'Battle For The Planet Of The Apes' in 1973 was the last in the series of motion pictures inspired by Pierre Boulle's novel 'Monkey Planet'. Arthur P.Jacobs, the producer, had been planning a spin-off show for some time, but his sad death that year meant the idea had to be bequeathed to others.<br /><br />The series begins much in the same manner as the first movie. A spacecraft containing three American astronauts - only Alan Virdon ( Ron Harper ) and Pete Burke ( James Naughton ) survive - has crash landed on Earth in the far future. Apes have taken over and Man has been reduced to a slave workforce. Dr.Zaius ( Booth Colman ) fears the humans are a threat to Ape civilisation and wants them dead. A curious chimpanzee named Galen ( Roddy McDowall ) assists the astronauts to escape the clutches of vicious General Urko and his gorilla army, but in doing so inadvertently causes a death and so has to go on the run with them.<br /><br />'Apes' had little of the meaningful social commentary of the movies, playing more like David Janssen's 'The Fugitive'. Each week, our heroes arrived in a different community, got involved in a local difficulty, solved it, and moved on, all the time struggling to stay one step ahead of Urko ( 'The Incredible Hulk' series with Bill Bixby also utilised this format ).<br /><br />This show was my introduction to the 'Planet Of The Apes' universe. None of the movies had been seen on British television prior to the series. I.T.V. gave it a network showing on Sunday evenings, something the British-made 'Space: 1999' was not able to achieve.<br /><br />The performances were good, with Roddy McDowall's lovable 'Galen' capturing the hearts of millions. Like a good little boy, I dutifully bought the bubblegum cards, the Marvel Comics weekly, and proudly wore a 'Planet Of The Apes' T-shirt around town. You couldn't escape from the Apes in 1974.<br /><br />The show boasted a classic title sequence in which the premise was ingeniously spelt out in a few seconds. <br /><br />Imagine my horror when I learnt that it had been cancelled after only fourteen episodes! How did it end, I wondered, did Virdon and Burke ever get back to their own time? <br /><br />Had the show depended on British ratings for its survival, it would have lasted years. Only when I saw the movies years later did I realise how inferior the series was by comparison. Still, it occupies a special place in my heart. Compared to the Tim Burton fiasco, it is a towering work of genius!