I was cruising the used DVD/book store at the mall today, and I found what I thought was quite a score, Return to the Planet of the Apes, the complete animated series. I knew there was a Planet of the Apes tv series, but I had completely forgotten about the animated Saturday morning show that came after it.
Running for just 13 episodes in 1975, Return to the Planet of the Apes didn’t follow the chronology of the films and live-action tv series, but rather was a sort of re-imagining of the mythology with many of the same characters. As with the previous stories, this one follows a handful of astronauts who are thrown into the future and find themselves in a world populated by intelligent apes. They try to figure out what happened while avoiding the apes and protecting the humans who live there.
I’m really looking forward to watching the shows, but it turns out that if I had known to look, I could have watched them anytime because all of the episodes are posted in their entirety on YouTube.
I only paid $7 for the DVD and I’d rather watch them on my tv anyway, but if you’re interested in seeing them yourself, here’s the first episode to whet your appetite.
