Army of the Apes TV Series DVD-Box, Music Collection Released

Tsuburaya’s cult science fiction TV series from 1974, Army of the Apes, is getting a new DVD Box release and a remastered soundtrack. 

Inspired heavily by the then-popular Planet of the Apes films, Army of the Apes revolves around a group of modern day humans who are caught in a time slip and find themselves in a bizarre world in which apes are the dominant species. Here, the various primate factions struggle for supremacy over the planet, with our heroes on the run and desperate to find a way home.  The show was a Japanese science-fiction powerhouse of the time with scripts written by Koji Tanaka (Harmageddon, Doomed Megalopolis), Aritsune Toyota (Takeru Yamato Series), and Sakyo Komatsu (Japan Sinks, Sayonara Jupiter).

Army of the Apes is best known to Western fans by way of the edited compilation film, Time of the Apes. Release by Sandy Frank Productions, the same distributor behind Battle of the Planets (the infamous localization of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), Time of the Apes was lampooned in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The show had also riffed Sandy Frank’s other films, Fugitive Alien and Mighty Jack, which were also Tsuburaya television series edited into direct-to-TV movies.

The DVD Box set of Army of the Apes contains all 26 episodes of the TV series, a special bonus disc with new interviews, and a 20-page booklet. Meanwhile, the Army of the Apes Music Collection contains 57 newly-remastered tracks of incidental music by the late Toshiaki Tsushima (Battles Without Honor And Humanity Series, Wandering Ginza Butterfly). Both are currently now available through Amazon.jp.

Source: Tsuburaya Station, Amazon Japan [1, 2]