Planet of the Apes TV Series (DVD, 2006, 4-Disc Set)

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 aired; the 14th previously unseen "lost" episode was included in the DVD box set,which makes it complete. 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 cancelled 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.

The series begins on March 21, 3085 with the crash of an Earth spaceship, that encountered a time warp while approaching Alpha Centauri on August 19, 1980. The spaceship is manned by three NASA astronauts, 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.

I ENJOYED THE PLANET OF THE APES TV SERIES. IT WAS ABOUT 2 ASTRONAUTS WHO GO THROUGH A TIME WARP AND LAND BACK ON EARTH IN THE FAR FUTURE. THEY STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE AND ARE HELPED ALONG BY A RENEGADE CHIMPANZEE NAMED GALEN. IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE MOVIES IN THE FACT THAT HUMANS STILL HAVE SPEECH BESIDES THE OVERBEARING APES THAT DOMINATE THEM. IT WASN'T AS GOOD AS THE FILMS AND THE ENDING DIDN'T REALLY END RIGHT BECAUSE THEY DON'T SHOW HOW THEY GET OFF THE PLANET OR WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TWO ASTRONAUTS, BUT THIS IS BECAUSE THE SERIES WAS SHORT-LIVED AND ONLY LASTED 14 EPISODES(13 IN THE US). I WOULD WATCH IT AGAIN.

This is a good show. I don't understand why it was cancelled after one season. The conflicts between the species reminds one of present day racists. I rented this series on DVD. It is just as good as I remember it. Two astronauts are struck in the future where the apes rules and humans are only good for slavery. If you can't see it on the Sci-fi channel either rent or buy it. The make-up is surprising good considering how primitive it was by today's standard.

Sorry for the corny title. Even if you're not a die hard Planet of the Apes fan, you'll like the Planet of the Apes TV show. Great acting, writing, set decoration along with some story lines that seemingly involve socially significant issues of the time (1974) make this an enjoyable show.

I bought the DVD, Planet of the apes Tv series for a Christmas gift. I could not give it as a gift because the case came smashed up. Also one of the dvd's was broken.