Return to the Planet of the Apes is an animated series, by DePatie-Freleng
Enterprises in association with 20th Century Fox Television, based upon
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Boulle's novel had previously inspired
five films and a TV series, beginning with the 1968 film Planet of the Apes
starring Charlton Heston. Unlike the film, its sequels, and the 1974 live
action TV series, which involved a primitive ape civilization, Return to
the Planet of the Apes depicted a technologically advanced society,
complete with automobiles, film, and television; as such it more closely
resembled both Boulle's original novel and early concepts for the first Apes
movie which were changed due to budgetary limitations in the late 1960s.
Produced following the last of the big-screen features and a short-lived
live-action television series, this series was among the last Planet of the
Apes projects for several years following a number of comic books from
Marvel Comics and a series of audio adventures from Power Records in 1974.
Aside from a number of comic book series published by Malibu Comics in the early
1990s, the next project based upon Boulle's concepts would be Tim Burton's
reimagining in 2001. Along with the second film Beneath the
Planet of the Apes, this is one of only two original Planet of the Apes
productions in which Roddy McDowall was not involved.
Broadcast history Airing on NBC, the series premiered on
September 6, 1975 and was broadcast until September 4, 1976, although only
thirteen episodes were produced. The series aired Saturday mornings at 11:00
AM Eastern/10:00 AM Central. The series was later shown in reruns on
the Sci Fi Channel in 1992 as part of Sci Fi Cartoon Quest.
Music for the series was provided by Dean Elliott and Eric Rogers.
Story As with the film and the live-action
series, Return to the Planet of the Apes involved a handful of astronauts from
Earth who were hurtled into the future and found themselves stuck in a world
populated by advanced apes and primitive humans. Over the course of the thirteen
episodes the astronauts attempted to keep one step ahead of the apes while at
the same time trying to make some sense of what had happened. Additionally, they
did their best to safeguard the human population from the apes.
Each episode was self-contained to an extent. The story threads did weave in
and out, with characters and plots from earlier episodes popping up in later
ones. In order for the series to make any sense, the episodes need to be
viewed in order. The animated series does chronologically
fit with the rest of the Apes universe. It borrows characters and elements from
the movies, the TV series, and the original novels. General Urko is
borrowed from the TV series. Along with Zaius, Zira, and Cornelius, Brent and
Nova are from the movie series. Krador and the Underdwellers in the animated
series are loosely based on the mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes and
Battle for the Planet of the Apes As with the live action television
series, the animated series was concluded before the resolution of the
storyline, and we do not learn if the astronauts are able to return to their
own time period. But the animated series does otherwise offer a conclusion.
Doctor Zaius, in recognising the threat of a military overthrow from General
Urko, assures that he is relieved of command. Further, Cornelius and Zira, in
recognising that Simian Society was established long after human society had
deteriorated, believed that the time was right for humans to be offered equal
rights to that of apes, and intend to present their proposition to the Senate.
Characters in the animated series frequently mentioned prominent Apes
noticeably named after human historical figures by appropriately inserting the
word "ape" into their name. A notable example included "William Apespeare", an
Ape analog of William Shakespeare. Another scene showed a couple of Ape
soldiers chatting about a new movie called The Apefather, an apparent analog
of The Godfather. Cast and characters
Bill Hudson - One of the two male astronauts; blond, blue-eyed, depicted
as wearing a blue tee-shirt and white pants.
Cornelius - A male chimpanzee scientist/archeologist.
Zira - A female chimpanzee scientist who is very outspoken against the gorilla
regime. General Urko - A sinister gorilla
general who plans to drive the humans and Underdwellers off the planet.
Judy Franklin - The lone female astronaut and an expert airplane pilot;
she is kidnapped and held by the Underdwellers for a time before being
rescued. Jeff Allen - The other male astronaut;
an African-American, depicted as wearing a red turtleneck shirt.
Dr. Zaius - The orangutan leader of the ape scientific community, depicted as a
grandfatherly politician who questions the tactics of General Urko.
Nova - A human female who joins Bill and Jeff on their adventures.
Ronald Brent - A U.S. astronaut who launched in the 21st century but arrived
in the time of ape rule a number of years prior to the HudsonFranklin
expedition. Krador - The leader of the
Underdwellers. The Underdwellers - A group of
underground persons based on the mutants in the film Beneath the Planet of the
Apes. Austin Stoker, the voice of Jeff, had
previously played Mr. MacDonald in Battle for the Planet of the Apes. He
was the only cast member of the animated series to have played a part in the live
action movies or series. Episodes
Reception The series has been criticized for poor
production values. Reviewers felt that the constant reuse of backgrounds and
lack of movement made the action on screen dull and slow. The voicework has
also been criticized for sometimes being unemotional and equally monotonous.
Despite these criticisms, the series was noted for highly detailed backgrounds,
illustrations, character designs and camera effects, due in part to veteran
cartoonist Doug Wildey. While animation was poor due to budget and time
constraints, still artwork, which featured prominently in the program, was
incredibly detailed with extensive shading - looking more like a decent
comic book than a television cartoon. For the most part, the scripts were
intelligent with detailed stories and solid internal continuity. Unlike many
animated adaptations, Return to the Planet of the Apes managed to
effectively capture the tone of the live action features, complete with the sense
of alienation, wonderment and loss. DVD release
The Planet of the Apes series was released as a part of the Ultimate DVD
Collection in early 2006 by FOX Home Entertainment. The Complete Animated
Series' release on DVD was delayed until October 3, 2006. This was the first time
the series was released stand-alone on DVD. Only three of the episodes were
restored in the discs included in the Ultimate DVD Collection but all 13 were
restored in the individual release. The individual release also included them in
their intended order as opposed to airdate order as presented in the box
set. The individual release also includes the option of watching the
episodes with a preview of the next episode which wasn't present in the box
set release. The episode list on the back of the DVD
case for the individual release has many errors. The episodes are listed in
airdate order as opposed to the chronological order on the actual DVDs,
one episode is listed as airing the day before it actually aired and two are
shown as having the same airdate resulting in the airdates of the two
subsequent episodes being one week off. Notes and references
External links Return to the Planet of the Apes at the
Internet Movie Database Return to the Planet of the Apes at the
Big Cartoon DataBase Return to the Planet of the Apes at
TV.com Return to the Planet of the Apes on
Hulu.com The Forbidden Zone: All about the
1975-76 Animated series on NBC, including extensive episode summaries
from Epi-Log magazine. DePatie-Freleng Enterprises Filmography:
TV Shows: Including Return to the Planet of the Apes.