'Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film' - Free On Prime

[StarFuryG7]

I just watched this on Prime, and if you're a fan of the original "Planet of the Apes" movie starring Charlton Heston, this is definitely worth a look.

'Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film' - Free To Watch On Prime

I bought the Blu-ray of this documentary last year, also via Prime, and just looked at it the other night, thinking that perhaps I should watch it this weekend finally, only to see when flipping around on Prime Video that it popped up as one of their free streaming selections for their subscribers. I'm glad I watched it and have it as part of my disc library.

The original "Planet of the Apes" is probably the reason for my lifelong love and appreciation for science fiction believe it or not. It's one of the first movies I saw as a small child, and it really captured my imagination. It's probably my favorite film.

[TrekBeatTK]

How do you feel about the subsequent sequels?

I think they all have merit apart from 5, which is terrible. Beneath is very weird. The third is probably the best sequel despite some budget issues.

Have you seen Dana Gould do his Dr. Zaius? Pretty fun stuff. He was part of the intro when Fathom screened the film theatrically a few years back.

He also just finished an internet talk show called Hanging With Dr Z. Kinda like Space Ghost Coast to Coast used to be.

[StarFuryG7]

Jun 1, 2021 22:47:43 GMT -5 TrekBeatTK said:

How do you feel about the subsequent sequels?

Beneath is a very flawed film and sequel unfortunately. I like some of the things about it, but it was also the start of where the studio cut corners on the Apes franchise in general. The script seemed to be sloppily thrown together, although it had some interesting concepts, such as the underground mutants, but you could see where the production values started to slip with the makeup. Some of the actors in apes costumes wore masks rather than undergoing the whole prosthetics process. Why do that when you're making a follow-up film to one of your biggest movies ever? Dumb, just plain dumb. I think the whole production comes across as rather hurriedly having been slapped together. I liked James Franciscus in the lead role, but he was obviously picked because he looked like Charlton Heston. I also think some of the problems with the movie probably stem from the fact that Heston was also adamant about not doing a sequel. They had to coax him into being a part of second film at all. I recall him wanting it to be a one picture story, ending the way it ended, but he may have also had a busy schedule at the time because I learned from the "Making Apes" documentary that he was only available for a week to shoot the sequel.

The third film was okay, but given how the second film ended, they had to find a way to bring it back, and the idea that Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Milo, the scientist, would have found a way to get Taylor's ship airborne again after it had sunk where it came down never really passed the smell test for me even as a kid when I first saw it. It was difficult for me to suspend my disbelief on that point, so it kind of irked me. It was obviously a plot device they had to resort to because of the corner they had painted themselves into at the end of the second film.

For me, the series got worse with each successive sequel, and the writing was inconsistent. That was always a major problem for me about that franchise. The sloppiness, especially on the writing end.

The fifth film had the potential to be a much better movie than it turned out to be, but once again, the writing was a big diversion away from where the fourth film ended, with the humans that remained in the city having become mutants, when the prior film did not leave off that way, and once again they continued to cut, and cut, and cut the budget again and again to the point that they basically ended up with a cheesy TV movie for the big screen.

I don't know...in a way it probably would have been better had there never been any sequels to the original first movie, but the later films did bring an expansion of that universe to the table in various ways, and not all of it was bad, but if they really paid attention to all they were doing every step along the way, those original series of films could have been so much stronger and better than they turned out to be.

As for the return of Dr. Zaius in the Fathom Films tribute that they did a few years back, I haven't watched it, but I will at some point. Thanks for the link. I know it wasn't him though because Maurice Evans passed on quite some time ago. I will look at it for the satire and nostalgia of it though. I would like to watch my BD of the original film at some point in the not too distant future, and probably Beneath as well afterward. I just seem to keep putting it off though.

I'm not big on the newer films, although the last one with Woody Harrelson was pretty good. There they were really trying at least, and of the three newer films, that one stands as my favorite. They probably should have stuck with the prosthetic makeup though. It probably makes the actors appear more authentic, at least in my opinion.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

[TrekBeatTK]

I’m with you on the diminishing returns.

Beneath is bizarre but audacious to end that way.

I agree the set up of Escape is a stretch. I thought I had missed something in the last movie. However, I think it’s a fun time and the best sequel story-wise, despite the cheapening production. The sequel that’s a prequel conceit was clever and establishing the sort of determinist fate loop of the story worked. And it should have ended there. Especially because Conquest got neutered and rewritten making it a pointless exercise. Escape is sort of like Star Trek IV; a fun time travel romp that doesn’t add much but closes things out in a fun way.

The original is definitely the best, but if it had ended at Escape we’d have had a decent trilogy.

As to the reboots, I like them but kind of wish they hadn’t been reboots, but in continuity, at least with the original. I only saw War once, at a trilogy screening, so I don’t remember it well enough.

The Burton one is awful but has really good makeup. Some of that in the Serkis films would have really been what you were looking for.