Logan's Run

Logan's Run was a spinoff of the 1976 science-fiction film of the same name, itself being an adaptation of a book by William Nolan and George Clayton Johnson.  Produced by Charlie's Angels creators Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, the show boasted the writing talents of D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, and several others from Star Trek.

In the City of Domes, the population and resources are managed strictly.  On the day a person turns 30 years old, they must accept the Rite of Carousel and a promised rebirth, which in reality is execution.  Logan 5 (Gregory Harrison) is a member of an elite police force known as Sandmen whose job is to track down and kill Runners, people who reject Carousel and attempt to leave the city.  After terminating a Runner, he discovers a symbol for a secret group whose members are searching for a mythical city known as Sanctuary.  When he reports this information and questions the need for Carousel, he is ordered to find Sanctuary so it can be destroyed.  Logan rebels, and is forced to become a Runner himself along with another citizen, Jessica 6 (Heather Menzies).  Both are pursued by Francis 7 (Randy Powell), Logan's former partner in the Sandmen.

The series depicts Logan and Jessica's adventures as they search for Sanctuary while on the run.  The world outside the City of Domes has become a wilderness dotted with the ruins of once-great cities (such as Washington D.C.) and is home to societies of humans, robots, and aliens.  Along the way they are joined by an android named Rem (Donald Moffat).  The main differences from the original film include: the City is run by a secret cabal of older men instead of by a computer, and the characters' motives are different.

Fourteen episodes aired on CBS from September 1977 to February 1978.  One reason for the cancellation was thought to be the lack of budget for special effects; many props and effects had been recycled from the film.  Star Heather Menzies said in a 2017 interview: "I think they needed to spend more money on the visuals. Star Wars came out around that time and we couldn’t really compete with that."

It's interesting to note that several of the episodes were revised repeatedly before and during filming.  Episode 5, "Man Out of Time" was originally written by David Gerrold, but he became so annoyed after its revision by someone else that he refused to put his name on it, instead using the pseudonym "Noah Ward".

The complete series was released on DVD in 2012.