"Get your filthy hands off me you damn dirty ape!" - Taylor

Based on the novel 'La Planète des Singes' (trans. ‘Monkey Planet’) by Pierre Boulle, ‘Planet of the Apes’ is one of the most famous and popular movie series of all time. The original movie, ‘Planet of the Apes’, was released in theatres in 1968: in the year 3978 A.D., a spaceship and its four astronauts are carrying out an exploratory mission when they encounter a strange time warp. Hurled thousands of years into the future, the ship crash-lands in the sea of an unknown planet, but after the three surviving crewmen, Taylor, Dodge and Landon, make their way to shore and begin to explore their surroundings, they are shocked to learn that they are now on a world where humans are treated as slaves by their masters: the apes!

Produced by Arthur P. Jacobs, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, and starring movie icon Charlton Heston, the film was an immediate hit with its audiences, with its innovative script, amazing make-up, excellent acting, and arguably one of the best shock endings in cinema history. A sequel, ‘Beneath the Plane of the Apes’ was released in 1970, in which astronaut Brent is sent on a mission to locate the missing Taylor, only to fall through the same warp and arrive on the world ruled by apes. Despite its apocalyptic ending, the film was followed the next year by ‘Escape From the Planet of the Apes’, as a spaceship containing three chimpanzees arrives in modern-day America. The ape series continued with ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’, which showed the rise of the apes over mankind, and the final instalment in the ape saga, ‘Battle For the Planet of the Apes’, saw an uneasy co-existence between man and ape thrown into jeopardy by the threat from a race of telepathic mutant humans who live below the Earth’s surface.

The movie also spawned a television series, shown in 1975, which charted the adventures of astronauts Alan Virdon and Pete Burke, and their ape friend, Galen; however, the show was met by a warm reception by audiences, and only lasted for fourteen episodes. An animated series, ‘Return to the Planet of the Apes’, was shown the following year, and, despite some very basic animation, proved to be quite entertaining.

In 2001, the original movie was remade by director Tim Burton. Unfortunately, despite some excellent production values and astonishing make-up, the movie failed to live up to the hype, as audiences and critics alike were extremely disappointed to find that it wasn’t a patch on the 1968 version. Which just goes to show how good a film the original ‘Planet of the Apes’ movie really is!


Planet of the Apes - Movies
Planet of the Apes - Season 1
Return to the Planet of the Apes - Season 1

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Legal Bit: 'Planet of the Apes' is a registered trademark of Twentieth Century Fox. The 'Planet of the Apes' logo and all images from the movies and television series are copyright Twentieth Century Fox unless otherwise stated; music is copyright the original composers and producers; no copyright infringement is intended. All specially created images and text are copyright © Clive Banks; please do not use these without my permission. All rights reserved. No profit is made from this website, and any revenue made from using the banner-links featured goes straight back into the costs of maintaining it, which comes out of my own pocket in the first place. No profit advertising is accepted. This website was created purely to entertain and amuse, and any references to persons living, dead, comatose, in suspended animation, not born yet, or a figment of someone's imagination is purely coincidental. All opinions expressed are my own, so there...

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