PLANET OF THE APES TV SERIES TRIVIA (FROM SIMIAN SCROLLS) Bobby Porter appeared twice in the TV series, but was no stranger to the ape make-up -he'd already played the ill-fated Cornelius in Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Woodrow Parfrey (Escape From Tomorrow) also had a previous ape credit on his CV, having played Maximus in the original movie. Mark Lenard (Urko) was of course well known for donning other famous SF make-up -he played Sarek, Mr Spock's dad, in Star Trek. The spaceship seen in the opening episode of the series is the very ship used in Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Anthony Wilson was a little more successful -as well as developing the Planet of the Apes concept for TV , he also wrote the first episode of Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants. Fans of The Legacy take note -although other episodes are also covered in the series, this episode is featured prominently in the old series of trading cards put out by Topps in the 1970s. Michael Conrad (Janor in The Tyrant) was one of the first people to wear the Ape make-up on screen. In one of the last few episodes of Lost in Space (Fugitives in Space) he wore parts of the ape make-up from the original movie. The episode aired in early 1968, shortly before the premier of Planet of the Apes Early treatments for the series had come from the pen of Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone (on which many of the Apes cast and crew, including Roddy, had worked) and co-writer of the original Apes screenplay. Serling's version owed more to the movie series than the final product, but some aspects still made it into the series. The make-up for the TV series was supervised by Dan Striepeke -he had also supervised make-up on the first four Apes movies. Apart from the five main characters, sci-fi veteran John Hoyt's Prefect Barlow was the only character to appear twice. Following the series' cancellation, the episode The Liberator was not aired in the original US run of the series (but was added in subsequent re-runs). Many actors appeared more than once, since the ape make-up would make it impossible for the audience to tell. Although several actors appeared more than once, special mention must be made of Ron Stein. While not a name you would immediately think of as a series regular, he appeared in all but two episodes - in three episodes, he even appeared as two separate characters! He makes a rare appearance as a human in The Surgeon. At the end of The Trap, watch carefully when Urko's henchman finds the San Francisco Zoo poster -first we see the poster in his hands and then we cut to another angle to see him angrily tearing up. ..a blank sheet of paper! Presumably Urko wanted to keep the poster for his bedroom wall. Five pairs of two episodes were stitched together several years after the series finished and resold as TV movies. The titles are: Back to the Planet of the Apes; Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes; Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes; Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes (!), and Farewell to the Planet of the Apes. In some areas, these movies featured opening and closing segments with Roddy reprising his role as Galen, this time as the aged ape recounted his past adventures. To the best of my knowledge, these scenes have never made it to the UK. END