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The modern Planet of the Apes movies are vastly superior to the originals

ManaByte

Gold Member
Let me preface this by saying both the original Planet of the Apes and Escape (the third one) are two of my favorite movies. I can watch them anytime. But the original series from 1968-1973 (and the 1974 TV series that seems to be wiped from existence) has been completely and totally obliterated by the "reboot" series.

The originals never really had an explanation as to how the apes got smart and humans got dumb. They just say that house pets got sick and died off and people took apes as pets and over time it just...happened.

The reboots actually had a believable explanation. Humans trying to cure Alzheimer's made a drug to repair the mind, it backfired and mutated into a virus that made apes smarter and ended up killing off humans and making those who survived mute. The Ceasar trilogy was also a retelling of the story of Moses, he was raised by humans only to return to his people and lead them to freedom, but he dies before they enter the Promised Land.

And now Kingdom sets up a new trilogy.

Where the 1968 series got worse as it went on, the new one is getting better with each release.

We won't talk about Tim Burton's Marky Mark remake.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Let me preface this by saying both the original Planet of the Apes and Escape (the third one) are two of my favorite movies. I can watch them anytime. But the original series from 1968-1973 (and the 1974 TV series that seems to be wiped from existence) has been completely and totally obliterated by the "reboot" series.

The originals never really had an explanation as to how the apes got smart and humans got dumb. They just say that house pets got sick and died off and people took apes as pets and over time it just...happened.

The reboots actually had a believable explanation. Humans trying to cure Alzheimer's made a drug to repair the mind, it backfired and mutated into a virus that made apes smarter and ended up killing off humans and making those who survived mute. The Ceasar trilogy was also a retelling of the story of Moses, he was raised by humans only to return to his people and lead them to freedom, but he dies before they enter the Promised Land.

And now Kingdom sets up a new trilogy.

Where the 1968 series got worse as it went on, the new one is getting better with each release.

We won't talk about Tim Burton's Marky Mark remake.

đź’Ż

Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes is a masterpiece and Giacchino's scores have been great too.

 

ManaByte

Gold Member
I should add that the new series does stay true to some of the "canon" in the originals.

In the originals the first ape to speak was named Ceasar (which is in the originals as well) and his first word was "NO" to a human. Which is one of the best parts of Rise of the Planet of the apes both with how it was done in the movie AND for the call back to the original series establishing that moment.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I like the new ones a lot but I'm worried the plot is gonna get weird based on the ending of the newest film. The newer films also retread ground a lot, it's almost always an internal monkey power struggle that ends with chimp monkeys beating on each other while these big ass gorilla monkeys sit around, content to be enforcers. Plus, where the hell did all these North American apes come from in the first place?


Still, the films are great, hold up well visually, and I hope they show other places so we can see how Asia and Africa are faring given their much larger native ape population. You could have a very interesting "colonialism" story with smarter NA apes coming in to "civilize" areas of Africa where the apes are just as smart, but perhaps not as technologically advanced because the NA apes can salvage that storehouse after the flooding.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
I don't want them to connect to the original series. I'd rather it lead up to the events but I don't wanna see Taylor show up in a closing shot on the last of this trilogy. Please stand on your own, it'd be cringy otherwise.

Gonna assume there will be a nuclear war and that "Noah" will take the surviving apes on a giant boat that will take them from West Coast to East Coast and find the promised land.



This is how you do tribute to the original work successfully, I actually sat up in my seat when this part happened. I didn't know it had a human hunt. The way the humans graze with the Zebra to show we are no longer a threat to them but they scatter when the apes appear, almost like the movie respects the audiences intelligence enough to understand that rather than tell you.
 

Doom85

Member
I would say for me:

S-tier: original Planet of the Apes film, Dawn, War
A-tier: Escape, Rise, Kingdom
B-tier: Conquest
C-tier: Beneath
D-tier: Burton’s remake
F-tier: Battle
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I love how these astronauts are shocked when it turns out the Earth-like planet filled with English speaking apes is actually Earth.
 

Doom85

Member
I love how these astronauts are shocked when it turns out the Earth-like planet filled with English speaking apes is actually Earth.

Shocked Dean Norris GIF by Breaking Bad
how i met your mother GIF


Goddamn it, don’t fuck up a god tier ending. I mean, I don’t question why they’re speaking English in Star Wars (and no, I will laugh at anyone going, “uh, it’s actually called Basic and it just sounds like English on film for the viewer’s benefit”, considering how much Lucas and co. were winging it for the OT ain’t no way they thought that detail through)
 
Gonna go APE shit this summer and go on a POTA marathon!

  1. Gonna rewatch Rise/Dawn/War in 4k (and reading the prequel comics in between in each film) before finally watching Kingdom
  2. Reading Planet Of The Apes Archive Vol 1-4 by Doug Moench
  3. Reading POTA Before and After the Fall Omnibus graphic novels
  4. Watch Return To The Planet of The Apes animated series for the first time
  5. Play Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier video game (interactive movie)
  6. Watch "Army of The Apes (available free on youtube)" all 25 episodes. (rare Japanese tv series in no relation to the American franchise but it looks AWESOME)
  7. armyoftheapes.jpg
  8. Rewatch Planet Of The Apes TV series 1974 for the millionth time which in my opinion has the BEST ape acting in all the franchises combined. Roddy McDowall as Galen. Has my favorite female Chimpanzees and my favorite Gorilla character of all time. (Bonus listen to Tarantino's videoarchives podcast they talk about the series.)
  9. Impatiently wait for Disney to get up off their lazy human asses and release the original 5 movies in restored 4k! Lousy Human BASTARDS!
  10. Eat italian banana Gelato to relieve from the summer heat
 

Toons

Member
I've not gone back and watched the originals. But the new ones are indeed phenomenal. Just brilliant movies
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I love how these astronauts are shocked when it turns out the Earth-like planet filled with English speaking apes is actually Earth.
Well, to their credit they thought they were THOUSANDS of light years away. And they were SUPER BUMMED that the hot blonde, apparently sent along purely for the purpose of recreation/reproduction, died in transit :p

The OG film used to make me mad because Heston was unable to articulate any advanced idea or cogent argument to prove his intelligence when it seemed such an easy thing. Then, rewatching now, I appreciate the snow job Zaius was running and how prescient it is to how things are done today.
 
Well what do you expect? Only the original movie was a legit attempt at a quality film while the sequels were all cash-ins with increasingly smaller budgets and hasty production. And yeah, the sequels are still rather fun but they're kitsch.
 
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Diddy X

Gold Member
1452.jpg



I'll some day watch them all (modern) in order, they released so many of these that I don't know which is which even if I watched a couple of them I think.
 

The Cockatrice

Gold Member
Going to rewatch all of them someday but yeah I really enjoyed the modern ones, at least the first two. Dont remember the last ones.
 

Trilobit

Member
I'm still shocked that we got a stellar Ape of the Planets trilogy. And that they were so different and still felt coherent.
 

RagnarokIV

Battlebus imprisoning me \m/ >.< \m/
Ahh yes, Prequel To The Sequel Of The Reboot of The Remake Of The Planet Of The Apes.
 
Let me preface this by saying both the original Planet of the Apes and Escape (the third one) are two of my favorite movies. I can watch them anytime. But the original series from 1968-1973 (and the 1974 TV series that seems to be wiped from existence) has been completely and totally obliterated by the "reboot" series.

The originals never really had an explanation as to how the apes got smart and humans got dumb. They just say that house pets got sick and died off and people took apes as pets and over time it just...happened.

The reboots actually had a believable explanation. Humans trying to cure Alzheimer's made a drug to repair the mind, it backfired and mutated into a virus that made apes smarter and ended up killing off humans and making those who survived mute. The Ceasar trilogy was also a retelling of the story of Moses, he was raised by humans only to return to his people and lead them to freedom, but he dies before they enter the Promised Land.

And now Kingdom sets up a new trilogy.

Where the 1968 series got worse as it went on, the new one is getting better with each release.

We won't talk about Tim Burton's Marky Mark remake.

Didn't have the boobies though

planet of the apes GIF
 

INC

Member
Dawn sits up there with greatest sequels ever made, along side terminator 2, aliens and empire strikes back

Koba is a fantastic villain (if you can even call him that), and the actor playing was amazing, especially when you realise it's anthony from dead man's shoes.

Truly great performance imo
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
The original planet of the ape movies had heart, modern apes is just too successful.

Planet Of The Apes Wonderful Day GIF by 20th Century Studios
 
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