Planet of the Apes "Escape from Tomorrow" #1.1 (1974) (TV)

An average way to begin an average series, 1 March 2008

"Escape from Tomorrow" is the first episode in the Planet of the Apes television series that aired in 1974. As you might expect from a pilot episode, its main function is the quickly and effectively set-up the series and the episodes that follow. The basic plot of this episode - Alan Virdon (Ron Harper) and Pete Burke (James Naughton) are two astronauts who crash land on Earth some 1,000 years in the future. Centuries previous, man effectively destroyed his civilization allowing intelligent, talking apes to assume control. The pair of astronauts is imprisoned by apes for being a threat to their way of life and their system of beliefs. With the unintentional assistance of a sympathetic chimpanzee named Galen (Roddy McDowell), the humans escape and begin running for their lives.

Other than the initial series set-up and establishing who the characters are, there's really not much going on in this episode. Royal Dano is on hand in a small but thankless supporting role to provide Virdon and Burke some assistance and, more importantly, to provide exposition. Harper and Naughton actually play everything a little too constrained. I think if I discovered that I was marooned on a planet of talking apes, I would be a little more shocked and animated about the whole thing. Their reaction is a bit too laid-back. Fans of the movies will find several familiar scenes in this episode. There's the spaceship crash, the discovery by the humans of the talking apes, the meeting of the elders, the inevitable escape, and Roddy McDowell. Not a lot of creativity here, huh? If you were to compress the movie into about 30 minutes, you've basically got the pilot episode.

5/10