Textures on costumes and backgrounds are superb, and don’t suffer at all when they are shot indoors. Quality of landscapes and facial details is superb and like the Planet of the Apes original, you see more from these conversions than you might possibly see on the DVD versions. I think they suffer a little because of the original film quality, with more artefacts and speckles appearing throughout, but again this is not bothersome. The immediate sequels, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and Escape from the Planet of the Apes are not quite so good. However, it all adds to the feel of the movie. However, I am surprised that given the conversion to a HD format, there was no digital touch up on the affected frames. The quality of the transfer suffers only slightly from being sourced from film, with the odd artefact showing up, but is still very good. If your TV supports it, you can expand this out without too many issues. The aspect ratio is 2.35:1 and is framed in a letterbox format. Without going too far into detail, the 1080p conversion is superb – about as good as you could get with the source material that is supplied. Without getting too technical, the first film is one of the best conversions to hi definition that I have seen for a long while. Talking about the movies, I thought it might be interesting to compare them both visually and by sound quality. In fact, to put it in context, there are so many features on all of the discs that you could easily spend twice as long viewing them as the movies themselves. All of which are very informative, and which are available using either the bonus view feature or as individual features that can be called up off of the menu. There are also commentaries from Jerry Goldsmith, some of the actors and one of the makeup artists, in depth features on the background to the movies and a featurette called The Science of the Planet of the Apes. As well as the usual features, such as commentaries and behind the scenes information, there are some specially made additions that fill in the background – such as an ANSA infomercial. Looking at the extras there is loads to plough through. There is more significant hiss throughout the last three movies, and the placing of objects in the sound field sometimes alters, but all are still as good as a decent DVD mix. Subjectively speaking, this might have as much to do with the original subject matter as it does the source tapes. The first sequel is of a similar quality, with the remaining three only dropping a little behind the first two. The difference between lossless sound and standard DVD Dolby Digital is very pronounced on my Pioneer surround system, with a richer and broader width to the sound field. The big star in the sound department is the first move, and offers a very clear and precise 5.1 channel sound field. It would have worked much better if they could have included a live actor, using similar makeup to the originals. My only gripe is the introduction by the animated ape, an orangutan called Lawgiver. It’s a good story line, and the discs help with plenty of features to keep you occupied. First off there is a 40th anniversary edition of Planet of The Apes, the theatrical versions of Escape from The Planet of the Apes, Beneath The Planet of the Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (including a longer unrated version) and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes.Ĭhronologically these films tell the whole story, slipping into the future, then jumping back to fill in the background story and explain just how humans and apes swapped roles. There are five movies in the series, and this box set includes them all. It was therefore with great relish that I found the review discs for this set sitting on my doorstep. I didn’t actually see the movies at the cinema, (contrary to rumours – I am not that old), and actually saw it on television many years after the TV series. I am and have been a big fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise for many years, ever since I saw the original television series when I was a young lad.
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