In 1975, a 9-yr-old (me) and an 11-yr-old (my bro) lost a lot of interest in this show, mainly because of the total lack of animation, literally bordering on the old Marvel comics cartoons that used artwork from the comic books.
Same deal here. I think bro stuck it out a bit longer than I did, but I lost complete and total interest in this show.
I remember the first episode and our three astronauts struggling across the hot desert, and I remember the Underdwellers tiled floors rippling up (only four tiles moved) from an active volcano.
Now in rewatching it, I can abide the animation and watch an old show done by Doug Wildey (who also did Jonny Quest and apparently did Godzilla, a fave of mine).
First thing about the show is the continuity. No show carried over plots and subplots as this one did, and they really don't manage this today.
The plots are actually quite good too. And I'm sure it was groundbreakingly different to have a woman who was a crack airplane pilot (to go up in a spaceship, she has to know more than coffee, tea or milk).
A minus is definitely old Jeff being a token. Yes, it was the era of the token, but surely someone could look at all the caucasians and just think of adding another one. An Asian? Tho the movie didn't explain it, the comic book adaptation from Marvel comics was the black astronaut there was put in the museum because the apes had never seen a black man before. Why not? It was an African-American who befriended Ceasar in movies #4 and #5.
Undeniably, voicework worked against the show. Judy, Cornelius and Zira's voices are awful, utterly insulting with their attempts to be pacifists, especially Cornelius and Zira.
A truly bizarre moment was Judy disappearing to re-appear with the Under-dwellers (I suppose one could conclude the Under-dwellers caused the earthquake to retrieve her), and then she re-appeared about three episodes later for good.
The sub-plot about her becoming USA was very good.
And unquestionably, Henry Corden was an odd choice for Urko. While Urko did get some good rants (almost Richard Nixon paranoid, with 'why is everyone against me? It's a conspiracy!'), using Fred Flintstone's voice for Urko was the same as the voice of Dr. Zinn on Jonny Quest being used for the '68 animated Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four cartoon.
The show obviously followed the movies too much, with emphasis on the under-dwellers and fake fires (those fires got a little crazy there for a while popping in and out like that. Who would believe they were real after awhile?) and really should have done what it clearly wanted to do and take the astronauts to Europe, South America and elsewhere, to explore the cultures there, ape or human.
But they couldn't' shift off of Nova and Zaius (two characters who quite honestly could have been removed from the cartoon).
The pluses were in Urko not knowing about Jeff and Judy and Cornelius and Zira not knowing about Judy as well, and likewise not knowing who took the WWII airplane. There was definite continuity working in the show here, even to the point of the 13th episode bringing back the flying monster to tangle with the King Kong in the mountains, pretty much bringing several plots together.
With the new upcoming movie, check out the cartoon.
Same deal here. I think bro stuck it out a bit longer than I did, but I lost complete and total interest in this show.
I remember the first episode and our three astronauts struggling across the hot desert, and I remember the Underdwellers tiled floors rippling up (only four tiles moved) from an active volcano.
Now in rewatching it, I can abide the animation and watch an old show done by Doug Wildey (who also did Jonny Quest and apparently did Godzilla, a fave of mine).
First thing about the show is the continuity. No show carried over plots and subplots as this one did, and they really don't manage this today.
The plots are actually quite good too. And I'm sure it was groundbreakingly different to have a woman who was a crack airplane pilot (to go up in a spaceship, she has to know more than coffee, tea or milk).
A minus is definitely old Jeff being a token. Yes, it was the era of the token, but surely someone could look at all the caucasians and just think of adding another one. An Asian? Tho the movie didn't explain it, the comic book adaptation from Marvel comics was the black astronaut there was put in the museum because the apes had never seen a black man before. Why not? It was an African-American who befriended Ceasar in movies #4 and #5.
Undeniably, voicework worked against the show. Judy, Cornelius and Zira's voices are awful, utterly insulting with their attempts to be pacifists, especially Cornelius and Zira.
A truly bizarre moment was Judy disappearing to re-appear with the Under-dwellers (I suppose one could conclude the Under-dwellers caused the earthquake to retrieve her), and then she re-appeared about three episodes later for good.
The sub-plot about her becoming USA was very good.
And unquestionably, Henry Corden was an odd choice for Urko. While Urko did get some good rants (almost Richard Nixon paranoid, with 'why is everyone against me? It's a conspiracy!'), using Fred Flintstone's voice for Urko was the same as the voice of Dr. Zinn on Jonny Quest being used for the '68 animated Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four cartoon.
The show obviously followed the movies too much, with emphasis on the under-dwellers and fake fires (those fires got a little crazy there for a while popping in and out like that. Who would believe they were real after awhile?) and really should have done what it clearly wanted to do and take the astronauts to Europe, South America and elsewhere, to explore the cultures there, ape or human.
But they couldn't' shift off of Nova and Zaius (two characters who quite honestly could have been removed from the cartoon).
The pluses were in Urko not knowing about Jeff and Judy and Cornelius and Zira not knowing about Judy as well, and likewise not knowing who took the WWII airplane. There was definite continuity working in the show here, even to the point of the 13th episode bringing back the flying monster to tangle with the King Kong in the mountains, pretty much bringing several plots together.
With the new upcoming movie, check out the cartoon.