Logan's Run: The Complete Series

It didn't take long for the 1976 film Logan's Run to be adapted for a TV series: the show ran in the 1977-78 season, without making the impact the movie did. The first episode begins in the City of Domes, the postapocalyptic bubble where no one is allowed to live past the age of 30 (some of the special effects and miniature sets from the feature film are used here). Logan (Gregory Harrison) and Jessica (Heather Menzies) escape to the outside world, chased by a Runner (Randy Powell), and the format of the show takes the characters from place to place in search of Sanctuary, that fabled zone of refuge. Added to the mix is an android (he's touchy about the word robot) named REM, played by Donald Moffat in a blatant imitation of Mr. Spock and C-3PO. The show lasted 14 episodes before getting the ax, and it's not difficult to see why it failed to catch on: flat writing and wooden acting nearly stop the first few episodes dead in their tracks, although a few intriguing sci-fi concepts creep in as the series goes on. Harlan Ellison provided the story idea for episode seven, "The Crypt," and David Gerrold scripted episode five, "Man Out of Time," which actually builds to a fine series of time-travel paradoxes (Gerrold took his name off the credits when the episode was rewritten). Various actors knock around in guest parts, including Kim Cattrall, Mel Ferrer, Horst Buchholz, and George Maharis. Aside from that, the main appeal is camp: the goofy laser-beam-shootin' theme music, the fact that Heather Menzies's hair never varies its gloriously Fawcett-esque layers, the groan-worthy stabs at comic relief. It would be nice to say this series was an unappreciated classic, but aside from the wacky nostalgia, Logan's Run is pretty lame. --Robert Horton