My Ode to the Planet of the Apes

I've been meaning to do this entry for a long time now. In case anyone has yet to see the original Planet of the Apes, I must recommend it as required viewing. The film is one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time and an engaging, albeit occasionally cornball, exploration of the conflict between science and religion, race and class, reason and faith, and young and old. I suppose I should also compliment Jerry Goldsmith's rousing, visceral score.

Here's a snippet of the film's take on the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Fortunately, someone was kind enough to break the film down into 10 minute segments and post it on youtube. Here are the links for your and my future viewing.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12


I'll also include this write-up from the youtube poster:

The first and best version of the story. Forget that overly dark silly ridiculous remake in 2003 by Tim Burton... Many early science fiction films are now, quite inadvertently (and in most cases undeservedly), objects of camp attention: we laugh at the silly makeup, tin-can special effects, and the naive "high-tech" dialogue. Planet of the Apes is no such film. Its intelligent script(by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame), frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of hyperrational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissention, centered in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic fingerprints of Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all his own, and time has not dulled the monumental emotional impact of the film's climactic payoff shot.