#01: Logan's Run (pilot episode)
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#01: Logan's Run (pilot episode)
Air Date: 9/16/77 written by Saul David, Leonard Katzman, William Nolan Directed by Robert Day
The longer-length pilot episode featured a very abbreviated version of the 1976 film in its first 20 minutes: utilizing footage from the film, this initial episode (re-)introduced audiences to the domed city (called The City of Domes here) and its youthful populace, as well as to the ritual of Carousel (there is a difference to the way the floating subjects vaporize - less explosive). As in the film, Logan-5 (Gregory Harrison instead of Michael York) is a Sandman - a version of a policeman - who is dispatched to trackdown a runner while watching the latest Carousel. His friend and fellow Sandman Francis (Randy Powell instead of Richard Jordan) follows, a minute behind him. It's already evident that Logan questions the way of life in this dome or domes, via a few lines of dialog. He confronts the runner and Jessica-6 (Heather Menzies instead of Jenny Agutter), a dome citizen who is part of a secret sect that helps runners. In short order, Logan & Jessica are both on the run after whacking Francis, making their way out of the city via corridors, a secret doorway and finally a hatch that let's them out to a barren landscape and a brilliant sun.
But, this pilot veers from the film in a much more substantial manner than simply compressing events. At this point, we and Francis are introduced to the true rulers of The City: a council of elderly men (led by a man played by Morgan Woodward) who run the computers which we thought ran the City. The council sends Francis after Logan & Jessica, along with a couple of other Sandmen; as a carrot on the stick, Francis is offered possible future membership on the council if he is successful. Logan & Jessica, meanwhile, are trudging over a desert until Logan finally spots a lake and a forested area; this is when the pilot parallels the whole Washington D.C. sequence of the film. But, after that, the plot shifts to completely new directions: the two runners find a futuristic landcraft amid the dusty environs of our now-defunct capital city and escape Francis again to seek out Sanctuary.
From then on, it's a matter of encountering the various communities that exist in this far future; since this pilot is longer than the normal episodes, Logan & Jessica manage to run into a couple of these. The first one is a small band hiding in what used to be a fallout shelter, under siege by a band of horseriders in futuristic uniforms wielding laser guns. Then it's a city of robots (the "Mountain City" - led by Keene Curtis) where they meet the other regular cast member, Rem (Donald Moffat), a more advanced android (an important distinction in this 24th century). The persistent Francis dogs their trail every step of the way.
There's more than a passing resemblance to many a TV movie or TV series of the seventies - everything from Planet Earth (1974) and Strange New World (1975) to Ark II (1976). When you are on a TV budget and need to present an Earth of the far future, that's really one of only two or three ways to go - have the heroes running about a wilderness setting and just costume the various characters in futuristic clothing. That small tank-like vehicle which Logan & Jessica find - supposedly a hovercraft - is a direct steal of the landmaster in Ark II, though it looks less impressive. There's a nice matte painting of the robots' city, besides the stock footage from the film to bolster the show.
The four regular actors are all actually pretty good for such a show. Harrison is smart, earnest and resolute; Menzies is clever and natural; Moffat is the old pro of the group, a very good actor as the wry, ironic android; and Powell was a near-revelation in the possibly limited role of the pursuer - I'm surprised he didn't have a bigger career. His character becomes problematic in the first act, when the true rulers of the city are revealed; the original Francis was fanatical about maintaining the status quo of a computer-run city; Powell's Francis starts out the same way, but then we're asked to abruptly accept a new Francis, one who obeys the orders of this mysterious council without missing a beat. Other than that, though, Powell is excellent. This new council, however - I'm not sure about this; we're also asked to accept this group of old men who live in a secret section that no one ever sees. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Logan's Trivia: if you don't blink, you may see a very young Michael Biehn in a brief early role as one of the Sandmen early in the episode; he went on to star in several James Cameron sci-fi films, beginning with The Terminator (1984). Star Trek TOS actor alert: Morgan Woodward played evil Capt. Tracey in The Omega Glory; it's almost as if his character escaped detention after that episode ended and founded this council on an alternate Earth.
The longer-length pilot episode featured a very abbreviated version of the 1976 film in its first 20 minutes: utilizing footage from the film, this initial episode (re-)introduced audiences to the domed city (called The City of Domes here) and its youthful populace, as well as to the ritual of Carousel (there is a difference to the way the floating subjects vaporize - less explosive). As in the film, Logan-5 (Gregory Harrison instead of Michael York) is a Sandman - a version of a policeman - who is dispatched to trackdown a runner while watching the latest Carousel. His friend and fellow Sandman Francis (Randy Powell instead of Richard Jordan) follows, a minute behind him. It's already evident that Logan questions the way of life in this dome or domes, via a few lines of dialog. He confronts the runner and Jessica-6 (Heather Menzies instead of Jenny Agutter), a dome citizen who is part of a secret sect that helps runners. In short order, Logan & Jessica are both on the run after whacking Francis, making their way out of the city via corridors, a secret doorway and finally a hatch that let's them out to a barren landscape and a brilliant sun.
But, this pilot veers from the film in a much more substantial manner than simply compressing events. At this point, we and Francis are introduced to the true rulers of The City: a council of elderly men (led by a man played by Morgan Woodward) who run the computers which we thought ran the City. The council sends Francis after Logan & Jessica, along with a couple of other Sandmen; as a carrot on the stick, Francis is offered possible future membership on the council if he is successful. Logan & Jessica, meanwhile, are trudging over a desert until Logan finally spots a lake and a forested area; this is when the pilot parallels the whole Washington D.C. sequence of the film. But, after that, the plot shifts to completely new directions: the two runners find a futuristic landcraft amid the dusty environs of our now-defunct capital city and escape Francis again to seek out Sanctuary.
From then on, it's a matter of encountering the various communities that exist in this far future; since this pilot is longer than the normal episodes, Logan & Jessica manage to run into a couple of these. The first one is a small band hiding in what used to be a fallout shelter, under siege by a band of horseriders in futuristic uniforms wielding laser guns. Then it's a city of robots (the "Mountain City" - led by Keene Curtis) where they meet the other regular cast member, Rem (Donald Moffat), a more advanced android (an important distinction in this 24th century). The persistent Francis dogs their trail every step of the way.
There's more than a passing resemblance to many a TV movie or TV series of the seventies - everything from Planet Earth (1974) and Strange New World (1975) to Ark II (1976). When you are on a TV budget and need to present an Earth of the far future, that's really one of only two or three ways to go - have the heroes running about a wilderness setting and just costume the various characters in futuristic clothing. That small tank-like vehicle which Logan & Jessica find - supposedly a hovercraft - is a direct steal of the landmaster in Ark II, though it looks less impressive. There's a nice matte painting of the robots' city, besides the stock footage from the film to bolster the show.
The four regular actors are all actually pretty good for such a show. Harrison is smart, earnest and resolute; Menzies is clever and natural; Moffat is the old pro of the group, a very good actor as the wry, ironic android; and Powell was a near-revelation in the possibly limited role of the pursuer - I'm surprised he didn't have a bigger career. His character becomes problematic in the first act, when the true rulers of the city are revealed; the original Francis was fanatical about maintaining the status quo of a computer-run city; Powell's Francis starts out the same way, but then we're asked to abruptly accept a new Francis, one who obeys the orders of this mysterious council without missing a beat. Other than that, though, Powell is excellent. This new council, however - I'm not sure about this; we're also asked to accept this group of old men who live in a secret section that no one ever sees. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Logan's Trivia: if you don't blink, you may see a very young Michael Biehn in a brief early role as one of the Sandmen early in the episode; he went on to star in several James Cameron sci-fi films, beginning with The Terminator (1984). Star Trek TOS actor alert: Morgan Woodward played evil Capt. Tracey in The Omega Glory; it's almost as if his character escaped detention after that episode ended and founded this council on an alternate Earth.
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