This week John and Eugene look at two more episodes of Logan’s Run.  In the Innocent: Take one awkward, socially-isolated teenage girl, place her in close proximity to a TV series’ hunky lead, and watch the television inevitable happen.  Oh, did I mention she has superpowers?  Then, in Man out of Time: A time-traveling researcher from before the holocaust arrives searching for the cause of the war.  Sometimes the truth isn’t pretty.

The Innocent Synopsis

Despite a vehicle with superior off-road capabilities and an almost limitless 9.6 million square miles in which to run, Francis and his Idiot Squad have got Logan, Jessica, and Rem cornered and almost captured.

Detecting a nearby energy source, Rem leads the Runners into an energy minefield.  With REM’s help, Logan clears a path through the mines, approaching the entrance to a bunker surrounded by an energy barrier.

Once more, it’s Rem to the rescue as he gets them through the barrier and into the bunker.  The energy mines reform, and the barrier is reestablished, trapping Francis and the Idiot Squad outside.

Inside the bunker, they meet a robot named Friend.  Rem and Friend give each other a lot of robotic sass talk, as robots do.  Then a young woman, Lisa, intervenes.  She is the sole living occupant of the bunker, and Logan and Jessica are the first living people she’s seen in years.

There is one other robot occupant of the bunker, that is Nanny, a robotic cleaner/minder with obvious robotic breasts, with plenty of buttons for pushing.

Rem, attempting to study the power system, cannot understand where the power for the security system is coming from.  Friend sees nothing anomalous – things are as they’ve always been.  This discrepancy bothers Rem and Logan.

Outside, Francis calls in another of the Idiot Squad’s cars, this one with the new L7 Laser weapon.  It will take them 8 hours to get there.  Francis waits.

When you take one isolated, awkward teenage girl and introduce her to the star of the show, the television inevitable happens: She falls in love with Logan and wants him to stay with her.  Logan makes it clear that he cannot, and this makes Lisa sad.

So sad, in fact, that the barrier around the bunker drops.  Jeremy, a man, trying desperately to distinguish himself as the Lead Idiot in the Idiot Squad, approaches the bunker and is sent to the cornfield.

Lisa’s attentions toward Logan become increasingly obvious, as does the fact that Lisa has amazing psychic powers.  When Francis’ L7 Laser weapon arrives, Lisa blasts it out of existence with her mind.

Eventually, Lisa sends Jessica and Rem to the cornfield, reasoning that Logan would want to stay with her if they were gone.  It turns out not so much, so feelings scorned, Lisa lashes out with her mind, imprisoning Logan.  She invites Francis in to turn over Logan.

Before the final handoff, she allows Logan to speak, and he makes her see the ugly truth, so she sends the rest of the Sandmen to the cornfield and brings back Jessica and Rem.

She will hold the Sandmen in the cornfield for a while, then release them, giving Logan and the gang a head start.  She vows one day to leave the bunker and start her own life.

Man Out of Time Synopsis

A strange energy reading leads Logan and the gang to a pre-nuclear holocaust ruin, where a probe appears carrying a rabbit.  The probe returns to its origin: December 13, 2118, where scientists operating the Sanctuary project eagerly study the data gathered.  With proof that intelligent life exists two centuries in the future, project leader David Eakins travels forward in time, hoping to learn what started the nuclear war and hoping to prevent it.

He has 22 hours to accomplish this task, which I’m assuming is the length of a day in the 22nd century.

He meets Logan, Jessica, and Rem and, knowing that his success will cause them to cease to exist, does not tell them the truth about his origins.  They take him in their car when they learn he is looking for Sanctuary and even knows where it should be.

They find an idyllic but primitive village in a pleasant valley.  The villagers are welcoming, but they are well below even the average intelligence of the people of this time.  They have names that imply they know something about the computers that should exist at the Sanctuary Project, but they know nothing about such things.  Indeed, they cannot even read.  They worship “the Truth,” which they think is a deity.

Eakins saves the life of a young boy stung by a scorpion.  When he does, he realizes that their temple is the Sanctuary project computer room, now turned into a primitive temple.  He becomes despondent.  All that work collecting all that data was a waste.

When he tries to expose the computers, the villagers treat him as if he has defiled their temple, and they make to kick him out.

Jessica pleads with Logan to help him, even though she doesn’t know what he wants to do.  They demand the truth, and he tells them.

He hopes to collect data from the computer that will reveal the cause of the war, return to his own time and prevent that from happening.  He knows that saving the 7 billion lives from his world means the end of Logan and Jessica’s world.

Logan is not so keen on this idea, but Rem explains that if they prevent him from returning, they themselves may be changing the past as it happened.  Rem is skeptical that the past can be changed, and Logan, realizing that he also might be changing the past if he prevents Eakins’ return, reluctantly goes along.

Rem collects that data, which includes evidence that Eakins did return from the future and the die is cast.  They must get him back.  

Before he leaves, he instructs the villagers how to tap the information from the computers.  Perhaps they can learn and build a better world with the fruits of his work.  It’s a consolation prize if he fails to change his future.

He returns with 5 minutes to spare, and nothing changes.  He failed.

Moments later, a recorded message from Eakins arrives.  He started the war.  When word was announced of his successful time travel, the world’s governments quickly realized the military implications, and the evil empires of the east launched a preemptive nuclear strike.

Eakins knows he could have returned to live out his life helping the villagers, but he chose to die with his world.