MovieChat Forums > Planet of the Apes (1974) Discussion > Blaise attitude by Astronauts

Blaise attitude by Astronauts

posted 8 years ago by ewaf58
18 replies | jump to latest

The opening episode was a bit like Star Trek as they didn't seem to question why the humans spoke English and looked err human.

One of the astronauts quips that they could be on one of a thousand planets. If so surely being scientifically trained they might have shown some surprise that they were on an English speaking planet which they just assumed wasn't Earth just because some fruit looked strange.

I remember watching this series as a young kid back around 1974 and it certainly came across more of a boys own adventure series than a satire on human life. However it was still enjoyable and I'm sure with a sharper script it might not have been cancelled.

[–] Fletcherj119 8 years ago

I don't think script improvement would've saved it. CBS (either idiotically or intentionally - to have it cancelled) put it in the Friday night death slot against Chico and the Man and Sanford and Son.
It's my guess that they avoided the surprise at the Earth similarity thing just to try and keep the viewers attention on the action and not look at it logically.

[–] anthony_0358 8 years ago

100% agree, it had a terrible time slot up against 2 NBC hit sitcoms
I recall being in 9 years old and after a going to school all week it was like a celebration to see the show each Friday night on CBS, as a fan of the Genre its a great childhoood memory

[–] Fletcherj119 8 years ago

Here in New England we saw the fourteen episodes (which "The Liberator" - the second to last one - had been pre-empted on just about every CBS affiliate - Providence RI's must've been one of the few that aired it), then never to be shown again. It was supposed to have been scheduled for Tuesdays, but some Upper Echelon CBS jackass decided to bury it.

[–] JamesA-1102 8 years ago

some Upper Echelon CBS jackass decided to bury it.

AKA Fred Silverman

[–] Fletcherj119 8 years ago

What a jackass.

[–] davidgtaylor-81474 8 years ago

Here in the UK we didnt get the tv series annoyingly. I recently watched the original 5 films back to back to back after which I bought the tv series on dvd and have to say thoroughly enjoyed it. A great companion piece to go alongside the original films.

[–] savagebiscuits 8 years ago

Here in the UK we didnt get the tv series annoyingly.

I remember sitting at home in south London watching the TV series in the mid-seventies. It's also been shown on terrestrial TV since then (I believe on Channel Four sometime in the '90s). It was also shown last year on True Entertainment on Freeview.

Actually, we got the "full" series shown here, when in many parts of the US, they missed an episode (I might need to be corrected, because I'm sure I remember someone saying that in some parts of the country that they got the full series).

[–] Fletcherj119 8 years ago

I read that the TV series was a ratings winner in the UK during its original run, as it could've been here if Silverman hadn't decided to bury it.
I did see every episode. "The Liberator" was pre-empted on almost every CBS station, including the Boston one (which we normally watched it on), but I quickly switched over to Providence, Rhode Island's static-filled Channel 12 and watched it (more or less).

[–] johnnybear (146) 2 years ago

We had the series in 1974. It was screened on Sunday evenings and then it received a repeat run some months later on both LWT and Anglia television on Saturday mornings while ATV put it out on Sunday afternoons about a year later! It returned to television on Sky Channel in 1987 and Channel 4 in the nineties. And ITV 4 had it for a limited time in the mid 2000s!
Shut the door, Mary
JB

[–] richard.fuller1 8 years ago

I've noticed several shows that aired in the sixties (Lost In Space, Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel) and seventies that I recall (Planet of the Apes, Red Hand Gang) vanished from American reruns and seemed to air endlessly in other countries, perhaps even Canada.

No idea why that was.

And yea, I was eight and watched it on Friday nights, but it just ran rather dull.

It would be over thirty years, with the motion picture a few years back, that brought it back to American tv, and one thing I noticed was how 'educational' it seemed to want to be. I thought that was interesting. I never remembered that.

[–] ChrisCuda 8 years ago

I was 7 in 1974 and used to watch the show religiously. My buddies and I loved it and were so bummed when it was cancelled. Great memories.

[–] Fletcherj119 8 years ago

I didn't immediately know it was cancelled. The previews at the end of the fourteenth episode advertised the first one, so I thought it was just a short season for some reason. But the show disappeared after that.

[–] bob-402-252005 8 years ago

Actually, Star Trek came up with a universal translator to account for that on that show.

___________

I'd've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids.

[–] ewaf58 8 years ago

I doubt penny pinching NASA would have given these astronauts one even if one had been invented by 1980 - the date their interstellar probe took off.

[–] JamesA-1102 8 years ago



[–] jefgg 8 years ago

I would be so blown away by talking apes that the fact they spoke English would barely matter.

[–] ewaf58 8 years ago

I suggest one day we will have talking apes. With all the meddling going on I bet someone is working or will work on expanding chimps intellect.

I think Arthur C Clarke had a race called the Simps in one of his novels.

[–] millsey72 (9757) 2 years ago

My biggest fear during the Covid pandemic was giving the apes the power of speech and humans being dumbed down and dominated by an ape takeover. Who knows. It could very well happen with the next pandemic