Seen as part of the ongoing 1970’s journey of the science fiction story from the four sequel films, the POTA TV series is clearly a Cul-de-sac branching away from the established road. The first episode both negates a connection to the previous stories and tries to link it to the original film with an earlier astronaut landing spoken of by the leaders of Ape society. Mark makes a strong argument for how the show could take place in one of the two timelines set up in the films already but I am skeptical. We go through each episode pointing out the usually hackneyed plots and overused clichés that litter the stories being told. Often the scripts could easily have been written as installments of a 1960’s western show and simply repurposed for the world of the apes. But the few times the show leans on its science fiction premise are more interesting even if it inevitably leads to very little. 

If you’ve never watched this series, I hope our spoiler filled podcast won’t put you off at least a partial exploration of our favorite episodes. We can’t claim it’s our most loved part of the franchise but it has its points of interest and entertainment.

If you have any comments about the Planet of the Apes TV series or our plans to talk about the sequel films [email protected] is the address to send them. And if you are interested in the projects Mark speaks about near the end of the show there are links below. Thanks for listening!