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Amazon.co.uk Review
Set around a dozen years after the 1967 Charlton Heston-starring Oscar winner of the same name, this Planet of the Apes is a 1974 TV spin-off that attempts to recapture the appeal of the original apes films. A second spaceship arrives on the planet, the basic plot being the same as in 67, as two surviving humans go on the run with a renegade chimpanzee, Galen (Roddy McDowell essentially reprising his Cornelius character under another name). The actor provides the strongest lead, while Booth Colman as Zaius (replacing Maurice Evans from the original film), offers fine support. The humans Ron Harper and James Naughton are relatively bland, a buddy duo very much anticipating Starsky and Hutch, while the stories, in which our heroes have a new adventure each week and then move on, fall very much into the formula that dominated earlier shows such as The Fugitive, Star Trek and Alias Smith and Jones.
This is a post-apocalyptic world where everyone has perfect hair and make-up. But if the action and effects are limited, at least that gives the stories room to concentrate on some moral debates about the nature of human violence. A show finally hamstrung by the tight limitations of its formula, Planet of the Apes: The Television Series lasted only 14 episodes and was cancelled so abruptly it lacks any resolution. Nevertheless its reappearance offers a welcome chance to reassess it in context with the classic movies it apes.
On the DVD: Planet of the Apes: The Television Series is presented on four discs, including all 14 episodes. The sound is good mono and the 4:3 colour picture is excellent considering the show's age. Print damage is minor though occasionally quite noticeable, and there is some fading in a few shots. Otherwise this is the best these shows have ever looked. The only extras are trailers for the movie box set and for Tim Burton's 2001 cinema "reimagining". --Gary S Dalkin
DVD Description
After their spacecraft travels through a time warp, two astronauts from 1981 crash-land back to Earth in the year 3085 - a time when intelligent apes rule and humans have been reduced to servants or pets. Captured by the apes and sentenced to death, they are saved by a curious chimpanzee named Galen (Roddy McDowall). But now all three are on the run, trying to keep one step ahead of the gorilla army led by General Urko, who is determined to kill the renegades.
Includes the following episodes:
Disc 1
- Escape From Tomorrow
- The Gladiators
- The Trap
- The Good Seeds
Disc 2
- The Legacy
- Tomorrow’s Tide
- The Surgeon
- The Deception
Disc 3
- The Horse Race
- The Interrogation
- The Tyrant
- The Cure
Disc 4
- The Liberator
- Up Above the World So High
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Kill the humans! Kill all humans!",
By
This review is from: Planet Of The Apes Tv Series [DVD] [1974] (DVD)
I absolutely loved this series as a child! I was about twelve years old and had a huge crush on James Naughton who plays Pete Burke, one of the astronauts! So when I discovered this boxed set, I just had to have it!
Now sometimes things we loved as a child simply do not have the same appeal when we are older. I remember enjoying Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as a child, yet thinking it a load of codwallop as an adult! So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I sat down to view the first episode of Planet of the Apes. Would it stand the test of time? Were all my childhood memories about to be broken? I needn't have worried! Planet of the Apes is every bit as good as I remembered it to be! Okay, so maybe some of the episodes are a bit repetitive and the acting wooden, but the series still manages to entertain. I think Planet of the Apes' saving grace is the fact that, set in the future and with the humans all wearing what appears to be old woolly cast offs, the fashions of the day do not date the series like, for instance, The Incredible Hulk TV series. Dig those flares! The actors all take their parts seriously, with Roddy McDowell stealing the show with a creditable stand out performance as Galen. Mark Lenard, as Urko, is suitably militaristic and James Naughton and Ron Harper as the two astronauts - the wise-cracking Pete Burke and the homesick Alan Virdon - tie everything together nicely. And yes, I still have a thing for James Naughton! The series is based on the Planet of the Apes movie starring Charlton Heston, but differs in one major aspect - the humans can talk. Mute and almost savage humans worked extremely well for the movie, but would have proved boring and repetitive for the series. So the humans are intelligent, own farms and act as servants to the apes, thereby allowing the astronauts to interact with and be aided - or foiled! - by them! The episodes themselves follow a predictable formula, with our heroes confronted with some sort of problem caused by either their own actions or by someone that they happen to have met up with that week. By the end of the episode, the problem has been sorted and our heroes jog off into the sunset, ready for the next adventure! This formula was very popular at the time and followed the pattern used by many other TV shows. It didn't allow for character development or for an effective plot, which some would find off-putting today. However, sometimes I am quite happy to sit back and watch something less demanding so Planet of the Apes is the perfect choice on these occasions! In conclusion, if you remember Planet of the Apes fondly, as I do, then don't hesitate to buy this boxed set. You won't be disappointed. Especially if you're a fan of James Naughton!!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Simian Earth,
By Armchair Pundit "Armchair Pundit." (Durham City, England.) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: Planet Of The Apes Tv Series [DVD] [1974] (DVD)
This above average 1974 TV spin off from the enormously popular Planet of the Apes Films only ran for 14 episodes.
But as a "Simian Saga" fan I'm very glad it's finally got released. Three Astronauts travel through a time warp in their ship,and end up going from 1981 to crashland on 3085 Earth.One Astronaut doesn't survive the landing, these episodes concern the adventures of the two survivors. As they try to understand what's happened to them and get back to their own time. You'll have to buy it to find out if they do as I don't do spoilers. Some of the actors are the same as in the Films,but one crucial difference from the Films are the Humans on this Earth can talk. It was good to see Roddy McDowall reprise his role.(This time called Galen) Mark Lenard (Spocks Dad Sarek from Star Trek)plays the military commander Urko. ~~~~ List of episodes:~ Escape from Tomorrow. The Gladiators. The Trap. The Good Seeds. The Legacy. Tomorrows Tide. The Surgeon. The Deception. The Horse Race. The Interrogation. The Tyrant. The Cure. The Liberator.(This episode never aired during original Run.) Up above the World so High. ~~~~ The show was eventually cancelled because it didn't score enough ratings in the US. But it was very popular with viewers and TV critics in the UK. A shame.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'Bonanza with monkeys',
By
This review is from: Planet Of The Apes Tv Series [DVD] [1974] (DVD)
This series fascinated me when I was eight years old, and it still bears viewing today, especially if you enjoyed it then. It's not up to the standard of the best of the films, of course, but it does try hard - the two human leads, Virdon and Burke, (dead ringers for Starsky and Hutch) are rather bland, and completely overshadowed, as so often happens in science fiction, by the nonhuman characters. Roddy McDowall's chirpy and resourceful Galen is one of the great TV characters of the 70s and makes even the weakest episodes eminently watchable,as does Mark Lenard's blinkered, bullying General Urko, who sadly does not appear in every episode. As in the films, the apes' sense of self-righteousness and self-importance is a scathing caricature of the same quality in humans, and this is one of the qualities that raises this series above simple adventure.A few episodes are outstanding but sadly the writers had trouble keeping the series from lapsing into formula, so several of the episodes go something like this: Galen, Virdon and Burke take refuge with some docile good-natured human farmers, inevitably getting them into trouble with the apes, who proceed to capture/injure/kill one of them and promise to do more of the same later. Burke and Galen think they should move on while Virdon insists that it is their responsibility to set things right. Galen, under protest, ingratiates himself with the local ape authorities by pretending to be someone important, while Virdon and Burke ambush a gorilla on a cart, then hide when Urko shows up with some rifles and semi-automatic pistols (the only post-medieaval technology the apes possess), insisting that the best solution is to kill all the humans. Virdon and Burke finally rectify the situation using some esoteric 20th Century knowledge of chemistry or aerodynamics, the farmers thank them and realise that humans can after all, fight apes or work together with them, and our heroes run off into the distance, and presumably into the next valley, where another unit is filming MASH. All in all, this represents good value and fun, undemanding viewing, and complements the movie box set very nicely. If you're new to the apes thing, though, watch the original movie first.
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