Logan's Run: The Complete Series

While most science fiction fans are familiar with the 1976 movie version of Logan's Run—set in a 24th-century future where people live lavishly in a hermetically sealed world, but are terminated at the age of 30—many do not realize that it also became a short-lived TV series on CBS in 1977–78. Gregory Harrison takes the Michael York role as the titular former Sandman (future-speak for blindly loyal cops hunting those who try to escape their death sentences), who flees with a rebel named Jessica (Heather Menzies) while his former partner, Francis (Randy Powell), tries to track them down. The extended pilot (which recycles many of the film's costumes and even cribs some footage) recaps the premise in just a few minutes, sending Harrison and Menzies into the outside world where every episode brings them into contact with another isolated human enclave (plus a few robots and aliens) with its own social domain—a series of encounters that could have been borrowed from the Gene Roddenberry playbook. The pair even have their own Spock in the form of Rem, an android fascinated with human emotions, amiably played by Donald Moffat. Conventional, familiar, and very '70s, it's nonetheless a step up from most TV sci-fi of the era, and may be the subject of renewed interest due to a big-screen remake in the works. Compiling all 14 episodes, this series is a strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)