Logan's Run
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| Author | William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Dial Press |
| Released | 1967 |
- This article is about the 1967 novel and certain adaptations. For the 1976 film, see Logan's Run (1976 film).
Logan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, it depicts a dystopian future society in which population and the consumption of resources is managed and maintained in equilibrium by the simple expediency of killing everyone upon reaching a particular age, thus neatly (and, according to the story's moral "inhumanely") avoiding the issue of overpopulation which was of growing concern at the time. The story follows the actions of Logan, a Deep Sleep Operative or "Sandman", as he "runs" from society's lethal demand.
The introduction to the book states:
- "The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer during the mid-1960s, with sit-ins and student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970s over 75 percent of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. The population continued to climb — and with it the youth percentage.
- In the 1980s the figure was 79.7 percent.
- In the 1990s, 82.4 percent.
- In the year 2000 — critical mass."
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
| Crystal colour | Age |
|---|---|
| Yellow | Birth to 7 years |
| Blue | 7 to 14 years |
| Red | 14 years to Lastday (21 years) |
| Blinking red/black | 21 (Lastday) |
| Black | End of Lastday (death) |
A person's maximum age is strictly legislated. When people reach the limit known as "Lastday" they are executed in a "Sleepshop". The novel sets this limit at twenty-one years; a person's age is revealed by their palm flower — a crystal embedded in the palm of their left hand that changes colour in a programmed sequence.
In Logan 3's society, all those whose palm flowers turn black must report for execution on Lastday. "Runners" are people who refuse to report in and attempt to escape this fate. Logan is a "Deep Sleep Operative" or "Sandman", whose job it is to terminate Runners. On his own Lastday he becomes a Runner himself in an attempt to infiltrate an apparent underground railroad for runners seeking "Sanctuary" — a place where they can live freely in defiance of society's dictates.
Logan decides on his own Lastday to go undercover as a Runner to find Sanctuary and destroy it so that he will be remembered as a hero. For most of the book, therefore, Logan is a much darker character, an antihero, with his character developing a growing sympathy towards Runners until he eventually desires to achieve, not destroy, Sanctuary.
Jessica 6, a contact Logan made when he terminated her Runner brother, helps him in his quest. Francis, another Sandman, catches up with Logan and Jessica after they have managed to escape the cities. He reveals that he and Ballard, a friend of Jessica and Logan who has helped them escape, are one and the same (he was wearing a disguise). The 40-year-old Ballard is working from within the system, and he believes that it is starting to die. Sanctuary turns out to be an abandoned space colony near Mars. Logan and Jessica escape to the colony on a rocket via the dark side of the moon departing from a former space program launch site in the Florida Keys. Ballard remains to continue to help others escape.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
- SF Reviews.Net - T. M. Wagner link
[edit] Style
Logan's Run is fast-paced, at times quite graphic, and was considered quite sexually explicit for its time. Although generally dark (it contains scenes of forced self-mutilation and sadistic sexual torture), Logan's Run is also quite broadly drawn, with characters such as a cryogenics- and sex-obsessed cyborg and an army of deadly American Civil War recreation androids.
Both book and film detail the future society as permissive, and include orgies and the accepted use of drugs. Tobacco, however, is a banned substance, and police are known to raid places where cigarettes are smoked.
[edit] Sequels and spinoffs
Image:Logans world.JPG Nolan wrote two sequels, Logan's World and Logan's Search, published after the film's release. There is also a novelette, Logan's Return, that has been published as an e-book.
Logan's World deals with Logan returning to Earth to free the rest of mankind from the system he escaped in the first novel, while Logan's Search deals with Logan going to an alternate reality (with the assistance of some alien friends) to once again stop the government system he escaped in the first novel, albeit with some minor changes.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
[edit] Film
The novel was adapted in 1976 as a film version, directed by Michael Anderson and starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, and Richard Jordan, is largely faithful to the initial parts of the book, while deviating markedly in its latter half.
[edit] Remake
In 1994, New Line Cinema president of production at the time, Michael De Luca, approached William F. Nolan about a remake [1]. After stalling for a few years, the project landed at Warner Bros. (which like New Line is owned by Time Warner). Producer Joel Silver has been attempting to film a remake since 1999. He first tapped Swordfish writer Skip Woods to write and direct [2].
When Woods left the project 2003, Bryan Singer signed on to direct. Frequent Singer collaborators Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris and Christopher McQuarrie all have worked on the script. Singer worked extensively on designing the pre-visualization for the film. He also stated that one difference between the original film and the remake is that he would change the age of "Lastday" from 30 back to 21.
However, as of July 2006 Singer is unsure what his next project will be. If he decides to do the sequel to Superman Returns, James McTeigue, director of the Silver Pictures production V for Vendetta, is already rumored to replace Singer in the director's chair.
[edit] TV
A television series spun off from the film, starring Gregory Harrison as Logan 5 and Heather Menzies as Jessica 6, lasted one season of 14 episodes from September 16, 1977 through January 7, 1978 on U.S. television (CBS-TV). D.C. Fontana served as story editor, and employed several other writers from Star Trek as well as the original novel's authors. The series was produced by Ivan Goff.
To save money, the series depicted Logan and Jessica — still pursued by Francis (Randolph Powell) — on a cross-country trek to Sanctuary in a post-apocalyptic America. The domed city was seen only in the pilot 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. Logan and Jessica were joined by an android, "REM", played for comic relief by Donald Moffat and who can be seen as a precursor of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Most of the plots were conventional genre clichés, including one "Logan-has-amnesia" episode.
[edit] Others
- A comic strip version of the story, written by Angus P. Allan, was printed in the TV comic Look-In. Marvel Comics also published a short-lived comic book series, which adapted the movie's story, and continued it shortly before it was cancelled at issue #7. Malibu Comics would later publish a Logan's Run mini-series and a Logan's World mini, adapting the books.
- Emperor Norton Records published Logan's Sanctuary, the soundtrack to an imaginary Logan's Run sequel, written and performed by Roger Manning Jr. and Brian Reitzell.
- "City of Domes", an alternative reality game (ARG), was created by the web development group at VirtuQuest.com. The game was a recreation of the Logan's Run city, some 30 years after Logan 5's adventures. This game is archived and playable in the gallery at Virtuquest.com.
- Depicted as Brian's dream in Family Guy episode "Brian in Love." Brian is shown as someone running from elimination on his last day (hence the red blinking gem on palm).
[edit] References
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Logan's Run at TV.com
- Chronology Central's Logan's Run page - contains a chronological listing of all Logan's Run related fiction.
- The World of Logan's Run The World of Logan's Run
- City of Domes Alternative Reality Game by virtuquest.comde:Flucht ins 23. Jahrhundert
fr:L'Âge de cristal (film) ru:Бегство Логана (фильм) sv:Logan's Run
