One of the things that I have been watching recently is the old Planet of the Apes cartoon,  Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975-1976).

The animated series is essentially a third continuity which invokes some of the characters of the movies and live action show but following a different plot and development.  In some ways it is closer in spirit to the original novel by the French writer Pierre Boulle. 

Yeah I actually read the novel way back when.   I actually encourage everyone to read the original novel it is much more of a biting social satire which was lost in the media adaptations and I liked its twist ending better than the movie.  For your fun trivia of the day, Boulle also wrote the novel which was the basis of the film the Bridge over the River Kwai. 

I kind of vaguely remember watching it when it was on, but really have not seen any of it since it was first on.   Let's just say that it is a case of sweet nostalgia meeting occasionally bitter reality.


I'm not really going to go for an episode to episode discussion of the show because it only lasted 13 episodes and on an individual episode basis not a lot actually happens that is worth discussing.  Part of the problem with the series is the budget saving animation which meant long dialogue  free scenes  and extreme repetition of things.

In the first episode, Flames of Doom, we see astronauts, Bill, Judy and Jeff caught in the time vortex that takes them into the future where they land on a mysterious planet.


Yeah, very Mod Squad here with the soul brother, groovy chick and dull white guy. 

One of my favorite bits of the episode is this:



It's a gauge that measures danger!  Now that's some frigging awesome super-science. 

The ship crashes and they walk and walk and walk and walk through the desert.  It takes up the majority of the episode.  It makes for absolutely mind numbing viewing, but is kind of an interesting exercise is spotting how many tricks that they can use to save money on animation.  Silhouettes used so you don't have to draw people, show vague shadows moving, use cut outs moving across fixed background, move the background behind cut out people, etc.  I really don't think that they miss a trick. 

Then there is a mysterious fire  and earthquake and Judy disappears.  Jeff and Bill meet a group of primitive humans then they are attacked by more advanced apes where Bill is captured and taken to Ape City:


It's like a convention of Dr. Zaius impersonators.  "Number 1 what is your name please...."

The second episode, Escape from Ape City, is very much the territory many are familiar with.  With the Gorillas being the military, the chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius investigating the new found human specimen and Dr. Zaius as the leader.  They learn Bill can talk and everyone wants him killed but Zira and Cornelius help him to escape.  He is reunited with Jeff and goes in search of Judy.

Despite the familiarity of the material in the second episode to folks who have seen the movies, live action show and read the book - I never get tired of seeing gorillas on motorcycles:


I don't know why but it almost justifies the episode!

In the third episode, The Unearthly Prophecy,  Bill and Jeff find an underground city with mutants who worship Judy as a prophesied USA (they found a statue of her with the only word left on the name plate, U.S.A. which they interpreted as her being called U-SA.)  The mutants have illusion powers and eye-beams:



Frankly, I'm rather surprised how folks with eye-beams keep missing their targets!  They do it throughout the episode.  Don't you just look at something to aim?  How difficult is that really?

Bill and Jeff attempt to rescue Judy but fail in the end.  They realize that they need help at the end of the episode and plan to seek the aid of the other humans.  And they finally (three episodes in) realize they are on Earth in the future!

The first three episodes are a terribly mixed bag.  The first two episodes suffer partly because they cover a lot of a material very much familiar to a geeky reviewer in 2008.  Back in 1975, it would have been a bit fresher since it was not as much a part of the cultural landscape.  Throw in the lackluster voice acting and repetitive animation money saving tricks and it was frankly hard to watch without fast forwarding.  

The third episode was a bit of an improvement as they begin to define a bit more of an unique story direction and it is becoming a bit clearer that there is a bit of an arc and plan to the show.  Still below average material overall.

I'm especially confused by this one credit though:


What the heck kind of "anthropological dialogue research" could someone with the Department of Germanic Languages possibly be doing in a show about talking apes in a post apocalypse world?  Seriously now?  Trying to create the poor illusion of educational value for a bad children's cartoon?

Next time the following four episodes!

Avatar: Mr. Happy from Starcrash. Who would so fit in here.