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Planet of the Apes - Box set? (1 Viewer)

Mark Tay

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Amazingly, two weeks ago on Superbowl Sunday, the Fox Movie Channel showed the extended version of "Battle For The Planet Of The Apes" in letterbox. This rarely seen edit of the film is 10 minutes longer, and is NOT available on video or DVD (though there was a release on laserdisc in Japan years ago).
Although Fox has indicated that they will not be re-releasing the apes films on DVD anytime soon, I hope that when the time does comes they go with the longer (and IMHO superior) version of "Battle".
More info regarding the differences between the short and extended version of "Battle", can be found at the bottom of this page:
http://www.dvdscan.com/planet.htm
 

Qui-Gon John

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Come on Fox, why are you making R1 suffer without an anamorphic set of the PotA movies, while R2 and R4 have them already in anamorphic?
These kind of stupid decisions really piss me off! :angry:
 

Paul_Scott

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even though the later entries are saddled with some cheesy/simple sets, and have their share of eye-rolling moments, i have a lot of respect for all the ape films.
off hand, i can't think of one 'series' that progressed like this one. there is really no formula re-hash ala James Bond, or even my beloved Thin Man films.
you could say Star Wars tells a broader story, but within that 3 of the movies(so far) are reduced to formala finishes and set-pieces.
what the POTA films lacked in budget, they made up for in imagination.
.
i also find it really interesting that the continuity wasn't even loosly mapped out before hand (ala SW).

and another distiction (a very big one imo), each film, save for the last, ends on down-beat.

and this was basically entertainment for the 10 and under set by the time 3 and 4 rolled around*.

it's so in vouge to be 'dark & gritty' today, but its become a cliche. you hardley see the kind of dark undercurrents -that run thru Willy Wonka or the Apes series, for instance- in material aimed at these age groups today.
'dark' today ususally means, astheticlly dark, or mean-spirited, or allegedly adult.

*i realize there were older fans of these films at the time, but i also remember owning model kits and trash cans and t-shirts (in my size- and i was about 7)
 

Paul_Scott

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just wanted to clarify- i'm not saying they are actually great or even very good movies. they have tons of flaws.

but you could easily argue they are interesting.

and yes, it was very disappointing to hear in the chat they weren't even on Fox's radar for this year.
it would be great to own definitive editions of all the films.
thankfully the current discs don't look too bad (i wish the Rodgers & Hammerstiens musicals looked this good).
 

Mark Tay

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Okay gang, The Fox Movie Channel is going to show the extended version of "Battle For The Planet Of The Apes" in letterbox. This rarely seen edit of the film runs 10 minutes longer, and is NOT available on video or DVD (though there was a release on laserdisc in Japan years ago).

Hopefully, these repeated viewings on the Fox Movie Channel indicate that Fox now considers the longer version to be the definitive edit, and will use it in the next round of Apes' DVD re-issues. Till then, catch it during one of these broadcasts:

April 18 at 12:01 am
April 25 at 8:01 pm
May 11 at 12:01 pm
May 12 at 2:01 am
All Times Eastern
 

Vic_T

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I would say that the box set is for completests. I'm a huge sci fi fan and the original Planet of the Apes is one of my all time favorite movies. The sequels aren't "terrible" and I will watch them if they come on TV, but they just don't have any of the magic that the original had.

What I did: I got Planet of the Apes and the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes (which is superb). Behind focuses primarily on the first film but gives a nice run down of the other films that satisfies any "Ape Sequel" desire I may have.
 

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