Planet of the Apes - a franchise that has been going on for so long it seems to pre-date the dawn of evolution itself. A lot of fans were first introduced to the series sometime during the 1960s/70s cycle, and chances are it will have not only scared the living hell out of them, but left them with a lifelong love of the story. As the films rolled on, the main component became the spectre of the H-bomb, the instrument that many believed would sound humanity's death knell back in those days - there was a bomb-worshipping cult of mutated humans under New York City and Charlton Heston, the ostensible hero, set off a thermonuclear device with his dying breath to blow the Earth to smithereens. Sure, some of the goddamned dirty apes were scary too, but they were as much victims as antagonists - hallucinations caused by the mutant telepaths made them believe their gorilla comrades were being tortured. Not dissimilar from the Terminator franchise that followed in the 80s and 90s, the continuing storyline began to evolve into a circular loop in time that allowed the apes to create their own past. Some love the science-fiction and time travel components, some see the enduring appeal in the subtle commentary on an uprising slave class. Of course, when the original story was 're-imagined' by Tim Burton and his team at the turn of the millennium, it was no longer focused on our earthbound future and became something else entirely. Add the reboot of the last few years into the mix - and its return to terra firma) and all of a sudden we've got a story that looks at the impending morality of genetic exploitation. Such is the wonder of pulp and science fiction, that it can mean so many different things to so many different people, all while adapting to fit the preoccupations of the day. The evolution of a franchise that's both beloved (by the fan culture) and derided (by cinematic sophisticates), and where the rise of simian intelligence was once denoted by the twitch of a latex rubber chimp nose, but has since expanded to CGI images of ape insurrection across the Golden Gate Bridge, still has much to teach us.
Writer/editor/ghost-writer transfixed by crime, cinema and the serrated edges of popular culture. Those similarly afflicted are invited to make contact.
