Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The scene with Box the robot doesn't quite fully qualify, as it explains what happened to the other people who escaped, but it still seems quite gratuitously weird.
Box, the cheerful-voiced caretaker robot in the ice cave, cheerfully informs Logan and Jessica that "It's my job... to freeze you!" Did we mention he's immune to blasts from Logan's gun?
Carrousel itself. It doesn't look so much like people happy to reach "renewal" as people trying to claw their way out — and then they explode to the cheers of the crowd. Later, Logan finds out that no one ever renews — then you realize that those people are simply dead.
The small scale of the city models are painfully obvious and unintentionally make it look like a model train set. The opening at least tries to hide the scale with an out of focus lens, but it only helps so much, and the rest of the film shows the model sets plain and clear. The water makes the city being a miniature particularly obvious since the surface tension/waves are out of proportion with the buildings.
During one shot of the Carrousel scene, you can clearly see the wires holding some of the people in the air. When this footage was reused for the TV series, this was also visible. It's been speculated that this wasn't an error, and that the citizens were actually meant to be hoisted up on wires in order to attempt renewal.
Box is convincing enough for the time, but in a close-up shot while he's talking you can see Roscoe Lee Browne's teeth.
Awesome Music: The pilot and three other episodes were scored by Laurence Rosenthal, who is probably most well-known for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. His main theme, while not quite as memorable as Jerry Goldsmith's score from the original film, is still a nice piece of music. Film Score Monthly released the soundtrack album for the series (and the complete score for the movie as well).
Harsher in Hindsight: The fact that Heather Menzies, the sweet and life-seeking Jessica, was first of the main cast to pass away. Some Heartwarming in Hindsight, as the actress also was Happily Married with several children. Also, there's a certain irony in Harrison being the last survivor of the main trio.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While the series in general is aimed at families, the episode "Carousel" is closer in tone to the movie, with a graphic death as well as a rather frank discussion about how Jessica may need to sleep with Logan in order to determine if his memories can be restored (and she eventually attempts to seduce him while wearing a disguise that involves an outfit far skimpier than she normally wears - a design closer in fact to what the movie version of Jessica wore).
The Book
Adaptation Displacement: The film is much better known than the original novel, and many are unaware that two sequel novels, Logan's World and Logan's Search exist.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Anyone who has played either of the first two BioShock games should find the description of Molly, the decaying city on the ocean floor, rather familiar.
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The lead character is a borderline sociopath. Jess is something of a Satellite Love Interest. None of the side characters have much for redeeming qualities as they're shallow, oversexed, ultra-violent, casually doped up, or some combination of all the above. Pedophilia, anonymous sex, heavy drug use? Check, check, check. The apocalyptic setting of the sequels makes the world's setting an even bigger dump, but not by much. There's a very good reason many people prefer the film's slightly more idealistic take on the premise.
, where twenty-eight years later four people drowned.