With Rise of the Planet of the Apes ' recent conquest of the box office, it's time to take a look back and bring Apes newcomers up to speed on everything that's occurred in the saga so far. While the new film kind of occurs in an alternate timeline/universe, it's interesting to see how the previous films in the series have influenced the film that's playing in theatres at the moment.

BE WARNED - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

<center><a+class='autolink'+href='https://movies.ign.com/objects/867/867734.html'>Planet+of+the+Apes+(1968)</a></center>

5 out of 5

Based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes brought movie audiences into a futuristic world where mankind was no longer the dominant race on Earth. Apes are in charge and consider the human race as nothing more than a pack of mindless beasts, which is understandable, as humans can no longer talk and now resemble disheveled cave people. Well, all except for Nova (Linda Harrison), who looks like a 60s supermodel. These apes even have their own class system! Orang-utans like Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) run the show, chimpanzees are middle class, and gorillas are lower-class brutes.Everything is going fine (for the apes, anyway), until the human Icarus space shuttle travels through a wormhole, crash landing on the planet over 2,000 years after it set off on its trip to Mars. Captain Taylor (Charlton Heston) and his crew are quickly captured by the apes for the purposes of study, and after seeing what apes do to humans (target practice, dissection and imprisonment, among other things), he decides he's getting the hell out of dodge. He does this with the help of chimps Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter), who think that Taylor might be able to prove Cornelius' theory of evolution, something that Dr. Zaius doesn't want proven.The first film in the series is easily the best of the earlier lineup in terms of production value and sheer pedigree. The make-up effects were simple, but they really worked. Charlton Heston is a magnetic screen presence (creepy laugh aside), and you really feel for his plight. One problem with the film is that while the apes are considered the dominant species, they still travel around via horse and carriage and don't have any other real technology, which undermines the premise slightly. In the original novel, the apes had access to cars, televisions, radios and other electrical equipment, which didn't make it into the film due to budgetary reasons. Aside from that, the film is still great, and it's fun to imagine how much the "we were on Earth the whole time!" ending would have shocked the hell out of audiences back in its day.

<center><a+class='autolink'+href='https://movies.ign.com/objects/867/867735.html'>Beneath+the+Planet+of+the+Apes</a>+(1970)</center>

3 out of 5

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is somewhat less successful as a film than its predecessor. For starters, Charlton Heston is only in the film for about a third of its running time, with a new lead character going through a lot of the same motions that Captain Taylor went through in the original. We are led to believe that a second space shuttle had crash-landed on the planet, not far from the site of the first shuttle, and that its only surviving astronaut Brent (James Franciscus) is another dude that looks a hell of a lot like Mr. Heston.Continuing his arc from the first film, Taylor sets off with Nova to have a nice life together, frolicking in the sun, while at the same time trying to explore further out for more humans. After Taylor completely falls through a rock (in a hilariously-ancient special effects moment) and disappears, Nova freaks out and starts heading back to her camp. Along the way she runs into Brent and decides to take him back to Cornelius and Zira for help. Now, Nova and Brent set off to find Taylor again.While the movie is quite by-the-numbers during its first half, it really goes off into crazy science fiction-mode after that. Brent and Nova get a glimpse into a secret society of humans that have continued to evolve since before the apes took over, and also find out why humanity fell in the first place. These humans (who are now skinless and communicate telepathically) are seen worshipping a nuclear bomb, which they plan to detonate in order to start the world over again.While the film isn't quite up to the standards of the original (or some of the later films, for that matter), it redeems itself quite a bit with one of the most nihilistic endings seen in a studio picture. Without going into too much detail, let's just say that everyone dies and Taylor blows up the world (well, that is quite a bit of detail). The ending is as chilling as it is philosophical. The way in which Beneath the Planet of the Apes puts forth the argument that mankind will ultimately always destroy itself is quite ballsy, to say the least.

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<center><a+class='autolink'+href='https://movies.ign.com/objects/867/867736.html'>Escape+from+the+Planet+of+the+Apes</a>+(1971)</center>

4 out of 5

Guess what? It turns out that not everyone perished at the end of the last film! In fact, Zira, Cornelius and their friend Dr. Milo escape Earth just before world-ending nuclear explosion by somehow fixing Captain Taylor's wrecked space shuttle. The apes travel back through the same wormhole that Taylor and Brent's ships went through, crash landing on Earth in 1971 and freaking the hell out of people when they take their space helmets off and reveal themselves to be chimps.The humans send them to the zoo for study (nice way to treat astronauts, right?) and Dr. Milo gets killed early by a gorilla in the next cage, which is just as well, because his death also killed off the need for any explanation about how he learned to pilot a space shuttle. After initially proving themselves to be friendly to a Presidential Commission, the apes are welcomed into society. It's funny just how quickly the apes turn into human-like mindless consumers, as they succumb to a life of fancy parties, bubble-baths and television watching from their lavish hotel room. There's even a clothes shopping montage! It is also eventually revealed that Zira is pregnant.The fun doesn't last long though, as Zira drunkenly tells the President's Science Advisor, Dr. Otto Hasslein, about how the apes will eventually enslave the human race, ending in the total destruction of the world. This news understandably upsets the doctor, who takes it upon himself to terminate the baby, and take away Zira's ability to procreate. Cornelius accidentally kills an orderly and so they escape.Once again, the series finds a way to make the plot a statement about an important social issue, this time that of women's rights. With the help of some veterinarians they met at the zoo and circus master named Armando (Ricardo Mantalban), Zira and Cornelius attempt to hideout with their newly born child, Milo. Dr. Otto eventually catches up to them, and in a cold blooded scene, guns down Cornelius, Zira and their baby chimp. With the audience shocked and stunned, the film cleverly pulls another 'gotcha' ending, and shows a baby chimp in a cage at Armando's circus that stands up and starts calling out for its mother. They switched the chimp! Smart apes live on!