Title: Review from the UK
robstanley1 - April 29, 2005 11:11 AM (GMT)
Okay - many thanks to Logan5 for setting up these new Episode-specific boards!
I watched this episode with my wife last night, and here's my thoughts....
I orginally saw this on it's first UK-brodcast, way back in 1977, and it's the one story which had still stuck in my mind, due to the fact that I made an audio-tape recording of it on transmission (no video recorders for us Brits back then!)
I undersand that the first 'sandman/runer-scene' was actually filmed on one, incredibly-small corridor set (one short, L-shaped piece of corridor, including a single doorway). I have to say that, bearing this in mind, the Director did a superb job in making it look much more expansive than it actually was.
I was rather suprised at the sheer length of time that the Runner (Nick Hammond of 'Spiderman' fame) stood at the door to Outside, before using his key; oh, well - bye-bye, Hal 14!
I was also struck, in this scene, by the attention to detail; poor ole' Hal gets blasted in the stomach, slumps onto his front and, look! There's a lovely, great burn-mark on the BACK of his tunic (guess those DS weapons really make a mess!).
The whole 'face-swap' scene (looking as though they re-used the laser-octopus thingy from the Nu-You shop in the Movie) is GREAT, but very long-winded, with hardly any dialogue, and only the suitably-otherworldly instumental music to carry it. Still, it's very effective, and nicely sets-up 'Hal' as a believably-motivated threat to Logan.
Once Hal's located Logan and the others, and made some inroads into convincing them of his authenticity, we get into the story-proper. The effects hold up very nicely, as the Solarcar is trapped by a gun-generated force-field, and our runners are escorted to the hall of 'The Provider'.
It's here that the show starts to look a little dated (but it's not too bad) due, mainly to the costumes (gotta love those arty necklaces) and hairstyles :wacko:
After much meandering, and some *very* suggestive acting on the part of the patrol receiving Joy (if that was me, I'd want to take my Joy in private!! ;) ), Logan and the gang finally get to leave (minus REM, who has to stay behind to fix the computers), to head back to the City of Domes to spark the non-existant rebellion that Hal's convinced them about.
At this point, the drama really kicks in, as The Provider attempts to blow Logan, Jessica and Hal to pieces - saved at the last moment by REM, who reverses the charge and inadvertantly kills The Provider.
Back at the outside door to the City, Logan finally realises that the whole rebellion story is a trap, and disposes of the bogus Hal 14, with the aid of another couple of patrolling Sandmen, who mistake Logan for one of their own.
A couple of quick stun-blasts (I love the blue field effect!), and Logan and co. make their second escape from the City.
A lovely piece of nostalgic tv, which still hold up nicely today!
What did everyone else think?
Til' next time!
Rob
I watched this episode with my wife last night, and here's my thoughts....
I orginally saw this on it's first UK-brodcast, way back in 1977, and it's the one story which had still stuck in my mind, due to the fact that I made an audio-tape recording of it on transmission (no video recorders for us Brits back then!)
I undersand that the first 'sandman/runer-scene' was actually filmed on one, incredibly-small corridor set (one short, L-shaped piece of corridor, including a single doorway). I have to say that, bearing this in mind, the Director did a superb job in making it look much more expansive than it actually was.
I was rather suprised at the sheer length of time that the Runner (Nick Hammond of 'Spiderman' fame) stood at the door to Outside, before using his key; oh, well - bye-bye, Hal 14!
I was also struck, in this scene, by the attention to detail; poor ole' Hal gets blasted in the stomach, slumps onto his front and, look! There's a lovely, great burn-mark on the BACK of his tunic (guess those DS weapons really make a mess!).
The whole 'face-swap' scene (looking as though they re-used the laser-octopus thingy from the Nu-You shop in the Movie) is GREAT, but very long-winded, with hardly any dialogue, and only the suitably-otherworldly instumental music to carry it. Still, it's very effective, and nicely sets-up 'Hal' as a believably-motivated threat to Logan.
Once Hal's located Logan and the others, and made some inroads into convincing them of his authenticity, we get into the story-proper. The effects hold up very nicely, as the Solarcar is trapped by a gun-generated force-field, and our runners are escorted to the hall of 'The Provider'.
It's here that the show starts to look a little dated (but it's not too bad) due, mainly to the costumes (gotta love those arty necklaces) and hairstyles :wacko:
After much meandering, and some *very* suggestive acting on the part of the patrol receiving Joy (if that was me, I'd want to take my Joy in private!! ;) ), Logan and the gang finally get to leave (minus REM, who has to stay behind to fix the computers), to head back to the City of Domes to spark the non-existant rebellion that Hal's convinced them about.
At this point, the drama really kicks in, as The Provider attempts to blow Logan, Jessica and Hal to pieces - saved at the last moment by REM, who reverses the charge and inadvertantly kills The Provider.
Back at the outside door to the City, Logan finally realises that the whole rebellion story is a trap, and disposes of the bogus Hal 14, with the aid of another couple of patrolling Sandmen, who mistake Logan for one of their own.
A couple of quick stun-blasts (I love the blue field effect!), and Logan and co. make their second escape from the City.
A lovely piece of nostalgic tv, which still hold up nicely today!
What did everyone else think?
Til' next time!
Rob
Logan5 - April 30, 2005 11:26 AM (GMT)
Very nice review, Rob! Thanks for submitting it!
This is one of my favorite episodes of the series! This was the one I remember mostly watching as a kid back when it had originally aired. The episodes that had to do with Logan and Jessica going back to the City of Domes were pretty much my favorites. To me, the City of Domes was a very important 'supporting character' in the series, and I mostly related to both the film and the series because of this very interesting 'character'.
Getting back on track, I agree that the episode was filmed very well overall in the way that the director worked with the limited set he had. Also, this episode just had a great storyline in the way it brought the City 'character' back into the series. Also, I was able to see one of my favorite actors as a kid back on TV - Spencer Milligan as Garth!!! I greatly enjoyed the series "Land of the Lost" and immediately recognized dear old Rick Marshall the moment he first shows up. Guess this is where he ended up after going through that time portal in "Land of the Lost". :lol:
One thing that I really disliked about this particular episode though was the looooooooooooooooooong time it took to transform the dead runner's face onto the other Sandman in the beginning. It just seems to go on and on without end. There was simply no reason why it had to have been drawn out the way it way. A few quick edits and it wouldn't have bothered me. But turning knobs, flipping switches and waiting and waiting - without any dialogue and horrible background music that doesn't fit the scene is just too painful to sit through and watch.
But if you can make it past this excruciatingly long, drawn out sequence (heck, you could probably go to the bank, fill up the car and return and wouldn't miss anything :lol: ) the rest of this episode will pay off TEN fold!! It really is one of the better episodes in the series and definately would make my personal Top 3 list.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the series! This was the one I remember mostly watching as a kid back when it had originally aired. The episodes that had to do with Logan and Jessica going back to the City of Domes were pretty much my favorites. To me, the City of Domes was a very important 'supporting character' in the series, and I mostly related to both the film and the series because of this very interesting 'character'.
Getting back on track, I agree that the episode was filmed very well overall in the way that the director worked with the limited set he had. Also, this episode just had a great storyline in the way it brought the City 'character' back into the series. Also, I was able to see one of my favorite actors as a kid back on TV - Spencer Milligan as Garth!!! I greatly enjoyed the series "Land of the Lost" and immediately recognized dear old Rick Marshall the moment he first shows up. Guess this is where he ended up after going through that time portal in "Land of the Lost". :lol:
One thing that I really disliked about this particular episode though was the looooooooooooooooooong time it took to transform the dead runner's face onto the other Sandman in the beginning. It just seems to go on and on without end. There was simply no reason why it had to have been drawn out the way it way. A few quick edits and it wouldn't have bothered me. But turning knobs, flipping switches and waiting and waiting - without any dialogue and horrible background music that doesn't fit the scene is just too painful to sit through and watch.
But if you can make it past this excruciatingly long, drawn out sequence (heck, you could probably go to the bank, fill up the car and return and wouldn't miss anything :lol: ) the rest of this episode will pay off TEN fold!! It really is one of the better episodes in the series and definately would make my personal Top 3 list.
Steve - May 3, 2005 08:45 PM (GMT)
What was surprising for me with this particular episode was how many people ended up getting killed in it.
Let's face it - TV back in the 70's was very different than TV is now. Logan's Run was a Science Fiction series shown at a relatively early hour on TV and was geared towards us young 70's kids. Usually on these types of TV shows back then, the networks had to make sure that guns were set to 'STUN' and that nobody every really died. You had shows on the air like CHIPS, SWAT, The A*Team and Charlie's Angels and hardly anyone was ever killed on these shows. The Angels always got their man with their fighting skills :D , and they never really ever had to kill anyone.
In the Pilot episode of Logan's Run, the Carousel people simply disappeared in an array of red dots (instead of exploding as in the originl movie). I had heard that this change was done to show the kid television audience a much less violent way of showing their deaths. Why weren't changes made for this episode?
And please, don't misunderstand me - I'm all for realism and tv violence! :lol: It's just that this episode (and a few others) seemed to successfully 'break the rules', and made the show more 'real', more so than some of the other shows that were on at the time!
I agree with Rob and Logan that this particular episode is one of the better ones. I was just always surprised at the number of deaths it had in it for it's time.
Let's face it - TV back in the 70's was very different than TV is now. Logan's Run was a Science Fiction series shown at a relatively early hour on TV and was geared towards us young 70's kids. Usually on these types of TV shows back then, the networks had to make sure that guns were set to 'STUN' and that nobody every really died. You had shows on the air like CHIPS, SWAT, The A*Team and Charlie's Angels and hardly anyone was ever killed on these shows. The Angels always got their man with their fighting skills :D , and they never really ever had to kill anyone.
In the Pilot episode of Logan's Run, the Carousel people simply disappeared in an array of red dots (instead of exploding as in the originl movie). I had heard that this change was done to show the kid television audience a much less violent way of showing their deaths. Why weren't changes made for this episode?
And please, don't misunderstand me - I'm all for realism and tv violence! :lol: It's just that this episode (and a few others) seemed to successfully 'break the rules', and made the show more 'real', more so than some of the other shows that were on at the time!
I agree with Rob and Logan that this particular episode is one of the better ones. I was just always surprised at the number of deaths it had in it for it's time.
Francis 8 - August 31, 2005 09:07 PM (GMT)
Just an interesting note about Nicholas Hammond for fans of the TV Show. He was also in Michael Anderson's excellent six-hour mini-series adaptation of Ray Bradbury's science fiction classic The Martian Chronicles (broadcasted on both September of 1979 and January of 1980 on NBC). He was in the scene concerning the second expedition to Mars along with Doc himself, actor Michael Anderson, Jr.
Interesting, huh?
Interesting, huh?