Planet of the Apes + Beneath the Planet of the Apes

[Digital Drift 2014]

1968: Planet of the Apes

1970: Beneath the Planet of the Apes

For newcomers to the series, all eight movies of which will be reviewed over the coming weeks here is a brief breakdown of events. 

1. Universe A: The first five Planet of the Apes movies spanning the period between 1968 and 1973. Planet of the Apes / Beneath the Planet of the Apes / Escape from the Planet of the Apes / Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. You can also include the short-lived live action TV show, comics and animated series in this period (although we won’t be reviewing these that doesn’t mean you guys can’t talk about them at length on the forum).

2. Universe B: The 2001 Tim Burton directed re-imagining of the original movie.

3. Universe C: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. This originally started out as both a reboot and an alternate prequel to the original movie (as well as loose remakes of Conquest and Battle for the Planet of the Apes) but has now clearly branched into its own universe where events played out differently to the history laid down in the initial quintet of movies. 

This first podcast covers the first two movies, Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. We recommend that all listeners at the very least see this first one for its historical significance and most of all, track down Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the 2011 movie that came out of nowhere and surprised everyone by not being terrible and in fact being truly excellent. 

But for these first ones send your mind back in time to the late sixties to a time when men were men, teenagers were hippies, war was a very immediate topic, women were saying scary things about equality and civil rights were being challenged left, right and center. We were experimental in our approach, having only ever seen the first of the original five before and reviewing each movie in turn after viewing for the first time. That way you get our immediate reactions. We pull no punches and judge the film as far as it holds up today, before moving onto its grotty, rushed and unintentionally hilarious sequel.

Next week, things take an unexpected upturn as films 3 and 4 turn out to be really rather good… however there’s the matter of film 5. After that it’s Tim Burton’s contribution followed by Rise and then Dawn for a total of five shows.