One of the most impactfull movies of my childhood, outside of Star Wars, was Planet of the Apes. It was nothing I had ever seen before and those films led my lifelong fascination and appreciation of science fiction. 

Watching the films through the lens of 2021 does not do the films justice and their impact on the social consciousness of the country after the close of a very turbulent time in our nation’s history. Having just come out of the Viet Nam war, riots, and Watergate scandal the nation was scarred, much like it is today. 

The era, along with the ever-present possibility of nuclear war with the Soviet Union were central to the themes taken from these series of films. 

Despite the smaller budgets and overall decrease in quality over the release of the initial series of these films, they remain popular with a segment of film afficianados.

There have been some remakes over the years which have garnered some success, but like many things out of Hollywood, the original is always better even if the production value might not have the same impact as films made today. 

These illustrations were created using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter.