Planet of the Apes

The television series of The Planet Of The Apes is not as good as the films, but is still worth a watch.It lacks the originality of the films. The series is set 893 years before the original film and it seems that in this time humans can talk, this means that over the next 893 years humans lose the power of speech and become more wild. One thing i did notice, though, is that dogs are alive...Now this is impossible considering the movie fact that dogs(along with cats) died out, thus opening up the way for apes to become pets, and eventually servants, and soon became intelligent like humans.This series of Planet Of The Apes was released on video in two limited edition box sets in Australia. I now own all five films and all thirteen episodes on video.I am now eagerly awaiting the release of Return To The Planet Of The Apes (the animated series) on video. I am also looking for the Behind The Scenes Video about the films.

PLANET OF THE APES was a show that stressed dialouge over brawn; Talk over heft and firepower. The tv show was big on words and had some good art direction yet alas, only lasted 14 episodes. The series featured creative people who worked on STAR TREK and had a quality to it seen prominently in the episode about the prison fishermen. The show at times had a flair of genius in production values and props. PLANET OF THE APES was a genre show in a era before big syndicated sci fi had found a market (except SPACE 1999). The series as a whole was not bad but it was not all it could have been either. There were questions raised in the films left unexplored that could have been delved into by the series. I recommend the DVD set to serious fans.

At the beginning of a new century, this series remains one of the finest shows ever produced for television. It's academic appeal, combined with it's superior scriptwriting, easily resulted in a classic work of art. Although action packed, the screenwriters always assumed that the audience had a high degree of intelligence. Typically, this show was cancelled after only 13 episodes. A sad comment on our society, who allowed FULL HOUSE to run over 12 years.

The Planet of the Apes TV series is often unfairly criticised (as are the four film sequels) for falling far short of the epoch-making original movie.

However, there is much to be enjoyed for PotA devotees and the less committed alike. The three leading characters of Galen, Virdon and Burke are all instantly likeable and well acted, Mark Lenard is superb as their pursuer Urko, who is second as a Gorilla commander only to James Gregory's peerless performance as Ursus in "Beneath") and Booth Colman evokes Maurice Evans as Zauis (although this Zauis cannot be the same ape as played by Evans in the first two films). Many fine and memorable guest roles throughout and interesting - if slightly repetitive - storylines add up to a satisfying series.

The only downside is the somewhat corny dialogue - especially certain lines spoken by Burke - which rob a number of scenes of their effectiveness.

The Planet of the Apes movies interested me very much as a young child. I was (and still am) very into the monster/sci-fi genre.

When this series came out, my friends and I would always be tuned in. In the special "Behind the Planet of the Apes" it references this series as being 13 shows long. It also mentions that the show was up against 2 very popular TV sitcoms at the time, Sanford & Son and Chico & the Man. I wasn't a fan of either of these other shows so I guess I was in the minority in watching "Apes".

I remember commenting back around that time that the Planet of the Apes TV series looked like Starsky and Hutch vs the apes and I still feel that way when I see clips of the old ape TV show. The 2 human stars bear an uncanny resemblance to the 2 stars of the popular 70s TV cop show (which came out in 1975). There was much merchandising back then, and we collected ape trading cards and ape dolls. I also had the ape model kits. I remember getting a few of the dolls for Christmas but the "ape house" set that came with it was too expensive and a neighbor kid had got that so we 'combined' the items for play.

In 1981 the ape TV shows were combined and renamed "Return to the Planet of the Apes" among other titles.