Planet of the Apes: Escape from Tomorrow

In retrospect, Friday September 13, 1974 was an amazing night of television. That was when Planet of the Apes and Kolchak: The Nightstalker premiered as original weekly TV series. Both were probably better than viewers had a right to expect, yet neither survived to a second season. Strangely, Disney has yet to provide Planet of the Apes a streaming home, even though franchise fans appreciate the full ape makeup and the return of Roddy McDowell, as a new character. Of course, the social dynamics (primates over men) remain the same, much to two astronauts’ surprise, in “Escape from Tomorrow,” the first episode of Planet of the Apes, which premiered exactly fifty years ago.

Three astronauts entered a vortex, hurling them into the year 3085, if not later. Their autopilot returns them to Earth, but the neighborhood changed during their absence. Unfortunately, only two survive the landing, Col. Alan Virdon and Maj. Peter Burke, but Farrow, a kind but simple-minded human, drags them to safety before the apes arrive. Naturally, they dismiss his warnings regarding the apes until they see them for themselves.

Evidently, other astronauts from the past found their way to the apes’ future world some years prior, causing great panic and commotion. Consequently, Gen. Urko wants to kill them as soon as possible, whereas Councilor Zaius wants to interrogate and study them first. However, his new deputy, a clever chimpanzee named Galen, is so fascinated by the intelligent humans, he inadvertently befriends them.

Back in 1974, nobody had VCRs to revisit movies at home, so the writers could take liberties with the franchise continuity. It is debatable whether it fits cohesively with the original five films, but the look of the sets, costumes, and makeup are certainly consistent. Zauis is the only holdover character, with Booth Colman replacing Maurice Evans. Galen is a new character for McDowell, who previously played Cornelius and his son Caesar, but his personality and function as a human ally are quite similar.

Shrewdly, the nicely paced pilot (written by Art Wallace and directed by Don Weis) does not waste a lot of time with backstory and it immediately introduces the apes, who are what we’re all here for. The three main characters’ escape from Urko is a relatively self-contained story, but it sets up the continuing plot elements, like Virdon’s quixotic ambition to reconstruct their flight recording, in hopes of somehow returning to his family in the past. It also features a great guest-starring turn from Royal Dano (a staple of 1970s episodic TV), who poignantly expresses Farrow’s gentle nature.

Ron Harper (who passed away this year) is a strong, reassuring presence as Virdon. He has good camaraderie-chemistry with James Naughton playing Burke, even though the bachelor Major is annoyingly prone to sulking and complaining. Of course, playing an intellectually curious chimp became almost second nature for McDowell. Yet, some of the best monkey business was that of Mark Lenard, snarling through each episode as the fierce Urko. It was a radical change of pace from his other great genre TV role, Spock’s father, Sarek. Frankly, it is a crime geekdom did not embrace him more while he was alive.

In fact, a lot of people missed the boat with the series in general. It certainly compares favorably to later films in the original quintet and it is vastly superior to the Tim Burton remake. What were people thinking in 1974? They could have had weekly visits to the Ape’s future Earth, but they were watching Sanford & Son instead. Highly recommended for even casual franchise fans, “Escape from Tomorrow” premiered 50 years ago today (and its available on DVD).