Planet Of The Apes, 1968-1974: a 'good' franchise?

With the purchase of Fox by Disney, that may all be up in the air. They've let so many people go from their various divisions that, I'm sure that the assets department that would be behind this, is in chaos.

It would be nice to see POTA in a belated 50th anniversary 4K edition. The rest of the films were so modest in budget that they lack the scope and, frankly, were, from a budget perspective, almost B movies from Fox. It's a pity because, as was shown with the lastest batch of films, when done right and with enough money, these can be pretty terrific. I was hoping that we would see a remake of POTA given that it's been set up with the last film of the latest trilogy.

This is an example of a series, when handled well, that can continue to be entertaining AND examine new areas thematically.

 

Does anybody know about last years 4k presentation or any upcoming new 4k release? Very curios, sorry. John.

 

Saw them on the real big screens back in 1968-74 and they were wonderfull especially Pota68 and Conquest. Im a fan but not a nut job. They looked great then and if the new 4k showing on 40 foot screens in Manhattan is any proof, they are already done and should be released on disc. Disney, does want to continue the series so it looks like a lock but anything goes. Many films have been done in 4k now so to me this is a no brainer. Repeat; the remastering has been done! John M.

 

Cool

 

Really interesting to come across this thread this morning.

I had just picked up a used DVD of the first movie, and started it last night, and am an hour into it.. For some reason I am only getting a small rectangle image (big black bars all around), but am sitting close enough to enjoy it.

Can't remember when I last saw the movie, but now it resonates with an older person like myself much more than when I last saw it.

I wonder what the PETA people would make of it.

 

That’s called pictureboxing. You may be able to fix it by playing around with the aspect ratio settings on your TV. Try the zoom function.

 

I find it mildly irritating how a series of films, or a TV series, even a rock band for heaven's sake, has be collectively, and usually retrospectively, termed as a 'franchise'. I realise, from watching a little televised baseball about 20 years ago here in the UK, that most professional US sport is organised and described in this fashion, but it seems to have become a way to refer to many other forms of entertainment/cultural/artitistic phenomena as well now. Not at all keen on this LCD homogenising, no need for it. That's probably just my being all English, and a bit picky and pedantic, but I find reductive.

My first exposure to the Planet of the Apes was seeing the original and Escape in the cinema as a double bill sometime in the early 70s, then Conquest and Battle as another double-bill around the same time. Then we got the TV series, which I recently learned didn't run for as long as I had thought. I haven't seen that since it was first broadcast here in the mid-70s.
I don't think I saw Beneath for sometime after that, probably on TV.
The new series of films are very good, but really have very little to do with those earlier ones. I have all of them, both originals and recent on BluRay.

 

My favorite bit of Apes trivia is to point out that Roddy McDowell is the only featured actor to appear in ALL 5 of the original films. What about Beneath, you say? He's there, all right...in the prologue, which reuses footage from the previous film.

 

I still enjoy revisiting my POTA BD box set....great series.

 

most likely a non anamorphic DVD...the BD box set is cheap and looks great!

 

I know what you mean. Escape, particularly, has the feel of a made-for-TV movie to me.

 

Thanks, I went through the Format options and only 4x3 seemed accurate looking - Zoom, Full and Just all looked distorted.

I might spring for the series boxset because the movie was so good.

 

Same for me as well!! Although we got into the movie theatre for the showing of Escape followed by the original... so saw them in the wrong order. What has got me thinking is why was Escape paired with the orignal? Escape came out in 1971 and I would have been 3 years old so must have seen this on a rerun a few years later?

 

I think for a while I assumed Escape was the next film because of this pairing in cinemas. I actually think it's a pretty good film. Lots of interesting themes come out of it for me, and it holds up really well. I find it quite chilling. I've never been able to get Haslein's little courtroom lecture about 'infinite regression' out of my head ever since I first saw it.

 

I have the 2011 5-Film Collection on Blu, which is the same mastering as the "Legacy Collection", just a different packaging. I also still have the five films on DVD from a 2006 set.

I remember going to a big downtown Philly theater to see the first film in its initial run. After that, I didn't bother with the sequels until sometime in the mid-70s, when I went with some friends to see all five films in one day. One of the downtown theaters had booked all five, but they juggled the order a bit. I remember trying to piece together the full cyclical story after we'd seen it all unfold out of order.

After the original, my next favorite is the immediate sequel, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES. That one seemed like a wild ride after the first one.

 

I only like the ones with Charlton Heston

 

The Original is by far the best, without question.

I enjoyed Conquest, Beneath was kinda cool, and Escape has a lot of heart.

 

The first one was really good and totally captured my imagination as a kid. Each successive movie dwindled in terms of quality. By the time we get to "Battle for the Planet of the Apes", well, that was really, really bad.

 

so bad it was good

 

The problem was, that film really NEEDED a big budget. If you're going to pitch apes against mutants, you need both sides to look convincing and the mutants, iirc, looked cheap.

 

Yeah, it just wasn't done very well. I actually saw that movie in the theater with my father as I was totally hyped to see it. It was my first "Planet of the Apes" franchise movie to see in on the big screen. Even as a dumb kid I knew that were some major problems with the plot and the special effects. It was just very poorly done.

 

That's a sad thought.

 

I never had a problem with any of them...enjoyed them all...

 

the beach scene in POTA is mid blowing! I saw this at the movies...it was an incredible shock back then not knowing...

 

It still is a big shock to me!