Planet of the Apes (Film Collections) (Blu-ray)

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The 1963 Pierre Boulle novel Planet of the Apes was earmarked by Hollywood very quickly after its initial publishing. However, the studios balked at some of the early scripts and were quite weary of the expenses that would have been required to keep true to the novel by depicting the apes as an advanced society. After some urging and test footage was presented to Fox featuring star Charlton Heston, "Planet of the Apes" was given the green light and the 1968 motion picture starring Heston, Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter quickly launched a five film franchise that ended with the poorly received 1973 film "Battle for the Planet of the Apes." Heston would appear in the first two films and only Roddy McDowell would retain a starring role throughout the series, but the blitzkrieg of "Apes" pictures has established itself as one of the better loved science fiction franchises.

The franchise has been a popular property for Twentieth Century Fox when it comes to releasing large, expansive and expensive box sets. The five films were first released onto DVD as "Planet of the Apes: The Evolution" in a pricey and limited edition collection. I honestly cannot recall what the pricing of that set was when it was released, but it was much ballyhooed for the included documentary "Behind the Planet of the Apes." The price of $99.95 sticks in my head, but this may be a low number. In early 2006, the series was given a re-release onto DVD with the "Planet of the Apes: The Legacy Collection" repackaged the contents of the earlier box set for about half the price. An "Ultimate Collection" was also released for roughly $180 and contained the short lived television series and animated shows in addition to the films.

Today, the high definition generation can get their stinking paws on a very attractive and pricey Blu-ray collection titled "Planet of the Apes: 40-Year Evolution." Priced at $139.99, this new box set comes in a very large and very attractive packaging that includes a gorgeous 200 page hard bound book and five Blu-ray discs containing the films and essential supplemental materials. Fox is making the films available separately as well and purchasing them individually at $35 a pop would easily push the price beyond the relatively value-priced box set. I have some minor complaints about the packaging, but there is no denying that this is a very attractive release. My two complaints are first in the size of the box set. It won´t fit easily on any DVD or Blu-ray shelf and must be placed separately than the majority of a movie lover´s collection. My copy now sits with the DVD special edition of "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" and some surviving LaserDisc titles. The other complaint I have is the rubber nubs that are used to hold the discs in place. Getting them off is easy enough, but putting the disc back into the box can be troublesome.

The series began with the very successful and landmark 1968 film "The Planet of the Apes." This film would define the modern film franchise and was the first film to successfully introduce the notion of production sequels in a manner that is familiar today. The story became a hot property in Hollywood shortly after the novel was published, but script problems and uneasiness about the required effects to bring the story to light caused delays in bringing the Pierre Boulle story to the big screen. After a number of rewrites including a Rod Serling attempt at the story, director Franklin J. Schaffner and star Charlton Heston delivered "The Planet of the Apes" to audiences with great delight and earned accolades from critics and financial success for Richard Zanuck and Twentieth Century Fox.

The Planet of the Apes

"The Planet of the Apes" finds astronaut George Taylor (Heston) and his shipmates Landon (Robert Gunner) and Dodge (Jeff Burton) surviving a crash landing. Their female shipmate died during the crash, but the three surviving men realize to survive they must seek food on the barren, but inhabitable planet. They realize that their interstellar travels resulted in time travel and they are thousands of years into the future from when they took off from Earth in the Seventies. While they know that they have crash landed in the future, they have no idea of what planet they have crashed upon. They quickly set out into the arid landscape and after some time find plant life and unusual scarecrows that suggest there is some form of intelligent life on the planet, albeit primitive. When they discover the planet´s inhabitants, they find they are mute humans who are about as evolved as early cavemen.

Taylor and his men are not alone on the planet with the primitive humans. Large ape men who possess the ability to speak English appear in a hunting party to collect the primitive humans. They possess firearms and Dodge is shot and killed. They then capture Taylor, Landon and a number of the humans and take them to their society where two ape scientists Dr. Galen (Wright King) and Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) prod and test those captured. Taylor was injured during the chase by the apes and at first is unable to speak. He is paired with the lovely primitive woman Nova (Linda Harrison) as a mate and Kira shows a great deal of curiosity with "Blue Eyes," as she calls Taylor. She introduces Taylor to her fiancé Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and then takes Taylor to meet the ape´s leader Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Zaius orders Taylor to be killed, but he escapes and during the escape he regains his ability to speak and mutters "take your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape!"

The remainder of the film focuses on Taylor wanting to escape from his prescribed death with his new mate Nova. He is tried in an ape court and Zaius tries to declare that Taylor is not fully able to speak, but can mimic words. Soon Taylor discovers that Landon has had his brains scrambled with a primitive lobotomy. With Zira and Cornelius finding a strong liking and friendship with Taylor, they orchestrate an escape for the humans and this leads them onto an adventure into the forbidden zone. The foursome are caught up to by Zaius in a cave that was inhabited by earlier man and a plastic doll is refuted as unimportant by Zaius, although Taylor argues that an intelligent and social civilization of man existed before the ape society. Taylor manages to escape with Nova from Zaius and the ape soldiers and the climactic and iconic reveal of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty is evidence that the planet of the apes is indeed Earth.

This first film is a remarkable science fiction film. It currently sits in the IMDB top 250 list for good reason. This is one of the finest science fiction films created and while the sequels certainly lacked the power, performances and storytelling of this first movie, it helped define the modern notion of a blockbuster franchise. Heston, Hunter and McDowell are all very good in the film and I´m certain that "The Planet of the Apes" would not have been nearly as successful if this threesome had not formed the nucleus of the film. Schaffner and his filmmakers deserve a large amount of praise as well. The story was reworked to make the ape civilization less tech-savvy and it works beautifully and the film was produced on a very low budget and the makeup and other effects work very well even forty years later. Schaffner would go on to make "Patton" and while that is considered his masterpiece, "The Planet of the Apes" is another career defining film.

I´m not going to go into a lot of depth and discussion of the four sequels, nor will I continue to sing the praises of this iconic first film. The story, quotes and the Earth shattering reveal are all too familiar to nearly anybody that owns a television. This is a historic film and a very entertaining one at that. The film itself is available as a separate Blu-ray disc and for those that simply love the first movie and have little to no interest in the sequels, I will suggest to you that you discontinue reading this review and move down to the technical discussion or just head out to the local video store and purchase a copy of "The Planet of the Apes" separately. For those that enjoy the campy nature of the four sequels and love all things related to the universe created by Boulle´s story, the please continue as I try to move through the other films quickly an give some brief plot discussion and my thoughts on the films.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

The first film was so successful that Richard Zanuck decided to gamble once again on the franchise after Fox had lost a great deal of money on a few major failures. He asked a huge favor from Charlton Heston and after some confusion and initial hesitation by the big star, Heston returned for an extended cameo as Taylor in a bid to capitalize on the success of the first film and earn some much needed money for the studio. Television star James Franciscus was pulled into the project to act as star of the film and director Ted Post took over reigns while Schaffner was making "Patton." Post had just previously directed Clint Eastwood in "Hang ´Em High" and was eager to tell another story about an ape civilization. Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans and Linda Harrison all returned as well and star Roddy McDowell was absent from the first sequel aside from recycled footage; the only film not to feature the British thespian out of the five "Apes" films. The film released to strong financial success, but was not received well by critics.

In the sequel, astronaut Brent (Franciscus) is sent on a rescue mission to find Taylor. Through the miracle of science, he manages to travel the same length of time as Taylor and lands on the future Earth where the Statue of Liberty is ruins and the world is ruled by apes. It is revealed that Taylor disappeared and Nova was left without him. Brent and Nova meet and become traveling companions shortly into the film. The ape General Ursus (James Gregory) wants to kill all humans and hopes to lead a war party into the Forbidden Zone. After capture by the apes, they escape to the Forbidden Zone and there Brent finds a cave with a surviving nuclear missile and religious cult that worships it. Brent reveals to the telepathic humans in the cave that the apes are marching to war against them and Brent is thrown into a prison where he finds Taylor a captive. When Ursus arrives, a large battle breaks out and the film´s big climax finds Taylor destroying the entire world while detonating the nuclear warhead.

Heston had wanted the film to end with a major explosion destroying the planet of the apes and the filmmakers had hoped this would be a shocking ending to rival the first film. Looking back, perhaps it would have been fitting if all the apes had indeed perished and the series ended after this second film. While it does have some entertainment value, it cannot compare to the very strong and impressive original picture. Heston doesn´t seem excited to be part of the production and the entire storyline feels hokey. Kim Hunter and others that return are still good in their roles, but this lesser story and the unusual plot focused around the telepathic humans just lacks the power of the original. "The Planet of the Apes" established the concept of a blockbuster franchise and "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" quickly details that you can make money based upon an IP, even if it isn´t very good. Sequels are historically ineffectual and this film was the prototype.

Escape From the Planet of the Apes

The second picture in the series proved profitable. However, it ended with the entire world being destroyed and created a difficult situation to provide a continuation of the series. Charlton Heston died in the second film and would have refused to return for a second sequel. However, the powers that be at Fox were quick to formulate a plan to keep their profitable science fiction franchise afloat and conjured up a story to bring back some of the main characters from the first two films. They also managed to cover for the lack of Heston in the third picture by once again adding Malcolm McDowell to the cast. The third film is marginally better than the second and this is almost entirely due to the work by Hunter and McDowell. Director Don Taylor became the third director in as many films and began a trend of directing lesser sequels to notable first films and went on to direct "Damien: Omen II."

This third film reintroduces Zira (Hunter) and Cornelius (McDowell) as main characters. While the planet of the apes was destroyed by a nuclear explosion, these two highly intelligent apes managed to figure out the technology of Taylor´s previously destroyed and sunken space ship and repair it for space flight. Along with new ape Dr. Milo (Sal Mineo), the three were able to achieve space flight just before Taylor nuked the planet. Their trip sends them back in time to the Seventies; just after Taylor left. There they are first treated in a manner similar to how they treated Taylor, but they are soon accepted as celebrities. Zira is tricked into becoming drunk and revealing that the apes destroy Earth and soon they become a menace to society. The apes are quickly placed into danger after Cornelius kills a man and it is revealed that Zira is pregnant. They escape captivity and find safety in a circus run by Armando (Ricardo Montalban). They two are killed, but it is revealed that Armando has kept their baby safe and given the new name of Caesar.

"Escape from the Planet of the Apes" is a camp classic. It shows many of the themes from the first film in a role reversal for the apes Zira and Cornelius. That helps make the story a slight better tale than the first sequel, but much of the allure of this third film in the franchise is in the campy nature in which the two apes become celebrities in the Seventies. It provides a lot of humor and for much of its running length, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" becomes a comedy and this is easily the more light-hearted of the five films; at least until the shocking end when the two beloved characters are brutally removed from the series. I´ve never been one to feel that this movie is a classic in the same manner as the first film, but it is easily my second favorite "Apes" film and can make for a nice escape from reality on a cold night.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

After the third film, Kim Hunter decided to call it quits and didn´t return. Her character was dead, but so was Roddy McDowell´s. However, the British actor had become the voice of the "Apes" series and he was given a new role in this fourth entry in the franchise. "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" was a successful film, but it had brought the series to then-present day Earth and the story ended with the shocking deaths of the kind hearted Zira and Cornelius. This didn´t stop Fox from continuing their cash cow and J. Lee Thompson became the fourth director of an "Apes" film and writer Paul Dehn carried on his duties of finding new and mildly interesting ways of keeping things going. Thompson is best remembered for directing "The Guns of Navarone," and I´m not sure what drew him to this next iteration of the "Apes" franchise.

At this point, the story was getting very long in the tooth, but the Dehn scribed story introduced Roddy McDowell as Caesar, the son of his previous character. You could say there was a family familiarity between father and son. Years have passed since the death of his parents and apes have miraculously evolved and are now trainable and look far more like man than those which were previously seen in zoos and circuses. It is 1991 and society has changed. Pets have all died and the surviving apes became the servants of man. They become slaves. Caesar is the companion of Armando (Montalban) and Armando keeps Caesar from speaking or revealing that he is the son of Zira. The film progresses and it is revealed that Caesar can indeed speak and a revolution begins and ends the film with a large fight between man and ape and Caesar showing both aggression and compassion.

This fourth film´s point of interest is the manner in which it poses the question of how one could affect time by traveling back in it. The history of the apes that was revealed in the first two films is clearly changed by the Cornelius and Zira returning to Earth. The film strives to bring the story full circle and tie the events of the previous film and the first film together by moving forward and not in reverse. This provides a little curiosity to the plot and story, but in all reality, the series was already tired when "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" debuted in theaters. Watching this and the final entry in the franchise are more like guilty pleasures now and this movie´s entertainment value exists only because of the existence of the previous films. You really need to love the series or Ricardo Montalban to appreciate this film.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

Director J. Lee Thompson and Roddy McDowell returned for the fifth and final film. "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" is typically regarded as the worst reviewed film of the series and was created on a shoestring budget in a final feeble attempt to cash in on the success of the strong series name. Touted as ´The Final Chapter,´ "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" deals heavily with race and attempts to tie in all events from the previous four films to create a time continuum where the storyline comes full circle. Veteran actor John Huston appears in the film as the Lawgiver and aside from his presence and that of McDowell, "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" was composed of mostly unknowns.

The story takes place many years after the rebellion started by Caesar in the fourth film. Apes have now taken over most of world and only small pockets of humanity exist after a nuclear war. This can explain why the Statue of Liberty existed in ruin at the end of the first film. Caesar (McDowell) has become the ruler of the apes, although the character shows very little difference in age from the previous film. He attempts to create a peaceful society where humans teach apes how to speak and they coexist, but General Aldo (Claude Akins) would rather kill all humans and cares very little for learning. Eventually, Caesar is talked into travelling to the ruined city to find a tape of his parents by MacDonald (Austin Stoker). The city is occupied by mutated humans and led by Governor Kolp (Severn Darden). This visitation by Caesar and MacDonald leads Kolp against the apes where Aldo is more than ready for a full scale war against the humans.