Logan's Run

"Jessica 6" redirects here. For the band, see Jessica 6 (band).

Logan's Run
Author(s)	William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Dial Press
Publication date	1967
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	133
ISBN	NA

Logan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, it depicts a dystopic ageist future society in which both population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by requiring the death of everyone reaching a particular age. The story follows the actions of Logan, a Sandman charged with enforcing the rule, as he tracks down and kills citizens who "run" from society's lethal demand—only to end up "running" himself.

Plot summary

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."

Cover of the 1969 Dell paperback version of Logan's Run. Cover art by William Hofmann.

In the world of 2116, a person's maximum age is strictly legislated: twenty one years, to the day. When people reach this Lastday they report to a Sleepshop in which they are willingly executed. A person's age is revealed by their palm flower crystal embedded in the palm of their right hand that changes color every seven years, then turns black on Lastday.

Runners are those who refuse to report to a Sleepshop and attempt to avoid their fate by escaping to Sanctuary. Logan 3 is a Deep Sleep Operative (also called Sandman) whose job is to terminate Runners using a special weapon called the Gun, an unusual revolver which can fire a number of different projectiles. Runners are most terrified of one called the Homer which homes in on body heat and deliberately ignites every pain nerve in the body. Sandmen practice Omnite, a fictional hybrid martial arts style. On his own Lastday, Logan 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. For most of the book Logan is an antihero; however, his character develops a sympathy towards Runners and in the end he himself becomes a Runner.

Jessica 6, a contact Logan made after he chased her Runner brother Doyle 10 into Cathedral where he was killed by the vicious preteen "Cubs", helps him, despite her initial distrust of him. Francis, another Sandman and a friend of Logan, catches up with Logan and Jessica after they have managed to make it to the final staging area before Sanctuary. He reveals that he is actually the legendary Ballard, who has been helping arrange their escape. The 42-year-old Ballard is working from within the system; he believes that the computer that controls the global infrastructure, buried beneath Crazy Horse Mountain, is beginning to malfunction, and that the society will die with it.

Sanctuary turns out to be Argos, an abandoned space colony near Mars. Logan and Jessica escape to the colony on a rocket that departs from a former space program launch site in Florida. Ballard remains to help others escape.

Sequels and spinoffs

Logan's World (1978), 1978 Corgi paperback edition. The cover is based on the 1976 film adaptation of Logan's Run.

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. Two other novels, Logan's Journey and Logan Falls, have been written, but not published.^[1]

Logan's World deals with events following Logan's returning to Earth, amidst the survivors and ruins of the system he escaped in the first novel, while Logan's Search deals with Logan going to an alternate reality (with the assistance of aliens) to once again stop the government system he escaped in the first novel, albeit with some minor changes.

George Clayton Johnson has also been working, off and on, on his own sequel to the novel, reported at various times to be entitled either LastDay or Jessica's Run.^[2] He is represented by WBMT Literary, Film and Television.^[3]

Adaptations

Film

Main article: Logan's Run (film)

The novel was adapted in 1976 as a film, directed by Michael Anderson and starring Michael York as Logan 5 (not 3), Jenny Agutter as Jessica 6, and Richard Jordan as Francis 7. The film only uses the basic premise from the novel (everyone must die at a specific age, Logan runs with Jessica as his companion while being chased by Francis). However, the world is post apocalyptic and people now live inside a huge domed city and are unaware of the world outside, believing it to be a barren, poisonous environment. The motivations of the characters are also quite different in the film. The age of death is 30, and instead of reporting to a Sleepshop, citizens must take part in a ritual called "Carrousel" in which they are vaporized with the promise of being "renewed". Logan is a 26 year old Sandman, sent by the computer to find and destroy Sanctuary. The computer alters his palm flower (here called a "life clock") to show him as approaching Lastday, and he becomes a runner and escapes from the city. Sanctuary turns out not to exist (or at least is never actually found), and the only other person that Logan and Jessica encounter outside the city is an old man (Peter Ustinov) who lives with a large number of cats in the Senate Chamber of the largely intact ruins of Washington, DC. Logan kills Francis, who is simply a Sandman in the movie and not a rebel leader, and leads the old man back to just outside the domed city, returning to try to lead a revolt against the culling. No one believes or listens to him or Jessica, and instead he is captured by Sandmen. In his interrogation by the computer, his honest information that there is no Sanctuary causes the computer to malfunction and self-destruct. As the young throngs leave the confines of the burning and exploding Domed City, they meet the Old Man outside - the first time they have seen anybody of that age.

Remake

In the mid-1990s, Warner Bros. began development of a remake of the movie.^[4] In April 2000, director Skip Woods entered negotiations with the studio and producer Joel Silver to write and direct the remake.^[5] The director planned to make it closer to the novel than the original film, restoring previously-removed elements including Crazy Horse Mountain and sky gypsies.^[4]

In March 2004, director Bryan Singer was brought in to develop and direct Logan's Run. Singer had begun working with production designer Gy Dyas from his previous film X2. Screenwriters Ethan Gross and Paul Todisco were hired to write the script with the director, with the film being slated for a 2005 release.^[6] In October, the director said he had begun previsualization of Logan's Run, which would be completed by the time he finished production of his project at the time, Superman Returns.^[7] The following December, screenwriter Dan Harris said that he and the director had turned in a first draft for Logan's Run. Harris said that further development of the project would take place in Sydney after production for Superman Returns, for which he also collaborated, was finalized. The screenwriter said that the remake would contain more action than the original film, describing the premise to be "a remake of the concept of the movie plus the book".^[8]

In February 2005, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie was hired to rewrite the script, with filming to take place in Australia.^[9] In February 2006, Logan's Run was scheduled to begin production in September/October 2006 in Vancouver.^[10] The following May, Singer's availability to direct Logan's Run was questioned due to scheduling conflicts with filming the sequel to Superman Returns.^[11] By May, Singer confirmed that he would not direct Logan's Run, seeking a vacation from the scheduled demands of his job.^[12] Directors Robert Schwentke and James McTeigue were approached for the project, but neither ultimately signed on.^[13]

In August 2006, production offices for Logan's Run were taken over by the production for the 2008 film Speed Racer.^[14] In April 2007, producer Joel Silver reiterated his plan to remake the original film.^[15] The following July, Silver said that since Singer's departure, no new director had come aboard the project.^[16] In August 2007, the project was reinvigorated with Joseph Kosinski hired as the new director and a new script being written by screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton. Kosinski had made a presentation to Warner Bros. including graphic art and animated previsualization that illustrated his plan for the film, whose low budget appealed to the studio. Kosinski has since moved on to make Tron: Legacy.

In May and June 2010, commercial filmmaker and Ridley Scott protege Carl Erik Rinsch was hired to direct and screenwriter Alex Garland was brought on board to write the script.^[17] Rinsch ultimately pulled out of the project due to scheduling conflicts.

As of August 2011, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn was attached to direct the remake of Logan's Run with actor Ryan Gosling attached to star.^[18] Refn and Gosling had recently worked together on the 2011 thriller Drive.

Television

Main article: Logan's Run (TV series)

A television series spin-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 16, 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 Rene Leyva.

Other adaptations

• Marvel Comics published a short-lived comic book series, which adapted the movie's story and briefly continued beyond it until the book was cancelled at issue #7.
• A comic strip continuation of the television series, written by Angus P. Allan, was printed in the British TV comic Look-In.
• From June 1990 to March 1992, Malibu Comics published mini-series comics adaptations of Logan's Run and Logan's World, six issues each, with art by Barry Blair.^[19]
• In 2000, Emperor Norton Records published Logan's Sanctuary, an album of electronica music conceived as the soundtrack to an imagined Logan's Run sequel, written and performed by Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Brian Reitzell, and featuring contributions from Jason Falkner.
• 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 6's adventures.^[20]
• From 2010, Bluewater Productions has published the comic book series Logan's Run: Last Day'^[21]

See also

Novels portal

• Euthanasia, aschimothusia
• Dystopia, Utopia
• Famous predictions
• The Giver
• Eugenics
• The Island (2005 film)
• In Time (film)

Political:

• Human population control
• Birth credit

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Interview at scifi.com
3. ^ http://sonsofben.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/wbmt-literary-film-and-television-partners-with-writing-legend-george-clayton-johson/
4. ^ ^{a b} Michael McCarty (August 2000). "Logan's Run creator William F. Nolan invites readers into his dark universe". Sci Fi Channel. Archived from the original on October 22, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061022062812/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue260/interview.html. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
5. ^ "Woods To Direct Logan's Run". Sci Fi Wire. April 19, 2000. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2000-04/19/10.00.film. Retrieved April 15, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Michael Fleming (March 4, 2004). "Warners on the 'Run'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117901259.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
7. ^ Capone (October 12, 2004). "Capone interviews Bryan Singer – Talk of SUPERMAN, X3, LOGAN'S RUN & Fox's TV show HOUSE... & Hugh Laurie talks too!!!". Ain't It Cool News. http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18610. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
8. ^ Jeff Otto (December 2, 2004). "Dan Harris Talks Superman". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/570/570528p1.html. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
9. ^ "Silver Updates V, Logan, Reaping". Sci Fi Channel. February 28, 2005. Archived from the original on July 18, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070718140654/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue410/news.html. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
10. ^ Pamela McClintock (February 22, 2006). "Warner's men in tights". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117938709.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
11. ^ Pamela McClintock; Michael Fleming (May 15, 2006). "Inside Move: 'Superman' playing with Singer's sked". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117943242.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
12. ^ Paul Fischer (June 16, 2006). "Interview: Bryan Singer for "Superman Returns"". Dark Horizons. http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/super4.php. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
13. ^ Borys Kit (August 21, 2007). "Warner Bros. Pictures is new runner for 'Logan'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i35dfa8e5f7b68d2680c6acca8eb69c19. Retrieved August 21, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ "Wachowski's Speed Racer Awaits Green Light". ComingSoon.net. August 6, 2006. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=15897. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
15. ^ "'Matrix' producer plans remake of sci-fi classic". Yahoo! News. April 3, 2007. Archived from the original on April 9, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070409171601/http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070403/ennew_afp/entertainmentusfilm_070403202832. Retrieved April 15, 2007. 
16. ^ Cindy White (July 19, 2007). "Silver: No Helmer For Logan Yet". Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071022125458/http://scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=42498. Retrieved July 19, 2007. 
17. ^ Jeff Leins (June 17, 2010). "Alex Garland to Write Rinsch's 'Logan's Run'". News in Film. http://www.newsinfilm.com/2010/06/17/alex-garland-to-write-rinschs-logans-run/. 
18. ^ Blastr.com (Syfy) - "Want a Wonder Woman movie? Better hope that Logan's Run is a hit!" (16 Aug 2011)
19. ^ http://www.selena.com.fr/Site/Site/Part_2/Logan/Logan1and2.htm
20. ^ City of Domes
21. ^ http://www.bluewaterprod.com/comics/logans_run.php

External links

• Chronology Central's Logan's Run page—contains a chronological listing of all Logan's Run related fiction.
• The World of Logan's Run
• City of Domes—Alternative Reality Game by virtuquest.com
• Universe of Logan's Run—French Website (in English) on Logan's Run Universe.
• Logans Run Action Figures at the Megomuseum, exploring the aborted line of toys planned by Mego Corporation
• Review of Christopher McQuarrie's script for the remake
• Logan's Run episode reviews on the Sci Fi Freak Site

1976 film

Logan's Run at AllRovi

Logan's Run at the Internet Movie Database

1977 television series

Logan's Run at AllRovi

Logan's Run at the Internet Movie Database

Logan's Run at TV.com

2012 film

Logan's Run at AllRovi

Logan's Run at the Internet Movie Database