Logan’s Run, written by William F. Nolan, was turned into a motion picture back in 1976 and was directed by Michael Anderson. I stumbled upon this gem a few years ago while watching the Sci-Fi channel. I eventually ordered a copy of it online and it is now part of my sci-fi DVD library.

 

Logan's Run

It is funny what PG movies were able to get a way with back then. I had no idea about the nudity when watching it on TV (being that it was edited) and was a little surprised watching it with my wife for the first time on DVD, especially being PG. :-)

Never-the-less, it is a great movie and really has a great message behind it. It is especially interesting to watch as I would now be dead according to the rules of age.

I have never read the book itself, and probably should. I have read online and elsewhere that the movie only loosely follows the book. Roger M. Wilcox has created a great side-by-side comparison between the book and the movie which you can find here.

I had no idea that there was a TV series about the book/movie until I was talking about it with some friends and one of them asked me what I thought about the TV series. I’ll have to see if I can get a hold of it. I suspect the TV series was pretty low budget, especially since they supposedly recycled clips from the movie for the TV show.

You’ll notice that the 1976 Logan’s Run is very dated. The special effects are pretty bad in some places and leaves a bit to the imagination. Thanks to the magic and clarity of DVD, you can clearly see wires attached to people as they participate in carousel and ascend to their deaths.

Logan’s Run, as many may have heard, is to be remade. So far the remake has passed through several directors’ hands. In 2000 Skip Woods was supposed to remake the movie, wanting the remake to be closer to the original novel.

I’m not sure what happened with Skip Woods, but Bryan Singer signed on to do the movie in 2004. I think Bryan Singer would do a great job. I love what he did with X-Men. Bryan Singer was dropped as director due to the Superman Returns sequel taking all his time. What a shame, especially since the first Superman Returns was so sub-par.

Joseph Kosinski is now signed up as the current director of the remake. I have no idea what credentials this guy has and there appears to be nothing on him in the IMDB. The movie now appears to be scheduled for release in 2010. Who knows if it will ever really happen. I sure hope it does, but with the juggling act that has gone on so far I really don’t know for sure.

Let’s all hope it does get remade! It would really be a great sci-fi plot for a movie and modern special effects and CGI would really do it justice.