Thursday, July 15, 2010
BACK TO THE PLANET OF THE APES (1981) TV Spot
The short-lived Planet of the Apes television series from 1974 was another show that had several episodes edited together into TV movies for syndication; in this case, in 1981. The titles of these compilations were: Back to the Planet of the Apes, Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes, Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes, Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes, and Farewell to the Planet of the Apes.
I remember watching a few of these makeshift telefilms on WLBZ out of Bangor on weekday afternoons, but this particular promo/intro is just one I found on YouTube. I thought it was cool. If anyone recognizes the station/market, let me know.
Interesting trivia, according to Wikipedia: When the Planet of the Apes telefilms entered syndication, ABC's owned and operated stations, who picked them up for their afternoon movie programs (under titles such as The 4:30 Movie), called upon Roddy McDowall to re-create his role of Galen in a series of new openings and closings specifically for these stations, billed as "The New Planet of the Apes." The introductions originally created by 20th Century Fox to open each film was replaced by a now-aged Galen (McDowall) looking back on the events of the telefilms. The openings and closings revealed Virdon and Burke's final fates: "they found their computer in another city and disappeared into space as suddenly as they’d arrived." The ABC openings and closings of these telefilms were never seen on other stations.
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That's a Philadelphia station, channel 17, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI remember the promos when the tv-movies first aired on WABC. If only I had a vcr back then!
ReplyDeleteWere the promos included in the tv series dvd set?
I have both the movie and animated series box sets, but haven't come across the live-action tv series used...yet. ;-)
There were no extras whatsoever on the TV show DVD set, so... no promos.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post - remember these playing the afternoon movie slot in Chicago during the early 80s
ReplyDeleteI never saw the episodes as movies but as normal episodes back in th 70's. Probably as reruns. Right now, I'm in the process of seeing the episodes on DVD. This series was a LOT better than most people give it credit for.
ReplyDeleteI have 1974 tv series on dvd. I was very surprised they did not included extras, like the 1981 tv introductions. There is also episodes that were never produced, like the mine or freedom road or hostage or fallen god or trial or trek. It was sad when they cancel the show, especially in lieu we never had any details on what happen to burke and virden. The TV series never introduced the underdwellers, which was a surprised.
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