Return to the Planet of the Apes is an animated series, by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in association with 20th Century Fox Television (both 20th Century Fox Television and most of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises library are now under same ownership of The Walt Disney Company), based upon Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Boulle's novel had previously inspired five films and a TV series, beginning with the 1968 film Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston. Unlike the film, its sequels, and the 1974 live action TV series, which involved a primitive ape civilization, Return to the Planet of the Apes depicted a technologically advanced society, complete with automobiles, film, and television; as such it more closely resembled both Boulle's original novel and early concepts for the first Apes movie which were changed due to budgetary limitations in the late 1960s. - Source
The premature end of the Planet of the Apes TV series in December 1974 - half-way through its run - was obviously a disappointment for those involved, but the simultaneous explosion in Apes merchandise merely spurred them on to find a more economic alternative. The Marvel Comics' series of black-and-white magazines provided the answer: exciting animated adventures produced for a fraction of the cost. The director and associate producer in overall control of the design of the cartoon series - entitled Return to the Planet of the Apes - was comic book artist Doug Wildey, the man primarily responsible for the ever-popular Jonny Quest series. The cartoon would be drawn by DePatie-Freleng, best known for the Pink Panther cartoon, in association with 20th Century Fox, and began airing in September 1975 on NBC.
Director Doug Wildey ran up against NBC's "Emulative Clause," which stated that something from an animated series needed to be eliminated if a six year old child could physically emulate what he sees on the cartoon. This meant he could not equip apes with machine guns or knives or clubs or pistols or hand grenades, and that while the apes could wear rifles, they could not use them. Finally, Wildey asked if it would be okay to use Howitzers. The network agreed that they could not think of a way a six year old could operate a Howitzer so Wildey loaded the series with the weapon. - From IMDB
From Den of Geek
The release of Battle for the Planet of the Apes in 1973 made it patently clear the five-installment film series had not only run out of ideas, it had also run out of money. It was a chintzy, dull little movie with a trite happy ending made in a desperate effort to woo back the family audiences who had fled the savagery of the previous year’s Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. With Battle, it was obvious the series was now over once and for all.
The suits at 20th Century Fox, however, had other ideas. There was still too much money to be made off POTA merchandise. So the next year they coaxed Roddy MacDowell back into chimp makeup and cobbled together a weekly TV series about, yes, two astronauts who find themselves on a strange planet ruled by apes and...um, you can guess where it goes from there. The series was somehow even less exciting than the last movie, amplified further when everyone began noticing the same storyline was repeated every single goddamn week: the astronauts escape from the apes, are chased by the apes, and are recaptured by the apes. Tune in next week to find out what happens! But the series was accompanied by a flood of merchandise, from model kits to masks to trash cans, and a helluva lot more people bought the merchandise than watched the show, and that’s what mattered.
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The Silly, Slapdash Charm of ‘Return to the Planet of the Apes’
From Film School Rejects
Despite the title, the protagonists of Return to the Planet of the Apes are new arrivals. They’re a fresh batch of astronaut heroes, arriving on the planet in the first episode without any real expectations. The apes they encounter have a staggeringly advanced civilization, complete with lasers and televisions and cars. Some faces are familiar, like Zira and Dr. Zaius. Others are new, like the malevolent ape General Urko, who wants to destroy everyone who doesn’t look like he does. The tension between the benevolent and scientific warmth of Zaius and the fascistic warmongering of Urko is one of the central themes of the series.
As for its style, Return to the Planet of the Apes is something of an odd duck. It was produced on the cheap by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, the studio founded by producer David H. DePatie and legendary animator Fritz Freleng, to whom we owe Porky Pig. The animation isn’t terrible so much as it barely exists. Nothing moves unless it absolutely has to. Making up for the lack of kinetic energy, however, is the art. The production was led by cartoonist and animator Doug Wildey, the brilliant creator of the original Johnny Quest series. One can recognize his handiwork in the dark, detailed backgrounds and the peculiar architecture that dominates the landscape of the planet. The haunting, almost violent opening credits sequence also evokes the style of his earlier triumph.
Trivia:
The late Henry Corden, who did the voiceover in the opening credits and voiced General Urko, was the second voice of Fred Flintstone. He took over when the original actor, Alan Red, died in 1977. - From IMDB
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