Outside of the Godzilla, Star Trek and Star Wars franchises this is one of the most recognized titles of films in the science fiction genre. Granted as time went on, like a lot of long running franchises the quality of the story continued on a downward spiral yet projects continued to be developed, but with this expansive saga the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The original story was a thing of genius, dealing with social issues that were so evident in the public's mind at the time, segregation, slavery, etc., and like the best of sci-fi stories set in the future these issues were thrown into the spotlight for everyone to see how our own prejudices form the future we are headed towards.
Planet of the Apes - A group of astronauts, on a mission to test a faster than light ship, are flung into the future where man has lost his dominance on the planet to a race of intelligent apes. Based on the Pierre Boulle novel we are given a glimpse into a possible future where through a catastrophic chain of events apes are the intelligent species on the planet and man is a dumb animal. With Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall in two of the lead roles we're given a treat of a film that gave the audience a thrill ride with an intelligent story and action that had not really been captured film without the use of special effects.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes - A rescue mission to save the first crew, crash lands in the future and discovers that there is a race of mutated humans living underground who are in constant battles against the apes. Looking to do a sequel to the highly successful first film, 20th Century Fox pushed into production "Beneath," which in a way picks up right where last one leaves off. The only actor not to reprise their role here was McDowall, Even though the role is small in this second film it is a noticeable difference to the character. But the best part of this expanded storyline is the introduction of the Underdwellers, the mutated humans that are living in the underground city in the Forbidden Zone. With this movie we're given the true end of the world and for a short order the end of the story.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes - Three apes escape the final destruction of Earth by going back in time to 1973, and bring with them the birth of a new generation. In true science fiction style an idea was hatched on how to continue the storyline after they've killed off all of the characters. You just sit back and say, "What if some one escaped the destruction by going into space?" Here we see the beginning of the cycle of the complete storyline, with the landing of intelligent apes from the future into the world of 1973. McDowall reprises his role as Cornelius and gives us a history lesson where he explains how the apes become the intelligent and dominant species of the planet. This is probably one of the least favorite movies of the original series, but without this story you could never have the original tale with Heston.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - After the death of his friend, Caesar allows himself to be incorporated into the ape/slave market and begins the stirrings of a revolution that will bring about the Planet of the Apes. Showing how the human race enslaves the apes as servants and laborers is at times disquieting and hard to watch. The use of force to make the apes do what their tormentors want is brutal and when the final revolt comes you stand behind the apes with support for all the blood that has been shed. Ricardo Montalban and McDowall, as Caesar, lead the cast of actors who bring about the end of human dominance of the world.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes - Ten years after the ape revolt, apes and humans have acquired a strained relationship which is put to the test when survivors from the bombed out city wage war on the ape village. As the final movie in the original story arc, this movie is set up well at the beginning but falls apart when the final battle with the mutated humans comes about. Here seeing how the feelings of apes are mirrored from human feelings from everything from love, hatred, equality, and murder, we're given a chance to see how the laws of apes began to form for the future generations. Not one of the best of the five films but it is nice to see the progression of the ape society, the further fall human society and the early development of the mutant Underdwellers in the future Forbidden Zone.
Planet of the Apes (TV series) - Two astronauts survive a crash landing in a field and then must fight against the apes that rule the world in order to find a way to stay alive and get home. The series only lasted fourteen episodes and the biggest problems that they had was that producers changed too much from the concept to make it entertaining. The astronauts were from 1980 and the civilization that fell lasted until somewhere around 2390, and without the ape revolt in the 1990s, it's hard to accept that this timeline would have the same evolution of talking apes. The stories also focused more on the inner workings of the ape/human society and less on the action that you need to drive this story.
Return to the Planet of the Apes (cartoon series) - A group of astronauts crash land on Earth of the future where apes are in control and are in constant battle with the Underdwellers in the desert. This series was only thirteen episodes long and done in a serial fashion so if you missed an episode you may get lost easily in the story. Another problem it had was that some of the episodes were broadcast out of sequence, which distorted the story for any one watching it. The issues that were being acted out are a little beyond the a child's understanding so it never got a chance to go that far in the story arc. The animation is crude but the story is very reminiscent of the original series of films.
Planet of the Apes (2004) - A science mission around an uncharted planet leads to an uncontrolled evolution when a time warp sends an astronaut into the future and discovers a planet ruled by apes. Tim Burton's re-imagination of the original concept is quite good, when this was first released most fans were looking for a remake of the first film, and I think that is why a lot of people didn't enjoy this retelling of a well-established story. One of the things that I think that this version is missing is all the similarities to the former culture that had been before them, where there was no civilization on the planet to begin with, there was no way to make the connection to the past. Mark Wahlberg in the lead role does an excellent job as the lost pilot and the guest role of Heston as the ailing elder ape works to complete a cycle where he has played both human and ape roles for this franchise.
As time goes on the stories and issues that this series is about start to become dated and don't seem to be relevant, but there are more likenesses to the world around us now than ever before. Do we still have the thoughts of there being a lower class for the upper classes to exploit and enslave, do we still kill each other for land or belief. There are something's that we as a people of the world wish not to think about, but I ask this, are we right now better than the story arcs that are presented in these films and shows, I think not. Maybe that is why so many look at these movies in a comical way, because they don't want to admit that there are some similarities that we just can't get away from. But all in all these are some of the most entertaining films in the sci-fi genre, and if you watch them for what they are, four different timelines towards the same future, you'll actually enjoy them all even more.
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