Planet of the Apes TV Series - Blu-Ray? (1 Viewer)

Planet of the Apes as a franchise is more popular today than it's been for a long time. I think a box set of the TV series on Blu-Ray would be a good seller. Possibly a prelude to an all-inclusive Apes BD set. It could be a 3-disc set with five episodes on two discs and four episodes on the third. And if Fox could find the Roddy McDowall as Galen intros and extros to the TV movie versions, all the better.

The series basically got its chance when it piggybacked the Burton movie to get onto DVD back then. I don't see lightning striking twice for Blu-Ray because any release would just use the old transfers.I have only gone through the series once and I was struck by how it and the later "Logan's Run" basically suffered from the same problem. Both series to sustain their premises had to become sci-fi versions of "The Fugitive" but in both cases the lead characters "on the run" never strayed far enough from the home base to be out of pursuit of the Gerard like figure (Dr. Zaius in POTA; Francis in Logan's Run) which made no sense. This was a problem "Battlestar Galactica" did a better job of avoiding several years later IMO.

Put in the Fox MOD thread. Fox will then have to dig deep into the valult instead of TV series from this decade or the last one. The 70s is not far from the 60s and everyone here knows what series I want.

I remember watching and truly enjoying Ron Harper's commentary on a third-season LAND OF THE LOST episode. It seems he spent more time talking about his TV Apes series, and how compared to LAND OF THE LOST, Apes was so unimaginative. He characterized the series as basically the same every week: one of the three leads gets captured and the other two have to rescue him.

I happily bought and watched the series when the set was originally released, but haven't watched it since and not sure I ever will. If I'm ever feeling nostalgic for what was going on in my life personally when the series aired, I might rewatch it. But probably won't watch it again for the content of the show, if that makes sense.

I can sympathize, however, for your desire for a BD release for a series that will probably never get one..

Carabimero said:

I remember watching and truly enjoying Ron Harper's commentary on a third-season LAND OF THE LOST episode. It seems he spent more time talking about his TV Apes series, and how compared to LAND OF THE LOST, Apes was so unimaginative. He characterized the series as basically the same every week: one of the three leads gets captured and the other two have to rescue.

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Nor Harper, or James Naughton were fond of the series(Naughton simply didn't want to do it, but it was a paycheck). Never read an interview to hear Roddie McDowall's thoughts on it.That being said, it is hard to criticize a series of that time that simply followed a tv formula that usually worked. I love it. I think episode by episode a pure 70's tv escapists delight. Matched by no other series except for maybe Star Trek TOS. I would Love a Blu release. Given the franchise it is attached to, I think there is more possibility for this happening than most 70's short lived tv fare.

I will always remember the premiere of that show. It was raining hard outside and my father and brother were gone and it was just me and my mom and we watched it together.

My wife likes the show. She will sometimes quote Urko's lines about brainwashing (whenever brainwashing comes up in another show) and when one character wants to do the smart thing but another character talks them out of it, she says, "Urko warned everyone to kill the humans, but no one listened."

So Urko gets quoted a lot in my house--but not by me!

I showed this whole series to a friend recently, and he enjoyed every minute of it. It was great fun, especially the boorish attitudes and misanthropic outbursts of Urko ("Lies! Lies! Nothing but lies!!!!").The three leads had a certain chemistry that gave every single episode a distinct charm. I know it's essentially a Fugitive version of Planet of the Apes, but it works. And I would like to see an all-inclusive Blu-Ray collection of Planet of the Apes. From the look of the DVD transfers (upscaled, they look very nice indeed), Fox has quite good film elements for a new HD transfer.

It was certainly very formulaic and no where near the animated series in terms of storylines, but I am glad that I purchased it when it was first released (as an Apes completist, it was my moral obligation) and I do revisit it from time to time and enjoy it.

Darby

I'd love to see the POTA TV series on blu-ray.

I like the show and own the DVD, but I doubt I would rebuy it.

I think the show's Fugitive-like premise weakened it, so that it doesn't hold up the way the movies do. Did any other show ever do that concept well, aside from the adventures of Dr. Kimble? (I wouldn't count The Invaders or Run for Your Life in this category)

However, I was a huge fan of the show when it was on! I even wrote a letter to CBS to protest its cancellation ( I was an angry eight year-old when I heard about it). I got a generic letter back urging me to enjoy their other programs.

While I'm not sure I would buy a blu-ray release I did enjoy watching it. Interestingly, it was my 10 year old daughter that got me to watch it, she was fascinated by the cover, and now two years later she wants to watch it again.

I think the Hulk was successful at the "Fugitive" concept.

One of these days I have to get around to watching The Fugitve, so I can see how it all originated.

smithbrad said:

I think the Hulk was successful at the "Fugitive" concept.

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Yes, also 'Kung Fu'. Although it wasn't as aggressive as The Fugitive. Bounty Hunters or Henchman sent by the emperor were only sent to capture, or kill Kaine about a 1 in 5 episode ratio.

Guy Foulard said:

I think the show's Fugitive-like premise weakened it, so that it doesn't hold up the way the movies do. Did any other show ever do that concept well, aside from the adventures of Dr. Kimble? (I wouldn't count The Invaders or Run for Your Life in this category)

However, I was a huge fan of the show when it was on! I even wrote a letter to CBS to protest its cancellation ( I was an angry eight year-old when I heard about it). I got a generic letter back urging me to enjoy their other programs.

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I first caught 'Apes' as a week long tv movie run(2 episodes bundled together Monday through Friday) in 1980. I've been a huge fan ever since.
Still miss those Galen intros/outros, and awesome movie titles like 'Treachery, and Greed On The Planet Of The Apes'.

Also the cartoon series. A double set on blu ray... how about that?! The cartoon is oop! That one sneaked up on me before I could get one.

albert_m2 said:

I like the show and own the DVD, but I doubt I would rebuy it.

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Me, I would definitely NOT buy it! Had it on DVD too along with War of the Worlds and sold them both.

The Hulk was a very good show in the vein of the Fugitive, and it's true Logan's Run and POTA borrowed the basic premise from the Fugitive as well. But really, no show did the Fugitive better than the Fugitive.

The Hulk was a good Fugitive show for a while at least. Let's not forget about the A-Team....

"Return to the Planet of the Apes" would look good on Blu-ray. I watched it upscaled to 1080 and i was happy with result. I would buy both tv-series on BLu-ray, if released.

The one thing I found infuriating about the Hulk is that because of the way they set things up the "Gerard" figure in Jack McGee could never confront Banner face-to-face except in a contrived set-up where he doesn't know who he is etc. That removed the element of byplay that we got on occasion with Kimble-Gerard. Apes and Logan by contrast, suffered from the problem that unless the pursuer was going to follow them across the ends of the Earth, there was no reason to keep seeing them unless we saw what we got of our "fugitives" always still in too close proximity to where they started originally to allow for the pursuers to show up.