This past week AMC showed a marathon of my favorite science fiction film series.
No, not Star Wars, Star Trek or The Matrix… I’m talking about The Planet of the Apes.
The Apes films are the most sophisticated stories told as sci-fi that I’ve ever seen. Admittedly, the second film is mostly pointless and corny and there is a noticeable drop in quality in the last film, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, but the others are just classics.
Developed from the story written by Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes introduced audiences to extraordinarily innovative time travel concepts as well as using sci-fi action situations to tell socially conscious stories that reflect the developing modern world of the 1960′s and the relationship between man and animal.
Also… the incidental music is amazing.
I cannot think of a better way to spend an afternoon stuck indoors safe from the sweltering summer heat than watching this series. If you’ve never watched them all, this is the time.
If you haven’t seen them in a while… it’s just as good (if not better) than you remember.
