Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes made its television debut in 1974 after the enormous success of the 1968 film starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. In the original film, based on an adaptation of Pierre Boulle’s novel, La Planète des Singes, a group of astronauts crash-land on a planet in 3978 A.D. where apes are the dominant species and humans are their slaves. Near the end of the film, astronaut Taylor (played by Charlton Heston) discovers that the planet is really the planet Earth of the future.

Roddy McDowall starred in both the film and the 14 episode television version, as Cornelius, a benevolent intellectual ape who helps the humans, who are being chased by Urko, the apes’ ferocious captain. In the television series, the astronauts land on the Earth in 3085 A.D., in California, which has been devastated by a nuclear war, instead of landing in New York as in the original film.

Much of the franchise’s overwhelming success is credited to John Chambers’ incredible make-up work, inspired by studying the apes at the Los Angeles Zoo. He won an Honorary Outstanding Achievement in Make-up Academy Award for his work. Chambers was also the creator of Mr Spock’s famous pointy ears in the television series Star Trek.