Logan's Run: The Series in The Press

Ranking Logan's Run: The Series Best to Worst

Logan’s Run: The Series (1977-1978) ran for a mere 14-episodes in the mid-seventies, and certainly had its share of stinkers.  Still, some episodes are also quite good, and hold up well. At this point, I've reviewed each of the installments individually, and hopefully, in detail.

Today, I present my rankings, best-to-worst, of the series installments.

Great Episodes:

“Crypt.” This is the absolute best episode of the series. It originates with a story by Harlan Ellison, and sees Logan, Jessica and REM being forced to contend with a difficult choice.  They are asked to save the lives of several scientists and leaders who have been in suspended animation for years. However, there is a mole in the group. One of the individuals is a murderer. 

The episode is so notable for REM’s use of deductive reasoning in the final act, and for Logan’s statement of principle near the episode climax. Specifically, Logan won’t make an “ends justify the means” decision again, because that’s what he saw happen every day at the City of the Domes.  He will never again tether himself to a corrupt ideal. He will not murder because it is convenient, or because it serves a cause.  This is a statement of principle that suggests the character has grown and learned from his experiences.

“Man out of Time.” This episode, by David Gerrold (under the pseudonym Noah Ward) finds Logan, Jessica and REM contending with David Eakins, a scientist from another time who is visiting the future to determine what finally causes the holocaust that destroys civilization. He finds, to his horror, that his work inventing time travel is the cause of the world’s destruction.

The episode is so powerful because audiences finally get a history of the Holocaust (and its reasons), and even some background on the mysterious “Sanctuary Project,” which clearly ties in with Logan and Jessica’s search for “Sanctuary.”  This episode begins to build an historical mythology for the series that is highly-intriguing.

Good Episodes:

“Pilot.” This story does a solid job of adapting the 1976 film to TV restrictions of the age. The pilot re-introduces the audience to Logan, Jessica, Francis and the City of Domes, while simultaneously adding new ideas to the franchise. 

The Council of Elders is a fascinating and welcome addition, specifically. Those who sit on the council are the ultimate hypocrites, allowed to enter old age peacefully, while their people die at thirty, hoping for renewal.  Those on the council promise Francis a seat there if he delivers the runners Logan and Jessica to Carousel.  The pilot episode also introduces the solar car, and REM, who is quite possibly the best character on the series.  

Production values are strong, and more than that, the series shows real promise. There’s a great ironic scene here in which a freezing Logan and Jessica throw piles of American dollars on the fire, unaware of its value.  The point is made through imagery. War destroys everything. If the world is destroyed, currency and monetary wealth no longer carry value.

“Carousel.” Although burdened by an awkward set-up in which an advanced pacifist society erases Logan’s memory with an amnesia dart, the rest of the episode is quite strong, re-introducing the City of Domes setting to good effect.  

The episode looks hard at Logan and his development as an empathetic person. He learned to question his job, his life, and his society when he first ran. If he were to be robbed of his memory of those selections, would he learn again to question, or would he stagnate, falling back into the role of Sandman?  

We learn, in this case, that questioning authority, and his culture, is part of Logan’s gestalt. He chooses to grow, a second time.

“The Judas Goat.”  Another strong episode that revels in series mythology and history.  The series reintroduces the New You plastic surgery laser seen in the film, and then introduces to the series to the first Runner.  

We learn that the first runner began his escape only years earlier, thus revealing that “running” is a recent phenomenon in the City of Domes (the hints of a broader change taking place, as people question the order of things).  The episode also introduces the idea of Logan and Jessica returning to their home to make meaningful change there.  This is a powerful idea.  Instead of "running," Logan needs to confront his past.

“Futurepast.” This episode -- which on the surface is an android romance between REM and Ariana (Mariette Hartley) -- is actually the most visually stylish of all Logan’s Run entries.  

At a futuristic sleep clinic, Jessica and Logan fall into unending slumber and encounter nightmares that reveal their inner selves. Logan’s dreams are mostly stock footage clips from earlier episodes, but Jessica’s dreams involve the mother she never knew, and a Boogeyman representing Death.  The imagery is carefully and symbolically vetted, making the episode a visual treat.  This episode really looks great, even in 2017.

Mediocre Episodes:

“The Innocent.” This story is sort of like Star Trek’s “Charlie X” meets Stephen King’s Carrie. 

An adolescent girl living only with robots, in a hidden bunker, encounters Logan, and falls in love.  Because of her inexperience and jealousy, however, she becomes a danger to the runners.  

The story ends on a dopey note, with Logan encouraging the adolescent girl to go out and see the post-apocalyptic world, while not actually inviting her to travel with him.  This seems awfully dangerous, given the characters he's encountered! 

The robot designs in "The Innocent" are also some of the worst in TV history.  And yet, the episode boasts some powerful moments, as Jessica is viewed as a “rival” for Logan’s affections.

Bad Episodes:

“Half-a-Life.” Star Trek’s “The Enemy Within” gets purposelessly recycled here, with the Runners encountering a society where people extract their “evil” half using a transporter-like device. Jessica is forced to undergo the process, and Logan and REM must put her back together again.  

So…the post-apocalyptic world possesses transporter technology, converting and duplicating matter?  

That could come in handy in the re-building or feeding of the planet.  Instead, we get a Trek retread.

“The Collectors.”  Two aliens who are collecting specimens from throughout the galaxy to bring back to a zoo on their home world attempt to capture Logan and Jessica for their collection by creating the illusion of Sanctuary for them.  

Although Jessica falls for the delusion hook, line and sinker, Logan questions what he is seeing. 

The parts of the episode that work effectively involve the false Sanctuary setting. The parts that don’t succeed involve the aliens and their captives. Aliens don’t really have a place in Logan’s Run, but here they are, anyway.

"Capture." Logan Run's thoroughly unimpressive and unmemorable stab at The Most Dangerous Game, a long-standing TV trope. 

A hunter and his mate capture Logan and Francis, and the former friends must now work together to survive the hunt. Not offensive so much as it is thoroughly predictable, and unambitious. It's a Most Dangerous Game story that meets a My Enemy/My Ally Story.  We've seen it all before, and we've seen it vetted in a more effective way.

“Fear Factor.” The Runners encounter an insane asylum of the future, and the lead doctor wants to control Jessica’s mind. 

When Logan and REM try to stop him, they are dropped into a torture chamber under the hospital.   

Here we encounter another poorly-conceived culture, with no grounding in reality, or history. Why is a mental hospital operating out in the middle of nowhere, with a full staff? Where does it get its power from? Where do the doctors train for their vocation?  

 “Night Visitors.” The Runners encounter a house occupied by Satan-worshipers, who want to use Jessica’s body as a vessel for a dead woman. 

In this tale, REM -- the android of logic and reason -- concludes that the house is haunted, and is inhabited by ghosts. It's a real low-point for the character's dignity.

Logan and Jessica, meanwhile, don’t bat an eye at the concept of ghosts, despite the fact that they should have no awareness of ghosts at all. There are no dead people in the City of Domes, ater all….everybody renews (one for one).

“Turnabout.” A story that at first attempts to concern religious extremism quickly becomes a mindless run-around, with endless rescues and captures, and even a sword fight.

“Stargate.” Likely the worst episode of the series. This one sees Logan and Jessica single-handedly stopping an alien invasion, while REM timidly acquiesces to disassembly by the extra-terrestrial conquerors.

Logan's Run 40th Anniversary Blogging: "Stargate" (February 6, 1978)

“Stargate” is the final episode of Logan’s Run: The Series (1977-1978), and the installment is a rough and disappointing note to go out on.  It’s another story about aliens on Earth (much like the ill-conceived “The Collectors.”)

At least that story played with a core idea of this franchise: what is Sanctuary? What should it look like?

“Stargate” isn’t grounded in any of the series’ good ideas at all.

Instead, this narrative requires our heroes -- who, let’s remember, are largely inexperienced in the world because of their sheltered City of the Dome upbringing -- to defeat an alien invasion single-handedly. Even REM is pretty useless.

In this story. Logan (Gregory Harrison), Jessica (Heather Menzies) and REM (Donald Moffat) encounter another city in the desert (like “Turnabout’s” Zidor).

This one is run, however, by aliens who wear thermal clothing because they can't stand the cold of Earth's atmosphere. They want to invade the planet, and remake it to their preferences.  They also possess a "stargate" or transporter which can bring aliens to Earth, but it's broken, and they need some of REM's parts to repair it.

The aliens start disassembling REM to use his pieces, but Logan and Jessica seek the help of a human survivor of the city, and attempt to set things right, preventing the alien invasion. This is especially important because they know that they will soon be "replaced" by alien doppelgangers in thermal suits, if they fail.

There are so many disappointing aspects of this story, it is difficult to know where to begin an analysis.  

First, REM seems way off here. He is captured by the alien leader, played by Paul Carr, and then basically submits to disassembly.  He never loses the pleasant, faintly insipid smile from his face, as he is slowly taken apart.  This seems weird, and wrong.  Even an android should have some form of survival instinct.  REM should be protective of his pieces, but he just willingly lets the aliens take his arm, and other bits. No matter what they take, however, he continues to function, so he can speak and relate to the other characters.

Remember how the android Bishop felt, half-destroyed in Alien³? He would have rather been nothing than live half-a-life. And Data, of course, would not have submitted willingly to his disassembly on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He would have fought it (see: "The Measure of a Man.")

An episode like this makes it much more difficult to respect REM as a sentient being, since he apparently has so little respect for himself or his body.  And, again, his behavior here doesn’t seem to ring true with knowledge from previous episodes. At the very least, REM must continue to exist so he can protect Logan and Jessica. He knows that.

Secondly, one has to wonder -- again -- why the series is offering hackneyed alien invasion stories.  Logan’s Run concerns a future dystopia, post-holocaust, as human survivors begin the process of reaching out to communicate with another. That step of contact/communication might be seen as the first step towards re-building civilization.  There is so much for the series to explore on Earth without involving visitors from other worlds.  It could explore the City of Domes, it could discuss what Sanctuary really means, it could adapt elements of the novel (Box!). It could feature civilizations that didn’t learn the lessons of the holocaust.

Instead, we get evil, invading aliens.  And the aliens in “Stargate” look absolutely ridiculous in their puffy thermal wear, as they try to cause global warming and make Earth’s temperature more to their liking.

And, as I’ve written before, episodes such as "Stargate" proceed from an incorrect assumption about the characters and their nature.  Logan and Jessica are not Starfleet officers. They are not scientists stationed on a moon base. They are not explorers or diplomats in any way, shape or form.  

They are, essentially, innocents experiencing the outside world for the first time. And yet we are to believe that they are capable of launching revolutions, stopping alien invasions, and so on.  It’s ridiculous that they can go into a situation like the one in "Stargate," and, basically, save the world.  

The premise is simply not true to what Logan’s Run is supposed to be about; which is discovery, or self-discovery, in Logan and Jessica’s case.

I will say this for the episode: the scene in “Stargate” in which the doppelgangers of Logan and Jessica melt away, like wax dummies, is effectively creepy.  It’s just too bad the imagery comes in service of a terrible story, one of Logan’s Run’s absolute worst.

Looking back at the series today, it’s clear that the best episodes are those which try to explore the intrinsic concepts of the franchise: war, dystopia, refugees, desperation, etc.  The episodes that try to be like Star Trek (1966-1969), only with flame guns and solar cars, are those that drag the series down towards mediocrity.

So Logan’s Run ends, as so many series once did, with no sense of closure or completion. 

How would I have ended things for our runners?  

Well, I would have ended the series with Logan and Jessica realizing that they can’t find “Sanctuary” on the run; that they have to make it for themselves.  I would have ended the series with them returning to the City of Domes, and launching a strategy to overturn the corrupt State, and make it their long-hoped for “Sanctuary.”

I’ll be presenting my list of Logan’s Run episodes -- best to worst -- tomorrow morning.

Next week at this time, I begin my look back at another 1970’s post-apocalyptic series: Planet of the Apes (1974).

Logan's Run 40th Anniversary Blogging: "Turnabout" (January 30th, 1978)

Here’s some bad news: the best hours of Logan’s Run: The Series (1977-1978) are behind us. Only two episodes remain, “Turnabout” and “Stargate,” and both are very poorly done.  If I had to compare them, I’d say that “Turnabout” is somewhat better than “Stargate,” while still proving largely unsatisfactory.

"Turnabout" is a story by Michael Michaelian and Al Hayes wherein Logan (Gregory Harrison), Jessica (Heather Menzies) and REM (Donald Moffat) stop for water in desert and find an unconscious woman in the sand. She's wearing a burqa to hide her face.

An armed patrol on horseback finds the Runners and escorts them to the city of Zidar, a repressive, theocratic society where books are not permitted.  In fact, knowledge is considered a danger.  Soon, Francis (Randy Powell) and another Sandman show up in pursuit of Logan and his friends, and are captured too.

Both groups are taken before "the Judgment Chair.” There, the city leader, a restrictive, draconian man, proclaims that they should be executed in accordance with the traditions of the city With the help of Mia -- the woman they saved in the desert -- Logan and his pals escape, but are captured by Francis. 

Then, they are all captured again, and Francis is forced into a "duel" before the Judgment Chair. 

At the end of the day, there is regime change in Zidor to a more moderate ruling philosophy, and the Runners continue on their way, seeking Sanctuary.

“Turnabout” features some fascinating, if ultimately poorly explored underpinnings.

The desert city of Zidar is depicted, for instance, through a fantastic and intricate matte painting. What the matte painting reveals is very intriguing: Zidar looks like an Islamic city of the Middle East. Just take a gander at some of the architectural flourishes. Look hard enough you’ll spy the domes, and arabesque touches we associate with the historic architecture from this region of our globe.

That’s important, because clearly this episode is an attempted commentary on the restrictions of Islamic fundamentalism, or radicalism. Women in the theocracy of Zidar are treated as second class citizens, with abrogated rights and freedoms, and they forced to hide their features. Furthermore, books and knowledge outside of tradition are considered frightening, and therefore banned by the government.

Since Logan’s Run: The Series suggests here a post-holocaust version of restrictive, extremist Sharia Law in America, the episode seems more relevant post-9/11 than it did when it was produced in the mid-1970’s.  Still, one wonders how this restrictive, anti-woman society came about post-Holocaust, especially in the America heartland.

What world events were the writers responding to here to attempt this social commentary? I suspect that they probably looked at the demonstrations occurring in Iran in 1978. Although the Iranian Revolution didn’t technically occur until April of 1979, there were protests against the Shah, and general unrest in 1978. Perhaps the writers saw where it was going, and what a theocracy would be like.

The fascinating thing about “Turnabout” is that it suggests -- again drawing a parallel to history -- that Zidar was once a society of glittering advancement and advanced judicial precepts. It was a place of learning, and knowledge and freedom. It was a place that welcomed visitors.  But extremists have taken over, and transformed the state to a restrictive one.

This is all quite fascinating material, especially given our 21^st century context, but “Turnabout” treats the themes inherent in this story with a kind of slapdash inadequacy.  Basically, the allegorical extremist state is but an excuse for a Star Wars-esque sword fight between Francis and a Zidor guard (played by Gerald McRaney).

And, Logan, Jessica and REM are so busy running to and fro that they don’t actually cause the revolution that turns-over the society.  Instead, we are simply told at story’s end that the leader has been deposed in favor of a new, and less radical one.  

So our heroes take no productive part in changing the society for the better, and restoring it to its historical nature as a just, civil, even artistic state.  It just happens while they are there…being captured, escaping, being captured, and escaping again.

So even though “Turnabout” clearly references a real life culture (and shift to extremism in that culture), Zidor is still a "straw man" society, there for the collapsing, in accordance with our 1970's American values.  I must admit, I find this cognitive dissonance laughable. According to Logan’s Run lore, the world destroyed itself, based on the values of the Cold War Era.  Russia and the U.S. fight to the death, and launch global nuclear war, over possession of a fearsome technology: time travel (per "Man out of Time.")

Now, long after, Logan, Jessica and REM are championing those very ideals, against other cultures…even though these ideasl destroyed their world. I’m not saying that our values here are bad, just that in a series that discusses how our culture fell, it is weird that our culture is championed…even though it was at least partially responsible for destroying civilization. 

Another series that I love, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (1979-1981), features the same fallacy.  Future heroes pursue the ideals American Exceptionalism, but do so after America has been a key player in the destruction, essentially, of the human race in some form of holocaust.

But the real problem with “Turnabout” isn’t this. It’s the general lack of meaningful plot development. Who's rescuing whom? Who's going back for whom?

These plot machinations are all become increasingly tedious.  o much so that it’s clear that the series is on its last legs.  Running around has supplanted ideas as the central tenet of the series.

Next week: The last Logan’s Run episode: “Stargate.”

Logan's Run 40th Anniversary Blogging: "Night Visitors" (January 23, 1978)

After the relative success of "Carousel," the last Logan's Run episode I blogged about here, I had high hopes that the series was going to finish out its fourteen episode run in decent fashion.

Well, episode twelve, "Night Visitor" terminates that hope like a Sandman shooting Runners.

Instead of delving deeper into character interaction, or the background of the world the protagonists inhabit, “Night Visitors” attempts, sadly, to tell a supernatural story, one of “possession” in the Logan’s Run universe. 

The episode actually possesses the audacity to ape the “devil” craze of the seventies (The Exorcist [1973], The Omen [196]) and then, disappointingly, have REM (Donald Moffat) validate the occult as something real.

The problems with this idea -- at least in universe -- are myriad.  Consider that the denizens of the City of Domes don’t believe in a conventional afterlife with a Heaven and Hell. They believe in a cycle of “Last Day” and “Renewal.”  It isn’t easy to understand how the Devil, spirits, ghosts, or other occult forces would figure into their world view.

In fact, Logan and Jessica should be completely stunned and unfamiliar with the concept of ghosts and hauntings. In their world (City of Domes), nobody ever really dies (or so it appears), and so there is no such things as ghosts.

They wouldn’t even understand the concept.  But “Night Visitors” forgets that fact, either for convenience sake, or because of sheer incompetence.

In this installment of the short-lived 1977 series, Logan, Jessica and REM experience the futuristic equivalent of running out of gas: their solar craft's energy cells power down during a night-time rain storm.

While parked in the rain, Jessica thinks she spies someone: two figures beckoning in the darkness.

Logan, Jessica and REM then find their way to an old Victorian (pre-holocaust) house owned by the very odd duo of Bart (Paul Mantee) and Marianna Clay (Barbara Babcock). They claim to be waiting for the return of someone named Gavin (George Maharis), who apparently disappeared quite a long time ago.

On this very night, the long-missing Gavin does return and decides that Jessica is a gift from Heaven...or in this case, Hell. 

For long ago, Gavin made a deal with the Prince of Darkness to trade the life of a virtuous woman for that of his comatose wife. Now he wants his wife back, and he wants Jessica to help him conduct a spiritual ritual that will make this transfer complete. Naturally, Jessica is not too keen on the idea. She's transported to a cave-like dwelling under the house for the occult ritual, but Logan and REM are in hot pursuit.

“Night Visitors” is perhaps the weakest Logan's Run episode yet, mixing as it does the post-apocalyptic world with the supernatural or occult world. Again, in lieu of finding and interacting with an interesting post-holocaust society, the writers of Logan's Run choose to have their protagonists encounter just a couple strangers at a Victorian house.

The Victorian House looks great.  The story that occurs within its walls, however, is awful.

As I wrote above, Logan and Jessica should not even understand the concept of ghosts, or the Devil.  This should all be incredibly alien to them.

Even more disturbing is REM's easy acceptance of the existence of ghosts and demons. He even suggests the house is haunted. I don't know how he could possibly back up such an assertion being a creature of “fact and “logic,” but there it is.

Finally, the show relies on its worst trope: Logan blasting something with his flame gun.  He saves the day by destroying the coffin with the body of the dead wife.  That ends the ritual.  Too often, the series relies on him blasting something, whether a computer, a coffin, or anything else.

I understand budgetary limitations, but still, you'd think the series could come up with something more imaginative and interesting than this tale of supernatural possession in a haunted house.

However, there is one good scene in "Night Visitors." Logan and Jessica share a tender moment in her bedroom. 

"It's hard to think of my life without you in it," Logan says. "It's as if we've always been together." 

Then Logan and Jessica actually kiss.

My goodness, for twelve episodes the writers on this program have assiduously avoided suggesting any kind of romantic relationship (even though that was the core of the relationship in the novels and the movie...).

And now they change their minds all of the sudden. Still, it's nice to see that the relationships are developing, at least a little.

Too bad this development came with only two episodes remaining, when there was precious little time to change the character dynamics...

Next Week: “Turnabout.”

Logan's Run 40th Anniversary Blogging: "Carousel" (January 16, 1978)

“Carousel” is another better-than-average episode of Logan’s Run (1977). I suspect this is so because the writers/producers must have realized that viewers who like the 1976 film are especially intrigued by the City of Domes, and its hedonistic lifestyle. The world of the Sandmen, Runners, and Carousel itself is re-visited here, taking audiences in effect, right back to the beginning of the whole franchise.

Certainly, I speak for myself in this regard. The most intriguing aspect, of Logan’s Run, I find, is city life of the 23^rd century. It is decadent, strictly policed, highly-sexualized, “futuristic,” and nicely dystopian.  People live in bliss, but it is an unknowing bliss. They are lambs led to the slaughter.  But before the slaughter, they live out their dreams.

Those the qualities that draw me repeatedly, to the ’76 film, and are less frequently seen in the series, which mostly occurs outside the domes. When I think of the film, I think of Last Day, Carousel, Nursery, New You, the Love Shop, and the mall-like environs. When I think of the series, by contrast, I usually think of a solar craft buzzing about dusty, natural locations.

So it is a relief to see an episode that takes Logan (Gregory Harrison) and Jessica (Heather Menzies) back to the place that they ran away from in the first place.  The use of another mall location is actually quite smart, and it blends in seamlessly with the oft-seen stock footage from the movie.

The set-up for the episode is a bit weird, to be certain, but it is just the trick to get our characters back to the domain of Francis, Carousel, and the Council of Elders.

In a freak mishap, Logan gets shot with "memory warp" dart and forgets the entire last year of his life.  This is a weapon used by an advanced race of human beings, who seek to prevent contact with outsiders. Victims forget they ever encountered this civilization, or individuals from it.

Realizing that his old buddy is now an amnesiac and doesn't recall his act of treason back at the Domed City, Sandman Francis (Randy Powell) brings Logan back to the City to renounce runners and Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Jessica and REM (Donald Moffat) must negotiate their freedom from the weird locals who shot Logan with the memory warp dart in the first place, return to the City of Domes, and rescue their confused ally before he dies in an attempt to “renew.”

In the City of Domes, our amnesiac Logan undergoes a "truth" scan and immediately picks up his old life as a swinging single. In particular, there's a young denizen named "Sheila" (played by Melody Anderson, Flash Gordon's Dale Arden) who would like to pick up precisely where they left off a year ago.

Realizing (with REM's help) that the way to get to Logan -- and spur his memory -- is to seduce him, Jessica slicks back her hair, dresses up as a temptress, "Jerri 4" and pays a slinky visit to Logan's bachelor pad. But before anything too much fun can happen, Jessica wimps out and reveals to Logan who she really is.

Logan, who was already figuring out, has his memory restored. He and his friends escape the city, and continue their search for Sanctuary…

The mechanism by which Logan loses his memory in “Carousel,” is really awkward.  We are asked to believe that survivors of the holocaust have mastered the equivalent of matter transporters, able to move people back and forth through different dimensions, apparently. Again, this idea fits in a Trek-like universe, where the technology is widespread (think: The Alpha Quadrant). 

But matter/energy conversion/transportation does not seem at all like a logical or realistic development in a world recovering from a nuclear holocaust.  Once more, the careful viewer must wonder how and where the technology for this -- or memory warp darts, for that matter -- came about. What powers the transporters?

And, examining the memory warp darts even more closely, wouldn't affected enemies find it strange when they can’t remember the last year of their lives, especially since the effect is temporary (as we see with Logan)? Eventually, he recalls everything of his previous year’s adventures with Jessica and REM.  

So wouldn’t an enemy get over the effect of the drug (even after a year), and get angry…seeking out those who robbed him or her of his memory?

Watching this episode, I also felt sorry once more for Francis (actor Randy Powell), our hapless pursuer. He could have killed Logan in this episode and been done with the whole mission, but he doesn't do that. You get the sense that he just wants Logan to come back to the City and be his best friend again. And that's really sort of sad/pathetic.  Francis can't seem to get over the past, and joining up with Logan isn't, apparently, an option he considers.  Still, Francis's "humanity" if you can call that, makes him an interesting character, if not a strong villain.

I remember I interviewed Dorothy Fontana once, and she said that had Logan Run continued as a TV series, Logan and Jessica would have converted Francis to their side, and all three of them would have returned to the City of Domes to wage a war of insurrection against the Council of Elders.

Too bad that never happened.

A plot like that would have better served Francis, a character who is constantly made to look either foolish or just plain incompetent. It also sounds like a cool way to continue the show, especially since the "civilization of the week" thing wasn't exactly going so well.  

Going back to my original thesis in this review, I believe Logan’s Run was popular initially, in particular, because of the City of Domes, and the exploration of life there.  I don’t believe that a quest to find “Sanctuary” was ever quite as compelling as City of Domes technology (like the flame guns), rituals (such as Carousel) or social developments (constant casual sex as a pastime.)

Speaking of casual sex, it's a shame that this episode doesn't really allow Logan or Jessica to express their sexual sides. Jessica is just tricking Logan, all along. And Logan doesn't seem terribly interested.  There should be some sparks flying here, in "Carousel," but there aren't.

Interestingly, at one point during "Carousel" Logan declares that Sanctuary (his longtime goal...) is just a place "invented by runners to encourage other runners." 

After seeing this many episodes of Logan's Run and watching the characters visit dream clinics ("Futurepast"), psych wards ("Fear Factor"), alien spaceships ("The Collectors") and the private estate of a hunter ("The Capture"), you know, I think he's actually telling the truth. Sanctuary isn’t a place, it’s an idea.

Does Logan know or realize that he's telling the truth in this moment? Is Logan aware he's on a wild goose chase? 

That's one of those questions that never gets answered on this series.  I would love it, at some point, if Logan and Jessica could stop running, and realize, the City of Domes could be sanctuary, if only they make the change they wish to see there.

Next week, we’re into the series' final slide into incredibly weak episodes, beginning with (the dreadful) “Night Visitors.”