Logan's Run (TV series)

Logan's Run is a 1977–1978 American CBS-TV mini series and a spin-off from the 1976 film of the same name. In the UK, it was shown on the ITV networks on Sunday afternoons.

Cast

 * Gregory Harrison as Logan 5
 * Heather Menzies as Jessica 6
 * Donald Moffat as Rem
 * Randy Powell as Francis
 * Wright King as Jonathan (three episodes)

Production
The series depicted Logan and Jessica—pursued by Francis (Randolph Powell, billed as "Randy Powell")—traveling in a futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle on a cross-country trek to Sanctuary in a post-apocalyptic America. The domed city was seen only in thepilot and two other episodes, using recycled footage from the film. In a change from the book and film, the television series had the city run by a cabal of elderly citizens; Francis has been promised a life beyond thirty as a city elder if he can bring back the fugitives. Logan and Jessica were joined on their journey by an android named Rem, played by Donald Moffat.

D. C. Fontana served as story editor and worked alongside several other writers fromStar Trek as well as one of the original novel's authors. Executive Producers of the TV show were Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had created Charlie's Angels. Goff and Roberts also wrote the classic film White Heat as well as Man of a Thousand Facesabout make-up legend and actor [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lon_Chaney,_Sr. Lon Chaney].

The pilot episode 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.

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 ("The 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 nom de plume Noah Ward on the episode, but it remained one of the best received of the series.

The series' main theme song was composed by Laurence Rosenthal and incorporated into episode scores by Jerrold Immel.

Production Design
The series used the costume designs for the Sandman uniforms and recycled the guns used in the original film. Mort Rabinowitz worked as the art director on the film assisted by set decorator Linda De Scenna.

Visual Effects and Props
The TV series was one of the earliest to use Computer-generated imagery to create the visual effects used for the series. Roy Hayes Visual Effects did the visuals specific for the series.

Some of the props designed for the movie were reused for the TV series, and the pilot episode featured heavy use of the miniatures and visual effects from the movie.

The hovercraft vehicles used for the film were designed by Dean Jeffries Auto Styling. These vehicles were used in other TV shows after the cancellation of the series, including CHiPs, and were used in movies such as Spaceballs and Ice Pirates. The Ground Car was used in the music video for Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky." The vehicles were also rented out for use in a number of low-budget films.

Cancellation
The series initially had solid ratings but CBS constantly pre-empted the show[clarification needed]  which caused the series to lose much of its audience. Only 11 episodes of the series were broadcast on the West Coast during its original run.

<span class="mw-headline" id="DVD_release" style="box-sizing:border-box;">DVD release
<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:15px;">The complete run of the series was released by Warner Home Video on Region 1 DVD on April 10, 2012.<span class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:0.53em;line-height:0;position:relative;top:-0.5em;">[ 1 ]

<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:15px;">Originally intended as a DVD-R on demand release, the DVD uses the menu and packaging designed for the DVD-R on demand release planned for 2011. The episodes come from a variety of sources and are of varying quality.