Wednesday 24 June 2015

1974: PLANET OF THE APES POSTER MAGAZINE (Top Sellers)


From 1974: the British PLANET OF THE APES POSTER MAGAZINE, published by Top Sellers.  

This coincided with the UK broadcast (which, I think, followed very hot-on-the-heels from the CBS screenings) of the TV series... a show that sparked far more interest here (and other overseas markets) than it did in the States... hence its very swift cancellation.  

Marvel UK launched their PLANET OF THE APES weekly in October (see here) and, I wouldn't mind betting, this surfaced around the same time.  

The text features covered the five movies, mentioned the TV show a bit and interviewed (possibly recycled from somewhere else... or supplied as part of a PR package) Roddy McDowall. 

7 comments:

  1. I had a POTA poster magazine around March or April 1975 so I assume it was this one as mine featured the 5 films, the TV show blah, blah - it says "debut issue" here but I don't remember any others. The POTA TV show did indeed follow "hot on the heels" of the original American broadcast - just 4 weeks later which was extraordinary for 1974. By contrast Star Trek took 3 years to reach the UK and so did Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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    1. Hi there.

      The CBS SPIDER-MAN show debuted in 1977 but it took until 1981 for ITV to play it.

      BATTLESTAR GALACTICA premiered in September 1978 but didn't cross the Atlantic for two years. And, even then, when (and if) you saw it was down to the schedulers at each ITV company as it didn't garner a networked slot (that privilege went to BUCK ROGERS instead).

      GALACTICA 1980, as the name suggests, ran in the States during early 1980 but it didn't hit ITV until 1984... although there are some that might argue that the wait wasn't long enough.

      All of those delays are probably attributable to the studio's policy of milking their potential as feature films (SPIDER-MAN spawned three, BATTLESTAR launched two and even GALACTICA 1980 managed one) before "giving 'em away for free" on the small screen.

      BATTLESTAR's delay may also have been down to the 1979 ITV strike and the knock-on effect on the schedules for the rest of the year. The broadcaster certainly had sealed the deal by October 1979 as LOOK-IN (owned by a consortium of the fifteen regional companies) was able to start running the strip version. Whether this was ever intended to coincide with the broadcasts or whether the editor simply wanted a strip to capitalize on the SF boom is unclear.

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  2. time for the weekly round-up:

    marvel continue to milk the ANT-MAN cash cow with yet another trade collection plus a new comic movie tie-in which also reprints the same old origin issue, this must hold the record by now for most re-prints !

    THE ART OF AGENT CARTER finally appeared today and it was well worth the wait although THE PHOTOS OF AGENT CARTER might be a more apt title. Not much in the way of art but tons of pics of the lovely Hayley Atwell.

    SFX have announced no less than THREE specials for July. The subjects will be the 80's, superheroes and the 100 greatest sci-fi characters. So far from being a spent force ,they are now more productive than ever !


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    1. Hi there.

      I picked-up the AGENT CARTER BOOK but I didn't get a chance to take it out of its plastic wrap last night. Considering the limited number of episodes in the first season, I'm surprised they found enough material to fill a book. I really enjoyed the show, i thought it was distinctive, different and a lot of fun. And she, along with all the cast, was excellent.

      I noticed the announcement for THREE (!) new specials in the new SFX... blimey! They must think that WHS has a lot of empty shelf space over the summer months (maybe they are finally going to take the numerous DWM spin-offs off-sale) that needs filling with holiday reading material. The publishing schedule seemed to suggest one every one or two weeks for the next month or so.

      The next DWN bookazine/ Special has also been announced... it will be THE MUSIC OF... Which sounds like another great idea to throw the spotlight on a different facet of the show.

      I also picked-up yesterday the new biography of Anthony Ainley (aka The Master). He's not an actor I know much about (although it's always cool to spot him in old movies and TV shows)... but it seems no-one knew much about him. Hence the book. I'd also recommend the recent Verity Lambert tome... not so much for the WHO stuff but for its fascinating account of behind-the-scenes of ELDORADO.

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    2. Oh and I also found REFLECTIONS: AN ORAL HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS in Foyles last week. I've only dipped in but it's an excellent history of the rise and fall of the show by some of the people involved. I'm sure there are some names (probably Lynch himself) that don't contribute but, nevertheless, I found what I read to be fascinating. And it's a much easier read than the various more academic (read: pretentious) books on the show. I get frustrated by people that try and find deep meaning in TV and film (especially TV) when the reality was almost certainly much more to do with deadlines, network notes, budgets and the need to release an actor by the agreed time that day rather than any aspirations to high art and contextual tosh.

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  3. Anthony ainley seems to have been a very enigmatic fellow by all accounts. To this day my mom is still annoyed that the bbc cancelled ELDORADO !

    The twin peaks book sounds fascinating. Part of me still wishes they would leave it where it ended back in the 90's. I remember mitch pileggi from the x-files saying how fans would ask what he was thinking of at certain moments during the show and he admitted he was just trying to remember his lines !


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  4. Hello, I have an original copy of planet of the apes poster magazine mentioned above, any idea of it's value.

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