MovieChat Forums > Logan's Run (1977) Discussion > Star Trek Recycling

Star Trek Recycling

posted 11 years ago by grendelkhan
4 replies | jump to latest

I picked up the dvd set for a song and have watched 2 of 3 discs so far and am noticing a lot of Star Trek plots being recycled. Obviously, with DC Fontana as a story editor, that wouldn't be too surprising; but, it seems a bit overdone. Granted, Star Trek swiped a lot of these ideas from sci-fi literature (and other sources). So far, we have a logical android (shades of Spock), peaceniks stirred into action by agressive actions of the hero (Errand of Mercy, Private Little War), people split into their good and evil sides (Enemy Within), aliens who use mental manipulation to keep people prisoners (ala the Cage/Menagerie) and who provide their subjects' greatest desire (Shore Leave), a teen with paranormal powers but suffering teen angst and frustrations (Charlie X), time travel that ends up requiring the horrors of the past to remain (City of the Edge of Forever), and a mental facility that is being used for abusive experiments (Dagger of the Mind). I would add Arena to that equation, but the short story Most Dangerous Game is more appropriate to hunter episode of LR.

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[–] richard.fuller1 11 years ago

There was alot of Spock imitation going on in the 70s, tho when I watched many of those shows, I didn't realize how much they were imitating Spock, as at that time, I wasn't watching alot of Star Trek reruns at the time, perhaps only last seeing him in the cartoon, but I had older sibs who confirmed this to be the case.

there may have been a slight hint that C3PO was a Spock-clone, but I really didnt encounter alot of this back then.

Off the top of my head, the only other one I can recall was the character called Ficus on a comedy version of Star Trek called Quark, with Richard Benjamin as the captain. My brother called that one out bigtime.

Of course we would later get Data on ST:TNG and K9 on Doctor Who. I think Data (who I didnt care for) pretty much was the conclusion the whole gamut had gone full-circle.
But the obviousness that these were Spock clones was very annoying.

Ha! I'm watching Logan's Run now and the episode is titled Stargate. Yea, there is definitely some Star Trek emulating going on.

Strange to think the first motion picture was just two years away.

[–] mlaughlin22 8 years ago

In the Collector With Angela Cartwright , Logan went through the redressed Door From "First Men in the Moon "

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[–] Blueghost 8 years ago

I think you're picking up common themes as opposed to common story elements. Both shows are about going bad guys with lots of abilities, so some of the themes are going to be recycled.

[–] andy2008 7 years ago

I've just watched the whole series in 2 days. I've also noticed lots of sound effects recycling, primarily all the computer beeps and boops.

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