AH Challenge: Make the TV series "Logan's Run" last 5 years (or more)

phx1138

Pretty much what it says on the tin. ;)

The show was based on the movie, which was based on the book.

(Greg Harrison, best known, probably, for "Trapper John", makes a decent Logan.)

For a start, I think I'd pick up before the movie, rather than at it's end... (That does make calling the series "Logan's Run" problematic...;) )
 

arrowiv

I wonder if anyone has actually done a decent TL based on the 1976 film explaining how the domed city society and "don't trust anyone over 30" policy came into being and ending with the events of Capricorn 15ths, 2274, as depicted in the film? ( a nice touch in the film was the domed society using Zodiac signs in place of months).
 

Dancing Fool

phx1138 said:
No, not before The City; before Logan starts running...

That makes it more "Sandman in The City" than "Logan's Run", tho, so...
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So, how a police officer becomes a criminal [for that society]. And yes, that conversion does seem to be the major dramatic tension.
 

Dancing Fool

arrowiv said:
how the domed city society and "don't trust anyone over 30" policy came into being
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This will make a great paragraph for a professor-like character to explain. But I’m not sure a script can do more than that without bogging.

In a similar way, George Lucas reportedly wrote 500+ pages of pre- and post- story for his original Star Wars, which as a two hour movie would otherwise be about 120 pages of screenplay.

And the original IV: A New Hope (1977) remains my favorite, although I understand some people prefer V: The Empire Strikes Back, or even III: Revenge of the Sith.
 

Geon

Donor
arrowiv said:
I wonder if anyone has actually done a decent TL based on the 1976 film explaining how the domed city society and "don't trust anyone over 30" policy came into being and ending with the events of Capricorn 15ths, 2274, as depicted in the film? (a nice touch in the film was the domed society using Zodiac signs in place of months).
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I had some ideas about that a while back.

We know from the film that some time ago a major cataclysm destroyed civilization outside of the domed city. What that disaster was we are not told.

The City of Domes is constructed as a last resort to serve as a survival shelter for select members of the elite and their families near Washington, D.C. When the disaster comes it is sealed off. The citizens in the city survive for many generations. Initially an artificial intelligence is activated to be used as an advisor to the city government. But as the years go by the computer becomes the city government. The computer realizes the danger of overpopulation in a closed environment. It therefore decides to implement a strict population control procedure. Children are conceived naturally but then artificially gestated in artificial wombs. And a procedure of controlled euthanasia is initiated to allow strict population control. Later the computer for psychological purposes begins to speak of "renewal" for a select few. In time the people of the City accept this as the norm for the most part.

How does this sound so far?
 

stirlingdraka

Donor
Yes, Geon that works. Logan`s Run is my favourite sci-fi film and book. Your thoughts match the thoughts I`ve had on the movie backstory. I`ve got no idea how you make the Tv series last longer. I would have preferred a sequel film.
 

Geon

Donor
stirlingdraka said:
Yes, Geon that works. Logan`s Run is my favourite sci-fi film and book. Your thoughts match the thoughts I`ve had on the movie backstory. I`ve got no idea how you make the Tv series last longer. I would have preferred a sequel film.
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As would I @stirlingdraka.

One idea I have is drop the idea of a "secret council" that governs and controls the computers. That totally shot down the series for me. Dump the android as well. Instead have some one portray a survivor from outside helping Logan and Jessica. Don't have so many high tech citadels having survived either. I think they tried to cram too much into the series to make it worth. I knew the show was going to be a disappointment from the first episode.
 

phx1138

Dancing Fool said:
So, how a police officer becomes a criminal [for that society]. And yes, that conversion does seem to be the major dramatic tension.
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Yeah, the series could deal with how Logan-3 (-5?) becomes a target. (In the film {the book, too, IIRC}, The Computer doesn't really give him a choice, when it resets his lifeclock; in-series, maybe he gets one.)

He's established in the film as somebody who "thinks too much", which might be the basis for him to be a troublemaker (of sorts) in-series, before he turns full-on Runner.
 

arrowiv

phx1138 said:
Yeah, the series could deal with how Logan-3 (-5?) becomes a target. (In the film {the book, too, IIRC}, The Computer doesn't really give him a choice, when it resets his lifeclock; in-series, maybe he gets one.)

He's established in the film as somebody who "thinks too much", which might be the basis for him to be a troublemaker (of sorts) in-series, before he turns full-on Runner.
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Yes, earlier in the film, Logan asks his fellow Sandman Francis "Have you seen anyone renewed? Anyone we know?" Francis gives Logan a blank stare or a fairly generic answer IIRC.
 

arrowiv

Geon said:
I had some ideas about that a while back.

We know from the film that some time ago a major cataclysm destroyed civilization outside of the domed city. What that disaster was we are not told.

The City of Domes is constructed as a last resort to serve as a survival shelter for select members of the elite and their families near Washington, D.C. When the disaster comes it is sealed off. The citizens in the city survive for many generations. Initially an artificial intelligence is activated to be used as an advisor to the city government. But as the years go by the computer becomes the city government. The computer realizes the danger of overpopulation in a closed environment. It therefore decides to implement a strict population control procedure. Children are conceived naturally but then artificially gestated in artificial wombs. And a procedure of controlled euthanasia is initiated to allow strict population control. Later the computer for psychological purposes begins to speak of "renewal" for a select few. In time the people of the City accept this as the norm for the most part.

How does this sound so far?
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Sounds quite reasonable to me. We can assume the domed city was established in the late 21st century so by the time two centuries have passed, the now under-30 years old inhabitants have completely forgotten their origins and history and prefer to live it up at their local Love Shop, Hallucimill, or the New You Shop ( Logan's Run fans would be familiar with them). Still I have always wondered what did happen to Washington DC in the film with the Mall being flooded, vegetation growing all over the buildings and then Peter Ustinov living in the Capitol building with a lot of cats!
 

Geon

Donor
arrowiv said:
Sounds quite reasonable to me. We can assume the domed city was established in the late 21st century so by the time two centuries have passed, the now under-30 years old inhabitants have completely forgotten their origins and history and prefer to live it up at their local Love Shop, Hallucimill, or the New You Shop ( Logan's Run fans would be familiar with them). Still I have always wondered what did happen to Washington DC in the film with the Mall being flooded, vegetation growing all over the buildings and then Peter Ustinov living in the Capitol building with a lot of cats!
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At first I thought that a nuclear war was the cause of the cataclysm. But Washington is relatively intact which it wouldn't be in a nuclear disaster. Believe it or not climate change was still an issue back in the 70's when Logan's Run (the movie) was made. There were fears of a global ice age back then. We also might be looking at some form of pandemic.
 

Dancing Fool

arrowiv said:
Peter Ustinov living in the Capitol building with a lot of cats!
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And each cat had 3 names!

I want to say the first was the formal name and the second the informal name, but I’m not sure about this.

But the third was definitely the name which only the cat knew. 😽
 

CaptainCalvert

Dancing Fool said:
And each cat had 3 names!

I want to say the first was the formal name and the second the informal name, but I’m not sure about this.

But the third was definitely the name which only the cat knew. 😽
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It just shows that Peter Ustinov's character was the smart one, choosing to live with the cats.
 

arrowiv

Geon said:
At first I thought that a nuclear war was the cause of the cataclysm. But Washington is relatively intact which it wouldn't be in a nuclear disaster. Believe it or not climate change was still an issue back in the 70's when Logan's Run (the movie) was made. There were fears of a global ice age back then. We also might be looking at some form of pandemic.
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Back in the day when the film first came out, I always thought it was an atomic war but it may be something else. I can buy any theory as to what did actually happen to DC in the LR universe.
 

Garrison

Donor
You probably have to completely retool the entire ethos of TV sci-fi in the 1970s. It was pretty much all soulless, plastic stuff made without any grand creative vision and more often than not a direct or indirect copy of some movie, and seldom a good one.
 
unclepatrick

unclepatrick

Make the movie closer to the book with a more spread out world
Base the series on the idea that Logan and Jessica do not end up on the rocket to Sanctuary.
Logan and Jessica end up running an underground to save runners and destroy the computer/ gang of men that run the planet .
 
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