Planet of the Apes: The Series

• Developed by Anthony Wilson
• CBS
• September 13, 1974 to December 20, 1974
• Based on the Planet of the Apes film series, which were based on the 1963 novel La Planète des singes (translated as Planet of the Apes) by Pierre Boulle
• ***Updated October 17, 2022***

Main Cast

• Galen (Roddy McDowall)-this time around he is a young chimpanzee that becomes embroiled in the lives of the humans after being sent along with a group of apes to ensure the humans’ safety.
• Colonel Alan Virdon (Ron Harper)-mission commander of the crash landed 20^th Century ship.
• Major Peter J. Burke (James Naughton)-crew member that survived the crash.
• Security Chief Urko (Mark Lenard)-gorilla that is charged with getting the humans and Galen. The shows central villain.
• Councilor Zaius (Booth Colman)-the most important member of the High Council of Central City and the series equivalent of the character from the movie.

Two humans and an intelligent chimpanzee are fugitives on a future where apes rule the world.

20^th Century Fox had finished up the original Planet of the Apes film series with a rather cheap and somewhat underwhelming feature film that felt more like a well-produced television movie. But they knew they had something they could still make a buck off of with a much smaller investment than other science fiction shows, so they created this television series.

And the show itself is surprisingly good. The quality of the stories exceeds most of the era and could even stand tall of some today.

I was first introduced to Planet of the Apes: The Series as a series of movies on the weekend afternoons as a kid. That is just how they were packaged. They edited together two episodes as a single film for when it was sold into syndication. For ages I thought they were feature films. The acting was pretty good. The effects makeup was better than I saw in other science fiction shows of the time.

Planet of the Apes: The Series sported better than most production values. Then again, they were able to use pre-existing film props and costumes in the show and did not need redesigns for the character makeup. Nor should they have. The character makeup was absolutely perfect for the universe they created. It looked just as good as the films.

I must admit I love what they did originally. There is something to be said for prosthetics instead of the CGI they use today. It lends a feel of authenticity that computer graphics lack. Plus the performers complete performance comes through.

The stories were more sophisticated than you would expect given how the original film series ended. Do not get me wrong. I enjoy them all, but the final film was done on the cheap and a bit simplistic in comparison to any of its predecessors. In this series they touched on topics and social issues of the time. Through the veil of science fiction, they discussed civil rights and equality and weapons of mass destruction among other things.

The humans of the future in the show were not mute and simplistic in contrast to the humans in the first film but were instead similar to the humans in the final film. Thus Planet of the Apes: The Series fits chronologically closer to the final film which occurred shortly after the nuclear war that devastated human civilization than the first which occurred just prior to the end of the world.

This series had some pretty good character development but that was hindered by the adventure of the week format. You could only do something for one episode. Stretching a story to two episodes or more was just not possible in that era. The main characters Galen (Roddy McDowall, Virdon (Ron Harper), and Burke (James Naughton) were moving from place to place trying to stay one step ahead of Urko (Mark Lenard) as well as find a way home. This is a format similar to The Fugitive.

Each week was new locations and new ancillary characters. Few characters and fewer plot elements carried over from week to week. The only consistent plot element was the humans trying to find remnants of the advanced human society or even leftover advanced humans in order to get back home. I would have preferred something more serialized and I think the concept could have benefitted from it, but shows were just not like that then in primetime. I personally would have liked to have seen them stay in a particular area for more than one episode. Today such an idea would be a no brainer though.

Planet of the Apes: The Series was only a handful of episodes. It never got big ratings and it was still a pricey show to produce despite all the leftover movie props. They even had the ship from the first movie for their pilot episode! Unable to justify the cost, the series was ended. It is rather unfortunate because given time this could have been a classic show. There was so much potential here.

Planet of the Apes: The Series is worth a watch if you are a fan of the original films. This show manages to maintain the feel of the movies while doing something a little different. It is also worth a watch if you like good science fiction television. The episodes are character driven and are about something rather than just a weird situation of the week. If you can come across it give this show a watch.