Monday, July 8, 2019

Episode 30: Logan's Run, or Fish! Plankton! Seagreens! Protein from the Sea!


Ah, the 70s...it was a time of contradictions, mixing the free love of the 60s with the pessimism from Viet Nam and Watergate. A number of dystopian sci-fi films came out of the decade, and one of our favorites was Logan's Run, an MGM movie from 1976. Starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, the movie takes place in the 23rd century, where everyone lives in domes and all their needs are provided for, and they lead lives of complete pleasure and decadence. The catch is, everyone has to die at the age of 30 to maintain the balance. To enforce this balance, there are officers known as Sandmen, who hunt down any citizens who try to live past 30 -they are known as "runners." The main character, Logan, is one of these Sandmen. He winds up becoming a runner himself, and discovers what lies outside the dome.


It might seem a little cheesy today, but your Planet 8 crew loves Logan's Run! Please join us as we explore not only this classic sci fi film, but what was going on in the world at the time that influenced it - ecological disaster, overpopulation, and energy crises. In some ways, Logan's Run was one of the last science fiction films that actually dealt with real issues - before the juggernaut of Star Wars and its imitators showed up the next year, ushering in the era of sci fi shoot 'em ups.


Of course, we have to discuss Box, one of Commander Larry's favorite characters in all of science fiction! "Fish! Plankton! Seagreens! Protein from the sea!" Box so inspired Larry that this podcast was almost called "Plankton from the Sea" instead of Planet 8! Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.


And we'll pay tribute to Michael York and Jenny Agutter, who seems to have earned a place in many a fan's heart from her role as Jessica. And who can forget that Farrah Fawcett also had a small role in the film?


Karen actually went back and re-read the 1967 novel that the film was based on, and so we'll look at the differences between the film and the book. If you thought dying at 30 was bad, try kicking off at 21!


Beyond the film, we'll also look at the peripheral material - the very short-lived TV show and the Marvel comics adaptation. And -what is the connection between Logan's Run and Thanos? Tune in and find out!




For our Sensor Sweep, Karen shares her original 1976 edition of the Logan's Run novel that was issued as a tie-in with the film, complete with photos from the movie. This was something that was done a lot back in the 70s - another great example of this was the original Star Wars adaptation. Before the internet, this was one of the best ways to see high quality pictures from a film!


So where are you at with your life clock? Are you going to try to renew on Carousel, or will you run? Tell us your plans here, or find us at our other locations:


Thanks for Listening!

5 comments:

  1. ...I'd listen to a podcast called Plankton from the Sea...

    Anyway, loved the show, because I love Logan's Run, although my history with it is such that I first watched the TV series, then only first saw the movie somewhere in my teens, a cut up version on network TV and then the real thing on VHS, and then I finally read the comic book series.
    Yep, the movie has so many cheesy, oh-so-'70s aspects to it, but like all of you said, it's still a damn entertaining movie - in fact, I really need to watch it again, as it's been a few years.
    As to the television series, I only have vague recollections of it, as I watched them when they aired when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I do recall that it was pretty unexciting, and had kind of a fugitive-meets-Star Trek vibe to it, in the sense that while fleeing, Logan and Jessica stumble upon various outposts of humanity in that dystopian future, and there was usually some disturbing aspect of their society so Logan and Jessica would have either help them overcome it or get the hell out of Dodge. Maybe that storytelling device was in fact due to the various Trek alumni involved in the show's production, as you noted.
    I have to note that I have the entire 7-issue comic series published by Marvel (even had them bound), and I have to say that I like the initial issues which adapt the movie better than the movie itself - the story lends itself well to the comics medium, and the absolutely gorgeous art is by George Perez and Klaus Janson. (Also, I have to correct Karen: the story from the movie appears in the first 5 issues, while the last two, including the one with the Drax/Thanos back-up, are the start of a new story.)
    I have yet to read the original novel, or the two sequels that Nolan wrote solo - they are so hard to find at a reasonable price for some reason.
    Great show, as usual.
    -Edo Bosnar

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  2. Thanks for stopping by Edo! I'm glad you share our nearly unreasonable love for Logan's Run. There's just something about it - I think it has a lot to do with when it was made and growing up around that time. The utopian society that is really a crumbling, dystopian one is fascinating. There's a lesson in there about valuing experience - but it's definitely buried under all the glitz and explosions! And thanks for the correction on the comic series. I think I had a little brain freeze towards the end there!

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  3. Thanks for this - I watched Logan's Run on Blu-ray recently and enjoyed it more than ever. My main memory of Logan's Run from its original release is that it had a week-long screening at our local cinema and I went along to see it at the Saturday afternoon show. To my dismay though when the film started it was "Evel Kneivel". I sat through it impatiently thinking perhaps Logan's Run would come on afterwards, but it didn't, and I felt the cinema disappointed. Months later I was excited to see it in the TV listings, then disappointed again to realise it was a TV version, though I quite enjoyed it and the series that followed. I didn't see the film itself until it finally appeared on TV in 1982.
    Re Peter Ustivov's improvised lines - I understood from the blu-ray commentary that it was mainly his ramblings as they walk to the city together that were improvised.
    The rhymes about the cats aren't his, but are by T S Eliot, from "Old Possum's book of Practical Cats", the same text that the musical "Cats" was based on.

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