Television series
Planet of the Apes
Other titles called Planet of the Apes: the 1968 film, the 2001 film.
Two astronauts crash into a future Earth ruled by intelligent apes and must stay ahead of their hunters with help from a sympathetic chimp named Galen. This 1974 series plays the premise completely straight: fugitive adventure with genuine stakes, philosophical friction between humans and apes, and Roddy McDowall's warmth anchoring the whole thing. It's for people who want science fiction that trusts its world and its audience.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like a chase story where the fugitives are outnumbered and the moral unease of an occupied world matters as much as the escape.
Skip it if you want relentless momentum or a sharp modern look, since its pacing and effects feel unhurried and visibly of their era.
What it asks of you: Expect a single season of fourteen hour-long episodes, mostly a steady chase that rewards patience with character rather than quick reversals.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Fugitive1963
Same taut, episodic structure: hunted innocents moving town to town, always one step from capture, moral complications with the people they meet. Perfect template and pacing, brilliantly executed.
But Straight procedural without sci-fi texture or philosophical depth. If you want ideas along with your suspense, this won't satisfy that itch.
The Twilight Zone1959
Shares that clear-eyed sci-fi DNA—thought experiments made flesh, weird premises played absolutely straight, and the refusal to wink at the audience. Same trust in viewers' intelligence.
But Anthology format means no continuing characters or stakes to carry you forward. Some episodes misfire badly. Requires patience for the era's pacing.
Dark Shadows1966
Serialized supernatural adventure with B-movie sincerity, chaotic plotting you kind of have to love, and a cast that commits completely to absurdity. That same earnest weirdness.
But Soap opera rhythms and occasionally glacial pacing will test you. Production values are genuinely rough, which some find charming and others find hard to bear.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Planet of the Apes
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Fantastic Planet1973
Both use the enslaved-human scenario to explore what humanity means when stripped of power; both are uninterested in easy answers or reassurance.
Stop-motion animated sci-fi on an alien world where humans are enslaved and hunted by their captors. The visual language is utterly alien, the ideas darker and stranger than any live-action version could manage, and the premise shares DNA with Planet's core conflict.
But Slow, meditative, almost dreamlike pacing that some will find hypnotic and others punishingly tedious. Not a kids' film despite the animation, and deliberately oblique rather than clear.
More like this (8)
Kolchak: The Night Stalker1972
Monster-of-the-week with surprising depth, a hero constantly outgunned and underestimated, and atmospheric 1970s paranoia. One-man-against-the-system energy that hums.
But Episodic structure can feel repetitive. The show never quite solved how to escalate beyond individual encounters.
The Time Tunnel1966
Sci-fi adventure that drops its heroes into period scenarios each week, same anxious chase narrative, same willingness to let the premise be genuinely strange without explaining it away.
But Effects are primitive even for 1966. Plotting often collapses under its own ambition. Harder to watch than remembered.
Barbarella1968
Campy space adventure that actually earns its strangeness through commitment rather than irony. Colorful, inventive, unafraid to be silly in service of real spectacle.
But The humor is very much of its moment and can feel dated in ways that pull you out. If you need grounded sci-fi, this is decorative rather than substantial.
Planet of the Apes1968
The original film that spawned the series, and the best entry point to understand the world. Schaffner's direction is sharp, the twist lands, and it asks real questions about power and civilization.
But That twist is famous enough that it has lost its punch. The film feels like a relic of 1968 in ways the TV series somehow transcends.
The Outer Limits1963
Serious sci-fi anthology that treats paranormal and extraterrestrial premises as genuine threats rather than jokes. Atmosphere and ideas over spectacle.
But Uneven—some episodes are superb, others are dull. The monster-focused episodes can feel dated in their practicality.
A Journey to the Center of the Earth1977
TV movie adventure with earnest explorers, hostile terrain, miniature effects that have real tactile charm, and zero ironic distance from its own premise.
But Production is threadbare and pacing drags. The adventure elements don't quite cohere into genuine suspense.
The Andromeda Strain1971
Both trust their premises enough to let ideas generate tension; both refuse to soften their world-building for comfort.
Procedural sci-fi about scientists locked in a sealed lab, racing against time and misunderstanding, all stakes and tension and problem-solving. Completely serious, visually inventive, builds dread through competence rather than action.
But Dialogue-heavy and abstract—no heroes, no clear villains, just systems failing. If you need character arcs and emotional payoff, this offers neither.
The Shape of Things to Come1979
Both are 1970s science fiction that reject the mainstream approach to the genre—cheerful prediction replaced by something stranger and more anxious about power, hierarchy, and what we become.
Heretical, peculiar adaptation of H.G. Wells set on a moon base where humans and androids collide. Ralph Richardson as a villain, space battles with toys, baroque costume design, and complete indifference to whether audiences want what it's offering.
But Genuinely bizarre and sometimes incoherent. Production design overwhelms narrative. You will either love its strangeness or find it exhausting.
People
Cast
Production
- Herbert HirschmanExecutive Producer
- Stan HoughProducer