Planet Of The Apes – Power Records (1975)

Friends, in my youth – even before I was blown away by the science fiction opera that was Star Wars, I was aware of Planet of the Apes. In fact some of my earliest memories include visiting a store in Tulsa that not only had the Mego figures for the 1968 film as well as the 1974 television series but puzzles that I am positive were based off the 1975 DePatie-Freleng Enterprises animated series. Which I am just going to go on record as saying Return to the Planet of the Apes just might have the most frightening animated series opening ever created – don’t take my word for it though, check it out for yourself!

Now in that store I am willing to bet they also had this Power Records adaptation of 1968’s Planet of the Apes – but since I did not have a record player in my house there was no reason to walk to the back of the store and check. When I got a little older that situation was remedied and while I had more than my fair share of Peter Pan records in addition to a good collection of Walt Disney Book and Records… Power Records were something that I never managed to obtain. Thankfully though YouTube has helped to let me check out what I was missing in my youth – although I need to point out that Jon Knutson has really raised the bar with his video presentation.

Being presented on a 45 means there is just a little over ten minutes of audio for this Power Records adaptation of Planet of the Apes. So the record does an admirable job of covering the high points of the film – including one element of pyschosurgery that I was sure wouldn’t be included in a children’s record. While I have to confess that I do not know the voice artists featured on the 45 – I can at least tell you that the cover artwork for the read along book was provided by Ernie Chan (All-Star Comics). The interior artwork as I’ve read online at Hunter’s Planet of the Apes Archive is courtesy of the legendary Nester Redondo (House of Secrets, Weird War Tales, Ragman). I will tell you the truth, in all honesty I would brave a quest deep into the heart of the Forbidden Zone to get my hands on some of Redondo’s ape artwork!

Okay, go and grab your favorite beverage and snack and join us for a visit to the Planet of the Apes by way of Power Records!