In Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes Armando said:
But really, it isn't important. It was just a plot device
Well, in every POTA universe it's incredible common for an astronaut to travel in the future. Really, it's a like a occupational hazard
MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night
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But really, it isn't important. It was just a plot device
Well, in every POTA universe it's incredible common for an astronaut to travel in the future. Really, it's a like a occupational hazard
Arnold and McGee are demonstrably the same; you try to draw differences between seeking money and respect, but personal glory--whether its being one of the highest paid reporters in the nation, or glory through winning a Pulitzer--is all the same. McGee thinking the Hulk story has the possibility of granting him that, is greed motivated. One can be a respected reporter sans the Pulitzer recognition, but he seeks that as its used (by some journalists) as the major ego and career boost. He did not say that as mere example. It is a goal created by his world view. It is all topped off by his stomach-turning--and very Arnold-like choosing himself over the other guy; Arnold did not care about hurting innocent business people, and to David's enemy-confirming satisfaction, McGee did not care about helping the Hulk, but using the creature, no matter what happened to him.
It is no accident the scene has David study McGee as he's saying this--it is clearly drawing a line in the sand between the two men; one stands firmly on the side of morality, the other does not. McGee's attempted dressing down of Arnold was hypocritical when he chooses the same, self-seeking avenues to move through life--the welfare of others be damned.
You misread the scene; McGee--is not heroic or self sacrificing. He is a cynic, who sees the world in simplistic terms of those who do whatever it takes to win, and those who (though their own "fault") lose; this was established by his criticism of his father and David's moral code as being that of "suckers." From that, telling David to leave him is not McGee throwing tossing himself into the jaws of death to save another--its just--and this is key--what he would do if the positions were reversed.
The last McGee says of his reason-to-be was unambiguous. Again, that's way David--the best judge of character in that situation answered McGee's revealing, final statements on the matter:
David: "But the Hulk saved your life! You told me so yourself--don't you think you should help it???"
McGee: "Yes--but you gotta choose...that's all life is, you know, just choosing. It's you or the other guy!"
McGee: "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, JOHN--FIND THE HULK AND WALK AWAY?? YOU'RE KIDDING!!"
David: "Yes, I guess I am."
David is not prone to mischaracterizing anyone. His "Yes, I guess I am" was his last comment on the matter, as it was settled in his mind--McGee is after the Hulk for his own, unethical benefit--not to help the creature.
The fear was not inexplicable--he's suffering from amnesia, but as he says, some doors open, other close. Since part one, his subconscious mind revisited encounters with McGee--all the source of tension or fear. Next, being shoeless and shirtless is connected to being the Hulk, and even in the murky corridors of his mind, the Hulk and McGee are connected--and obviously in a negative sense. He would not be able to explain his fear, but it was creeping through from his distant memory.
Its just a perception. From the in-story POV, McGee likely saw Banner as the head of whatever they were doing, and focused most of his suspicion on him, based (in part) on Hulk footprints found near Banner's destroyed car, and the David's nervous questioning about the Hulk incident at the lake. That's not chauvinistic, but assuming Banner was ground zero of the situation, while Elaina remained cool throughout the encounters with McGee.
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That's why the TV series--despite being set in a period that seems like it would follow the epilogue of Battle for the Planet of the Apes, is not truly in the same timeline as the movies.
Yes, Wallace is sort of the unsung hero of fantasy TV screenwriters, as he's responsible for some very important characters or storylines of major franchises.
Yep. Great design, though the rear of the ship was never fully designed.
No. Aside from the TV series not necessarily being in the same continuity as the movies, the TV series is set in 3085, while the original film takes place in 3978. The series Zaius' reference to another ship / astronauts would take place at a date earlier than any on-screen astronaut landing, and from Urko's surprise, we can theorize that the previous encounter was not so far in the past.
Going by the POTA wiki website regarding The Planet Of The Apes tv series it says that initially the series was going to be set 10 years after the first movie but ignoring the events of the subsequent sequels.
Rod Serling was commissioned to write the pilot episode, which he did, basically rewritting/combining elements from his unfilmed script which became Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
It was then decided late in pre-production that the series would take place 1000-1500 years in the future, after Battle for the Planet Apes but before Planet of the Apes.
Rod Serling's script was jettisoned but the line about the previous astronauts was retained while removing all references to Charlton Heston's character Taylor.
If you go to The Planet of the Apes wiki you can read portions of Rod Serlings pilot script.
Rod Serling was commissioned to write the pilot episode, which he did, basically rewritting/combining elements from his unfilmed script which became Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
It was then decided late in pre-production that the series would take place 1000-1500 years in the future, after Battle for the Planet Apes but before Planet of the Apes.
Rod Serling's script was jettisoned but the line about the previous astronauts was retained while removing all references to Charlton Heston's character Taylor.
If you go to The Planet of the Apes wiki you can read portions of Rod Serlings pilot script.
"Escape from Tomorrow" was okay, but kind of mediocre. The low budget was clear; they couldn't even afford to show the ship crashing at the beginning or blowing up at the end, so they had to rely on sound effects and wind machines. (Apparently the capsule here was the same one used in the third movie, a smaller replica of the capsule from the first two films.) And they rushed through the revelations far faster than the movie did, so they could get on with their story. Maybe it would've been better to start with the astronauts and only reveal the apes later, so we'd experience their process of discovery and shock; but I guess it was assumed that everyone was already familiar with the premise from the movies.
There was a nice try to revisit the social commentary from the original film, with Zaius's talk about how we destroyed ourselves, though I don't think this is an angle the series would touch on very often. And Booth Colman is a less impressive Zaius than Maurice Evans.
It's interesting to compare Roddy McDowall's performance in ape makeup to the others'. He's the only one who incorporates nose twitches and the like into his performance to put more life into the prosthetic face. Of course, he had four films' worth of practice, so naturally he's better at working with the makeup than the others.
Interesting line from Virdon, suggesting to Galen that he might want to visit their time. I suppose Alan's quest for a way back to their time was just your usual unattainable goal for a quest-driven series, but I wonder if Art Wallace and the producers were trying to propose the option of doing an Escape from the PotA sort of storyline later in the series. After all, doing a show set in a post-apocalyptic future filled with intelligent apes is relatively expensive; it could've been a budget-saver to change the setting to the near-future 1980s and have Galen be the only ape around. Although it would be hard to see where stories would come from in that setting.
The whole "time warp" angle is odd. I mean, if the ship fell through a time warp, then how would the chronometer record the correct date? Wouldn't it just report the shipboard time? Burke's line about when it "stopped working" implies that it just kept running until it broke down, which would suggest that over 1000 subjective years passed inside the ship -- so how come the crew are still unaged when they weren't in suspended animation? It's a clumsy plot point that contradicts itself.
Like most TV adaptations of movies, the show is set in its own continuity that changes details from the movie version. Some TV spinoffs are closer to the source than others. Stargate SG-1 tweaked a few details about the aliens and the technology and modified a couple of proper names, but otherwise treated the movie's events as part of the canon. Alien Nation bumped the movie's chronology forward a few years to maintain its near-future setting, but otherwise stayed pretty consistent, and its pilot even followed on events from the movie and showed them in flashback. But other TV spinoffs take a lot more liberties with the source, and this is one that changes a great deal. Humans aren't mute; dogs aren't extinct; the fall of civilization was centuries later; Zaius is a councillor rather than a doctor; the prior encounter with humans doesn't track with the specifics of any of the films. Also, of course, in the movies, the world blew up a few months after Taylor's arrival, and here it's been 10 years since the last encounter with humans. It's a separate reality all its own, just like the animated series the following year.
You're only looking at the surface, not at the deeper motivations. Arnold was just a greedy, lying jerk, an incompetent reporter who needed to cheat to get stories and who craved recognition he didn't deserve. McGee was a good, honest reporter who'd earned respect and then lost it through whatever ill luck landed him at the Register, and he was trying to get back what he'd earned fairly. No, it's not a completely altruistic or heroic motive, but it's a far more sympathetic one than Arnold's.
Again, you're only seeing the surface. Those were the words he said, yes; but it was clear from Colvin's performance that McGee was conflicted about it, that he felt bad about choosing himself over the other guy and was trying to justify it to himself as well as to "John." We don't know whether he'd actually act on those words given the chance. He's a flawed character, of course, but there's still a decent core there underneath the cynicism, and if it came down to it, that decency might win out over his self-interest. That's the difference between him and Arnold. McGee is flawed but redeemable.
You're completely off-base here, because McGee's conflict with Arnold wasn't even about that. Yes, McGee wants to prove to the world that he's right, that he's still a good reporter, but that's because he cares about the truth. Arnold was a bad reporter who passed off lies as news. McGee is simply reporting the facts as he knows them and trying to prove to the world that he isn't a liar. That's the fundamental difference. Yes, they both want career success, but McGee is trying to earn it honestly while Arnold pursued it dishonestly. It's like the difference between Scrooge McDuck and Flintheart Glomgold. They both pursue wealth and greed with equal fervor, but what makes Scrooge's greed redeemable is that he takes great pride in the fact that he earned every penny honestly through hard work, "by being smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies," whereas Glomgold is happy to profit through theft, cheating, or other dishonest means.
There was a nice try to revisit the social commentary from the original film, with Zaius's talk about how we destroyed ourselves, though I don't think this is an angle the series would touch on very often. And Booth Colman is a less impressive Zaius than Maurice Evans.
It's interesting to compare Roddy McDowall's performance in ape makeup to the others'. He's the only one who incorporates nose twitches and the like into his performance to put more life into the prosthetic face. Of course, he had four films' worth of practice, so naturally he's better at working with the makeup than the others.
Interesting line from Virdon, suggesting to Galen that he might want to visit their time. I suppose Alan's quest for a way back to their time was just your usual unattainable goal for a quest-driven series, but I wonder if Art Wallace and the producers were trying to propose the option of doing an Escape from the PotA sort of storyline later in the series. After all, doing a show set in a post-apocalyptic future filled with intelligent apes is relatively expensive; it could've been a budget-saver to change the setting to the near-future 1980s and have Galen be the only ape around. Although it would be hard to see where stories would come from in that setting.
The whole "time warp" angle is odd. I mean, if the ship fell through a time warp, then how would the chronometer record the correct date? Wouldn't it just report the shipboard time? Burke's line about when it "stopped working" implies that it just kept running until it broke down, which would suggest that over 1000 subjective years passed inside the ship -- so how come the crew are still unaged when they weren't in suspended animation? It's a clumsy plot point that contradicts itself.
Like most TV adaptations of movies, the show is set in its own continuity that changes details from the movie version. Some TV spinoffs are closer to the source than others. Stargate SG-1 tweaked a few details about the aliens and the technology and modified a couple of proper names, but otherwise treated the movie's events as part of the canon. Alien Nation bumped the movie's chronology forward a few years to maintain its near-future setting, but otherwise stayed pretty consistent, and its pilot even followed on events from the movie and showed them in flashback. But other TV spinoffs take a lot more liberties with the source, and this is one that changes a great deal. Humans aren't mute; dogs aren't extinct; the fall of civilization was centuries later; Zaius is a councillor rather than a doctor; the prior encounter with humans doesn't track with the specifics of any of the films. Also, of course, in the movies, the world blew up a few months after Taylor's arrival, and here it's been 10 years since the last encounter with humans. It's a separate reality all its own, just like the animated series the following year.
You're only looking at the surface, not at the deeper motivations. Arnold was just a greedy, lying jerk, an incompetent reporter who needed to cheat to get stories and who craved recognition he didn't deserve. McGee was a good, honest reporter who'd earned respect and then lost it through whatever ill luck landed him at the Register, and he was trying to get back what he'd earned fairly. No, it's not a completely altruistic or heroic motive, but it's a far more sympathetic one than Arnold's.
Again, you're only seeing the surface. Those were the words he said, yes; but it was clear from Colvin's performance that McGee was conflicted about it, that he felt bad about choosing himself over the other guy and was trying to justify it to himself as well as to "John." We don't know whether he'd actually act on those words given the chance. He's a flawed character, of course, but there's still a decent core there underneath the cynicism, and if it came down to it, that decency might win out over his self-interest. That's the difference between him and Arnold. McGee is flawed but redeemable.
You're completely off-base here, because McGee's conflict with Arnold wasn't even about that. Yes, McGee wants to prove to the world that he's right, that he's still a good reporter, but that's because he cares about the truth. Arnold was a bad reporter who passed off lies as news. McGee is simply reporting the facts as he knows them and trying to prove to the world that he isn't a liar. That's the fundamental difference. Yes, they both want career success, but McGee is trying to earn it honestly while Arnold pursued it dishonestly. It's like the difference between Scrooge McDuck and Flintheart Glomgold. They both pursue wealth and greed with equal fervor, but what makes Scrooge's greed redeemable is that he takes great pride in the fact that he earned every penny honestly through hard work, "by being smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies," whereas Glomgold is happy to profit through theft, cheating, or other dishonest means.
It would have been a natural for a sitcom! (All the more so a decade earlier.)
That's how I always saw it as a kid. David's avoidance of McGee going forward is informed by the intentions that McGee stated before he knew that the guy he was talking to turned into the creature. I always speculated that if McGee learned the whole truth, he might do the right thing. We were robbed of the opportunity to find out...the lack of McGee or any other revisiting of characters or situations from the TV series (like Banner's family) makes The Death of the Incredible Hulk meaningless to me.
Yes, exactly. That's a great point I'd overlooked. At the time he said those things, he thought the Hulk was just some kind of subsentient anthropoid, a mutation or missing link. So it would be like talking about the disposition of a captured Bigfoot or something -- more a question of how you feel about cruelty to animals than about human rights. It was only later that McGee learned there was a person who turned into the Hulk -- indeed, a good, articulate, compassionate person that he'd come to consider a friend. So we don't know how that changed his opinion. We did see that he was still obsessed with getting his story and proving that he was right, but that doesn't mean he was still committed to putting the Hulk on display like King Kong (indeed, he now knows that wouldn't be viable anyway, since he isn't the Hulk all the time).
I always felt the final movie should've had McGee catching up with Banner just when he was about to cure himself at last, then having to choose between getting his story and letting David cure himself, and ending up choosing the latter and helping David finally achieve his goal. Sort of like Gerard and Kimble in the Fugitive finale. It was regrettable that they left McGee out of the last two movies. (It also didn't make sense that The Death of... started out with David feeling so totally alone in the world when the previous movie had just shown him making a new friend and ally in Matt Murdock.)
We did see a change in his disposition towards the creature right there in the climax of the episode...he's referring to the creature as "John" and calling for him to come back. He now thinks of the creature as a human being...possibly even the victim of some sort of experiment (though I'm not sure if he specifically speculated that in an episode).
Also, the King Kong thing wasn't what McGee specifically wanted to do...it was what he acknowledged that his paper would likely do if they ever got ahold of the Hulk.
There is absolutely nothing sympathetic about saying you will choose yourself over the other guy. Nothing. David gets him to admit to some of what would happen to the Hulk if captured, yet McGee is patently heartless. He chooses his own career ambitions over the life of another living being. There's no getting around what McGee actually says:
McGee: "Yes--but you gotta choose...that's all life is, you know, just choosing. It's you or the other guy!"
McGee: "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, JOHN--FIND THE HULK AND WALK AWAY?? YOU'RE KIDDING!!"
You're attempting to rewrite the actual dialogue and motives repeatedly hammered in the episode. Listen to it again, and pay close attention to David's final word on the entire matter:
David: "Yes, I guess I am."
David is not leaving at that because he thinks McGee has a redeeming side, might change his mind, or was speaking in the heat of the moment. McGee's referring to the Hulk as a "killer" is not the man hunting the creature for the sole notion bring him to justice. He's no crusading Jack Anderson kind of journalist by any stretch of the imagination, because his fuel is personal gain; if the Hulk ends up "punished" (for an unproven crime), that's just supporting his attempt to give himself the oft-repeated "biggest story of the 20th century." Make no mistake, for McGee, that is no concern for justice at all.
David knows McGee is a desperate, glory hungry man that will sell the Hulk (David himself) for career profit. That is not the seeing this from the surface, as career ambitions are often the end result of deeply held, well formed beliefs. His actual statements are a painfully clear window to his true self, and its a mirror of Arnold--only that Joe Arnold is not willing to capture & sell a living being for personal gain.
Think about it: the justification of immoral behavior means one has already concluded that his own benefit over others involved is all that matters. The fact he's ethically challenged does not automatically mean the person cannot become upset in a discussion--but it is about being challenged at all, not that he's found himself in a moral quandary.
He will continue to hunt "John Doe"/Hulk for the remainder of the series, so what do you think he would do? I'll give you one example: in the late 3rd season episode, "Equinox," he tracks David to an isolated masquerade ball, threatening to shoot him with a tranquilizer gun, and--even when referring to the Hulk as a killer (of Banner and Marks as he does in "Mystery Man"), he's still talking about being vindicated (in this case, a selfish concern) but that vindication comes by profiting--as a reporter--from handing the Hulk/Banner over to whoever will take him. It is not rare that the last thing a truly altruistic individual hunting / finding a killer (others doubted) would seek--or even refer to is vindication.. No matter how one chooses to spin it, once again, its all about the building of McGee. Reiterating, he's no hero, nor a crusader for justice where the Hulk is concerned.
Not at all. You're misunderstanding the heart of the conversation: the accusation that Arnold is immoral for his beliefs and actions in trying to elevate his career / profit--doing anything at the expense of others to attain that goal. What part of using / profiting from the innocent, living beings--no matter the expense--is difficult to understand? "The other guy" does not matter in the case of McGee & Arnold.
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His best performance.
He's burnt out in much of this. I sympathize. Seeing the transformation though breathed new life in him.
Agreed.
Memory is a strange thing. So help me, but I seemed to remember that his bandage was shredded at the last. It wasn't. Quite a threatening look--and this not long after Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, where you had a blank Kirk mask you could read anything into.
Wonder Woman needs to switch with that slot. That and Batman.
the TV POTA also had a cartoon follow on that even featured a Kong like entity.
As McGee might have said--under some make up:
"It's every ape for himself."
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Watching the APES pilot again for the first time in decades, I was struck by the fact that there were no female characters in it at all. In retrospect, , I'm surprised that that the show didn't include a sexy "Nova"-like character as a regular: perhaps a primitive human female who joined our heroes on their quest?
Maybe the show would've run longer if they had?
Maybe the show would've run longer if they had?
The Time Tunnel: "Rendezvous with Yesterday" is a solid pilot. The frustrating thing about Irwin Allen shows is that they tended to have strong, smart pilots with good writing and good production values, then just stopped trying and degenerated into cheap, goofy formula. But this is a neat, engaging mini-movie in its own right, whatever became of the show afterward. The visual spectacle of Project Tic-Toc is wonderful, miniatures and matte paintings evocative of Forbidden Planet's Krell complex -- although it stretches disbelief to the limit that the US government would fund an underground complex 800 stories deep with thousands of personnel to develop a time-travel technology that wasn't even proven to work yet. I mean, 800 stories? That's something like 2.4 kilometers underground. Granted, there are some mines that run that deep or deeper, but it's still pretty extreme. I mean, there's a miniature shot of maybe 5 giant complexes that Doug says contain 1200 people each -- that's 6000 people. That's a really enormous undertaking with no guarantee of payoff. Still, the FX shots were wonderful, and it still bewilders me that they didn't reuse them in later episodes.
I do find it very contrived that, of all the places and times in history Tony could've been randomly sent, he happened to end up on the Titanic two days before the end. But the drama was fairly effective there, though I think they played fast and loose with the historical details and didn't use any of the real crew or passenger names. (Though Michael Rennie remained nameless as the captain, so he could've been Edward Smith.) Also, it was contradictory that they said Tony was being held right where the iceberg would hit, but then later he and Doug were back in the same room when the berg hit and the room was undamaged. I suppose maybe it was meant to be an identical room elsewhere, but there's no dialogue explaining that, so it's an oversight.
There are some interesting things about the guest cast here. For one thing, it features both Batman and Catwoman. Lee Meriwether (Ann McGregor), of course, played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman feature film. And Gary Merrill (Senator Clark) was one of the three actors who played Batman on the Adventures of Superman radio series, along with Stacy Harris and Matt Crowley, although online sources disagree over which one was the main actor. Merrill and Meriwether have several scenes together. We also have a bunch of Star Trek guests -- in addition to regulars James Darren, Whit Bissell, and Meriwether, we have John Winston as a Titanic guard. Plus of course there's Michael Rennie, Klaatu himself. (And apparently Dennis Hopper has a bit part as a passenger.)
Annoyingly, MeTV showed the Land of the Giants pilot, "The Crash," in a format stretched out for widescreen, which on my old TV means that the sides are cut off as well as the picture being squished. I don't think I'll continue watching if they continue doing that. Heck, I can just watch it on Hulu, once I can afford the luxury of renewing my Hulu subscription.
Still, I did watch the pilot, and it has an interesting disaster-movie feel, the way we start with the pilots and stewardess and the diverse bunch of passengers. The latter are given backgrounds that rarely matter much in the series ahead, but it's an interesting start -- although the attempt to replicate Dr. Smith and Will with Commander Fitzhugh and Barry doesn't work that well. It actually reminded me a bit of the start of the Planet of the Apes series, which also involved a spacecraft from the early 1980s falling through a warp and landing on a hostile world. (Worth noting that the scriptwriter of this pilot, Anthony Wilson, would later develop the PotA series.) I think I like Steve Burton and Dan Erickson better than Virdon and Burke, though. In particular, Don Marshall's Dan comes off wonderfully here, an African-American lead who was smart and confident and authoritative and calmly refused to submit to bullying by white men (that was kept subtextual, of course, but I felt it was there).
Notably, the giants don't speak at all in the pilot; perhaps the thinking was that they were aliens and thus didn't speak English, but if, so that was quickly dropped for the series ahead -- and understandably so, since it would've greatly limited the storytelling.
I'd forgotten that the pilot was scored almost entirely with stock Lost in Space cues, mostly by John(ny) Williams and Herman Stein -- particularly Williams's "Monster Rebels" from "The Reluctant Stowaway" for the space warp scene, Stein's "The Comet Cometh" from "The Derelict" for the forest scenes, and Williams's "Landing" from "Island in the Sky" for the later action scenes, IIRC. The end titles credit the music to Alexander Courage, but I suppose that's mainly for the unmemorable title theme they used here. I think it gets replaced by a Williams theme in the next episode.
I was equally struck by the all-white cast. They didn't even cast a black guy as the dead third astronaut. I mean, the original movie had Dodge as part of Taylor's crew, and the animated series would have a white man and a black man as equal protagonists. But this show's cast is pure white so far -- although we do get appearances by Roscoe Lee Browne and Percy Rodrigues in later episodes.
I do find it very contrived that, of all the places and times in history Tony could've been randomly sent, he happened to end up on the Titanic two days before the end. But the drama was fairly effective there, though I think they played fast and loose with the historical details and didn't use any of the real crew or passenger names. (Though Michael Rennie remained nameless as the captain, so he could've been Edward Smith.) Also, it was contradictory that they said Tony was being held right where the iceberg would hit, but then later he and Doug were back in the same room when the berg hit and the room was undamaged. I suppose maybe it was meant to be an identical room elsewhere, but there's no dialogue explaining that, so it's an oversight.
There are some interesting things about the guest cast here. For one thing, it features both Batman and Catwoman. Lee Meriwether (Ann McGregor), of course, played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman feature film. And Gary Merrill (Senator Clark) was one of the three actors who played Batman on the Adventures of Superman radio series, along with Stacy Harris and Matt Crowley, although online sources disagree over which one was the main actor. Merrill and Meriwether have several scenes together. We also have a bunch of Star Trek guests -- in addition to regulars James Darren, Whit Bissell, and Meriwether, we have John Winston as a Titanic guard. Plus of course there's Michael Rennie, Klaatu himself. (And apparently Dennis Hopper has a bit part as a passenger.)
Annoyingly, MeTV showed the Land of the Giants pilot, "The Crash," in a format stretched out for widescreen, which on my old TV means that the sides are cut off as well as the picture being squished. I don't think I'll continue watching if they continue doing that. Heck, I can just watch it on Hulu, once I can afford the luxury of renewing my Hulu subscription.
Still, I did watch the pilot, and it has an interesting disaster-movie feel, the way we start with the pilots and stewardess and the diverse bunch of passengers. The latter are given backgrounds that rarely matter much in the series ahead, but it's an interesting start -- although the attempt to replicate Dr. Smith and Will with Commander Fitzhugh and Barry doesn't work that well. It actually reminded me a bit of the start of the Planet of the Apes series, which also involved a spacecraft from the early 1980s falling through a warp and landing on a hostile world. (Worth noting that the scriptwriter of this pilot, Anthony Wilson, would later develop the PotA series.) I think I like Steve Burton and Dan Erickson better than Virdon and Burke, though. In particular, Don Marshall's Dan comes off wonderfully here, an African-American lead who was smart and confident and authoritative and calmly refused to submit to bullying by white men (that was kept subtextual, of course, but I felt it was there).
Notably, the giants don't speak at all in the pilot; perhaps the thinking was that they were aliens and thus didn't speak English, but if, so that was quickly dropped for the series ahead -- and understandably so, since it would've greatly limited the storytelling.
I'd forgotten that the pilot was scored almost entirely with stock Lost in Space cues, mostly by John(ny) Williams and Herman Stein -- particularly Williams's "Monster Rebels" from "The Reluctant Stowaway" for the space warp scene, Stein's "The Comet Cometh" from "The Derelict" for the forest scenes, and Williams's "Landing" from "Island in the Sky" for the later action scenes, IIRC. The end titles credit the music to Alexander Courage, but I suppose that's mainly for the unmemorable title theme they used here. I think it gets replaced by a Williams theme in the next episode.
Watching the APES pilot again for the first time in decades, I was struck by the fact that there were no female characters in it at all. In retrospect, , I'm surprised that that the show didn't include a sexy "Nova"-like character as a regular: perhaps a primitive human female who joined our heroes on their quest?
Maybe the show would've run longer if they had?
I was equally struck by the all-white cast. They didn't even cast a black guy as the dead third astronaut. I mean, the original movie had Dodge as part of Taylor's crew, and the animated series would have a white man and a black man as equal protagonists. But this show's cast is pure white so far -- although we do get appearances by Roscoe Lee Browne and Percy Rodrigues in later episodes.
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Holy Review-mania!
Batman
"Smack in the Middle"
Originally aired January 13, 1966
So...Aunt Harriet, whose supposed to be concerned about her nephew Dick's whereabouts, is specifically upset because Bruce's bed hasn't been slept in? I'm just gonna give the show some benefit of the doubt but leave this here:
I'm also willing to allow the show a wide berth for its larger-than-life, semi-comedic plots, but who came up with the idea that Jill St. John could pass for Burt Ward (or vice versa)...?
I think this may have been commented upon way upthread back when, but in these episodes, Robin lives up to his "Boy Wonder" nickname...he's usually the first one to figure out the Riddler's clues.
The Riddler...of course, little needs to be said about Frank Gorshin setting the tone for the scenery-chewing villain performances to come.
The lawsuit plot from the previous episode went nowhere, other than the subpoena providing clues.
*
Batman
"Smack in the Middle"
Originally aired January 13, 1966
So...Aunt Harriet, whose supposed to be concerned about her nephew Dick's whereabouts, is specifically upset because Bruce's bed hasn't been slept in? I'm just gonna give the show some benefit of the doubt but leave this here:
I'm also willing to allow the show a wide berth for its larger-than-life, semi-comedic plots, but who came up with the idea that Jill St. John could pass for Burt Ward (or vice versa)...?
I think this may have been commented upon way upthread back when, but in these episodes, Robin lives up to his "Boy Wonder" nickname...he's usually the first one to figure out the Riddler's clues.
The Riddler...of course, little needs to be said about Frank Gorshin setting the tone for the scenery-chewing villain performances to come.
The lawsuit plot from the previous episode went nowhere, other than the subpoena providing clues.
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you know, i never even noticed the lack of female characters. what 70s star would you like to see in a Nova type role?Watching the APES pilot again for the first time in decades, I was struck by the fact that there were no female characters in it at all. In retrospect, , I'm surprised that that the show didn't include a sexy "Nova"-like character as a regular: perhaps a primitive human female who joined our heroes on their quest?
Maybe the show would've run longer if they had?
I think he was supposed to be amusingly flippant but Pete comes off as an Ugly American type in the first episode of Planet of the Apes. I like how he wakes up from his spaceship in some strange primitive village and then he's like "Apes? Fuck that!". Then again, Alan looked like he was about to shove the old guy when he told him to be careful with the book. Though they warmed up a bit it seemed after rescuing Galen.
I guess in the 70s diversity meant casting a blond guy and a dark haired guy. The cartoon had a black astronaut and a woman astronaut though to be fair the black guy seemed to have no effect on the storyline. They could have dropped him entirely and the stories wouldn't be affected at all.
It's too bad they didn't go there in the live-action series though because with the more advanced humans it's just screaming allegory to blacks being treated as second-class citizens. A black character could've provided some interesting insight to their situation. I'm curious where the series goes with the social conflict between the apes and men.
I guess in the 70s diversity meant casting a blond guy and a dark haired guy. The cartoon had a black astronaut and a woman astronaut though to be fair the black guy seemed to have no effect on the storyline. They could have dropped him entirely and the stories wouldn't be affected at all.
It's too bad they didn't go there in the live-action series though because with the more advanced humans it's just screaming allegory to blacks being treated as second-class citizens. A black character could've provided some interesting insight to their situation. I'm curious where the series goes with the social conflict between the apes and men.
Took me a moment to remember which one was Pete and which was Alan, since I'm used to them being called Virdon and Burke. It's Alan Virdon and Pete Burke -- I'll have to remember that. (Hey, Peter Burke -- that was the name of Tim DeKay's character on White Collar! Maybe that'll help me remember.)
It's odd that the show had so many characters with similar-sounding names -- Virdon, Burke, Urko. It's doubly odd given that Burke's name was settled on just shortly before filming; through most of the development process, he was Stan Kovak (or Ed Rowak). Also, Urko was originally Ursus, the namesake of James Gregory's character from the second movie.
That sounds about right. Although there were some shows that did better.
Well, in the sense that he and the other male lead were a pretty inseparable team and were, in a sense, two halves of the same hero. But still, he was treated as completely equal to his white partner, and that in itself was progressive.
Maybe that's why they didn't have a black character. That would've been too controversial for a show that was aired in early prime time and meant to be kid-friendly.
Not much of anywhere, really. Especially in the later episodes, which were under network orders to be made simpler, under the assumption that the ratings were low because the stories were too complex for the kids.
See, I've seen the Land of the Giants pilot episode a dozen times or so in the past, and I don't remember those LIS musical cues being there at all. Was this a different version? The audio in the dialog scenes seemed kind of off as well.
And the movie sequels had featured various non-white characters as well, including a black mutant in BENEATH, sympathetic black humans in CONQUEST and BATTLE, and, I suppose, Ricardo Montalban as Armando the kindly circus owner in ESCAPE and CONQUEST, so it's not like there wasn't precedent.
(And the original movie deserves credit for casting a black man as an astronaut way back in 1968, even if his character is killed off early on.)
Meanwhile, I remain surprised that the studio didn't insist on a lovely female co-star, if only to add some sex appeal to the TV series.
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Okay, yes... it took some digging, but apparently this was the original unaired version of the pilot, as released on the first-season DVD set. It had a temp score and a rejected theme, and it was also edited differently, having a cold open instead of starting with the theme, and including scenes that the final cut lacked as well as lacking a major action sequence at the end of the final cut. Also the giants in the final version have some English dialogue dubbed in. The differences are detailed here: http://www.uncleodiescollectibles.com/bruce/thecrash/
