We're sure that fans of the live-action
Planet of the Apes television program - based on the 5 films and including
Ape film star Roddy McDowall in the episodes - have long known about the
Complete TV Series DVD set that was released way back in late 2001. For those of you who missed it though, it may interest you to know that our industry sources say that Fox Home Entertainment is planning to bring these 14 episodes back to DVD...in a very unusual and innovative way! But they're not stopping there...it will ALSO contain the 1975 animated
Return to the Planet of the Apes show that NBC aired for a bit on Saturday mornings!
Shows (live action and animated) that spin off from theatrical films are nothing new, and neither are big-screen films that spring out of popular television series. But it's rare to see DVDs which bring both of them together in one place (
Star Trek did it recently in a huge Amazon.com exclusive set, although without the animated
Star Trek series that's not on DVD yet).
We've learned that Fox is planning an
April 4th release of
Planet of the Apes - The Ultimate DVD Collection. This is going to be a 14-DVD package which contains all 5 original movies, all 14 episodes of the TV show, and even the 2001 remake of the original film. The first films and the remake movie will each have a bonus disc. We're told that the discs for the six films (remake included), the four discs for the live-action series, and the two bonus DVDs (one being "Behind the
Planet of the Apes") are all apparently the exact same discs as the ones which have been released previously. Fox is primarily targeting this super set as a tie-in to the Peter Jackson
King Kong remake that is expected to hit DVD around late March/early April.
But the very cool catch is that this set will contain 2 DVDs - discs 11 and 12 - which contains all thirteen episodes of the
Return to the Planet of the Apes cartoon series: Flames of Doom, Escape From Ape City, Lagoon of Peril, Tunnel of Fear, The Unearthly Prophecy, Screaming Wings, Trail to the Unknown, Attack from the Clouds, Mission of Mercy, Invasion of the Underdwellers, Battle of the Titans, Terror on Ice Mountain and River of Flames. Disc 11 will contain 7 episodes, and disc 12 will contain the other 6.
How much? $179.98 SRP, we're informed. We expect that it shouldn't be too hard to find this set discounted to under $135 for consumers who know how to shop around. That means that the set goes for ten-dollars-per-disc average...not bad at all. Of course, if you're like me and you already have all the other existing
Planet of the Apes DVDs, then you are probably wondering if those two animated series discs will be available separately. To be honest, neither we nor our sources know. But we're motivated to find out, so we'll let you know when we do. Stay tuned!
