After the dawn and rise, civilisation attempts to strike back. We take a look at the eagerly-awaited third instalment of the successful update of the classic series as we go to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES…
We’ve always had a complex relationship with apes. Not us at STARBURST - let us be absolutely clear about that - but mankind in general. Whenever you visit a zoo, there’s always that chance you’ll turn the corner from those funny meerkats and suddenly find yourself staring full-square into the sad, questioning eyes of a giant orangutan. Not exactly a happy monkey, is he? And at that moment, you might just feel a shiver of realisation that those eyes seem to be holding you in some way accused…
Thus, the Planet of the Apes phenomenon tapped a rich vein of paranoia when it conquered the collective imagination of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Inspired by the classic 1963 French-language novel Monkey Planet by Pierre Boulle, the five-film series came to represent the archetypal mainstream sci-fiflick before Star Wars demonstrated that not all Hollywood fantasy or disaster movies needed to star Charlton Heston or Roddy McDowall (or both). And yet, in an era before ‘franchise’ was even a thing, the apes did it all - movies, TV spin-offs, comics, toys - despite being, at its heart, one of the least uplifting properties in entertainment history. Often a total downer (has there ever been a more depressing ending to a film than Escape from the Planet of the Apes?), the movies explored the ambiguous orbits of man, woman and ape in a variety of ways. Sci-fiparable, prison drama, domestic satire, and fugitive thriller were all fair game but the series was most at home in the genre ready-made for such flinty-eyed opponents: war movie.
This story is from the July 2017 edition of Starburst Magazine.
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This story is from the July 2017 edition of Starburst Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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Memoirs Of The Dead
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telephemera
ALAN BOON DELVES INTO THE TELEVISION ARCHIVES TO UNEARTH ANOTHER LONG-FORGOTTEN CURIO...
