Take your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape.

A true classic of the sciffi genre and a fantastic movie to boot Planet of the Apes stars Charlton Heston as Taylor, one of a trio of astronauts who crash land on an unspecified planet after an experiment into travelling faster than the speed of light goes wrong (their 18 month trip is equivalent to 2000 years of Earth time), thinking they are on an uninhabited planet the trio are shocked to discover a human looking tribe and then forced to run for their lives after a party of apes on a “slave hunt” appears, the first appearance of the apes is a truly thrilling moment and with Heston’s capture the movie really picks up a gear; Shot in the throat and unable to speak Taylor is amazed by the ape society he sees, a pretty advanced society too, very class based (one of the major themes of the movie is the class structure of the apes, along with religious fervour condoning violence – still very very relevant today), the Orangutangs are the leaders, the chimps are the clever ones whilst the gorillas are the soldiers.

The monkey make up by John Chambers is fantastic and still holds up incredibly well today, hidden under all the prosthetics are such well known names as Roddy McDowell (as Cornelius), Kim Hunter (as Zira) and Maurice Evans (as Dr Zaius).

Full of stand out, memorable moments Planet of the Apes is still very able to get the nerves jangling (no matter how many times you see it) , from the first appearance of the apes, actually some 20 minutes into the movie, to Heston’s first words to the apes to the infamous final shot of Heston realising what planet he is actually on. And with the extras package included this is a release not to be missed. 

EXTRAS: In a word, stunning, disc one features three separate commentaries (2 audio and 1 text), the first features composer Jerry Goldsmith, the second Roddy McDowell, Natalie Trudy and John Chambers, thirdly there is a fascinating text commentary from author and Planet of the Apes specialist Eric Greene, throwing up illuminating facts throughout the movie. DISC TWO is split into four different segments, 1; EXPLORING THE PLANET OF THE APES this features Behind the Planet of the Apes, an awesome 2 hour documentary made in 1998 and hosted by Roddy McDowell exploring the whole Apes franchise (from the five movies, to the TV Series, to the animated cartoon, to the books and so on), next up is a short promo for the above followed by a fascinating 10 minute screen test glimpse of Edward G. Robinson as Dr Zauis, next up is 20 minutes of Roddy McDowell home movie footage from the set and then another 20 minutes of rushes and outtakes whilst Planet of the Apes NATO presentation is a 10 minute feature from 1967 shown to members of NATO; Next is a short five minute segment originally seen on USTV back in  1968; Then we have a look behind the scenes of Planet of the Apes, from 1972 this 13 minute feature looks at all five movies followed by behind the scenes footage of both Escape From the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

In the publicity section you can see original trailers, read original film reviews from the sixties and view a montage of theatrical posters.

In the Galleries section there are galleries devoted to costumes and various behind the scenes and in front of camera stuff.

In Ape Phenomenon you can explore the numerous Apes merchandise spin offs which have appeared over the years and there is also a hidden Easter Egg on disc two which allows you to see an original TV ad for Planet of the Apes action figures.