Planet of the Apes (1968)

Planet of the Apes
Theater Release Date: 1968
Format: Double Digi-Pack
Length: 112 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 3/28/2006
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore

Plot: Starring Charlton Heston as George Taylor aka Bright Eyes, Linda Harrison as Nova, Kim Hunter as Zira, Roddy McDowall as Cornelius, Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius, Robert Gunner as Landon, Jeff Burton as Dodge, and Lou Wagner as Lucius. A classic this 1968 original version starring Charlton Heston is by far superior to the 2001 remake starring Mark Wahlberg. The screenplay was written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling. Rod Serling as you may know is famous for the Twilight Zone TV series. The screenplay was based on a novel by Pierre Boulle titled La planète des singes, translated into English as The Planet of the Apes. The novel stars three frenchmen as the heroes of the story as opposed to three Americans the 1968 movie depicts. Movie starts off aboard a US space ship which is currently out somewhere in space. Because the ship is traveling near the speed of light, to the 4 crewmen on board the time elapsed since their takeoff from Earth has been about 6 months. However in earthtime the time elapsed would have been about 700 years. Before he puts himself into suspended animation for the trip back to Earth, the captain of the ship George Taylor takes a final look at the date and time it would currently be on Earth and the clock reads March 27, 2673. The ship crash lands on a body of water and the crew must abandon ship. Just before leaving the ship Taylor looks at the clock again and it reads November 25, 3978. The surviving members of the crew consist of Taylor, Landon, and Dodge. To the best of his knowledge Taylor surmises that they have crash landed on an alien planet which is about 300 light years from Earth, and that about 2,000 years have past since they left Earth. In their exploration of this foreign planet they initially spot a group of primitive humans. Taylor jokes that if this is the best they have, the three of them will soon be running this planet in a few months. Then suddenly a howling sound and the crew sees the primitive humans fleeing. In the melee the crew soon learn that the howling noise are from apes on horseback carrying guns, and they seem to be hunting the primitive humans. The crew is split up during their attempts to flee the horsebacked apes and Taylor's throat is hurt leaving him unable to speak. The crew has landed on some planet where apes are on top and humans are primitives who cannot speak and who forage for food like animals. From within his confines in a cage Taylor meets Zira, a female chimpanzee whose work involves studying humans. She seems sympathetic to him and when she learns of Taylor's intelligence, his ability to write and reason she becomes very excited in seeking the true origins of this man. Zira seems to be a relatively open-minded scientist interested in pursuing the truth. So seems to be the case with her chimpanzee fiance Cornelius. However, their work is impeded by conservative orangutans led by Dr. Zaius the Minister of Science and Chief Defender of the Faith. According to the apes culture and their Sacred Scrolls, a divine entity created the apes in his own image and they are and have been since beginning of time been unique from other species. Taylor is seen as a threat to this fact which should be self-evident and Dr. Zaius seems more interested in protecting this faith as opposed to pursuing truth in science. When Dr. Zaius orders that Taylor be gelded, Taylor attempts to flee but is recaptured. This is the scene where he utters his classic line, "Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape". In the conclusion of the movie while wandering an area called by the apes as The Forbidden Zone, Taylor comes across the fallen remnants of the Statue of Liberty and he realizes that he is not on a foreign planet, but indeed back on Earth. Unfortunately it seems to be an Earth where Taylor suspects the humans have managed to end their own civilization.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Theater Release Date: 1970
Format: Widescreen, NTSC
Length: 94 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 3/28/2006
Director: Ted Post
Cast: James Franciscus, Linda Harrison, Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, David Watson, Maurice Evans, and James Gregory

Plot: Starring James Franciscus as Brent, Linda Harrison as Nova, Charlton Heston as George Taylor, Kim Hunter as Zira, Roddy McDowall and David Watson as Cornelius, Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius, and James Gregory as Ursus the war hawk gorilla military leader. This sequel starts where the original Planet of the Apes left off. In this movie, an astronaut named Brent crash lands on Earth sometime around the year 3,955 A.D. He was on a rescue mission in search of Taylor and while following Taylor's course Brent himself seems to have somehow traversed through time to land on this future Earth where apes rule. By chance he meets Nova who is alone on horseback. Brent notices that she happens to be wearing Taylor's id tag and asks her to take him to where Taylor is. She is unable to speak but through scenes which visualize Nova's memory we learn that after parting from the apes in the Forbidden Zone, Taylor and Nova wandered the area for what seems to be some time. Then Nova's last memory of Taylor is seeing him somehow disappear through a wall. Nova takes Brent to the city of the apes where Brent is horrified by the sight of the apes, particularly one gorilla who is a military leader named Ursus who urges war be waged against humans who may be inhabiting the Forbidden Zone. In the city Nova takes Brent to meet Zira and Cornelius, the intellectual chimpanzees who had previously helped Taylor. They treat a gunshot wound which Brent has sustained and brief him on Taylor's last known whereabouts. While escaping some apes who are in pursuit, Brent and Nova wander into a cave which turns out to be the dilapidated site of the New York city subway. Brent is shocked when he sees a station sign reading "Queensboro Plaza". Led by a strange humming sound Brent is led to a city of intelligent but hostile mutant humans who seem to worship an Atomic bomb as their god. These humans are able to use what they term as "Traumatic hypnosis" to create visual and sonic deterrents. They possess the ability to communicate telepathically, to make people hallucinate, and somehow mentally push Taylor and Brent to fight against each other. Noteworthy is the fact that this is the movie where the beautiful Nova first speaks uttering the word "Taylor". I guess she was keeping in line with her role as a primitive but still, for someone so beautiful, her first uttered words sounded almost manly and shocking to hear. The story of the movie is interesting with definite hints of a message against nuclear weapons proliferation. Considering the movie was released in 1970, I guess nuclear weapons were a hot topic issue then. It's also interesting how the movie distinguishes the apes into factions - the orangutans being the ruling administrative class, the chimpanzees being the intellectuals and anti-war, peace-loving apes, and finally the gorillas being the war loving military class. There is one scene where as the gorillas start their march towards war, there is a group of young chimpanzees who stage a peace protest in an attempt to block the advance of the gorilla soldiers.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Theater Release Date: 1971
Format: Widescreen, NTSC
Length: 97 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 3/28/2006
Director: Don Taylor
Cast: Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden, and Ricardo Montalban

Plot: It is the year 1973 when colonel Taylor's spaceship which had been missing for the past two years is found floating in the water off southern California. When the US military brings the ship to shore and opens the hatch, three beings in astronaut suits emerge from the ship. The military leader starts to salute the astronauts but then has to stop himself when he is surprised to see that the three are apes. The three who emerged from the ship are none other than three chimpanzee intellectuals Zira, Cornelius, and Dr. Milo. It is soon revealed that Dr. Milo was a chimpanzee scientific genius way ahead of his time. Dr. Milo was able to salvage and repair the spaceship which had previously brought Taylor to their ape world. The three apes had escaped from their world using the spaceship just before their earth saw its demise in the previous sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. When they left their world, the year was 3,955 A.D. What is so good about this movie is once again the fascinating story. Particularly interesting is Cornelius' revelations from the apes prehistory concerning the rise of apes and the start of the fall of human kind. While sympathetic to Zira and Cornelius, the movie does a good job in showing how humans in 1973 would be shocked and disturbed by the visiting apes' revelations of a future where apes rule, and humans are primitive animals who are experimented on and hunted for sport, and how the earth comes to an end. Consequently, the movie's characters are not black and white one dimensional good and bad people. Is Dr. Hasslein a cruel evil person who wants to eliminate the apes, or is he merely protecting the humans from a cruel and tragic future?

Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes
Theater Release Date: 2001
Format: Double Digi-Pack
Length: 119 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 10/14/2003
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kris Kristofferson, David Warner, Erick Avari, Luke Eberl

Plot: In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whopping challenge and succeeds. Astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is part of a space station crew that, in the year 2029, is conducting experiments in training genetically engineered chimps to perform complex away missions. When Leo's chimp disappears into a worm hole, Leo unadvisedly goes after him, ending up in a parallel world in which the monkeys are the keepers and humans are traded and caged like animals. It's a horrifying place, and the whole atmosphere, colored by Burton's direction and Rick Baker's incredible special effects makeup, is charged with terror. Leo becomes a heroic figure in the eyes of his defeated human brethren, and he puts his trust--and his hope for escape--in Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a forward-thinking ape who believes in human rights. But Leo has formidable opponents in Thade (Tim Roth) and Attar (Michael Clark Duncan), two power-hungry, testosterone-charged apes who wish to rid the planet of humans altogether. This excellent rendition of Planet Of The Apes is more than just a remake: it includes intense physicality on the part of the actors, complex mythology lacing the story, chilling philosophical realizations, and an amazing cameo by original Apes star Charlton Heston. The combination of those complex parts make for a riveting viewing experience.

Behind the Planet of the Apes

Behind the Planet of the Apes
Length: 319 minutes
Distributor: Image Entertainment, Inc.
DVD Release Date: 08/07/2001
Cast: Roddy McDowall, Charlton Heston, James Daly, Kim Hunter, Linda Harrison, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore

Plot: A fascinating look into the phenomenon that is The Planet Of The Apes, Roddy McDowall takes you behind the scenes of each film in this highly influential series. From conception, through makeup tests, and onto the set, you will witness the action first hand. Including rare interviews with stars Charlton Heston and Kim Hunter, as well as deleted scenes and outtakes, this documentary is chock full of everything for the devoted Apes-maniac as well as the casually interested. Originally aired on cable television.

Planet of the Apes: The Evolution Box Set

Planet of the Apes: The Evolution Box Set
Theater Release Date: 1973
Length: 599 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 08/21/2001
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Charlton Heston, James Franciscus, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Victor Buono, Maurice Evans, James Daly, Claude Akins

Plot: A deluxe set featuring the five Planet Of The Apes movies, beginning with the 1968 original in which a group of astronauts find themselves stranded on a world where apes evolved from humans, only to learn the shocking surprise about humanity's future. The series continues with Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes. Each film offers a combination of smart, satirical writing and action-packed sci-fi adventure. Also includes the feature-length documentary "Behind the Planet of the Apes" hosted by Roddy McDowell.

Planet of the Apes TV Series

Planet of the Apes TV Series
Length: 700 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 11/20/2001
Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Cast: Roddy McDowall, James Naughton, Ron Harper, Booth Colman, Mark Lenard

Plot: March 21, 3085. Two astronauts land on a strange planet run by apes with human characteristics, including the very savagery that brought the decline of the human race. The astronauts arrived here by traveling through a time warp and after a short stay they realize they are actually stranded on their own planet, Earth, several years in the future. Roddy McDowall returns from the successful films as the star of this television series which had a very short life of 14 episodes. All are included in this collection of the underrated science fiction program.

Planet of the Apes/X-Men 2-Pack

Planet of the Apes/X-Men 2-Pack
Theater Release Date: 2001
Length: 240 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 10/15/2002
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Tim Roth, Hugh Jackman

Plot: Two science-fiction films make up this collection. Features included are X-Men (2000) and Planet Of The Apes (2001).

Solaris/Planet of the Apes 2-Pack

Solaris/Planet of the Apes 2-Pack
Length: N/A minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 10/14/2003
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, George Clooney

Plot: This collection conatins two hot remakes of classic sci-fi thrillers. Titles are Solaris and Planet Of The Apes.