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Title: Planet Of The Apes: 35TH
Anniversary Widescreen Collector’s Edition
Region: One
Genre: Science Fiction
Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy
McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison, James Whitmore, and James
Daly
Writers: Michael Wilson and Rod
Serling
Based On The Novel "Monkey
Planet" By: Pierre Boulle
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Feature length: 112 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentary With Composer Jerry Goldsmith, Audio Commentary With
Actors Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter, and Makeup Artist John
Chambers, Text Commentary By Eric Greene (Author Of “Planet Of The Apes As
American Myth”), “Behind The Planet Of The Apes” Documentary, Dailies and
Outtakes, Roddy McDowall’s On-Set Movie Footage, Original Makeup Test With
Edward G. Robinson, “Making Of” Featurettes, Still Photo Galleries,
Trailers, DVD-ROM Timeline
Languages: English DTS Digital
5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French
Language Dolby Surround Sound, and Spanish Language Monaural Sound
Subtitles: English Captions and
Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Two-Disc Digipack
Gatefold Within A Cardboard Slipcase
Chapter Stops: 28
Sound: DTS Digital 5.1
Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround
Sound, and Monaural Sound
Year of Theatrical Release:
1968/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical Distributor:
Twentieth Century Fox
Home Video Distributor:
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: G
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
1968 must have been a great year
for science fiction fans. The Original "Star Trek" Television Series
was still airing first run episodes on NBC, Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A
Space Odyssey" was elevating the genre to new heights of respect for what
had previously been considered B filmmaking and 1950s' Cold War paranoia fables,
and then there was 20th Century Fox’s release "Planet Of The Apes."
While some people might have missed "Star Trek" during it's original
broadcast run and others might have found “2001” to be boring or too
ambiguous in it's storytelling technique, "Planet Of The Apes"
appealed to a broader audience because of the mutual attention paid to the
storytelling and the sense of irony and political and social satire demonstrated
in this fable of sorts. The film offered an entire world of action, sets, and
makeup effects that were state of the art for their time. "Planet Of The
Apes" was awarded an honorary Academy Award® for this achievement as well
as a few other nominations in various categories.
I was born the year "Planet
Of The Apes" was released and have vague memories of the original
television premiere that appeared on CBS in the 1970s though I remember the
edited down versions that would broadcast when ABC would present "Apes
Week" on the "4:30 Movie” more. (Gosh have things changed.) For me I
think the "Planet Of The Apes Quintology" was sort of like the
"Star Wars" before "Star Wars" in terms of merchandising and
spin-offs. There was a short-lived TV series, a Saturday morning cartoon, and
tons of "Planet Of The Apes" dolls, play-sets, comic books, and
whatnot.
Four astronauts on a six-month
deep space mission commanded by George Taylor (Charlton Heston) are in cryogenic
sleep. At the time Taylor and his crew left Earth it was July 14, 1972 on the
ships chronometer, while according to Doctor Haslein's theory of time it was
already the year 2673 back on Earth. This can be viewed as an extrapolation on
Einstein's Theory Of Relativity and the times I have mentioned here will play
some importance in the story arc in the third film, "Escape From The Planet
Of The Apes," where we actually get to see Doctor Haslein's character, and
in the prologue to the final film, "Battle For The Planet Of The
Apes."
One of the wonderful things
about this series is that while the continuity is not one hundred percent
perfect though some reasonable explanation can be made up to cover some of the
inconsistencies between the five films, all of them have interweaving components
that hold the story together and serve as a foreshadowing of things to come in
this circular loop of a series.
Anyway, the ship crash-lands
within a gulf at the edge of a desert in the Earth year 3978 A.D. All but the
female explorer survive the crash and find themselves marooned on this unknown
world. After crossing the desert for days they finally come across an oasis
where they see humans in a primitive state feeding off of the fruit of trees
until the Apes arrive to capture some specimens for veterinary experiments and
scientific research among other uses. The cynical Taylor is trapped and injured.
Unable to speak due to his injuries, he is dismissed as an animal mimicking the
creatures that have it caged, but Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) and her
Anthropologist/Archeologist Fiancé, Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) find something
intriguing in Taylor. This discovery has frightened the Minister of Science and
Defender of the Faith, Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Things grow more perilous when
Taylor demonstrates the ability to speak and Cornelius and Zira are threatened
with charges of heresy for even considering this human can be anything other
than a mutant.
Risking their lives, Cornelius
and Zira manage to smuggle Taylor and his newfound native female companion,
Nova, (Linda Harrison) out of Ape City and into the Forbidden Zone where
Taylor's legacy awaits him.
Director Frank Schaffner
(Patton) presents the film with a sense of respect for the material working from
a clever and ironic script penned by Michael Wilson and "Twilight
Zone" Creator and Writer Rod Serling based on the novel "Monkey
Planet" by Pierre Boulle. Charlton Heston lends a great sense of dramatic
intensity to his character, which is far more pessimistic than roles he had been
best known for in other films like “Ben-Hur” and “The Ten Commandments.”
Four years after the original
“Planet Of The Apes” debuted on DVD, Twentieth Century Fox Home
Entertainment has revisited the film again to celebrate its 35TH
anniversary. So now consumers can buy this two-disc set, which features an
anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) presentation. The previous DVD release was
letterboxed though it did feature a THX certified transfer, which this new
release does not. However I think the transfer looks cleaner, seems brighter,
and has far less shimmering along the top edge of the frame than the previous
DVD release.
The DVD has also been given a
new English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack as well as the
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Track that appeared on the original DVD
release. A French Dolby Surround Soundtrack and a Spanish Language Two-Channel
Monaural Surround Soundtrack are also provided along with English Captions and
Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles. While
not as full as I would have liked, I do think the DTS Soundtrack is an admirable
effort on behalf of Fox to truly make the movie presentation on disc one more
exciting for home theater enthusiasts in addition to the anamorphic widescreen
presentation. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is more or less the same
quality as the original DVD release. An audio commentary featuring composer
Jerry Goldsmith is included on disc one along with a commentary of mixed
comments featuring Actors Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter, and Makeup
Artist John Chambers. Finally there is a text commentary by Eric Greene, Author
Of “Planet Of The Apes As American Myth.” The commentaries are a bit of
disappointment because in particular the Actor/Makeup Artist Commentary as well
as the text commentary frequently pauses where nothing is said and or no text
comments appear. There are a few interesting anecdotes, but nothing that is not
more or less covered in the extra value materials that are found on disc two.
The AMC documentary "Behind
The Planet Of The Apes," which was available separately in both Fox’s
“Planet Of The Apes: The Evolution” limited edition DVD box set and as a
two-disc special edition from Image Entertainment, is included on disc two
(126:38). This American Movie Classics and Fox co-production gives the most
detailed analysis and history of the "Planet Of The Apes" movies I
have ever seen. From their initial development featuring rare screen test
footage through all five-feature films, the television series, the cartoon
series, and the comic books, toys and other merchandise, just about every aspect
of the "Planet Of The Apes" franchise is touched upon except for the
2001 Tim Burton film since it was not produced yet at the time this documentary
premiered on AMC.
Hosted and narrated by Roddy
McDowall, this documentary features recent videotaped interviews with some of
the surviving cast and crew from the films and television series and gives
fantastic insight into all of the ambition, allegory, and success this science
fiction series has had. There are surprisingly clear behind the scenes film
footage and just about every facet about the films is discussed in both an
entertaining and interesting manner. This documentary is divided into 22 chapter
stops and is supported by the 1966 makeup test footage featuring Charlton Heston
and Edward G. Robinson (9:27), Roddy McDowall’s home movies, which have been
beautifully preserved (20:20), and a reel of outtakes and dailies (19:44).
Smaller featurettes on “Planet Of The Apes” (4:37), a 1972 featurette on the
series as completed at that time (13:37), a “Planet Of The Apes presentation
to NATO (10:26), and the featurettes “Don Taylor Directs Escape From The
Planet Of The Apes” (7:30), and “J. Lee Thompson Directed Conquest Of The
Planet Of The Apes” (1:07) are also included.
There are several galleries that
feature film reviews for the original “Planet Of The Apes” and slide show
style galleries of sketches by Morton Haack, one-sheet art, and merchandise. The
MEGO toy commercial (1:21) can be found as an Easter egg on disc two by merely
highlighting the “Menu” choice at the bottom of the “Merchandise &
Collectibles” submenu and then press the right arrow on your DVD player’s
remote control. You will see a shape highlighted in white. Press the “enter”
button on your remote control and you should be set. The teaser (2:18) and
theatrical trailer (3:03) for “Planet Of The Apes” as well as trailers for
“Beneath The Planet Of The Apes” (3:10), “Escape From The Planet Of The
Apes” (3:01), “Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes” (2:08), and “Battle
For The Planet Of The Apes” (2:32), which call all be viewed individually or
as one reel (16:14) wrap up the DVD-Video extra value feature in this two-disc
set.
Windows based DVD-ROM users will
also have access to an interactive timeline of the film’s development from the
original publication of the Pierre Boulle novel through all five films, the TV
series, the animated series, and the 2001 Tim Burton film. The interactive menus
on both discs are beautifully rendered and easy to navigate with full motion
scene selections on disc one and animated transitions to submenus on both discs.
I hope Fox will revisit the other four films in the series and release the
“Return To The Planet Of The Apes” animated series on DVD soon. “Planet Of
The Apes: 35TH Anniversary Widescreen Collector’s Edition” is
available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline from Twentieth Century
Fox Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2004 By Mark A.
Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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