The movie LOGAN´S RUN ( based on the bestselling novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson ) is one of the sci fi classics that explores the downside to the " youth cult " that´s so widespread nowadays where everybody is so fascinated with young people. The problem with this craze is that it totally ignores the fact that at that time you have no experience, you don´t think too far ahead, you don´t know how things really work and you make the worst decisions.
In the movie ( I don´t think this is a spoiler since it´s from 1976 ) people live in an utopia where they can have all they could ever whish for. The only catch ?
You are terminated - nicely - when you reach the age of 30. Which was altered from the original novel in which the age was 21. Some say this was changed because of actor Michael York.
He plays the main character, Logan 5 ( which could have been an influence in giving Wolverine his name ) a " sandman " who has to hunt down and kill " runners " which are people who don´t want to die after turning 30. Well, life stops being funny when Logan turns 30 and finds himself at the receiving end of his fellow sandman´s raygun running for his life.
Before George Lucas's Star Wars ( 1977 ) changed the face and feel of cinematic science fiction forever, the Saturn Award - winning ( and Nebula - nominated ) Michael Anderson film, Logan's Run, was likely the standard - bearer for the genre in the malaise days of the 1970s.
In many ways, the bicentennial - released Logan's Run serves as a kind of critical " bridge " production of the turbulent disco - decade: blending the Dystopian qualities of such film predecessors as Soylent Green ( 1973 ) and Planet of the Apes ( 1968 ), with the elaborate, expensive visual effects of the Space : 1999 - Star Wars epoch.
This is from John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film / TV article about Logan´s run that has an extensive comparision betweeb the novel and the movie. A really brilliant piece of writing.
The movie also stars Peter Ustinov, Farah Fawcett and Jenny Agutter and I really have to give kudos to whoever picked that dress for her.
Now is it just me or can it be that the future used to be way cooler in the 70s and 80s ? At least the fashion was. And not only in movies, you remember the costumes from the girls from LEGION OF SUPER HEROES from that period ? Today they are rather dull and look more like biohazard suits but back at the disco aera, ay massita !
Another thing LOGAN´S RUN and the LEGION OF SUPER HEROES have in common is putting numbers behind names. We got Logan 5 and Brainiac 5 but I don´t know which one influenced which. Although it may have just been a thing at that time.
Speaking about comics and LOGAN´S RUN, it also spawned a comic series in 1997 that lasted 7 issues. The story from the movie was continued from issue 6 but Today the comic is best known for being one of the first works of comic legend George Perez.
I have to say I never read those issues because I haven´t seen them on any comic conventions but I´d really like to check them out. Having read the ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR 8 just this month I´m almost sure the art can still hold up. Maybe Marvel will finally release the trade as there is a remake of the movie on the horizon and many seem either to remember the comic series fondly or always wanted to read it. Sounds like a certified hit. I mean how can you not make money with a robot whose midsection looks like a giant diamond ?
And I especially like the big cross on his chest so the enemies have a good target. Speak about a flawed design.
There also was a 6 issue series in 1990 by Malibu and like the series by George Perez I haven´t read it. But this time I´m not sure that I want to judging from the cover. On the other side it has an introduction by one of the original novels authors so it may not be as bad as it looks.
There also is a comic LOGAN´S RUN LAST DAY by Bluewater productions that was done in 2010 although`I´m not sure if it was a 6 issue miniseries or an original graphic novel. In any case it´s a new adaption with a foreword by the other creator of LOGAN´S RUN written by Paul Salamoff and art by Daniel Gete.
It will be followed by LOGAN´S RUN AFTERMATH and Bluewater Production plans to adapt SEVEN FOR SPACE, another well known story by Nolan, as a comic. Additionally Nolan is slated to create a new comic property for Bluewater.
The topic of the movie is still relevant today so it´s no surprise there is a remake slated for 2012. Maybe this time they stick to the original title in german as the first movie had the silly title ESCAPE INTO THE 23RD CENTURY. Which makes absolutely no sense since it´s NOT about time travel.
Besides the comic adaption there was also a shortlived tv series ( 14 episodes ) adaption. I wanted to add the intro clip from the tv series but the embedding was disabled.
Normally I´m not too keen on including tv series in the posts but since I´m not sure if it ever was shown on german tv and it´s not available on DVD here I think some of my german readers might get a kick out of it.
Logan´s run - tv series
Episode 1 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Episode 2 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 3 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 4 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 5 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 6 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 7 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 8 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 9 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 10 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 11 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 12 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 13 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Episode 14 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
password : serienjunkies.org or serienjunkies.dl.am
Back to Jenny Agutter, she starred in a few other movies like THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK or - better known by Today´s audiences - John Landis´cult horror movie AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and it is with great pleasure that I can report that she is naked in quite a few of them.
As in LOGAN´S RUN which despite it´s PG rating has a breast count of 14 which is not bad. Jenny´s first costume was even skimpier but the movie company decided against it because the involved make up would have been too expensive. Sometimes you really wonder who makes these decisions.
Since the 1990s, Jenny has worked in sound recording, and she is a patron of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. After a break from acting she has appeared in several television series since 2000, including the British series Spooks.
Despite it all LOGAN´S RUN is quite an entertaining movie and while there are some people who don´t like it it´s one of my favorite sci fi flicks and you should definitely check it out on one of it´s many reruns. You really could pick worse.
Here are the clips :
Today´s research links are quite a long list and I want to thank all of them for helping me make this post.
part 1 , part 2 and part 3 of jamaican playmate Venice Kong
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