “Star Trek” and “The Fantastic Journey”—great
music.
The staple of composers who scored episodes of “Logan’s Run”
include Jeff Alexander, Jerrold Immel, and one of my all-time favorites, the ultra-talented
Bruce Broughton, who would go on to get an Oscar nomination for “Silverado” and
compose the scores for “Young Sherlock Holmes” and “Harry and the Hendersons”
among many others. But the bulk of the music, including the gorgeous
pop-infused main theme (complete with a wailing disco siren) was composed by
movie and television veteran Leonard Rosenthal.
Rosenthal is best known for the soaring title music from “Fantasy
Island” and he infused “Logan’s Run” soundtrack with the same wonderful sense
of melody. His best score is also for the above-mentioned best episode, “The
Man Out of Time”, where he creates some very moving George Dunning-esque
dramatic cues. The action and suspense
of the series is underscored with exciting atonal cues, similar to the approach
Lalo Schifrin took with another short-lived civilization-of-the-week 70s show, the
“Planet of the Apes” television series.
Bottom line: Although marred by a neutered relationship
between its two main leads, “Logan’s Run” is an imaginative, well-written piece
of 70’s sci-fi kitsch with a wonderful sense of adventure, great guest stars, and an engaging performance by Donald Moffat as Rem.
“Logan’s Run” episodes are available on DVD and streaming at
Amazon.com. A limited edition soundtrack was produced by Film Score Monthly and
is still widely available.
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