Planet of the Apes (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Planet of the Apes was a short-lived American
science fiction
television series that aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central on CBS
in 1974. The series starred Roddy McDowall
, Ron Harper
, and James Naughton
, Mark Lenard
and Booth Colman
. It was based on the 1968 Planet of the Apes
film and its sequels in which McDowall also starred.
The series ran from September 13, 1974 to December 20, 1974. Although fourteen episodes were produced, only 13 were originally networked; the 14th episode (shown in some markets, but pre-empted in others) was included in the DVD
box set which is now available. Fox had promised to include promotional materials and trailers for the episodes with the DVD set, but no such footage was included.
The show was canceled after half a season because of low ratings, due to direct competition by NBC's Top 10 hits Sanford and Son
and Chico and the Man
. However, it was very successful in Britain for ITV
; the entire series was later repeated on Channel 4
in 1994. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel
.
), one of whom has died in the crash. The other two astronauts are unconscious but are rescued by a human who carries them to an old bomb shelter. After the human opens a book containing historical text and pictures of Earth circa 2500, the two astronauts are convinced that they are indeed on a future Earth.
The crash is also witnessed by a young chimpanzee who tells his father
, a village official who alerts the authorities. Ape counselor Zaius (an analog of the Dr. Zaius character from the original movie
), notes that another such incident occurred ten years earlier. He orders the head gorilla, General Urko (Mark Lenard
), to find the humans and bring them back alive. Zaius wants to find out as much as he can about the humans before they are eventually killed. Zaius doesn't trust General Urko to follow his orders and bring back any surviving humans, so he sends along his newly hired chimpanzee assistant, Galen (Roddy McDowall, who played Cornelius and Caesar in most of the film versions).
The two astronauts, Colonel Alan Virdon (Ron Harper) and Major Peter J. Burke (James Naughton), go back to their ship to check the ship's chronometer. They are more than 1000 years in the future from when they left Earth. Virdon insists on retrieving the ship's flight log in the hopes that they will be able to analyze it and be able to return to their own time period, but while they are at the ship, they are captured, and the old man is subsequently killed by a group of apes.
Galen finds the human book that the old man had been carrying. He reads parts of the book and begins to doubt the history that he has been told: apes have always been dominant, and humans have always been inferior and subservient. When Galen finds out that Urko has arranged for the two astronauts to escape and be killed in the attempt, he prevents the shooter and helps the humans escape.
Galen discusses the book that he found with Zaius, who then accuses him of heresy. Galen is sentenced to death for his crime. The two astronauts find out about his sentence and rescue Galen. They are all then declared enemies of the state and become fugitives. The three fugitives wander around the territory that used to be the western United States
having various encounters with apes, humans, and old human civilization ruins
.
* Though most sources, including the official Fox DVD release, cite "The Liberator" as an unaired episode, it is listed as having aired on December 6, 1974 in Planet of the Apes Revisited by Joe Russo, Larry Landsman and Edward Gross. "Up Above the World So High" is also given a different airdate in this book: December 20, 1974.
The scripts for "Episode One", "Episode Two", "Hostage" and "A Fallen God" are available online at Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive. Details regarding "The Trek," "Freedom Road," "The Mine" and "The Trial" were provided in issue 12 of Simian Scrolls (a Planet of the Apes-based magazine), reprinted from the TV series writer's bible.
's owned and operated stations, who picked them up for their afternoon movie programs (under titles such as The 4:30 Movie
), called upon Roddy McDowall to re-create his role of Galen in a series of new openings and closings specifically for these stations, billed as "The New Planet of the Apes." The introductions originally created by 20th Century Fox to open each film were replaced by a now-aged Galen (McDowall) looking back on the events of the telefilms. The openings and closings revealed Virdon and Burke's final fates: "They found their computer in another city and disappeared into space as suddenly as they’d arrived." The ABC openings and closings of these telefilms were neither aired on other stations nor included on the DVD set of the series, as they were commercials for local channels' airing and not considered an actual part of the TV series.http://potatv.kassidyrae.com/galenslastappearance.html
based on Planet of the Apes
are based on the films, not the TV series. However, there are some titles that do involve the TV show characters:
Novelizations—Four novelizations of episodes, written by George Alec Effinger
, were published by Award Books. Their titles are:
British Annuals—Brown-Watson Books published three hardcover annuals featuring original stories about Virdon, Burke and Galen. These stories are a combination of comic strips and short fiction.
Audio Adventures—Power Records produced four audio-only adventures based on the TV show. Their titles were:
Argentine Comics—Seven Spanish-language comics were published in Argentina, written by Jorge Claudio Morhain and Richard Barreiro, and illustrated by Sergio Mulko and T. Toledo. Released only in Argentina, they have never been officially published in English. However, PDFs of the comics, translated to English by fans, are available at Kassidy Rae's site. (See link below.)
Filmstrip Story—Chad Valley, a U.K. toy company, produced 32 short film-based comic strips containing an original TV-series-era story, packaged as the Chad Valley Picture Show Planet of the Apes Sliderama Projector (very similar to the many Give-a-Show projector sets of the 1970s). These strips are extremely rare and difficult to come by.
's opening and closing music along with four of the six original scores composed for the series, including all three of Schifrin's scores and Earle Hagen
's "The Legacy" (not included: Hagen's "Tomorrow's Tide" and Richard LaSalle's "The Trap").
The album also includes the logo music for Twentieth Century-Fox Television.
Frequent guest stars:
Other credits:
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series that aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1974. The series starred Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
, Ron Harper
Ron Harper (actor)
Ronald Robert "Ron" Harper is an American television and film actor.- Biography :Harper was born in Turtle Creek in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Mabel Grace Champion and George Harper...
, and James Naughton
James Naughton
James Naughton is an American director, theater, film and television actor.-Early life:Naughton was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Rosemary and Joseph Naughton, both of whom were teachers He is the brother of actor David Naughton.-Career:Naughton graduated from Brown University and...
, Mark Lenard
Mark Lenard
Mark Lenard was an American actor, primarily in television.-Biography:Lenard was born Leonard Rosenson in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, Abraham, and his wife, Bessie...
and Booth Colman
Booth Colman
Booth Colman is a film, television and stage actor. The actor today usually plays older authority figures like doctors and lawyers in films. Colman has been appearing in films since 1952 when he appeared uncredited in The Big Sky directed by Howard Hawks...
. It was based on the 1968 Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
film and its sequels in which McDowall also starred.
The series ran from September 13, 1974 to December 20, 1974. Although fourteen episodes were produced, only 13 were originally networked; the 14th episode (shown in some markets, but pre-empted in others) was included in the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set which is now available. Fox had promised to include promotional materials and trailers for the episodes with the DVD set, but no such footage was included.
The show was canceled after half a season because of low ratings, due to direct competition by NBC's Top 10 hits Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
and Chico and the Man
Chico and the Man
Chico and the Man is an American sitcom which ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974 to July 21, 1978. It stars Jack Albertson as Ed Brown , the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and Freddie Prinze as Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic Chicano...
. However, it was very successful in Britain for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
; the entire series was later repeated on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in 1994. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
.
Introduction
The series begins with the crash of an Earth spaceship that encountered a time warp while approaching Alpha Centauri on August 19, 1980. The date on the ship's chronometer is given as March 21, 3085 but we are told that it could have simply stopped at that point whilst the ship was still travelling. It could therefore be many thousands of years into the future. The spaceship is manned by three astronauts from ANSA (the original film's version of NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
), one of whom has died in the crash. The other two astronauts are unconscious but are rescued by a human who carries them to an old bomb shelter. After the human opens a book containing historical text and pictures of Earth circa 2500, the two astronauts are convinced that they are indeed on a future Earth.
The crash is also witnessed by a young chimpanzee who tells his father
Veska
Veska is a character in the first episode of the TV series Planet of the Apes, based on the 1968 film.-Character:Veska is a pragmatic chimpanzee and prefect of the ape village known as Chalo....
, a village official who alerts the authorities. Ape counselor Zaius (an analog of the Dr. Zaius character from the original movie
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
), notes that another such incident occurred ten years earlier. He orders the head gorilla, General Urko (Mark Lenard
Mark Lenard
Mark Lenard was an American actor, primarily in television.-Biography:Lenard was born Leonard Rosenson in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, Abraham, and his wife, Bessie...
), to find the humans and bring them back alive. Zaius wants to find out as much as he can about the humans before they are eventually killed. Zaius doesn't trust General Urko to follow his orders and bring back any surviving humans, so he sends along his newly hired chimpanzee assistant, Galen (Roddy McDowall, who played Cornelius and Caesar in most of the film versions).
The two astronauts, Colonel Alan Virdon (Ron Harper) and Major Peter J. Burke (James Naughton), go back to their ship to check the ship's chronometer. They are more than 1000 years in the future from when they left Earth. Virdon insists on retrieving the ship's flight log in the hopes that they will be able to analyze it and be able to return to their own time period, but while they are at the ship, they are captured, and the old man is subsequently killed by a group of apes.
Galen finds the human book that the old man had been carrying. He reads parts of the book and begins to doubt the history that he has been told: apes have always been dominant, and humans have always been inferior and subservient. When Galen finds out that Urko has arranged for the two astronauts to escape and be killed in the attempt, he prevents the shooter and helps the humans escape.
Galen discusses the book that he found with Zaius, who then accuses him of heresy. Galen is sentenced to death for his crime. The two astronauts find out about his sentence and rescue Galen. They are all then declared enemies of the state and become fugitives. The three fugitives wander around the territory that used to be the western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
having various encounters with apes, humans, and old human civilization ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
.
Episodes
| Ep# | Title | |Original airdate | |Production code |
|---|---|---|---|
Unfilmed episodes
- "Episode One" (written by Rod Serling as pilot episode; radically different from what aired)
- "Episode Two" (written by Rod Serling as follow-up to his version of the pilot)
- "Hostage" (written by Stephen Kandel)
- "A Fallen God" (written by Anthony Lawrence)
- "The Trek" (written by Jim Burnes)
- "Freedom Road" (written by Arthur Rowe)
- "The Mine" (written by Paul Savage)
- "The Trial" (written by Edward J. Lasko)
The scripts for "Episode One", "Episode Two", "Hostage" and "A Fallen God" are available online at Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive. Details regarding "The Trek," "Freedom Road," "The Mine" and "The Trial" were provided in issue 12 of Simian Scrolls (a Planet of the Apes-based magazine), reprinted from the TV series writer's bible.
Telefilms
In 1981, several episodes of the series were edited into five made-for-television movies.- Back to the Planet of the Apes (Escape from Tomorrow & The Trap)
- Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes
- Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes
- Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes
- Farewell to the Planet of the Apes
Galen's last appearance
When the Planet of the Apes telefilms entered syndication, ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's owned and operated stations, who picked them up for their afternoon movie programs (under titles such as The 4:30 Movie
The 4:30 Movie
The 4:30 Movie was a television program that aired weekday afternoons on WABC-TV in New York from 1968 to 1981. The program was mainly known for individual theme weeks devoted to theatrical feature films or made-for-TV movies starring a certain actor or actress, or to a particular genre, or to...
), called upon Roddy McDowall to re-create his role of Galen in a series of new openings and closings specifically for these stations, billed as "The New Planet of the Apes." The introductions originally created by 20th Century Fox to open each film were replaced by a now-aged Galen (McDowall) looking back on the events of the telefilms. The openings and closings revealed Virdon and Burke's final fates: "They found their computer in another city and disappeared into space as suddenly as they’d arrived." The ABC openings and closings of these telefilms were neither aired on other stations nor included on the DVD set of the series, as they were commercials for local channels' airing and not considered an actual part of the TV series.http://potatv.kassidyrae.com/galenslastappearance.html
Spinoffs
Most of the books and comicsPlanet of the Apes (comic book)
Planet of the Apes comics are tie-ins to the Planet of the Apes universe. They have been released by several publishers over the years and include tie-ins and spin-offs.-Japanese comics :...
based on Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (1968 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
are based on the films, not the TV series. However, there are some titles that do involve the TV show characters:
Novelizations—Four novelizations of episodes, written by George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger was an American science fiction author, born in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio.-Writing career:...
, were published by Award Books. Their titles are:
- Planet of the Apes #1: Man the Fugitive
- Planet of the Apes #2: Escape From Tomorrow
- Planet of the Apes #3: Journey Into Terror
- Planet of the Apes #4: Lord of the Apes
British Annuals—Brown-Watson Books published three hardcover annuals featuring original stories about Virdon, Burke and Galen. These stories are a combination of comic strips and short fiction.
Audio Adventures—Power Records produced four audio-only adventures based on the TV show. Their titles were:
- Mountain of the Delphi
- Battle of Two Worlds
- Dawn of the Tree People
- Volcano
Argentine Comics—Seven Spanish-language comics were published in Argentina, written by Jorge Claudio Morhain and Richard Barreiro, and illustrated by Sergio Mulko and T. Toledo. Released only in Argentina, they have never been officially published in English. However, PDFs of the comics, translated to English by fans, are available at Kassidy Rae's site. (See link below.)
Filmstrip Story—Chad Valley, a U.K. toy company, produced 32 short film-based comic strips containing an original TV-series-era story, packaged as the Chad Valley Picture Show Planet of the Apes Sliderama Projector (very similar to the many Give-a-Show projector sets of the 1970s). These strips are extremely rare and difficult to come by.
Soundtrack
In 2005, Intrada released an album featuring Lalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
's opening and closing music along with four of the six original scores composed for the series, including all three of Schifrin's scores and Earle Hagen
Earle Hagen
Earle Harry Hagen was an American composer who created music for movies and television. He is remembered for co-writing and whistling "The Fishin' Hole", the melody of the main theme to The Andy Griffith Show, the instrumental classic "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme to television's Mickey...
's "The Legacy" (not included: Hagen's "Tomorrow's Tide" and Richard LaSalle's "The Trap").
- Main Title 1:15
- Escape From Tomorrow: The Spaceship 2:38
- Apes 2:46
- The Warp 2:03
- Urko and Galen 4:04
- Prison Guard 1:58
- Jail Break 3:29
- Your World 3:29
- The Gladiators: Jason 1:53
- Fighting 2:13
- Barlow 1:50
- Trouble 2:25
- Into the Arena 2:46
- There Will Be Death 0:53
- Humans Versus Apes 2:33
- A Beginning 2:28
- The Legacy: Into the Ruined City 2:25
- The Machine 0:50
- The Soldiers 2:30
- The Key 1:23
- Virdon and the Kid 1:10
- The Family 1:56
- The Reward 2:23
- Knowledge Hunts 3:11
- Farewell 0:35
- The Good Seeds: Riding for Urko 3:16
- Travel Without Stars 3:16
- Attack 3:16
- Bonded Humans 2:27
- Next String 2:27
- End Credits 0:28
The album also includes the logo music for Twentieth Century-Fox Television.
Credits
Starring:- Roddy McDowallRoddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
as Galen - Ron HarperRon Harper (actor)Ronald Robert "Ron" Harper is an American television and film actor.- Biography :Harper was born in Turtle Creek in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Mabel Grace Champion and George Harper...
as Colonel Alan Virdon - James NaughtonJames NaughtonJames Naughton is an American director, theater, film and television actor.-Early life:Naughton was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Rosemary and Joseph Naughton, both of whom were teachers He is the brother of actor David Naughton.-Career:Naughton graduated from Brown University and...
as Major Peter J. Burke
Frequent guest stars:
- Mark LenardMark LenardMark Lenard was an American actor, primarily in television.-Biography:Lenard was born Leonard Rosenson in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, Abraham, and his wife, Bessie...
as General Urko (11 episodes) - Booth ColmanBooth ColmanBooth Colman is a film, television and stage actor. The actor today usually plays older authority figures like doctors and lawyers in films. Colman has been appearing in films since 1952 when he appeared uncredited in The Big Sky directed by Howard Hawks...
as Councillor Zaius (6 episodes)
Other credits:
- Executive Producer: Herbert HirschmanHerbert HirschmanHerbert Hirschman was a television producer and director. He produced such famous shows as Perry Mason and the fourth season of The Twilight Zone.-External links:...
- Producer: Stan HoughStan HoughStanley L. Hough was an American movie executive and film and television producer.He worked as an assistant director from 1952-1961. He then became vice-president in charge of production operations at 20th Century Fox. In 1971 he married the actress Jean Peters after she had divorced her estranged...
- Developed for television by Anthony WilsonAnthony WilsonAnthony Wilson is a jazz guitarist and composer. He is the son of bandleader Gerald Wilson.- Education and career :Born in Los Angeles on May 9, 1968, Wilson received his degree in music composition from Bennington College. He counts Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Wes Montgomery, and T-Bone Walker...
- Based on the book by Pierre BoullePierre BoullePierre Boulle was a French novelist largely known for two famous works, The Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes .-Biography:...
Location
The series was filmed for the most part on location at what is now Malibu Creek State ParkMalibu Creek State Park
Malibu Creek State Park is a California state park in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, in Calabasas. It opened to the public in 1976.-Location:Malibu Creek State Park stretches from below Malibu Lake in the west to Piuma Road in the east...
.
External links
- Kassidy's Planet of the Apes: The Television Series
- Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive – Extensive fan site with information on all original films and series, with full television scripts, comics and other relevant material
- Planet of the Apes Media Archive – Multi-media website
- Planet of the Apes: The Forbidden Zone – One of the oldest and most complete Planet of the Apes sites