ANIMATED POTBOILER OF 'RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Harry Corden in RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES Year: 1975 Rates: ****

With RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES, they finally faithfully covered the titular planet created by source novel author Pierre Boulle, whose evolved apes had everything modern-day humans enjoy (that couldn't be afforded on the big screen): from airplanes to full-fledged military weapons/transports to cities that don't look out of the stone age... 

The animation is of the 1970'x cost-cutting low-budget Hanna-Barbara-type, but is also coolly stylized and visually intriguing, including establishing still-shots of the sun or lightning or various character expressions, seeming more like frequently moving matte-paintings than an animated cartoon catered to Saturday morning children... 

Edwin Mills in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Which RETURN hardly is, actually, with a lot of either frantic violence or threats of such... and the first episode has three astronauts... one woman and two men, a black (voiced by BATTLE actor Austin Stoker) and a white... in a more realistic space-cruiser being an actual NASA capsule, eventually making a sudden dead-drop RETURN to this initially barren planet, as happened during the first thirty-minutes of the Charlton Heston classic with his own two astronaut cohorts...

One of the twists here is that... learned in a giant Roman-like courtroom full of apes ranging from the usual military gorillas to scientific chimps to intellectual orangutans, humans (other than the three about to land from space) have acquired the new ability of speaking, which the villainous General Urko, voiced by the then-future Fred Flintstone replacement Harry Corden, wants stopped...

Claudette Nevins and Tom Williams in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Providing plenty of tension and race-against-time action/adventure in the pilot-episode FLAMES OF DOOM, referring to the enigmatic Forbidden Zone where the best scenes occur during the rudimentary stranded search...

Eventually leading to an old Robinson Caruso type survivor alongside that sexy cave-girl Nova... and he's former astronaut Brent, who was played by Heston-wannabe James Franciscus in the horrendous second feature BENEATH, which this cartoon — while hardly taken seriously by diehard APES fans — is far superior... plus there are adapted novelizations (written by William Arrow) providing the best page-turning prose since Pierre Boulle's original.

Tom Williams and Austin Stoker in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Henry Corden in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Henry Corden in Return to the Planet of the Apes with Richard Blackburn

Tom Williams Return to the Planet of the Apes

Henry Corden in Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

Austin Stoker with Claudette Nevins and Tom Williams in Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

Phillipa Harris in Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

Henry Corden in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Claudette Nevins as a cartoon you can crush on from Return to the Planet of the Apes

Tom Williams in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Claudette Nevins in Return to the Planet of the Apes

Austin Stoker and Tom Williams in Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

Harry Corden in Return to the Planet of the Apes

From Return to the Planet of the Apes

Claudette Nevins in Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker

Opening of Return to the Planet of the Apes with Austin Stoker