Plot: What’s it about?
Alan Verdon (Ron Harper) and Pete Burke (James Naughton) are astronauts in the year 1981, headed toward a docking station, when the road gets a little bumpy, to say the least. The ship somehow travels through some kind of portal, which crash lands them on a strange planet and of course, they have no idea of what to expect. As it turns out, the year is now 3085 and that portal was a timewarp, which pushed them far, far into the future. This planet is even stranger than expected too, as it is run by highly intelligent apes, who can speak, walk upright, and do all the things humans can, eerie stuff indeed. In this world, humans are used as slaves to keep things up & running, but an ape named Galen (Roddy McDowall) has different plans. After he discovers that other humans have landed and then were hidden, he decides to help Verdon & Burke escape, but of course, this means serious danger for all involved. The maniacal General Urko (Mark Lenard) will stop at nothing to have the humans & the apes who help them eliminated, even if that means intense bloodshed. Can Galen and the astronauts keep one step ahead of Urko, all while trying to forge a plan to get back home and off this horrific planet?
I have to admit, I was shocked to find this set was released, as I never imagined all the Planet of the Apes episodes would be released on DVD. As the series was a bomb out of the gate and tanked after one season, Fox has never issued the series on home video before, but with the remake of the original feature film hot on people’s minds, we now see this series hitting the shelves. In addition to the thirteen episodes shown back in 1974, this four disc set also includes The Liberator, an episode that was never broadcast on television. Fox hasn’t put too much effort into this collection, but that’s understandable, since it has minimal appeal, even to fans of the franchise. No, this series has been panned by even the most diehard Apes lovers, but is the series really that bad? I have to say no, as I enjoyed most of the episodes and perhaps it is because I am mad about the Apes movies, but I found a lot to like here. It isn’t a perfect series, not even close, but it has some moments and if you need an Apes fix, this collection will turn the trick. This set is more than recommended, since you can pick up the complete series in one fell swoop, at a more than reasonable price.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame transfers, as intended. All things considered, the images seen here aren’t too bad, although the transfers don’t match up to modern standards, not by any means. The prints show a lot of speckles and wear, but this kind of series is lucky to be released at all, so asking for a restoration is a little much. The colors seem natural and never overly rich, while flesh tones remain normal, not bad at all. I found that the black levels do thin out in some scenes, but on the whole, contrast is well balanced and on the mark. No, the images here aren’t flawless, but given the material involved, I’m pleased with the results.
Audio: How does it sound?
Not a whole lot to report on here, the included mono audio is decent, but some wear signs are evident. This means a slight amount of hiss is present, but never enough to become troublesome, so no real worries there. This pretty much sounds like what you’d expect from an untreated 1974 mono option, no better and no worse. The dialogue is clean and easy to understand, so I doubt fans (or anyone who has seen the series before) will be let down here. This set also includes a French language track, as well as English & Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This release contains no bonus materials.
