Planet of the Apes Pt. 2: The Questionable Success of the Planet of the Apes

I followed through to watch all of the sequels to the Planet of the Apes. The second sequel achieved some success, with an overall rating of 78% (compare to Planet of the Apes' 89%), yet the other "classic" sequels barely crowned 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the 2001 remake of the original only got 45%. Why did these movies perform so horribly when the original was so great?

My theory is that the feel of the films proceeding the original Planet of the Apes were significantly different. Beneath the Planet of the Apes was the first sequel, and in addition to the hard to believe mutants which in addition to being quite non-complex, starred as some of the main characters, there was no "exploration". The explored areas had already been explored; it feels kind of like a replay of the original movie until the mutants are met, and then it fails to improve.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes did better in theatre, though. Once again, the curtain of belief is restored somewhat, with most of the movie taking place after one deus ex machina, and being realistic at that. Escape explored the reaction to the converse premise to the original movie; apes coming back in time to meet 1970s human society. It all happens with a spirit of exploration similar to that of the original. By recapturing the charm of the original, it acts far more as a true sequel than Beneath.

Conquest of and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, following a bit off of Escape, picked up the trend of ridiculous premises and unremarkability. The beginning of Conquest depicts not only the killing off of specifically, ALL cats and dogs, but the adoption of apes as pets, and then slippery slopes its way into a culture based off of ape slave labor. I believe it was the satirical movie C.S.A, one in which it is supposed that the Confederates won the Civil War as opposed to the North, that made the point that modern-day slavery becomes a burden on economies, carried for the sake of culture. How in the hell would the upkeep of apes become economically viable compared to that of industrial machines? How the hell would the environmentalist movement become lobotomized to the point of allowing such animal abuse? It's ridiculous to the point of ruining the rest of the movie, the basis, and the movie quality once again fails to improve. It's obvious that these last two, at least, give a bad taste to all the sequels, even the good one.

Next blog post, I will be talking about the actual new movie. It's a long journey, the Planet of the Apes movies, but a worthwhile one.

Planet of the Apes Pt 1: Planet of the Apes

The Planet of the Apes series started with the original 1968 movie, Planet of the Apes. This was prior to even Star Wars, before science fiction became truly as mainstream and notable as they are today. The original Star Trek had premiered on TV several years earlier and had met with success; could Planet of the Apes do the same on the silver screen?

Planet of the Apes stepped into new territory with its release, popularizing the speculative side of science fiction as opposed to just the technological side. Rather than Star Trek's focus on the dealings between multiple space-capable species, and the technology of each along with the interactions between each species' technology (i.e. phaser fights, starship battles), Planet of the Apes instead created a speculative atmosphere, where a significantly more advanced 1970s Earth sends a sleeper ship to the stars, resembling more of a Twilight Zone scenario than a science fiction typical scenario. No phasers, no warp drives. The ship arrives on Earth due to relatively unknown physical phenomena, the crew preserved by the suspended animation, and... crashes. The crew begin the movie thusly, with emergency packs not much more advanced than technology available to us. The movie then proceeds to create a civilization of apes in the medieval period, which remains the setting throughout. Science in this case is not used as a plot device throughout the film; it is the kickstarter, a portal allowing us to see 2000 years into the future.

As a film, Planet of the Apes was great. Even by today's standards, it is a great film. The opening scene has a great monologue, a serene scene, then suddenly, action! The film's habit of using the American Southwest to film desert scenes works great; they even press the advantage, including great works of geology which seem to extend the sojourn into a modern-day Oregon Trail to some kind of greenery. A few good monologues happen along the trail, giving an austere atmosphere, as though the movie were in actuality, a play. The scenery begins to progress into greenery, another small detail which heightens the reality of the movie. The movie continues to expound and slowly explain the conditions of the apes, of the humans' cells, of the use of humans and of the scientific environment. I couldn't help but feel an immense desire for a renaissance of ape culture and understanding. Ape culture and understanding! Even the fact that I am using this phrase much demonstrate the empathy I feel, that these apes are so much like the humans of our pre-Renaissance era as to be exactly them! Also, it is a nice touch that this state is reached in time surprisingly similar to our own (sacred scrolls written ~2673, making ape civilization 1300-1400 years old), not counting the BC years of course. The movie continues its play-like atmosphere throughout the hearing and trial with the scientific establishment of the apes, raising a debate which seems to rage on in the US despite it having been beat down several times due to the available evidence. It almost makes you wish there was some way to jump in with a fossil record and tell the apes to fornicate with themselves. The sympathetic apes soon aid an escape, and the play/movie comes to a close when they reach the archaeological site, realize that not only had Dr. Zaius known about humanity's early dominance and the site, but that the site is going to be closed by way of explosives, as Taylor rides off with Nova. At the very end of the movie, is one of the most famous, great, yet parodied shock twist scenes: Taylor realizes that the planet he was on had been Earth the whole time, this WAS the future of the species, and shouts into the air these immortal words: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

The unlikely hit ended up making over five times its production cost, becoming a great seller and spawning several sequels (with varying degress of success), a topic to be covered next blog post.