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FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

alexanderdavies-99382 This TV series of "Planet of the Apes" wouldn't be quite the same without Roddy McDowall. After all, he is the one who is the common link regarding continuity of the original films. The series was better than I expected. The first 4 episodes are very good and they get the proceedings off to a promising start. Sadly, the remainder of the show includes episodes which are difficult to follow or that the plot is a bit mundane. Naturally, the budget was bound to be fairly modest but the production staff did a good job with what they had. The sets for interiors are small but it's not a big problem. It is a shame that only 14 episodes were made as the whole proceedings simply ceased in mid air. The late night time slot didn't exactly help the show's chances.

osbornecmr They surely don't make them like these anymore. It surely has some retro cheese and cliche obviously because of the age it was filmed. However, the series truly captured the spirit of Planet of the apes. All the episodes are worth watching and a real treat for POTA fans. The series has its own twists from the original movie, which is great. Why would you like to watch the same movie again in 14 episodes? Some people just can't stop criticizing everything. I am happy that there is a series like this which exists, and it's a real gold. The effects, makeup and plots are real good. If you want to try, try the series on DVDs available on eBay.

Sparse Planet of the Apes (1974) is the first venture into television for Fox's once-lucrative Apes franchise, and despite the mixed results of some of their preceding attempts, managed to churn out an enjoyable albeit short-lived and somewhat mediocre series. It's not an allegorical powerhouse like the 1968 film, but it makes for some harmless fun nonetheless.The credited creator of the short series is Anthony Wilson, who recruited eight directors and sixteen writers to develop fourteen, forty-five minute episodes. Though you'll recognize one or two characters from this series (Zaius, and maybe Urko), it is part of a separate continuity and shouldn't be confused with the original five-film run. While watching this, I wasn't analyzing it intensely or taking pages upon pages of notes. I just had fun with it. This series can be campy, episodic, and often cliché. Bit it gets to the point. It doesn't beat you over the head with anything. It just enjoys itself.I didn't catch anything outstanding in the way of directing. It's competent given the material, but nothing that moved or impressed me beyond not being overtly bad. That being said, the cinematography is pretty good for TV, and you'll find some nice shots of the sets and nature scenes. The sets themselves are also well-made and do a decent job of implying a larger, more fleshed-out world. The prosthetics conceived by John Chambers are still generally holding up strong, though a slight decline in quality/care is apparent. The show is overall nice to look at, and complements the adventurous/lighthearted tone nicely.Among my favorite episodes are "The Trap", "The Good Seeds", & "Up Above the World So High". The first of which places Burke and Urko in an interesting dilemma, and it's cool to see them try to cooperate and figure their way out. It also feels a lot like an age-old fable, such as "The Blind Man & the Cripple". "The Good Seeds" and "Up Above the World So High" are entertaining by sharing interesting visual concepts and delightful humor.Like most television series this show shares several writers, but doesn't suffer from it very much as it was already episodic in format. This show presents nothing as profound as the original, but nothing offensive either. That being said, it doesn't completely ignore the franchise's core allegory for racism, and features interspecies friendships that explore this theme via metaphor. There's commentary on other things here and there, such as scientific experiments on animals and societal views of science, but nothing too substantial or overtly subtle. The show's meanings abide more so to moral lessons than complexly layered allegories. The series also has some interesting lore sometimes, and has a good sense of humor that's sometimes self- aware of its obscurity. Though, there are flaws.Pretty much every episode, someone gets captured or hurt and they find themselves in a predicament that they wiggle out of by the end of the episode. There's not much of an overall plot, and character development is generally kept to a minimum. Then there's the fact that the "astronauts crash-land on ape planet" trope is still the core premise, and the protagonists still take awhile to figure out they're on Earth (despite that everyone's speaking English, and that there are humans). The show still greatly benefits from its overall simplicity, so the predominant flaws don't detract much from the ability to enjoy it.As for the performances, Ron Harper and (especially) James Naughton are pretty funny as the astronauts Virdon and Burke. They're constantly spurting quips and remarks, that though cheesy, are very entertaining. I like McDowall's performance as Galen less than Cornelius, but a little more than Caesar. He certainly sets the air of a curious chimpanzee better than an ape revolutionary, and is a great companion to Virdon and Burke. Booth Colman is no Maurice Evans, but portrays a serviceable Dr. Zaius nonetheless. Mark Leonard is actually very good as General Urko, and keeps his campy villain role fresh. The various supporting roles throughout the episodes are competent for the 70's, and keep the acting overall pretty solid.The series music is by Lalo Schifrin, Earle Hagen, and Richard LaSalle, with the main theme by Lalo Schifrin. The score overall is serviceable. Nothing too memorable, but it sets the tone and doesn't distract from the action on screen.The short run the Planet of the Apes TV series had was all it really needed, since its episodic format could have ensured redundancy fairly quickly. For what it's worth, it's a lot of fun. This is by no means a must-watch (except maybe for Planet of the Apes buffs), but if you've got some spare afternoons to kill, then go for it! Score: 7/10

cronostitan One of the best spectacular television series never created: it is shown among other things how the monkeys value constantly and between them, to the detriment of the human being who must be so possible made feel guilty, humbled, as well as discriminated in the slightest tasks (and who anyway has to make way as possible) more the values are inverted, for the monkey any individualism or heroism of the man is systematically considered as a perversion. This one has moreover only the minimum - when he does not live in tribe. Powerful and nightmarish at the same time.The ape considers a man and even more. The ape refuses any individual real or dynamic action shared with who nevertheless determined the course of the history, unless it is of not much importance or to make as everyone - and for cause it will cause in the end the loss. The ape considers himselef desired, he also thinks that the astronaut is very in love of his ape female and that he will go until the marriage so everything goes well. The man dreams of fabulous about female ape. The ape is hard-working. The ape considers himself rather cunning(malignant) to speak in the name of all its tribe. The ape is just egocentric person and a hyper-narcissist. The primitive art of the ape is the best. The ape passes in the path by daring to look up and down(to measure) the man. The ape spies on the man. The ape watches the man. The ape imitates the man. The ape is only a megalomaniac. The ape believes that the serenity of the rich makes the justice of the society. The ape lives in tribe. The ape is careful. But the man, him, cannot think by himself after all, and even in devil of the limit. Actually, the apes are just more hypocritical, wrapping itself in magnificent ideas and diverse generous philosophies arisen from the nothingness... I just adore finally certain passages more than explicit: how they are afraid of the human being and some more the astronaut, they refuse him among others the soap in its cage(goal), then wonder then that it is dirty!!In the assistance thus of an almighty hierarchy containing henchmen as thinkers, the monkeys are perverts who placed everybody in slavery and it dice the young age, and who do not tolerate either running gag or contradiction in their speech. Because the majority of the human beings are blind otherwise starved both in the point of view and the soul that of the body, why not?More than ever, this mythical work is thus current except its very funny aspects, except that it will be necessary to note that they are gorillas most of the time the closest to the man (and not chimpanzees, in fact nastier and much less cunning, malignant) than we believe after all.)