Return to the Planet of the Apes
The legendary 1968 film Planet of the Apes struck a chord with filmgoers everywhere by mixing science fiction with social commentary. The film became so popular that several sequels were quickly released, including Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). This set the stage for the 1974 television series Planet of the Apes, and ultimately, a cartoon series titled Return to the Planet of the Apes. Man, that’s a lot of apes.
The animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes consisted of thirteen episodes and ran for a single season in 1975. The series was originally included in the Planet of the Apes “ape head” 14 DVD box set, but for the new two disc release set the episodes have been restored, appearing (most likely) cleaner here than they did even when they originally aired.
The series rehashes the setting from the original film. Cornelius, Zira, Doctor Zaius and Nova are all back, but the astronauts/time travellers (Jeff, Bill and Judy) are all new to the series. Like the films before it, the animated show revolves around the conflict between the humans and the apes, led by the evil General Urko (voiced by Henry “Fred Flinstone” Corden).
The episodes are dark, both in presentation and content. It’s amazing not only that someone pitched this as a Saturday morning cartoon series, but that anyone at a network approved it. While there’s no material inappropriate for children here, there’s not much to entertain them either. This is definitely geared toward young adults. Apparently someone involved thought that there might be a season two at some point, because there is no “ending” to be found here.
DVD features are sparse/non-existant, offering only two mono audio tracks (English or Spanish) and English/Spanish/French subtitles. The lack of extras seems to have kept the price down (Amazon sells the package for $17.99), but surely 20th Century Fox could have dug up someone related to the show to cough commentary tracks for an episode or two. The only “extra” to speak of is the ability to watch the teaser bumpers between each episode.
Return to the Planet of the Apes is a nice (but feature lacking) package. 20th Century Fox has done a good job on the audio/video restoration. Fans of the original series who didn’t shell out the $200 for the 14-disc boxset will appreciate finally being able to get their hairy paws on these DVDs.
