Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
With the
second decade of Saturday mornings came some significant changes.
Ad for an RCA color television.
Televisions were now in the
majority of American households and people were watching; supplanting radios as
the main source of entertainment. TV also replaced newspapers as the main
source of news; with events like the first televised presidential
debate between John
F. Kennedy and Richard
M. Nixon, the civil
rights movement, Kennedy’s
assassination, the Vietnam
War, and man’s
first landing on the moon. Westerns and sitcoms dominated the airwaves, but
science-fiction was gradually carving out a niche for itself. Although the DuMont Network
didn’t survive the 1950s, ABC, CBS and NBC
were still going strong and were soon to be joined by PBS. While destruction of recorded programs
still happened, it began decreasing in frequency as a greater thought was given
to archiving as the costs of materials lessened. Animation, once regarded as a
serious risk, became the preferred format for kids’ shows when it was realized
that a cartoon episode could be produced much cheaper than a live-action one (a
circumstance that would repeatedly flip-flop over the years). Networks decided
to stop hemming and hawing over the concept and finally began broadcasting in
full-color, allowing these cartoons to be seen as their creators intended. And,
most importantly to us, Saturday mornings began to be taken more seriously.
Comic book ad for CBS' new action-oriented Saturday morning line-up.
Network executives realized that on weekend mornings when parents tended
to want to sleep in, kids would be at home without little distractions like
school and homework—meaning there was an entire demographic they could cater to
and get advertising revenue for. Fred
Silverman was among the first; establishing a long-standing relationship
with Hanna-Barbera and
giving Filmation Associates
their start, allowing both studios to practically dominate the network
schedules for years. By the middle of the decade, the Saturday schedules were
mostly animated. By the end of the decade, those schedules were full of
original cartoons; edging out the prime-time reruns that were used to fill out
the time. Saturday mornings were drawing big ratings, and as a result, were
turning out to be very profitable for the networks.
Ad for ABC's 1977 preview special.
To promote their new line-ups, the networks began airing Saturday
Morning Preview Specials. These were annual specials aired typically the
Friday night before the debut of the new seasons. Hosted by cast members from
one or more of the networks’ more popular shows with special guests, they
highlighted the offerings that would be hitting the airwaves that Saturday. Sometimes
they were done in a variety show format, other times they were given a
storyline that would lead the special’s stars to encounter each new show.
Hanna-Barbera becomes a dominating force on Saturday mornings.
Of course, this decade marked the
births of some long-running franchises. Hanna-Barbera created their flagship
program, The
Flintstones, which became a prime-time success and spawned a
spin-off Saturday morning franchise in the decades to follow. They also
introduced the ever-enduring Scooby-Doofranchise, which continues to this day with new shows, new direct-to-video
movies, and the occasional theatrical release. Filmation would begin their Archie
franchise based on the comic
book characters, as well as introduce the first African American animated
character on Saturday mornings in The
Hardy Boys. Warner Bros.
packaged their theatrical shorts into The
Bugs Bunny Show, which would find itself running for the next 40
years under various names.
Peggy Charren in front of her group's logo.
Unfortunately, with more exposure came a greater chance of criticism.
Silverman, inspired by the success of ABC’s Batmanseries,
loaded up the CBS schedule with action-adventure programs while ABC and NBC
were showing mostly comedies. When CBS pulled ahead in the ratings because of
them, ABC and NBC switched gears and churned out their own action offerings.
Original heroes, licensed heroes, pulp heroes, comedic heroes—the only black
sheep in the bunch was American
Bandstand. All of this action drew the ire of some people like Peggy Charren, Lillian
Ambrosino, Evelyn Kaye Sarson and Judy Chalfen who founded the child advocacy
group Action
for Children’s Television. Their mission was to improve the quality of
children’s television, encourage diversity, and to discourage over-commercialization
(such as toy-based cartoons). They targeted the action-heavy Saturday morning
programs, leading the networks to cancel all of those shows by 1969 and replace
them with more light-hearted comedic fare.
The United States of
America is a relatively young country when compared to the rest of the world.
In that time, there’s only been a few dozen people who have held the title of
President. Some were good. Some were terrible. Regardless of your own views of
any present or past President, there is one that many largely agree was
terrible—even the people who created him! That President is…Super President!
Hero of the people.
Super President was DePatie-Freleng
Enterprises’ entry into the booming action/adventure genre that launched
what we recognize as Saturday morning television. The show was broken up into
two different segments. Super President focused
on the President of “a modern nation”, James Norcross (Paul Frees), who also
happened to be the superhero Super President. A cosmic storm granted him super
strength and the ability to change the molecular composition of his body into
anything; including steel, granite, ozone and water. Each change was preceded
by the electrons rotating around the nucleus of his atom logo. He could also
fly via a jet-powered belt he wore as part of his costume. Otherwise, he
traveled in his flying Omnicar, which was kept in his lair accessible through a
secret entrance in his office. Super President often went against mad
scientists, mutated creatures, and terrorists.
The Presidential Mansion.
Super President never explicitly stated what country Norcross
was President of, however it overtly indicated that he was the President of the
United States. The original design for Super President featured a red, white
and blue motif with gold trim and a black hood until it was changed to the red
and white design used on the show. The President’s Mansion—as it was
called—resembled The White House with
some additions and a new location by the coast of Capitol City. Norcross’
closest ally was Jerry Sales, his special assistant and the only person privy
to his dual identity (surprisingly, considering “President” is right there in
his superhero name). Sales also served as the show’s “damsel in distress”,
frequently being captured and used as leverage against Norcross. The show’s
setting was also never specified. While it featured elements indicative of the
1960s, it also exhibited a lot of futuristic technology in both the Mansion and
in the villains’ possession.
Richard Vance and Spy Shadow.
The other
feature of the show was Spy Shadow.
Secret agent Richard Vance (Ted Cassidy) worked for Interspy investigating a
series of strange crimes, rescuing important kidnapped victims, or foiling the
world-conquering plots of diabolical super villains typically employed by the
evil organization SPIDER (Society of Plunder, International Disorder, Espionage
and Racketeering) led by The Cobra. However, unlike most spies, he mastered an
Eastern mind technique that allowed him to transform his shadow into the separate
entity of Spy Shadow (also Cassidy, using a deeper tone). Vance usually
summoned his shadowy ally to get into places he couldn’t, or to carry out the
mission whenever Vance was taken out of the action by the villain. However, Spy
Shadow couldn’t exist in an area devoid of light. While the Super President segment was designed to
closely resemble the look of superhero comics, Spy Shadow had a different, more cartoonish look to it.
James Norcross and Jerry Sales.
Super President debuted on NBC
on September 16, 1967. The series was the brainchild of DePatie-Freleng
management. Unlike other shows they’ve pitched to networks, NBC was immediately
interested and bought the concept sight-unseen. It was also the first of
DePatie-Freleng’s series to utilize script writers--having previously scripted
their shows during the storyboarding process--after being pressured by their
union. Those writers were Tony
Benedict, Don Christensen,
Alan Dinehart, John W. Dunn, Edgar Furth, Jack Miller, Lee Mishkin, David Scott and Ken Sobol. Each episode
featured a Spy Shadow segment
sandwiched between two Super President stories.
Art Leonardi served as the
character designer and Doug
Goodwin composed the music.
Spy Shadow to the rescue!
To say the show was poorly received would be an understatement. It came
on during the administration of Lyndon
B. Johnson when the country had grown extremely tired of the seemingly
never-ending Vietnam
War. While nostalgia for the administration of John
F. Kennedy may have pushed the series into quick production, memories of his
assassination gave the overall concept a feeling of poor taste. Further, it
came at a time when there was growing
concern over the level of violence depicted in children’s television, which
would completely change the Saturday morning landscape in the coming years. DePatie-Freleng
was also less-than-pleased with the resulting series, calling it “the worst
thing we’ve ever made.” It probably didn’t help matters that the show was
scheduled right after reruns of DePatie-Freleng’s superior The Super 6, further shining a light on the poor writing and
animation the series employed.
Super President character model.
The ratings were abysmal and the series was cancelled after its initial
15 episodes were produced. It remained on NBC’s schedule through 1968 until it
was ultimately replaced by reruns of Top Cat. The only
merchandise known to have existed was a Halloween
costume; however a giant-size comic book was in the works. The comic would
have featured references to the candidates in the upcoming
election and was scrapped after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
After that, the show has largely fallen into the wastelands of history;
recalled only by retrospective websites and videos, books,
and those who may have seen it as kids.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The Billion Dollar Bomber
/ The Brain Drain Game / The Condor’s Eye” (9/16/67) - Alien B’Nark holds five
cities for a billion dollars ransom each. / Vance is sent to rescue a kidnapped
physicist in the Swiss Alps. / The Condor plots to kidnap and hypnotize world
leaders to help him plunder the world.
“Day of the Locusts / The Kilowatt Killer Caper / Monster of the Atoll”
(9/23/67) – A deranged scientist uses locusts on his nation’s food supply so
that the people will support a revolution. / A scientist uses electricity to
either capture or destroy an atomic submarine. / A witch doctor uses a monster
to keep his influence over his tribe.
“The Great Vegetable Disintegrator / Evila the Terrible / The U.F.O.
Mystery” (9/30/67) – Professor DeCordo takes Jerry hostage for ransom to
complete his vegetable disintegrator. / Evilia employs a hypnosis ray to
conquer the world. / Professor DeCordo returns and takes Jerry hostage in the
Omnicar, which the army views as a UFO.
“King of the Sea / The Mystery Rustler Caper / Man of Steel” (10/7/67)
– Zegura plans to become king of the sea by flooding the East Coast. / Vance’s
vacation is interrupted to investigate the mysterious disappearance of herds of
cattle. / A metal menace invades a secret weapon base and captures Jerry,
prompting Super President to act.
“The Case of the Destroyer Satellite / The Egyptian Rat-Trap Flap /
The Electronic Spy” (10/14/67) – A rogue satellite takes out the country’s
telecommunications system. / Vance learns El Kavadar has a map that will lead
him to an immense treasure. / Dr. Zak plans to use his little robot to steal
weapon plans from the Government Test Center.
“The Treachery of Jerry Sales / Desert Dilemma / The Earth Robber”
(10/21/67) – Count Batulla puts Jerry under his control to lure Super President
to his death. / Interrupting Cobra’s slave trade leads to Vance being left tied
in the burning desert. / Super President investigates the sabotage of the
nation’s oil fields.
“No Time Passes / The Case of the Treacherous Tugboat / The Chameleon”
(10/28/67) – Captain Tempo uses his ability to freeze time to rob Capitol City.
/ Tugboat Family assembles her own fleet of ships, courtesy of the navy. / The
Chameleon lures Norcross into a trap and disguises himself as Super President
to get into the Central Nuclear Control HQ.
“Red Ray Raider / Close Shave in Burma / A Million Years of Menace”
(11/4/67) – Super President traces some missing vehicles to a flying saucer. /
Vance sets out to retrieve a kidnapped prince. / An asteroid eclipse revives
Starga from suspended animation and he resumes his mission to make Earth
inhabitable for his people.
“The Sound of Doom / The Aurora Borealis Business / The Cosmic
Gladiators” (11/11/67) – Train robberies are occurring with a sound-based
weapon. / Madam Shark hijacks Vance and strands him in the Arctic during its
night cycle of six months. / Super President ends up on a floating space island
where its ruler demands he join the Cosmic Gladiators in destroying the
universe.
“The Menace of the Moles / The Big Bounty / The Interplanetary Menace”
(11/18/67) – Super President investigates when a company buys up factories that
have been electronically paralyzed. / Vance ends up trapped in Cobra’s
building, which Cobra sends crashing to the ground. / A demonic fireball
threatens to cook the entire planet.
“Tangled Terrors / The Guns of Titicaca / Birds of Terror” (11/25/67)
– Dr. Greenly Thumb seeks vengeance for Earth’s neglected plant life using a
series of scientific concoctions. / Vance is sent to liberate the slaves from
Baron Von Willietner’s copper mine. / Giant birds help themselves to the
nation’s food supply.
“Return of the Vikings / Dead-End Express / Electronic Giant”
(12/2/67) – Tempora uses his resurrection machine to bring back all the great
villains of the past. / Vance is tasked with guarding cargo on a train dubbed
the “dead end express”. / Dr. Three escapes from prison and turns himself into
a giant to get revenge on Super President.
“Spears from Space / The Contraband Caper / Toys of Death” (12/9/67) –
Earth is used as a target by two beings to determine whose weapon is better. /
A wounded agent leads Vance to Cobra’s contraband ship. / General Happytime
uses robot toys to destroy the government.
“The Gravity Destroyer / Bandit Gambit / The President and the Pirate”
(12/16/67) – Garrar plans to clear off the Earth using anti-gravity rain. /
Vance heads to a small island to depose its tyrant ruler. / Super President
sets out to find a pirate galleon that’s been terrorizing the seas.
“Time Crimes / The Great Trainload of Robbers / The Ice Invader” (12/23/67)
– A time machine sends Super President back to ancient Crete and the Labyrinth
of Minos. / A sinister producer plans to lure Vance into his movie production
in order to destroy him. / Experiments turn a penguin into a creature capable
of changing the climate of the planet.
For the history of the Fantastic Four, check out the post here.
The second Fantastic Fourcartoon was
probably the most hated. The reason being? One word: H.E.R.B.I.E.
The Fantastic Four, featuring H.E.R.B.I.E.
Before
Marvel
became an entertainment powerhouse at the box office, they were constantly
struggling to bring their characters out of the comics and onto the screen. They
often had to rely on other studios, and thus made deals licensing out their
characters for production. In 1977, Universal Studios
optioned an assortment of characters for various live-action productions. Most
famously in that deal was the Hulk
for The Incredible Hulktelevision series starring Bill
Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Universal also optioned the Human Torch.
JUST the Human Torch.
H.E.R.B.I.E. helping work the Fantasticar.
When
NBC’s Fred Silverman
wanted to commission a new Fantastic Four series, Universal would not allow the
use of the Torch (ironically, NBC would come to share owners with Universal
decades later). A popular myth that had spread over the years was he was left
out in fear kids would try to emulate him and set themselves on fire
(forgetting that Hanna-Barbera
had successfully produced
a showwith the Torch back in 1967 with nary a
reported fatality). In the comics up to this point, the InhumansCrystal
and Medusa
and hero for hire Luke
Cage
served as alternate members of the team, as others would as well down the line.
But, instead of using an established Marvel character, they decided to use an
all-new one: H.E.R.B.I.E. (Frank Welker).
The strange Inhumans.
H.E.R.B.I.E.,
or Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-Type, Integrated Electronics, was a robot
created by Mr. Fantastic (Mike Road) to aid in his experiments and their
exploratory missions. Stan
Lee
pitched the idea of a cute robot sidekick to DePatie-Freleng
Enterprises, with comic artist Dave Cockrum
commissioned to design it. However, Cockrum ended up disliking the character
immensely and was replaced by Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby. Lee would also serve as a writer for the
show, while Kirby provided storyboards.
The menace of Magneto!
Like
the previous Fantastic Four series,
it adapted some of the plots from actual comic stories, albeit heavily altered especially
for the inclusion of H.E.R.B.I.E. For instance, “Medusa and the Inhumans”
adapted the first encounter of the Inhumans and the Fantastic Four from Fantastic Four vol. 1#45
(1965), but they were led by Medusa instead of her husband, Black Bolt,
and had typical villain plans for world conquest. Medusa later returned as a
member of the Frightful
Four
in the same-titled episode, however as a willing member and not under the
influence of amnesia as depicted in Fantastic Four vol. 1#36
(1965). “Calamity on Campus” was based on Fantastic Four vol. 1#35
(1965) but relocated the story’s setting to St. Louis, Missouri instead of the
fictional New York State town of Hegeman and omitted the alchemist villain Diablo.
Along with the standard Fantastic Four foes, like armored arch-nemesis Dr. Doom
(John Stephenson),
the android Dragon
Man,
the subterranean Mole Man (Ted Cassidy), and the shape-changing alien
Impossible Man (Welker), there were also appearances by some original
characters and even the X-Men’s
Magneto
(although, he wasn’t called a mutant during his appearance and was depicted as
a typical crook, voiced by Stephenson).
Ad for the series.
Fantastic Four, also
known as The New Fantastic Four, debuted
on NBC on September 9, 1978. The series actually began development at
Hanna-Barbera when Marvel decided they wanted to shift the show over to
DePatie-Freleng. As a trade-off, Hanna-Barbera got the Godzilla
cartoon DePatie-Freleng was working on. Along with Lee, the series was written
by Roy
Thomas, Bob
Johnson, Christy
Marx
and Bob
Stitzel. In an unusual move, the episode would begin immediately
after the intro with narration by Dick Tufeld, and then cut to the title card
shortly after instead of at the traditional start of the episode following the
intro. The series’ theme was composed by Dean
Elliott and Eric Rogers,
with the remainder of the music done by Elliott.
Even Dr. Doom is a completionist when it comes to his action figure collection.
The
result was that nobody was particularly happy with the show—especially
Silverman. Lee even sent a letter to Hanna-Barbera’s Margaret Loesch
detailing his desire for the next attempt at the Fantastic Four to be more
action-oriented. Despite DePatie-Freleng’s attempts to salvage the license with
a proposed Thing spin-off, Silverman was ready to move on entirely. He took
back the rights to the Thing and gave them back to Hanna-Barbera to combine
with an idea they had to make The Thing. DePatie-Freleng turned
their attentions to another Marvel hero, Spider-Woman, before eventually being taken over by Marvel’s parent company, Cadence Industries, to
become Marvel’s first studio, Marvel Productions.
H.E.R.B.I.E.'s comics debut.
At
13 episodes, this was the shortest Fantastic Four cartoon to date. H.E.R.B.I.E.,
while not a popular character, soon found his way into the comics in Fantastic Four vol. 1#209
(1979) by Marv
Wolfman, John
Byrne, Joe Sinnott,
Glynis
Wein
and Tom
Orzechowski. The story’s explanation for his creation
was that Mr. Fantastic was inspired to build H.E.R.B.I.E. after the character
was included in an in-universe television show as a replacement for the Torch
who was unavailable to give permission to use his likeness. H.E.R.B.I.E. has
since appeared in a variety of comics, programs, movies and merchandise.
The cover to Fantastic Four #236, celebrating 20 years of the comic.
For
the comic’s 20th anniversary celebration in Fantastic
Four vol. 1#236 (1981), Marvel
decided to include
finished and reworked storyboards from the episode “The Challenge of Dr.
Doom” as a clunky 14-page back-up story without Kirby’s knowledge or
permission. At this time, Kirby’s relationship with Marvel was strained—along
with the comic industry in general—as he was trying to reclaim his original
artwork from the company, and had refused to provide a new story for the
issue. While his name was used to promote the story on the cover, a caricature
of Kirby standing next to Lee was removed
from the cover drawn by Byrne at Kirby’s behest.
One of the VHS release covers.
Milton
Bradley made a board
game inspired by the show, which had players rescuing H.E.R.B.I.E. from Dr.
Doom. Prism
Entertainment Corp. released six episodes to VHS as part of their Marvel
Comics Video Library across several volumes. A two-video
set featuring “Meet Doctor Doom” and “The Olympics of Space” was also
released. Morningstar Entertainment
transferred several of the videos in the Marvel Library series to DVD for
release in Canada, which included ‘Meet Doctor Doom” and “The Impossible Man”. The
complete
series was released to DVD in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Clear Vision Ltd. In 2012, scenes
from the series were used and reworked as comical shorts for Disney XD’s Marvel
Mash-Upas part of their Marvel
Universe on Disney XD programming block.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“A
Monster Among Us” (9/9/78) – The Fantastic Four take on an alien monster that
crash-landed on Earth.
“The
Menace of Magneto” (9/16/78) – Magneto wins leadership of the team from Mr.
Fantastic and turns them into criminals.
“The
Phantom of Film City” (9/23/78) – The Fantastic Four’s movie is plagued by
Skrulls.
“Medusa
and the Inhumans” (9/30/78) – The Fantastic Four investigate reports of strange
beings in the Alps and end up prisoners of the Inhumans.
“The
Diamond of Doom” (10/7/78) – The sinister Queen Sebel enlists the Fantastic
Four’s aid in retrieving the Great White Stone stolen from her.
“The
Mole Man” (10/14/78) – The Fantastic Four have to stop Mole Man’s theft of
power plants around the world.
“The
Olympics of Space” (10/21/78) – Thing is abducted by warring aliens and made to
compete in their contests.
“The
Fantastic Four Meet Doctor Doom” (10/28/78) – Doctor Doom forces the Fantastic
Four to go back in time to steal the treasure of Blackbeard.
“The
Frightful Four” (11/4/78) – Wizard creates his own team, the Frightful Four, to
combat the Fantastic Four.
“Calamity
on the Campus” (11/11/78) – Gregson Gilbert’s robotic Dragon Man ends up stolen
by his assistant for his own sinister purposes.
“The
Impossible Man” (11/18/78) – A shapeshifting alien comes to Earth and
inadvertently befriends a criminal who makes use of his abilities.
“The
Final Victory of Doctor Doom” (11/25/78) – Doctor Doom blackmails the United
States into turning the country over to him.
“Blastaar,
the Living Bomb Burst” (12/2/78) – The discovery of the Negative Zone leads to
Mr. Fantastic accidentally unleashing Blastaar on the planet.
Scientists have
always said man was descended from the apes. What they never figured on was
that they would one day rule us.
The novel that began it all.
In 1963, French author Pierre Boulle released a
novel entitled La Planète des Singes after being
inspired by the humanlike expressions of gorillas at a zoo he visited. In the
story, French journalist Ulysse Merou journeyed to another planet where
animal-like humans were hunted and enslaved by an advanced society of apes. Humans
had once ruled that world until they grew complacent and allowed the apes to
overthrow them and assume control. The novel was a commentary on the failings
of human nature and the overreliance on technology; stressing the point that
human intelligence needed to be actively maintained. The novel became a hit and
was translated into English. In the United Kingdom, it was retitled as Monkey Planet, while in the United
States it was called Planet of the Apes.
Planet of the Apes concept art.
Boulle’s literary agent, Alain Bernheim, introduced the
novel to American film producer Arthur
P. Jacobs. Jacobs had just begun a new company, APJAC
Productions, and was looking for new properties to adapt. Jacobs took
interest in the novel and acquired the rights immediately. He would spend the
next three years trying to convince filmmakers and studios to take on the
project, as the estimated $10 million price tag to make it scared them off.
Even if you've never seen the film, you've likely seen this scene in one of many parodies.
Jacobs hired Rod Serling to write the script.
Serling introduced Cold War
themes to the story and created the twist ending of the planet actually being a
future Earth after humans destroyed themselves with nuclear warfare. Securing Charlton Heston to star in the
film landed them Franklin J.
Schaffner to direct. After a screen test with Heston, 20th Century Fox was convinced
the film could succeed and took on the picture. However, Fox insisted on
changes to bring the budget down to $5.8 million. Michael Wilson, who had adapted
Boulle’s novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai, was hired to rewrite Serling’s script,
making the ape society more primitive to save on special effects. Serling’s
ending, however, was maintained.
The film featured Heston as 20th
Century American astronaut George Taylor
who wound up on a planet where primitive humans were dominated by intelligent
apes; in particular by the sinister orangutan science minister, Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Of course, not
all apes were against humanity as they had sympathizers in chimpanzees Zira (Kim Hunter)
and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall). The special ape
make-up effects were produced by John
Chambers. The film was released on February 8, 1968 and became a critical
and commercial success. Two months after its release, a sequel called Beneath the Planet of the Apesentered production, which focused on another astronaut, Brent (played by James Franciscus and whose full
name wasn’t revealed until the movie novelization), following Taylor to the
planet. The sequel was released in May of 1970.
Beneath's movie poster.
Despite being poorly reviewed, Beneath earned almost as much as the
original; leading Fox to request additional sequels. Three more movies
followed: Escape From, Conquest of, and Battle for, each made on a
significantly decreasing budget. The series took the characters of Zira and
Cornelius into the past where they had a child, Caesar (also
McDowell), who would rise up to lead the ape rebellion against oppressive
humans and try to build an integrated society of peace.
The main characters of Apes: Galen, Burke and Virdon.
When television broadcasts of the
films earned high ratings, Jacobs planned to produce an hour long live-action
series based on the franchise in 1971, but shelved the project when Fox
requested another film after Conquest.
However, Jacobs died in 1973, leaving Fox executive Stan Hough to take over
production of the series entitled Planet of the Apes. The series focused on astronauts Alan Virdon (Ron Harper) and Peter Burke (James Naughton) being shunted to
the future roughly 900 years before the events of the first movie. There, they
befriended chimpanzee Galen
(McDowell) and proceeded to aid both humans and apes while avoiding the
authorities led by General Urko (Mark Lenard). The series was
picked up by CBS in 1974, but because they
decided to gear it towards children and due to its repetitive nature, the show
earned poor ratings and was cancelled after 14 episodes.
Lights! Camera! Ape-tion!
NBC
decided to try and create their own adaptation of the franchise, but as a
cartoon on Saturday mornings. Contracting DePatie-Freleng
Enterprises to produce the series, they hired Jonny Questco-creator Doug
Wildey to oversee its development. Wildey served as associate producer,
storyboard director and supervising director while drawing inspiration from
only the first two films to craft the world of the show. That world, without
the limitations of live-action production, became considerably more advanced
akin to what the original book had described. However, Wildey did have to
contend with NBC’s “Emulative Clause,” which stated that the series had to be
devoid of imitable behavior that a kid watching could duplicate and possibly
hurt themselves doing. This restricted the types of weaponry featured on the
show, which Wildey loaded with Howitzers after the
network decided they couldn’t imagine a six-year-old operating one.
Bill, Judy and Jeff meeting the future.
Return
to the Planet of the Apes centered on astronauts Bill Hudson (Tom Williams
in early episodes, Richard Blackburn towards the end), Jeff Allen (Austin
Stoker, who played Mr. MacDonald in Battle),
and Judy Franklin (Claudette Nevins) as they ended up shunted forward in time from
1976 to 3979 and stranded in the ape-ruled future. Returning characters from
the franchise included General Urko (Henry Corden) as a sinister gorilla who
wanted to send all humans off-planet; orangutan scientific leader Dr. Zaius (Blackburn);
the primitive human female, Nova (Nevins); chimpanzee human sympathizers Zira
(Philippa Harris) and Cornelius (Corden); and Brent from the
second movie, given the first name “Ronald.”
The book that could change ape history forever.
The series set itself apart from the live-action one by having ongoing subplots
while each episode’s main plot was relatively self-contained. For half the
series, Judy was a prisoner of the Underdwellers; a subterranean race of humans
that were based on the mutants from the second movie. Urko was relieved of
power by Zaius, although he still spent the remainder of the series going after
the humans. An old airplane was discovered that the astronauts had to keep out
of ape hands lest they learn about air combat. The astronauts also engaged on a
quest to find an ancient children’s book that would prove the theory of ape archaeologists
that man preceded the ape.
The astronauts meet Brent and Nova.
Return to the Planet of the Apes debuted
on NBC on September 6, 1975 with music by Dean Elliott.
The series, written by Larry Spiegel, John Barrett, Jack Kaplan, Bruce Shelly
and John Strong,
was praised for its intelligent scripts; which were said to accurately capture
the tone of the film series. The highly detailed background artwork also received
critical recognition. Unfortunately, Depatie-Freleng’s cost-cutting measures
left viewers underwhelmed with the series; in particular, the constant reusing
of footage and the stiff animation techniques on characters. The often-wooden performance
of the voice actors also worked against the series. Poor ratings led the series
to be cancelled after a single season. NBC briefly considered allowing a second
season of three episodes to wrap up any lingering plot points, but ultimately
the idea was scrapped.
Despite all my rage I am still just a human in a cage.
Throughout the 1980s, Fox tried to resurrect the franchise several times
without much success. Amongst the many film attempts was another animated
series. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who had served
as producers on the live-action Apes series,
had just formed their Ruby-Spears
Productions and were interested in a sort of revival. Comic book legend Jack Kirby worked on concept
sketches for the series proposal, but it never materialized. Finally, Fox
wanted a new film for July of 2001 and was willing to offer considerable
creative control in exchange for the firm release date. The prospect attracted
director Tim Burton, but the deadline
and $100 million budget meant the script written by William Broyles, Jr. had to be
extensively rewritten and all aspects of production rushed. The film, a remake
of Planet of the Apes, was successful upon its release, but Burton was
disinterested in working on a sequel and it failed to generate enough interest
for Fox to go forward with plans for a new franchise.
In 2006, Rick Jaffa and
Amanda Silver took
inspiration from stories of apes raised as humans and came up with a new
concept focusing on the story of Caesar. After a
slow development period, Rise of the Planet of the Apeswas released in 2011 directed by Rupert Wyatt. The film was a
major success, and Fox immediately commissioned a sequel. In 2014, Dawn of
the Planet of the Apesdirected
by Matt Reeves was released
and received equal acclaim. Confident in Dawn
before it was even released, Fox greenlit a third movie in the franchise
titled War of the Planet of the Apes,
released in 2017. 7 years later, another sequel was released, the first since Disney’s
takeover of Fox, called Kingdom of the Planet of the
Apes.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Flames of Doom” (9/6/75) – Three astronauts are shunted forward in
time and find themselves on the run from a human-like ape civilization.
“Escape from Ape City” (9/13/75) – Urko launches an attack on the
humans, almost killing Jeff in the process.
“The Unearthly Prophecy” (9/20/75) – Escaping Urko leads Bill and Jeff
into the realm of the Underdwellers and the discovery that they have Judy.
“Tunnel of Fear” (9/27/75) – Bill and Jeff enlist Zira and Cornelius’
aid in finding a safe place for the humans, leading to a chase along an
underground river.
“Lagoon of Peril” (10/4/75) – Bill, Jeff and Nova race to retrieve
equipment from the capsule and destroy it before Urko finds it and learns about
their origins.
“Screaming Wings” (10/11/75) – The astronauts hope to steal an old
plane Urko found before he can mass produce it for his war on humans.
“Trail to the Unknown” (10/18/75) – The astronauts lead the humans to
New Valley, where they encounter 22nd century astronaut Ron Brent.
“Attack from the Clouds” (10/25/75) – Judy and Bill try to hide the
plane from Urko while a giant bird monster attacks Ape City and the human
settlement.
“Mission of Mercy” (11/1/75) – Bill and Jeff set out to find more fuel
for the plane while Judy tries to find a cure for Nova’s illness in Ape City.
“Invasion of the Underdwellers” (11/8/75) – Urko and his men attempt
to frame the Underdwellers for thefts around Ape City.
“Battle of the Titans” (11/15/75) – A disgraced Urko launches an
attack on the humans while Bill and Cornelius look for a book to save the
humans from Ape persecution.
“Terror on Ice Mountain” (11/22/75) – Bill and Cornelius try to hide
the book but end up in the land of the peaceful Mountain Apes.
“River of Flames” (11/29/75) – Bill and Jeff agree to save the
Underdwellers from a volcanic eruption in exchange for Judy’s freedom.
