First there came the book "Logan's Run" (1967) by
William F. Nolan and
George Clayton Johnson. It was a very different story from the movie. In the book society was not restricted to domes and Logan was trying to find a mythical person (whose name I cannot remember) and
Sanctuary where people over 21 do not die. The ending was also very different.
In the movie (1976) the sandman Logan 5 (played by Michael York) lives in a sealed domed city where most people die at 30 but there is a supposed chance to renew (and live longer). People have crystals, called LifeClocks, embedded in their palm which indicate their age, by their colour, and start to pulse black and red when they are 30. Sandmen are the enforcers who "put to sleep" people who run rather than face the chance of renewal.
The computer that runs the city is worried about people who seem to be going missing when they reach 30. They seem to be going somewhere called Sanctuary (symbolised by an ankh). In discussion with the computer Logan begins to believe that there might be no renewal. The computer wants Logan to find and destroy Sanctuary and to encourage him it adjusts his lifeclock and steals several years of his life.
Logan starts to run and is pursued by his ex-partner Francis 7 (played by Richard Jordan). He enlists the aid of a young woman, Jessica 6 (played by Jenny Agutter), who seems to know something about Sanctuary and wears an ankh. The film follows his discovery of some difficult truths about his world and the effects of his revelations upon that world.
The movie also includes cameo appearances by Farrah Fawcett and Peter Ustinov.
One of the main problems with the movie is that it was made just before the original Star Wars and the quantum leap in movie special effects that happened at that time with the creation of Industrial Light and Magic etc.
Marvel Comics did a very good comic adaption of Logan's Run (one of George Perez's first colour comics). This was just starting to do a potentially interesting extension of the story when it was cancelled when Marvel failed to renew the license due to the following item.
There was an uninspired TV Series in 1977. They added a Robot called Rem (played by Donald Moffat) to the mix of Logan 5 (played by Gregory Harris) and Jessica 6 (played by Heather Menzies) on the Run from Francis 7 (played by Randy Powell). It only lasted 14 episodes. My main complaint about it is that it caused the cancellation of the much superior comic book from Marvel.
William F. Nolan has written two further Logan books:
- Logan's World (1977)
- Logan's Search (1980)