Planet of the Apes

[Deja Q]

So when did this cultural phenomenon start to fall apart?

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Never mess with success n/t

[VelmaD]

2. The original book is one of my favorites.

Some of the things they changed for the original version of the movie annoyed me but I still get a big kick out of it. I even don't mind most of the sequels - at the very least they have some camp value.

The more recent movie was dreck. :puke:

[gyopsy]

3. Tim Burton's remake

I think the director is great. "Big Fish" was wonderful but he totally tanked on this one.

[JVS]

4. As owner of all 5, I must say that escape from planet of the apes is it.

#1 was good

#2, beneath the planet of the apes was classic. Especially the bomb worshiping sequence.

#3 Escape from planet of the apes was the story of Cornelius and Zara visiting the USA. It was where it all went cheesy

[Deja Q]

6. Quite!

The series did start to lose focus after "Escape", and even ended up creating a changed premise thanks to a paradox, making the first two movies essentially 'not happen' because of the altered timeline...

But the first movie was an indesputable classic, even if they made alterations from the book. (which was for the best, we in modern society now would find it far fetched to see that an ape society could develop the same high technology we have, when the materials simply wouldn't exist anymore.)

"Beneath" was slow and repetitive until they reach the underground city. (the peace protest demonstration was a bit silly and overt as well and did not gel with the story whatsoever, it felt like it was thrown in just to make a token reference to society's then-current woes...) But it's then when it really picks up and remains just as disturbing today as it was back then. The mutant humans with psychic powers, and the bomb worshipping scenes, are both downright chilling, as their moral attitude toward the human invaders: "We do not kill our enemies. Our enemies kill each other" they say as they mentally force them to kill each other. The scene showing the projection of the Ape statue bleeding to scare the Gorilla army was a bit shocking as well.

"Escape", though, was a mostly wonderful change of tone and is as tragic as a Shakespearean play. Except it takes place in 1971 and the Earthmen recognized the ship for what it was and asked of Taylor and Brent. Oops. I will agree it did descend into grade-A cheddar cheeze in spots (the Apes going to the posh department store to get some human garb), but overall the movie did hold its own shockingly well. But, yeah, I do rather agree this was the breaking point...

It's the 4th movie that really stretches things beyond breaking point, with a virus that kills only domestic pets to extinction, the fact it happened in 1991 did not help, the bogus truth detection technology (a bit too B-level sci-fi-like in my opinion), and so on...

And the 5th movie creates a peaceful ending that throws a spanner into the whole temporal causality of the series. Though the 13 episode TV show lamely tries to re-invent the ape/human conflict, although plenty of humans talk in that series... oops. What made the humans mute by the time of the original movie?

[Llewlladdwr]

5. You forgot the two Marvel Comics PotA series.

Planet of the Apes (1974-1977) and Adventures on the Planet of the Apes (1975-1976). Also the two trading card sets from Topps (1969 and 1975). Frankly tho', I loved 'em all. :-)

[Mobius]

7. kick

:kick:

[Goldberg]

8. Worst. Movie. Ever.