View Obscura

The Planet of the Apes franchise was immensely popular in the early 1970s, though many modern science fiction fans are unaware of its cultural impact. The original Planet of the Apes film spawned four sequels, two TV series, and a merchandising bonanza of dolls, playsets, and books. While Star Wars is often considered the first film to generate such an extensive toy craze, Planet of the Apes had produced a similar mania years earlier.

 As you can see I'm still spending a good chunk of my free time sifting through the hundreds of old movie photos looking for interesting images to share with everyone. Today I stumbled upon a set of rare photos from the set of the 1968 science fiction classic Planet of the Apes. I actually have quite a few of these so I decided to try and focus on a set that feature the lovely actress Linda Harrison who played Nova. Check Out: Movie Poster and Lobby Cards From The Black Lagoon, The Master Of Suspense and Galaxies Far Away Return To The Planet Of The Apes - Flames Of Doom (1975) Going To Dinner And A Movie In April 1968 Zira In The Twilight Zone ... Or Is It Rod Serling On The Planet of the Apes? Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970)(20th Century Fox) Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)(20th Century Fox) Geek-O-Rama On The Planet of the Apes Retro Toy Rodeo: Mego's Planet of the Apes Fortress Playset (1975) Retro Saturday Morning: Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975)(NB...

Tonight while I was going through some of my files I stumbled upon a group of images of some lobby card and poster designs I created for my online store Atomic Robot Comics (previously View Obscura Comics). I used to sell  prints of these in sizes from 8 x 10 inches to 24 x 36 inches. They actually sold quite well but when my family moved I couldn't find a local printer so that part of my business simply went away. Recently I did find a new printing company but after a four year absence I found that there wasn't much of a market for these anymore so I never added them back to the store. I had a lot of fun creating these and I chose some of my favorite movies as subject matter. On of my favorites is a Creature From The Black Lagoon lobby card that I created from some of the elements the original lobby set that Universal produced in 1954 combined with an publicity image I had. To add some style to the piece I included a green and black rendering of a photo that the late actor Be...

Astronaut Bill Hudson transmits to Earth from the NASA spacecraft Venturer. On board are crew members Jeff Allen and Judy Franklin. The ship's date is August 6, 1976. Bill explains that they are living proof of Dr. Stanton's "time thrust" theory. Due to the advanced speed of the Venturer, their Earth clock indicates that they have traveled over a century into the future. The craft begins to reel wildly as the Earth clock starts clicking up. The crew blacks out while the ship enters a planet's atmosphere and crashes into a desolate desert region. Meanwhile, General Urko, leader of the gorilla army, is debating before the Supreme Council of Ape City. He demands permission to begin an all-out assault on the humanoids. Cornelius, an animal psychologist, pleads for the council to allow the humanoids to live as subjects of scientific research. The Council decrees that the humans should not be exterminated since they have no language, but they will continue to be hunted,...

Somebody over on Facebook posted this page from April 28, 1968 Albuquerque Journal yesterday. Being a huge movie buff I found the page to be rather interesting because it shows all the films that were being exhibited at local movie theaters. Several of these advertisements jumped off the page because they are some of the most iconic films produced in the 1960s.  Needless to say, if you wanted to go to the movies in late April 1968 you had a lot of quality movies to choose from! If only the choices were so good today right. I decided to take a more in depth look at the films featured here and to perform an excercise on choosing just what movie I would pick for an inaginary movie night with my girl. Well I think the first choice is obvious, we will be heading over to Bob's on Central for that $1.95 Rib Eye Steak dinner. You really have to give some credit to the folk's over at Bob's for one the best newspaper add placements of all time. Anyone looking to go to the show is goi...

Actress Kim Hunter and writer Rod Serling on the set of Planet of the Apes. Many people don't know the Serling wrote the original screenplay for "Apes". Although Michael Wilson was brought in to rewrite the story which was based on Pierre Boulle's original novel the finished product still had "Serling" written all over it. The film's "Twilight Zone- esque" twists, especially the ending, are a tell-tale sign of this.   "Maybe the Law Giver here has some ideas for some episodes of 'Night Gallery' ... I'm all tapped out!" Check Out: Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970)(20th Century Fox) Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)(20th Century Fox) Geek-O-Rama On The Planet of the Apes Retro Toy Rodeo: Mego's Planet of the Apes Fortress Playset (1975) Retro Saturday Morning: Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975)(NBC) A planet where apes evolved from men? There's got to be an answer. Adventures on the Planet of the ...

 As is the case with all highly successful films, "If you make a lot of money you have to make a sequel." Beneath the Planet of the Apes would suffer troubles from the moment of its conception. First problem, Charlton Heston wanted nothing to do with the production. He had originally felt that the story had ended properly with Taylor on the beach in the first movie. Without Heston there wouldn't be a picture. The studio fought like mad to get Heston to give in. Finally, he did, but the only way he would do it is if Taylor died at the beginning of the film. The studio countered with Taylor disappearing in the first scene, then dying at the end of the picture. Heston agreed under those guidelines. Next problem, Money. Fox had just suffered a horrible year at the box office. Budgets for all productions were slashed, including Beneath the Planet of the Apes. The films original budget would hardly cover the cost of the makeup alone. Corners had to be cut, and, in the end, it s...

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