BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES PLAYSET ...sort of...

[vulcan2074]

I'm leaning toward buying that Blueray DVD and I don't even have the Player. Well not yet anyways
Sammy

[ditcin]

I'm leaning toward buying that Blueray DVD and I don't even have the Player. Well not yet anyways
Sammy

Sammy,
It's really a mixed bag with the Blu-ray DVD. Much of the bonus material is just carry over from the previous releases. PLANET is the only one that has a substantial amount, the others embarrassingly shy.
Each has one newly made featurette. FOX just pl opted the same trailer for each film.
I haven't gone through everything yet but I will be posting a review on my site This is your ticket to insightful DVD reviews and interviews. very soon.
This release is more of a marketing agency project and it shows through it's eye catching packaging. What it lacks in terms of what should be on the disc it makes up for in how it is presented. Eye candy, nothing more. It's a shame when you consider they used fans to dress up as apes and use them in packaging and images on the discs. Sad that FOX woke up to do this when most who worked on the film are now dead. Sad they didn't put more into it in terms of what they have in the vaults. Sad for the consumer that they are charging $34.95 for the sequels when purchased separately with so little on the discs.
- Scott B.

[Remco Monster]

Scott,

What an incredible story. You were one lucky kid to say the least.

Amazing you still have the Beneath playset you made. and great to see it.

I love this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[ditcin]

I hope what I posted didn't get lost ...but has anyone else seen the sponge rocks for the catapult and wagon? I only saw them in an open box at Macys when I first spoted the Box figures as well.
- Scott B.

[EmergencyIan]

Bump..(just in case someone else has seen the sponge rocks for the Catapult and Wagon)



- Ian

[ditcin]

Bump..(just in case someone else has seen the sponge rocks for the Catapult and Wagon)



- Ian

As far as I remember the plastic one came first and I thought it was funny when I saw the sponge ones - like the guys as MEGO may have gotten complaints that too many kids were aiming them at each other instead of the figures.
- Scott B.

[HardyGirl]

But weren't there sponges rocks in the Mego commercial?

[EmergencyIan]

I just watched the particular commercial and cannot tell what the rocks are made of. It made be due to the current quality of the commericial, though. They look pretty black with not shine to them, at all. Aren't the plastic ones a bit lighter in color and have some shine to them?


- Ian

[mego73]

Sammy,
It's really a mixed bag with the Blu-ray DVD. Much of the bonus material is just carry over from the previous releases. PLANET is the only one that has a substantial amount, the others embarrassingly shy.
Each has one newly made featurette. FOX just pl opted the same trailer for each film.
I haven't gone through everything yet but I will be posting a review on my site This is your ticket to insightful DVD reviews and interviews. very soon.
This release is more of a marketing agency project and it shows through it's eye catching packaging. What it lacks in terms of what should be on the disc it makes up for in how it is presented. Eye candy, nothing more. It's a shame when you consider they used fans to dress up as apes and use them in packaging and images on the discs. Sad that FOX woke up to do this when most who worked on the film are now dead. Sad they didn't put more into it in terms of what they have in the vaults. Sad for the consumer that they are charging $34.95 for the sequels when purchased separately with so little on the discs.
- Scott B.

You know I always remembered they had a little film about the makeup on POTA when the network showed one of the films.

It went into a lot of detail about how they painted the real actor's teeth black to hide them under the ape mask teeth.

I am surprised this never showed up on any Ape DVD.

[ditcin]

You know I always remembered they had a little film about the makeup on POTA when the network showed one of the films.

It went into a lot of detail about how they painted the real actor's teeth black to hide them under the ape mask teeth.

I am surprised this never showed up on any Ape DVD.

Please, I aided with a few of the release of the APE film through the years going back to the Beta/VHS days and Laserdiscs - I've never been involved in any of the DVD releases however. I've offered my collection and such but they never responded. All the people I knew that started with the home video division have since left and been replaced with knot heads that don't know a thing about the studio or the films.
So much is missing from this current release in terms of extras and FOX just played it easy by not really doing anything much that was new. Aside from the new "featurettes" which are like small Making ofs there's nothing to brag about. The would be fine if these were standards releases but this is Blu-ray. With all the hype of how much room there is on these disc what the hell does it matter if they don't take advantage of it! The box set is nice and that's all it is packaging.
It's kinda sad really that FOX went out of their way to pull MEGO commercials that are in the same condition from utube but not go into their vaults and get trailers, TV spots and the like.
Shameful.
- Scott B.

[ditcin]

I just watched the particular commercial and cannot tell what the rocks are made of. It made be due to the current quality of the commericial, though. They look pretty black with not shine to them, at all. Aren't the plastic ones a bit lighter in color and have some shine to them?


- Ian

Yes, the plastic rock are dark grey and do have a slight shine to them. I wonder if the sponge ones have held up or broken down through the years?
- Scott B.

[vulcan2074]

Yes, the plastic rock are dark grey and do have a slight shine to them. I wonder if the sponge ones have held up or broken down through the years?
- Scott B.

I'm Guessing that they Broke down. My Star Wars Trash Compactor had Sponge rocks and now there in Pieces.
Sammy

[mego73]

Please, I aided with a few of the release of the APE film through the years going back to the Beta/VHS days and Laserdiscs - I've never been involved in any of the DVD releases however. I've offered my collection and such but they never responded. All the people I knew that started with the home video division have since left and been replaced with knot heads that don't know a thing about the studio or the films.
So much is missing from this current release in terms of extras and FOX just played it easy by not really doing anything much that was new. Aside from the new "featurettes" which are like small Making ofs there's nothing to brag about. The would be fine if these were standards releases but this is Blu-ray. With all the hype of how much room there is on these disc what the hell does it matter if they don't take advantage of it! The box set is nice and that's all it is packaging.
It's kinda sad really that FOX went out of their way to pull MEGO commercials that are in the same condition from utube but not go into their vaults and get trailers, TV spots and the like.
Shameful.
- Scott B.

I have the same complaint about the way Paramount/CBS/Viacom handles the original Star Trek. On the original and remastered (new effects) sets, no old TV promos (except for the "next episode" promos carried over from the VHS releases), no "Where No Man Has Gone Before" in the original pilot format and no vintage interviews. And yet you can go to Youtube and get examples of all three.

Add to that the fact that on even the versions with the original effects the soundtrack is remixed to 5.1 with no original mono option. There are differences between the original Soundtrack and the 5.1 remixes , especially in early episodes such as "Balance Of Terror". This was because the early episodes tried (inconsistently) to convey that there is no sound in space and many exterior space shots only had background music. No sound to the Enterprise and in the case of "Balance Of Terror" no sound to the phasers/torpedoes.

The 5.1 soundtrack adds sound for the phasers/torpedoes and the Enterprise sound in the exterior shots. There is a 2 channel option but it is only a mixdown of the 5.1 track.

[ditcin]

Paramount has done some wacky things with sound - like when they made Star Trek II and III into 5.1 they didn't go back to the origianl sound elements and remix. They simply ran the mix through a box that spreads out the sound but without any real mixing. It's fake, and it ruins the bass response and even takes out surround info. If you compare certain scenes between the original 2.0 Dolby Surround with the 5.1 the difference is night and day with the 2.0 being wider, more dynamic and with more surround effects.
FOX has been doing fake stereo going back to the Beta/VHS days. UNIVERSAL has started and ruin newer releases of FLASH GORDON and XANADU.
-Scott B

[mego73]

Paramount has done some wacky things with sound - like when they made Star Trek II and III into 5.1 they didn't go back to the origianl sound elements and remix. They simply ran the mix through a box that spreads out the sound but without any real mixing. It's fake, and it ruins the bass response and even takes out surround info. If you compare certain scenes between the original 2.0 Dolby Surround with the 5.1 the difference is night and day with the 2.0 being wider, more dynamic and with more surround effects.
FOX has been doing fake stereo going back to the Beta/VHS days. UNIVERSAL has started and ruin newer releases of FLASH GORDON and XANADU.
-Scott B

So true...