"Actor: Robert Gunner"

• Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £6.36   |  Saving you £11.63 (182.86%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The original Planet of the Apes is that rarity of the genre: a science fiction film that has dated not one bit: its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of rational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissension, centred in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic finger prints of The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all of his own, helped along by Jerry Goldsmith's terrifyingly avant-garde score. And time has not dulled the monumental emotional imp act of the film's climactic payoff shot. --Miles Bethany, Amazon.com

• Planet Of The Apes (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist... Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for Outstanding Make-up Achievement and nominated for two Oscars (1968 Best Costume Design and Best Original Score) Planet of the Apes is grand entertainment from its visually arresting beginning to the chilli

• Planet of the Apes -- 35th Anniversary Special Edition (2 discs) | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £4.89   |  Saving you £18.10 (370.14%)   |  RRP £22.99

  A genuine genre classic whose impact remains undimmed either by time, increasingly dire sequels, or Tim Burton's lacklustre 2001 "reimagining", the original Planet of the Apes richly deserves this 35th Anniversary special edition. Here you'll find a glorious anamorphic presentation of Franklin J Schaffner's painterly CinemaScope framing, accompanied by a new DTS 5.1 soundtrack that makes the movie seem even more vibrant and immediate than ever before. On disc one the film is accompanied by two audio commentaries: one from composer Jerry Goldsmith, and another with Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Natalie Trundy and make-up artist John Chambers. These are reasonably interesting, though with a few too many gaps. Better is Eric Greene's exhaustive text commentary. Better still are the features on the second disc. Disc two contains the exhaustive two-hour Behind the Planet of the Apes documentary (also to be found in the six-disc box set) as well as a host of other behind-the-scenes nuggets for die-hard fans: dailies and outtakes, make-up tests and Roddy McDowall's home movies. There's some overlap between a 1967 NATO presentation of the movie hosted by Charlton Heston and other featurettes from 1968 and 1972. Sequel directors Don Taylor and J Lee Thompson are seen in action, and there are trailers, film reviews from 1968 and picture galleries. --Mark Walker

• Planet Of The Apes - Book & DVD | DVD | (01/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall star in this legendary science fiction masterpiece. Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist. Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for Outstanding Make-up Achievement and nominated for two Oscars (1968 Best Costume Design and Best Original Score) Planet of th