1. The Planet Of The Apes
Pierre Boulles novel about an astronaut stranded on a far off world ruled by monkeys, The Planet of the Apes, was a great piece of social exploration. But while there may be apes and a victimised human, the original 1968 adaptation is a world away from it. Franklin J. Schaffner liberally cut and replaced elements due to budgetary and technological constraints and created an altogether more dystopian world than the book. But the biggest departure (the majority of the ideology remained the same), was most certainly in the twist. The novel (and in a way Tim Burtons dire remake) had astronaut Ulysse return to Earth only to discover it has fallen to the same fate as the planet hed just escaped from. The film opted for the now iconic reveal the planet was Earth all along, with Taylor (Ulysses American counterpart) finding the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand. Its a well known twist everyone, from Spaceballs to The Simpsons has parodied it and thanks to the sequels and more importantly last years Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it is clear the popular consciousness knows Charlton Heston was on Earth the whole time. But Im still left flabbergasted every time I see it on the cover of my DVD As well as ruining the ending for future generations, it distracts from the rest of the film, which is a cracking (and still relevant) social commentary. The Rise association makes you question if it still qualifies as a twist culturally, but it could easily be viewed as a spin off, rather than the direct prequel it is to those new to the franchise. You wont get DVDs of Star Wars with Luke and Vader sharing a daddy date or Psycho with Norman Bates choosing nightgowns, so why does Planet of the Apes have to suffer? This isnt just an isolated occurrence either; every DVD release, including the box set of all five original films, has had Lady Liberty gracing the cover. Check out three different offending covers below...
That's what we think. Any other spoiler-ful DVD covers? Let us know in the comments below.