The short-lived "Planet of the Apes" TV series from 1974...
Starring:
Roddy McDowall ... Galen
Ron Harper ... Alan Virdon
James Naughton ... Pete Burke
Mark Lenard ... Urko
One of the major nits in this show is that after episode 2, both Alan & Pete never mention the metalic information disc anymore.
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I must note the re-use of movie clips in this series and stock footage from previous episodes in later episodes.
Overall, this was a "mediocre" series. If it wasn't so heavy-handed in the "messages", it'd be more enjoyable.
This show...like "Hogan's Heroes"...was a refuge for out of work "Star Trek" extras.
There were 14 episodes in the entire series. Only 13 of them were aired.
"The Liberator" was the only episode never shown on TV.
Gene Roddenberry was trying to sell his pilot Genesis II to CBS at about the same time as this series was in development. CBS management took a pass on Roddenberry's superior idea because the Apes movies were premiering on CBS to big ratings, and went for Apes as a series instead. Roddenberry reworked Genesis II for ABC as Planet Earth. Which didn't sell there, either.
James Naughton is the brother of An American Werewolf in London star David Naughton.
Hasn't this series been rerun on one of the cable channels at some point? Maybe TNT or FX?
I dunno. It's on DVD though.
By Adam Bomb on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 7:22 am:
Hasn't this series been rerun on one of the cable channels at some point? Maybe TNT or FX?
It had to have been at least ten years ago, when Sci-fi Channel was running old science-fiction series, as being some sort of "maxi-marathon". You know, Planet of the Apes, David McCallum's Invisible Man, Space:1999, Fantastic Journey and such.
I always recall seeing one of the episodes where the leads are in a destroyed city & thinking how incredible looking it was.Years later I read in a Starlog magazine an interview with Ron Harper & learned why it looked so spectacular.MGM was in the process of demolishing their back lots,including their NY City Street. The producers of POTA found out about this & were able to take their cast & crew over to it in order to shoot this episode.
The city ruins seen in the episode "Legacy" are the same ruins we saw in "The Trap".
BTW...The writers missed a PERFECT OPPORTUNITY for our heroes to find out what was on that metallic disc they carry around. They often have said, that they need a computer to find out what the disc says...well, guess what...? THERE WERE COMPUTERS IN THE VAULT AREA IN THIS EPISODE!
Star Trek refugees:
Mark Lenard: Sarek / Urko
John Hoyt: Dr. Boyce / Barlow
Percy Rodriguez: Commodore Stone / Aboro
Morgan Woodward: Dr. Van Gelder / Capt. Tracey / Martin
Jay Robinson: Petri / Bandor
Michael Strong: Dr. Korby / Travin
Ron Soble: Wyatt Earp / Kava
Jon Lormer: Scientist
What I would've liked to have seen in this series:
More of the "Old Earth" cities.
The ESP / mutant humans (From "Beneath the Planet of the Apes)
A cameo of Kim Hunter & Charlton Heston
More old monuments in ruins (As seen in the original movie)
James Naughton ... Pete Burke
Naughton has carved out a fairly decent career since Apes was cancelled. He's done commercial voice overs, and can currently be seen as the U.S. President in the new CBS series Hostages. Also, he is the brother of An American Werewolf in London star David Naughton.
What I would've liked to have seen in this series:
quote:
A cameo of Kim Hunter & Charlton Heston
Kim Hunter, maybe. The Chuckster, definitely not. Heston had to be coaxed into doing Beneath the Planet of the Apes; he was quite reluctant to do that film. I strongly doubt he would have returned to the role of Taylor for a TV series. Besides, Heston was busy making movies at the time. Like Earthquake and Airport 1975.
In "The Dictator", they flip the image of the wounded man with the bandage on his head.
(You can tell by the angle)
The drums / gongs sound effects used in "The Liberator" were used previously in "The Interrogation"
I must note that the events seen in the movies occurred on the East Coast, and the scenes from the TV series occurred on the West Coast
The discrepancies between the movies and the TV series can be explained in two ways.
1. Like the Logan's Run TV series, this was inspired by, but has no actual connection, to the movies canon.
2. This TV series is set in the new time line that Cornelius and Zira created when they arrived in 1973 (Escape From The Planet Of the Apes). In that movie, they said that the ape revolution would not happen for another three centuries or more, yet thanks to their son, Caeser, it happened in 1991. If we build on this idea, Caeser was successful in altering the future (Battle For the Planet Of The Apes), and this series is set in that new future (which would explain why future humans talk here, when they didn't in the films).
Galen might even be a descendant of Caeser (same actor, different character). It was never said he and Lisa didn't have more kids after the events of Battle.
Why wouldn't they want to make a connection between the TV series and the movies? That's a dumb move, IMHO.
Because the earth exploded in the second movie, confirmed in the third. This is clearly a different continuity.
Ah!
OVERALL RATING OF SERIES: 4 out of 5 stars
Why wouldn't they want to make a connection between the TV series and the movies? That's a dumb move, IMHO.
Because the earth exploded in the second movie, confirmed in the third. This is clearly a different continuity.
Hence the idea that the TV series takes place in a new time line created by the events of the third movie.
OK...I get it now.
BEST EPISODES:
"The Trap"
"Legacy"
This is why CBS passed on Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II series.
Mr. Roddenberry, of course, got the last laugh when this show crashed and burned.