Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 29

Cinema Obscura - The Overlooked
Gems of Cinema

Logan’s run (1976)
ByJeff Durkin
Is there too great a price to be paid for a stable,
comfortable society? That’s the central question
posed by Logan’s Run. Based on William F. Nolan
and George Clayton Johnson’s novel of the same
name, Logan’s Run takes the viewer to the twentythird century, in which a closed society (literally, the
first two-thirds of the story take place in a domed
city) exists in a state of perpetual leisure. The price of
this comfort is high. In order to maintain population
equilibrium, citizens are put to death (‘Renewed’ in
the parlance of the film) on their thirtieth birthday.

“Lastday, Capricon twenty-nines. Year of the
City: 2274. Carousel begins.” City Computer System
The film begins at Carousel. There, crowds of
city-dwellers cheer while they watch those who are on
‘Lastday’ - their thirtieth birthday - attempt to ‘renew.’
As they float upwards towards a crystal on the ceiling
of the arena, they explode. They believe that through
this process, they might be reincarnated. We later learn
that this is a lie told by the computer system that runs
the city to get people to willingly go to their deaths.
Among the viewers is Logan 5 (Michael York). He

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