THE PLANET OF THE APES COLLECTION (SIX DISC BOX SET)

Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, et al.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner,

Edition Details:

Region 2 encoding (Europe, Middle East & Japan only)
Widescreen, PAL
ASIN: B00005NOMI
Catalogue Number: 22371DVD

Movie(s): * * * ½
Disc(s): * * *

I had died and gone to geek heaven - there was no other explanation! There it was: The Planet of the Apes Collection (Six Disc Box Set) for sale for a measly R350! Just how cheap is that? Well, it originally retailed for about R1 300 - that's almost a thousand rands less! Or put it another way: if you buy only the original first late-1960s movie separately it would set you back R300 - and here was all five movies plus a two-hour documentary for only marginally more . . .

Okay, I'll stop using so many exclamation marks right now. But this is a bargain no matter where you are. You can do a whole lot worse: like blow a similar amount of money on the DVD of the 2001 Planet of the Apes remake by Tim Burton. All the remake proved was how good the original movie was in the first place and how Hollywood is critically short-changing us nowadays.

The 1968 original was an entertaining, thoughtful and clever parable on religion, politics and race relations. The 2001 remake was about . . . nothing. Special effects, I suppose. What this says about our own era is rather depressing and before anyone mentions George Lucas I'd like to stop this comparison between the two movies right here.

THE DISCS: Let's get on to the movies themselves: they all look stunning in widescreen anamorphic transfers. All of the movies (with the weird exception of Escape, which is in mono) are in Dolby stereo. The first movie has been remixed in vivid Dolby 5.1. All the movies feature trailers and photo galleries, but no commentaries alas. All in a handsome foldout packaging.

PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * * * *
Disc: * * * *

If you believe that pan 'n' scan is better than widescreen, then you are (a) pig ignorant, (b) a tool of Satan or (c) both. Nowhere is this more apparent than in this movie. If you are used to having seen this movie on either TV or pan 'n' scan video throughout the years like me, then this is a revelation: its cinematography is fantastic, and the widescreen version makes sure you see every inch of the stark landscapes.

Also, one of the movie's best-known visual gags simply gets lost - that of "monkey see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil". Because the sides of the image gets lobbed off in pan 'n' scan video you only get to see two monkeys!

Like I said, in a pan 'n' scan version of the Bible there would only be seven or eight disciples because the others got cut off at the edges . . .

Planet remains a classic, it reputation only enhanced by the recent remake. It looks fantastic on this disc. SPLOILER ALERT: My only complaint is that the set's cover gives away the movie's surprise ending - I know lots of people who have never seen the original and this isn't really a clever thing to do. END SPOILERS!

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * * 1/2
Disc: * * *

The series gets downright weird in this instalment with telepathic mutants that worship the atom bomb! All of the movies look fantastic for their age and much better than they had on video all these years, but Beneath has some small bits where its age shows through, particularly darker scenes.

ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * * *
Disc: * * *

Escape is probably the best of the myriad of sequels. A whimsical tone in which many satirical points are scored soon turns serious as a time travel paradox similar to that of the Terminator evolves.

CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * * 1/2
Disc: * * *

The darkest movie in the series - now there is nothing subtle about the series' social commentary whatsoever. Still, unlike most of today's genre movies, it is at least about something, and not just a spectacle in itself.

BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * 1/2
Disc: * * *

The cheap budgets show through on this one, which is achingly bad really. Like some of the other movies, it can still however be enjoyed for its camp value though . . .

BEHIND THE PLANET OF THE APES
Movie: * * *
Disc: * * *

A two-hour documentary hosted by regular Apes star Roddy McDowall (who alas passed away recently). The first hour focuses on the first movie, while the rest focuses on the many sequels as well as the two TV shows, one of them animated. It also looks at the series' pop cultural reference. Although it mentions the hilariously funny Apes spoof in an episode of The Simpsons, we only get to see a small sequence from that particular show. Lots of interesting info for the Apes fan here.

WORTH IT? Even if you don't find it for dirt cheap lying in a bargain bin somewhere, this collection is pretty darn attractive and let's face it: there is nothing for your geek credentials quite like digging up all five movies and having a Planet of the Apes weekend!

RECOMMENDATION: Get your damned dirty paws on this DVD set - now!