STUDIO: Fox
RELEASE DATE: November 4, 2008
STARRING: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Linda Harrison, Natalie Trundy, and Maurice Evans
WRITTEN BY: Michael Wilson & Rod Serling
DIRECTED BY: Franklin J. Schaffner
FEATURES: Audio Commentary with Composer Jerry Goldsmith
Audio Commentary with Actors Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter, Makeup Artist John Chambers
Behind the Scenes Featurettes
Documentary - Behind The Planet of The Apes
"Pierre Boulle: The Man Behind the Apes"
"Roddy McDowall Home Movies"
"PLANET OF THE APES 1967 NATO Presentation"
"PLANET OF THE APES Featurette (1968)"
Trailers
Interactive Game - Science of The Apes Trivia Challenge
Text Commentary by Eric Greene, Author of "Planet of the Apes as American Myth"
Biographies - Planet of the Apes Timeline
Concept Art: Original Sketches by Costume Designer Morton Haack
Photo Gallery

We were hoping to be able to review the full "40-Year Evolution" Blu-Ray release for The Planet of the Apes series, but all that was made available was the original Charlton Heston classic. Yes, I'm a big enough fan of Planet of the Apes that I wanted to watch Battle For the Planet of the Apes in high-definition. I realize I'm probably in the minority but I grew up adoring The Planet of the Apes movies. When I heard that Heston had passed away earlier this year, I watched the entire series over the course of a weekend. I know. I'm sick. I need to go to A.A. - Apes Anonymous. But even I can admit that the only really good movie of the bunch is the first, the original, classic, beautiful Planet of the Apes, which makes its debut in gorgeous Blu-Ray high-def this week on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. One of the most influential sci-fi films of all time, The Planet of the Apes still works as drama, action, and social commentary. It's a great movie that has kind of become a pop cultural joke over the years with the sub-par sequels and stupid remake but the original still holds up and looks practically new on high-definition Blu-Ray.

If you've underestimated the timelessness of The Planet of the Apes or have never seen the classic movie, this is the way to go. Heston stars as astronaut George Taylor, a man who crashes on the titular planet. He's instantly taken captive by a group of creatures who are kind of a cross between cavemen and apes. With a script co-written by Twilight Zone's Rod Serling, Planet of the Apes is a classic role reversal movie where the minority (the ape) is the ruler over the majority (the human). But Apes goes a step further and uses the set-up as social commentary. Not all of the apes agree how to deal with Taylor and even the human starts to realize that some of the apes - Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter) - may be able to help him. Taylor is thrown in with another human, Nova (Linda Harrison), and he works with Cornelius and Zira to plan his escape. Planet of the Apes influenced countless movies that came after it, proving that the niche genre could produce not only excellent performances (this is some of the best work of Heston and McDowall's career) but be thought-provoking as well. Keep in mind - Planet of the Apes was released the same year as 2001 and nearly a decade before Star Wars and Close Encounters. The film is a pioneer in its genre and the medium as a whole.

Apes looks perfect in high-definition on Fox Blu-Ray. This print is presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Having recently seen the film in its standard presentation, I was blown away by how well the film has been remastered for this release. It's not overly polished like some classic films in high-def. The colors are soft and clear without making the actors look plastic, which is a trap that Blu-Ray classics can sometimes fall into. This film has been visually balanced to perfection. The background details are what truly excel in this release. The browns of the boulders and the greens of the trees look perfect. Planet of the Apes was originally released in mono, so the DTS-HD MA lossless 5.1 audio mix sounds a little off. When a studio takes a mono track and tries to amp it up, you can have some poorly mixed results. Planet of the Apes isn't a bad mix and the dialogue is crystal clear, but don't expect an overwhelming auditory experience because the film wasn't originally made to be one.

The special features on the new release for Planet of the Apes are truly astonishing. It makes you wonder why they didn't pull these out for the last release of the movie, one version of which came in a giant ape head, which will now be a large paperweight because fans have to upgrade to this version for the special features alone. New special features include "Science of the Apes", a Blu-Ray BonusView feature where scientist, anthropologists, and sociologists discuss the facts and fiction of the film, "Beyond the Forbidden Zone" Adventure Game, "A Public Service Announcement from ANSA" in HD, "Evolution of the Apes" in HD, "Impact of the Apes" in HD, and individual featurettes in HD on all of the Apes films (which, once again, we didn't get to see but probably have similar video and audio presentations as the original). The previously available commentaries by composer and cast have been imported along with an overwhelming amount of archival material like trailers, makeup tests, dailies, outtakes, and more than even this A.A. member could possibly expect.