Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos

by Rich Handley (Editor), Joseph F. Berenato (Editor), David Gerrold (Foreword)

Since 1968, PLANET OF THE APES (based on Pierre Boulle’s French novel MONKEY PLANET) has spawned nine films, two television series, several novels, and one of the most respected franchises in pop-culture history.

BRIGHT EYES, APE CITY, edited by the same team behind Sequart’s SACRED SCROLLS: COMICS ON THE PLANET OF THE APES, examines every Apes film, TV show, and novel, from 1968 to the present. This anthology features insightful, analytical essays about the franchise’s long history, from film historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts. If you’re eager to learn more about Apes lore, you’ll need to get your stinkin’ paws on this book.

From Sequart Organization. More info at http://sequart.org

308 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2017

About the author

Rich Handley has written or co-written five books (Timeline of the Planet of the Apes, Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes, The Back to the Future Lexicon, The Back to the Future Chronology and the novel Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes), helped to update the reference book Planet of the Apes Revisited, and penned articles for POTA magazine Simian Scrolls. Rich has written fiction and other works for Lucasfilm's licensed Star Wars franchise, and has contributed essays to IDW's Star Trek newspaper strip reprint books, Fantom Press's upcoming Tales from the Forbidden Zone: The Unseen Scripts of Doug Moench, Sequart's New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics, and ATB Publishing's impending Star Trek anthology, Outside In: TOS 109. In addition, he has written for or edited numerous other publications, including Star Trek Communicator, Star Trek Magazine, Cinefantastique, Dungeon/Polyhedron, RFID Journal (for which he currently serves as managing editor), and Realm Press's Battlestar Galactica comic book line.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some Planet of the Apes fanatics examine almost everything the franchise spawned, starting with a bio of the creator, and going into almost everything Ape. Crucial for the Planet of the Apes fan.

[Wesley Britton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many times over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing a number of essay collections published by the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. Sequart specializes in analytical explorations of popular culture figures, especially characters like Batman and the X-men who have roles in both comics and on screen as well as sci fi phenomena like Star Trek in their comic incarnations.
Naturally, the publisher’s first look into Planet of the Apes lore began with 2015’s The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes edited by the same team responsible for this year’s comprehensive look into, well, pretty much every other incarnation of Apes projects. This includes analyses of Ape films, books, TV shows, even British rodeos. British ape rodeos?

In fact, nearly every page of Bright Eyes, Ape City is filled to the brim with surprising historical tidbits and well-considered perspectives from Ape experts and self-admitted Ape geeks. Appropriately, the essays begin with Robert Greenberger’s “Welcome to the Monkey Planet,” an appreciation of author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel where it all began.

I suspect most serious Ape geeks will want to compare their own perceptions with the essays that discuss the first five films, including “Love Conquerors All: Sci-Fi's Greatest - and Most Feminist – Couple” by Ian Brill, “Nothing Ape is Strange to Me: Looking at Escape and Conquest Through the Eyes of a Zoo Professional” by Corinna Bechko, “The Second American Revolution: Did Another Coup on U.S. Soil Precede the
Apes' Own Conquest?”by Jim Johnson and “The Mis-Shape of Things to Come: Paul Dehn's Planet of the Apes” by Neil Moxham. Throughout this section of the book, the critics explore the social commentary and religious imagery on the large screen, and we are teased with speculations about some of the series unconnected plot points.

But if you want to prove just how serious an Ape geek you are, you gotta know about and care about the short-lived live and animated TV shows as explored in “It's a Madhouse Every Week!” by Dayton Ward, “Escaping to Tomorrow: The TV Series Novelizations” by John Roche, and “Saturday-Morning Simians: Animating the Planet of the Apes” by Zaki Hasan. No, if you want to earn your Ape geek merit badge, you gotta know about and certainly care about the live arena shows and British rodeos as recalled by Dave Ballard.

Most general readers will be interested in the analyses of the more recent ape films, beginning with editor Rich Handley’s “800-Pound Gorilla in the Room,” his re-evaluation of the much-maliegned Tim Burton reboot. Then, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and this year’s War for the Planet of the Apes are compared and contrasted with the first five ape films in Edward Gross’s “Caesar: A Tale of Two Kings.”

But the real diving into Ape ephemera can be found in Steven J. Roby’s examination of the film novelizations, Paul Simpson’s review of the film scores, and everything else you can possibly imagine in “Before, Beneath, Beyond, and Between the Covers of the Planet of the Apes: A Meditation on Precursors, Predecessors, Ripples, and Rip-offs” by Stephen R. Bissette and “Ape Shall Never Spoof Ape: Skits, Parodies, and Piss-Takes” by Matthew J. Elliott .

Clearly, most readers of this collection will be die-hard ape aficionados. Other sci fi geeks will likely want to explore some, if not all, of the offerings. All film and popular culture libraries should shelf this entry, as well as the rest of the catalogue of the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. Looking at the article titles alone should signal these are intellectual and scholarly critiques, not simple, affectionate fan blog pieces.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sept. 19, 2017 at:
http://dpli.ir/faXjyn

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

This astonishing compilation of essays will open your ape mind to amazing possibilities and expand your comprehension on the decades-old franchise.

The essays range all the way from the original novel, its French author, the development of the movies, the expansion to TV, the innumerable novels, etc. (For ape-related comics see instead "The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on The Planet of the Apes")

Also covered are the precursors, spinoffs, parodies, live action shows, and many many more subjects.

Regardless of your current degree of knowledge, you will finish the book made an expert!

Extremely recommended!!!