"Return to the Planet of the Apes!"

Did you know that there was also a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon of Planet of the Apes?? For years I have said that I had never seen it but recently read an online article about it and I was intrigued to give it a go. I found them all on YouTube, good quality to boot, and watched. As soon as the intro started the memories came flooding back. I HAD watched it back in 1975 when it first aired. I was not a big fan of it tho as I was quite young, and it was different from what came before as the apes lived in a much more modern world with more technology than what had been shown on camera to date. It's actually closer to the book, which I would not read until 1982 when I got it as a Christmas present from my teacher. Looking back now, I love the theme of it and the "Johnny Quest" style art from Doug Wildey is pretty cool. The animation is downright garbage even by 1970's tv standards. So, it got me thinking, besides better animation, how could this show have been better? 

I would keep the same basic premise but instead of re-using the same names from different, previous Ape movies/shows, I would change them. I would re-name Urko and Zaius. I would remove Nova and then re-name Brent as Burke from the TV show that ended the year earlier. The idea that he was already there for years even tho his mission started years later than the current group of astronauts would have thrilled us kids. We all would have wondered what happened between the show ending and the cartoon beginning!! What happened to Virdon and Galen (the other astronaut and their simian companion from the live action show)?? I also started off being a bit too faithful to the original designs before I thought I would have taken advantage of the animated medium and making the apes more "ape-like".

So here is my homage the short lived, Saturday morning cartoon of Return to the Planet of the Apes! As I was working on it, I found that some found and restored some of the background scenery used in the show and I thought that was too serendipitous of an opportunity to pass up.

Here are the sketches done leading up to this picture.