September

Going ape for Apes!

Author

Chance Shirley
September 06, 2024

Planet of the Apes Telefilms on YouTube

Shot from opening of Planet of the Apes TV show of three apes on horseback in silhouette

Given my age (old!), I have a soft spot for TV shows of the 1970s. Those shows generally aren’t high art, but I think that’s part of their charm. It’s nice to watch episodic TV sometimes that is actually episodic and not a small piece of a sprawling epic story.

Given my interests (nerdy!), I also have a soft spot for the Planet of the Apes franchise. One of my white whales is a DVD boxed set of the two 1970s Planet of the Apes TV shows — the live-action one and the animated one.

I think the animated one is still available on disc, but the live-action one is out-of-print. The Apes stuff is with Disney now, and Disney doesn’t seem terribly interested in old stuff they have acquired. Some of it pops up on Disney Plus or Hulu, but a lot of it is still unavailable.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find four Planet of the Apes TV movies on YouTube. These telefilms were created by editing together two episodes of the live-action Apes show. I have vague memories of watching these on an indie UHF channel in the 1980s and always hoped they’d show up as bonus features on an Apes DVD set at some point.

I still want those DVDs, but having good-quality (and apparently not bootleg) versions of these movies on YouTube is wonderful. I hope they stick around. Or maybe they’ll find a permanent home on Hulu.

Back to the Planet of the Apes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS0PK4jkK3g

Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id8Y4o6bdvo&t=56s

Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL4e5ZLAmAw

Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J70MJVfO6fY&t=10s

There is also a fifth Apes telefilm, Farewell to the Planet of the Apes, but I couldn’t find it on YouTube. Which brings up another point — discoverability on so many of these streaming services is terrible. It’s one reason I write this newsletter — I dig around for sci-fi gems so you don’t have to.

Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes showed up on a “free-with-ads” list of videos available via YouTube’s in house “YouTube Movies” account. But I had to manually search for the other three Apes telefilms.

Also on YouTube…

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttPi99BJpIg

The Fifth Element (1997) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGokfRfLPXo

Galaxy of Terror (1981) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbAcV9bRf1I — YouTube has this listed as the “broadcast edit.” Interesting!

Master and Commander (2003) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Hf0FgDFGY — Not sci-fi, but if you haven’t seen this excellent adventure film, check it out while it’s on YouTube.

Pitch Black (2000) As much as I dig Pitch Black, I haven’t watched either sequel (The Chronicles of Riddick and Riddick). All three are currently available on YouTube.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpgiEg4Vqsw

On Tubi…

Apollo 11 (2019) — https://tubitv.com/movies/100015804/apollo-11 — This one is a documentary. So not sci-fi, just sci.

Continental Split (2024) — https://tubitv.com/movies/100024068/continental-split This Tubi “original” was apparently produced by the Asylum, the production/distributor known for its mockbusters.

Dredd (2012) — https://tubitv.com/movies/672442/dredd — I feel like Karl Urban is a perennially underrated actor.

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (TV) (1976) — https://tubitv.com/series/300002279/electra-woman-and-dyna-girl — Live-action Saturday morning kids’ fare from legendary producers Sid and Marty Kroft.

The Flintstones (1994) — https://tubitv.com/movies/698963/the-flintstones — The Flintstones counts as sci-fi, right? Or at least fantasy. Tubi also has the sequel, Viva Rock Vegas.

Goosebumps (2015) — https://tubitv.com/movies/100026697/goosebumps — Every story ever told can be broken down into three parts. The beginning. The middle. And the twist!

Outpost 11 (2013) - https://tubitv.com/movies/403283/outpost-11 — Haven’t seen this indie flick, but looks promising.

Planet Dune (2021) — https://tubitv.com/movies/100026540/planet-dune — Mockbuster alert!

Slither (2006) — https://tubitv.com/movies/602506/slither — Before James Gunn was making huge superhero movies, he directed this relatively modest alien invasion horror flick. It’s fun and funny and one of my favorite sci-fi flicks of the 21st century.

Slither movie poster

Snowpiercer (2014) — https://tubitv.com/movies/589397/snowpiercer — This science fiction movie wants to remind you that all war is class war.

Village of the Damned (1995) — https://tubitv.com/movies/698798/village-of-the-damned — I’m always surprised this remake isn’t considered a bigger deal, as it is directed by John Carpenter and features Superman and Luke Skywalker (Christopher Reeve and Mark Hamill).

On Freevee…

It seems like Amazon is offering most (heck, maybe all) of their “original” Prime Video movies and shows on Freevee. Which is awesome. One of their “originals” is the new Batman: Caped Crusader animated show. (The show is produced by Warner Bros., and I dunno why it isn’t on Warner’s own Max streaming service, but I’m glad it’s free to watch on Freevee.) Stylistically, it owes a lot to the classic Batman animated show from the 1990s. Story-wise, Caped Crusader has something of a Batman-meets-L.A. Confidential vibe. It isn’t as good as the ’90s show (I don’t know if any Batman thing before or since ever hit those highs), but it is pretty dang good.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV) (2022) — https://www.amazon.com/Official-Trailer/dp/B09QHB3RTX/

The Tick (TV) (2018) — https://www.amazon.com/Season-1B-Trailer/dp/B0875R67NP/ — I love the 1990s animated Tick TV show and the original live-action show, so I guess I should check out this Amazon Tick show at some point.

There’s a Universal Monsters channel on Freevee now. I guess every service is going to eventually get a Universal Monsters channel, and that sounds like a good plan to me.

On Pluto TV…

Looks like a bunch of Star Trek movies are still available on Pluto. Including the underrated Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) — https://pluto.tv/us/search/details/movies/5f8f520e397eee001aba40ff