Planet Of The Apes 40th Anniversary
Evolution Blu-ray Collection (Fox
Blu-ray w/Beneath/Escape/Conquest & Battle
sequels + hardcover coffee table book)
Book: A- Picture: B Sound: B Extras/Films:
Planet Of The Apes (1968) B+/A-
Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1969/70) B/B
Escape From Planet Of The Apes (1971) B-/B
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972) B/Theatrical Cut: B/Unrated: B+
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973) C+/C+
We have
previous reviewed the entire original theatrical film series in its Legacy Collection DVD set, which itself
has links to our coverage of limited edition CD soundtracks to the sequels and
the earlier 35th Anniversary
DTS DVD Set of the first film:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3543/Planet+Of+The+Apes+–+The+Legacy
Before
receiving this terrific new set, we received the original Apes film on Blu-ray and reviewed it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7786/Planet+Of+The+Apes+(1968/Fox+Blu
Now we
get to look at the sequels, which are too often underrated and are picking up
traction with new viewers as well as older fans. Since I have already discussed them in detail
when reviewing the DVD box set of all five original films in the link above, I
will move onto the technical aspects of the new Blu-rays and the extras, except
for the fact that Conquest Of The Planet
Of The Apes includes the worldwide debut of its longer, darker Unrated cut
that fans have been waiting for too long.
It succeeds Beneath as my
favorite of the sequels and had it been released this way to begin with, Battle would have been a better film
and that could have either inspired another good feature or two, and/or gave
the first two underrated TV series that followed a better chance.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 28 MBPS digital High Definition image on Beneath and 1080p 2.35 X 1 AVC @ 27 MBPS digital High Definition
image on the rest of the sequels are about evenly matched, all having some
grain and Video Black issues, but outdoing their DVD counterparts and all
offering at their best some very sharp, clean and colorful moments that show
how impressive the films looked at their best.
Unlike the first film, the footage is not as choppy, yet there are other
issues in each transfer. Beneath has the bad optical printing
the beginning of footage from the end of the first film and one it gets to the
newly shot footage, goes from great to what looks like second generation
footage. Escape can also be uneven, but like Beneath, shows the most improved performance over their DVD
counterparts. I was expecting Conquest to be a knockout based on the
DVD’s performance, but then I expected the same from the first film and in both
cases, the Blu-ray’s improved performance showed new flaws in Video Black and
detail. I also hoped the Unrated cut
would be a transformed print, but it was no different than the shorter
cut. Still, all five discs have more
than enough great moments that it will give fans and other viewers new respect
for the series and with all show with real anamorphic lenses using the full
35mm film frame for higher fidelity than secondary Super 35mm film (all used
Panavision, except Conquest, which
used the competing Todd-AO 35 format so well) that you can see why they remain
so popular and important.
The DTS
HD Master Audio (MA) 5.1 lossless mix on the first film was a bit better, but
the improvement is much better for the sequels since they were only in lesser,
standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes and though all five have audio (like dialogue)
that show the age of the films, I enjoyed the upgrades more than enough to
recommend over previous audio presentations from DVD and the PCM on the old 12”
LaserDiscs, including the D-BOX function for those who have that system. They still have some issues that could be
fixed a bit. However, these play nicely
with their limits and outperform the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono options and
occasional foreign language Pro Logic and 5.1 Dolby options also included. The sequels also offer isolated music tracks
in DTS HD 5.1 and though they are a nice new extra, they tend to be a little
lower in volume than the audio in the film and are not successors to the
limited edition soundtrack CDs Film Score Monthly issued, as reviewed elsewhere
on this site and linked to in some of these texts.
Other extras
include all the previous goodies from the DVDs and new making of featurettes
(lasting between 15 – 20 minutes) produced in HD for the sequels and stills for
each. Escape also adds a vintage featurette of director Don Taylor
directing the film, Conquest has
that priceless longer and darker version of the film & a vintage featurette
of director J. Lee Thompson directing that film and Battle repeats the extended edition from the DVD that made hardly
any difference to this critic.
You can
get all five Apes films on Blu-ray separately, but you would miss the terrific
hardcover book imbedded in the disc-holding cover is the biggest extra of all
here. Co-written by film scholars Lee
Pfeiffer & Dave Worrall, this lavishly illustrated 200-page book starts
with an introduction to the Science Fiction genre and moves into how the first
film came together, followed by its success, its sequels and its amazing
success. I liked the promo materials,
rare stills and pictures of memorabilia from the films and the authors have a
reputation for being very thorough. They
produce an excellent magazine know as Cinema Retro more than worth your time.
For even
more Apes, try the links to the two
underrated TV series:
1974
Live-Action Series
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4511/Planet+Of+The+Apes:+The+Complete
1975
Animated Series
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4477/Return+To+The+Planet+Of+The+Apes
- Nicholas Sheffo
