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"It's finally here... Planet of the Apes - The complete TV Series!"
After two popular movies with Charlton Heston, 20th century Fox decided
to turn the series into a television series that not only had a budget that
matched the movies but had one of the most interesting storylines to have ever
graced the small screen. Planet of the Apes stars Ron Harper and
Peter Naughton as two time struck astronauts from the 1980's called Virdon
and Burke. After travelling through a space anomaly near the star system
andromeda, the astronauts were transported into the distant future that forced
them to crash on Earth.
Unfortunately for the pair, another astronaut died during the impact and when
the other two woke up, they soon found themselves in a bizarre world that was
ruled by Apes. Before leaving the shuttle, Virdon retrieved a computer disc
from the wreckage and vowed to find a way back home. Trouble seems to follow
the time lost duo as they are chased by the insidious Captain Urko, a militant
ape who works for the ape scientist Doctor Zaius, played by Booth Colman.
Zaius wants the two astronauts dead because they might reveal the secret
that humans once controlled the apes of Earth and he doesn't want peace
between the apes and humans. Fortunately for Virdon and Burke they are joined
by chimpanzee Galen (Roddy McDowall) who believes that both humans and
apes can work as once to better each race. Together, they search for a way
back home while being hunted by Captain Urko and his zealous ape soldiers.
The
DVD collection contains four DVD's that include 14 episodes from the original
television series that include animated menus and some great DVD slicks with
information inside each case. Unfortunately, Planet of the Apes was cancelled
after 3 months after its airing on TV but developed a cult following world
wide. Fortunately this DVD collection captures the entire season of this
misunderstood television series.
The video quality of Planet of the Apes appears to have been cleaned up for
DVD and considering that the picture quality is almost 30 years old, it holds
up extremely well on today's sophisticated DVD players and televisions. There
is some artefacting and graininess during the entire series but it can be
forgiven for the age of this modern day classic. The DVD is presented in its
original format of 1.33:1 with a ratio of 4:3 for normal television viewing.
The sound quality of Planet of the Apes features Dolby digital 2.0 and
although nothing special, it still makes you feel like you are at the cinemas,
proving you have the correct speaker setup for your entertainment system.
Another problem with the audio on the DVD's is that sometimes the voices of
the actors are out of sync but fortunately this happens very rarely throughout
the entire season of Planet of the Apes.
In conclusion, Planet of the Apes is a brilliant television series that has
been finally transferred to DVD and features some of the most original story
telling to have ever graced the small screen. With brilliant picture quality
and sound (considering it is almost 30 years old), this would be the perfect
addition to any fan of science fiction collection. The unfortunate aspect of
this DVD collection is that it contains hardly any extras whatsoever, so those
who are after a bevy extras might be better to look elsewhere. The extras that
are featured on the DVD's include trailers and an unaired episode called "The
Liberator". Highly Recommended
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Andrew B
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