Planet of The Apes Franchise Retrospective
Planet of The Apes, Franchise, Series, Story, Plot, Series, Movies, Films, Movie, Film, Novel, Book, Retrospective, Retro, Charlton Heston, Rise of the Planet of The Apes, James Franco, Pierre Boulle, Sci-Fi, Escape, Beneath, Conquest,
Planet of The Apes Franchise Retrospective
In this series, the world has gone bananas. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be taking a look back at the “Planet of the Apes” franchise.
This series was based on the 1963 French novel “La Planète des Singes” by Pierre Boulle. Just a few years after its release, it was adapted into a string of five films between 1968 and 1973.
The original 1968 film “Planet of the Apes,” starred Charlton Heston, and centered on the tale of three astronauts. While in hibernation, this trio traveled at near-light speed but was inadvertently sent through a space-time distortion. They then crash-landed on a primitive planet ruled by apes.
During these events, one astronaut was killed, another was lobotomized, and Heston’s character, George Taylor, was put in a zoo full of animalistic humans. Here, the apes treated humans cruelly, and saw them as nothing more than vermin.
Within their society, the different simian species were divided within a caste system. Apes acted as hunters and military men; orangutans were administrators, politicians and lawyers; and chimpanzees were the intellectuals and scientists.
Chimpanzee scientists Zira and Corneillius, felt compassion for the humans, and recognized Taylor as intelligent. They decided to help him and a female named Nova to escape. However, the astronaut soon discovered he had not landed on an alien planet at all, but Earth in the far future following a nuclear war.
Next up was 1970’s “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.” In that installment, a rescue ship transporting astronaut Brent arrived after being similarly time-displaced. Brent’s search for Taylor took him underground, where he encountered a population of mutated telepathic humans worshipping a nuclear bomb. He also found the imprisoned Taylor, but the pair was mortally wounded when the apes arrived. With his dying breath, Taylor detonated the doomsday bomb and destroyed planet Earth.
Of course, this didn’t stop the franchise from returning just one year later in 1971’s “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.” This film followed a group of simian scientists who escaped the blast of the previous film by repairing Taylor’s crashed spaceship. The twist was that the nuclear blast created a shock wave that sent them back in time to 1973. Picking up on the structure of the first film, the apes ended up in a zoo before becoming celebrities. That excitement quickly turned to fear over news about the future, and the visiting primates were killed. However, they were able to save their newborn son by swapping him for a chimp from the zoo.
The fourth installment was 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.” That film took place in 1991, and focused on a disease that wiped out all of the world’s cats and dogs in the early ‘80s. In this reality, the United States was a fascist culture that used apes as pets and slaves. This caused the surviving intelligent chimp from the previous film to organize and lead a simian rebellion.
The story concluded in 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes.” This final film took place a decade after the ape uprising led by Caesar. We learned that humans retaliated to this event using nuclear force. A battle between survivors ensued; however, man and ape finally decided to coexist as equals.
Following the film series, “Planet of the Apes” was reworked into a television show that took place between the events of the first two films. It was cancelled due to low ratings after just fourteen episodes.
Three decades later, Tim Burton unsuccessfully attempted to reboot the series. The uninspired 2001 film largely retold the events from the original classic, but its ludicrous twist ending failed to captivate audiences.
Despite this setback, Hollywood rebooted the milestone sci-fi franchise once again in 2011 with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” This time, the story centered on a chimpanzee test subject named Caesar who was subjected to a potential cure for Alzheimer’s. This drug spurred rapid brain development, and prompted an uprising that threatened to end mankind’s rule of the Earth.
The “Planet of the Apes” franchise deals with timeless questions of equality, intelligence and warfare. Because of this, the series continues to provoke social commentary and thrilling entertainment.
In this series, the world has gone bananas. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be taking a look back at the “Planet of the Apes” franchise.
This series was based on the 1963 French novel “La Planète des Singes” by Pierre Boulle. Just a few years after its release, it was adapted into a string of five films between 1968 and 1973.
The original 1968 film “Planet of the Apes,” starred Charlton Heston, and centered on the tale of three astronauts. While in hibernation, this trio traveled at near-light speed but was inadvertently sent through a space-time distortion. They then crash-landed on a primitive planet ruled by apes.
During these events, one astronaut was killed, another was lobotomized, and Heston’s character, George Taylor, was put in a zoo full of animalistic humans. Here, the apes treated humans cruelly, and saw them as nothing more than vermin.
Within their society, the different simian species were divided within a caste system. Apes acted as hunters and military men; orangutans were administrators, politicians and lawyers; and chimpanzees were the intellectuals and scientists.
Chimpanzee scientists Zira and Corneillius, felt compassion for the humans, and recognized Taylor as intelligent. They decided to help him and a female named Nova to escape. However, the astronaut soon discovered he had not landed on an alien planet at all, but Earth in the far future following a nuclear war.
Next up was 1970’s “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.” In that installment, a rescue ship transporting astronaut Brent arrived after being similarly time-displaced. Brent’s search for Taylor took him underground, where he encountered a population of mutated telepathic humans worshipping a nuclear bomb. He also found the imprisoned Taylor, but the pair was mortally wounded when the apes arrived. With his dying breath, Taylor detonated the doomsday bomb and destroyed planet Earth.
Of course, this didn’t stop the franchise from returning just one year later in 1971’s “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.” This film followed a group of simian scientists who escaped the blast of the previous film by repairing Taylor’s crashed spaceship. The twist was that the nuclear blast created a shock wave that sent them back in time to 1973. Picking up on the structure of the first film, the apes ended up in a zoo before becoming celebrities. That excitement quickly turned to fear over news about the future, and the visiting primates were killed. However, they were able to save their newborn son by swapping him for a chimp from the zoo.
The fourth installment was 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.” That film took place in 1991, and focused on a disease that wiped out all of the world’s cats and dogs in the early ‘80s. In this reality, the United States was a fascist culture that used apes as pets and slaves. This caused the surviving intelligent chimp from the previous film to organize and lead a simian rebellion.
The story concluded in 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes.” This final film took place a decade after the ape uprising led by Caesar. We learned that humans retaliated to this event using nuclear force. A battle between survivors ensued; however, man and ape finally decided to coexist as equals.
Following the film series, “Planet of the Apes” was reworked into a television show that took place between the events of the first two films. It was cancelled due to low ratings after just fourteen episodes.
Three decades later, Tim Burton unsuccessfully attempted to reboot the series. The uninspired 2001 film largely retold the events from the original classic, but its ludicrous twist ending failed to captivate audiences.
Despite this setback, Hollywood rebooted the milestone sci-fi franchise once again in 2011 with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” This time, the story centered on a chimpanzee test subject named Caesar who was subjected to a potential cure for Alzheimer’s. This drug spurred rapid brain development, and prompted an uprising that threatened to end mankind’s rule of the Earth.
The “Planet of the Apes” franchise deals with timeless questions of equality, intelligence and warfare. Because of this, the series continues to provoke social commentary and thrilling entertainment.
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