NEW Planet Of The Apes Legacy (DVD)

Now 20th Century Fox in an effort to gouge the fans some more have released "The Planet of the Apes" ultimate collection with deluxe Ape head packaging consisting of all the theatrical movies, TV series, animated series and Tim Burtons version. After considering the cost of the new ultimate collection the Evolution set is definitely a great value for any "Planet of the Apes" fan and a great place to start.

They used to have "Planet of the Apes" week on channel 7 out of Detroit and like any other kid I ran home from school everyday to watch them. I absolutely love the "Planet of the Apes" Evolution boxed set. You get all five "Planet of the Apes" movies plus a sixth bonus disc containing all the wonderful special features. It's all here except the superior picture and 5.1 digitally remastered sound found in the new Legacy box set.

The picture and sound are a definite improvement over any of the television broadcasts but they still don't compare to the Legacy set. I don't understand why 20th Century Fox Studios didn't take the time to remaster all the movies at the same time when they had the chance.

20th Century Fox have always had the ability to remaster these films, because the Legacy set is proof of what can be done. How many times can a studio release the same titles over and over and not make any improvements in picture & sound quality? If the ultimate picture and 5.1 sound are what you're after then I suggest holding out and purchasing the legacy set. I hope this review was helpful.

Films Included:

- Planet of the Apes (1968) - NASA astronaut (Charlton Heston) is stranded on a planet where apes dominate humans.

- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) - continues the original film pitting militant apes against mutant humans dwelling in the subterranean ruins of New York City.

- Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) - Cornelius and Zira travel backward in time restoring the dominance of the apes once again.

- Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) - Roddy MCDowall plays Caesar, the son of Cornelius, leading an ape revolution against the humans.

- Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) - Roddy McDowall as Caesar attempts to defeat the gorillas and human mutants to establish the hierarchy introduced in the original film. This was the final film in the series.

{rant on} Why release in LETTERBOX instead of WIDESCREEN ANAMORPHIC? This is a great series, filmed in widescreen. It is unconscionable that anyone would opt for this restrictive format.

The issue is that with the LETTERBOX format, people with 16:9 TVs still see the black borders at the top and bottom of the screen and THEIR picture will be horribly distorted, while people with 4:3 aspect ratio TVs will see a nicely formed perspective correct image.

If this series were released as a Widescreen ANAMORPHIC, both TVs would see the film correctly - since the DVD player will create the borders for you. Those with 4:3 would see the black borders at the top and bottom, and those with 16:9 would see a full screen (if filmed at 1.77:1 or 1.85:1) or a very small black border if filmed at 2.35:1.

Nobody should be releasing movies in Widescreen Letterbox anymore, period. There's no excuse. They must release DVDs in WIDESCREEN ANAMORPHIC!

The world is not made of 4:3 aspect ratio televisions alone anymore! What other reason to buy a widescreen television, hmmmm?

Do not buy this DVD! Widescreen Letterbox.... Paahhhh! {rant off}

Shipped directly from Amazon, and I'm happy with the purchase. I wish that the dvd's were not individually contained in separate cases, other then that it is a very good series and i'm pleased with my purchase.