Go Ape!

What does Battlestar Galactica have to do with Planet of the Apes and what does Planet of the Apes have to do with The Incredible Hulk?

If you’ve not yet seen the Battlestar Galactica mid-season cliffhanger “Revelations”, you’re missing out. While not the most emotionally moving episode nor the most action packed, it does reveal a lot to the show’s characters as the clandestine final four of five cylons are brought out to the open. The results range from shocking to devastating to the Galactica crew. More importantly, its final minutes hit hard with an unexpected final revelation.

Spoilers after the jump…

Not only does the Galactica fleet learn the location of Earth due to the final four of five and not only does the fleet make it to Earth but we actually get a glimpse of the homeworld in the concluding minutes. To be honest, there was only a couple of ways this could’ve played out: Galactica is taking place in pre-historic times or it’s taking place at some point in the future. Anything else just wouldn’t work. Right now it looks like a “Planet of the Apes” twist has been added as the Galactica and Cylon main characters head down to check out Earth only to be greeted by bombed out rubble and radiation. Zing!

The characters were pretty depressed and quiet in reaction to all this but I wouldn’t have minded someone pounding their fist into the ground crying, “You maniacs! You blew it up!”

Thinking of Planet of the Apes reminds me of Power Records from my childhood. Power Records were great… the 1970s was not the best time for animated superheroes… Super Friends, BatMan and maybe the Fantastic Four with HERBIE. Power Records filled the gap until the 1980s revitalized the genre. Power Records came in both 33RPM records generally standalone and 45RPM records bundled with an original or adapted comic. I had a decent collection of records with representatives of the classics: Six Million Dollar Man, Space: 1999, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, some superheroes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. I knew the story of Beneath the Planet of the Apes long before I saw the movie. I was a bit disappointed that the movie ended with a fade to white and not with the Earth pulling and Alderaan. The back cover of the Apes series had an ape pointing at the reader like Uncle Sam with the text “Power Books & Records wants you to… Go Ape!” Cute.

I also had The Incredible Hulk at Bay which was okay but actually a little light on the Hulk action. The only thing the Hulk punches is a wall and the main villains end up knocking each other out! A little weak but I guess it needed to send some kind of positive message to kids. The Hulk at Bay story featured The Abomination as one of the villains. Unlike the movie version, the classic comic Abomination was distinctly reptilian, though from the previews it seems like the movie version has its own disturbing features.

Unlike Iron Man, I have mixed feelings from the previews of The Incredible Hulk movie. On one hand, I’m glad that it recalls themes from the TV series and features adversaries from the comic book. On the other hand, the Hulk if fundamentally challenging in the need to balance the tormented Banner with the enraged Hulk. It’s also difficult to make a realistic Hulk: even if the CGI were a real model of what a Hulk would look like, I think the human mind would still reject it at some level from not quite being able to relate such a creature to the real world. In any case there’s little chance I’ll make it to a theater so I’ll have to wait for it to arrive on disc from Netflix.

3 thoughts on “Go Ape!”

  1. this new Incredible Hulk is a lot more fun than the first one with Eric Bana; plus Ed Norton does his specialty — the “split personality” role…

  2. Hey do you see James Best Blaster from Forbbiden Planet Sold at a live auction on ebay for 40 GRAND yesterday!!!
    Here’s the link http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/881-Original-hero-ray-gun-holster-Forbidden-Planet_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ013QQitemZ230267025166QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

    I wish I woulda had the money to buy it! I wonder how much Robby would go for? A million? I definitely pay that if I had it. Until then i guess I’ll have to just wish…

  3. $40,000? That’s pretty crazy even for a classic bit of movie history. Maybe this is more reason to start playing the lottery? In the meantime, I’ve seen lots of sci-fi gun replicas at toy and comic shows including Logan’s Run, Lost in Space and Battlestar Galactica (1978) but I don’t recall seeing a Forbidden Planet blaster recently.

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