Planet of the Apes Television Series
2-CD set
La-La Land Records, 2015
Pre-cable television shows rarely employed keyart or posters. Perhaps the only print-based advertising needs of the period were for the pages of local newspapers or the TV Guide. That's all speculation of course. And the lies of the beast Man are well known. Whatever the reason, no slick and sexy simian keyart existed for the short-lived Planet of the Apes television series, and while there were a good deal of color photos sent over by the lovely folks at 20th Century Fox, they were mainly of scene-specific stills from the episodes.
So. Something new would have to be created. This was great news. The majority of soundtrack design projects often come with a long history of top-notch keyart to choose from, so starting with a blank slate is a rare but very welcome challenge.
In Googling fan sites and searching ebay for memorabilia, I learned there were some pretty cool photos done in a press kit/publicity style that would be very helpful—provided they could be sourced. In particular, there was an atmospheric hero shot of the three leads that had run in a 1974 TV Guide Fall TV preview (shown large in the above collage). Unfortunately, those photos couldn't be located in the Fox archives...and a scan of 40-year old magazine or trading card from eBay is not going to be salvageable, even with my own Herculean efforts brought to bear in Photoshop.
The final cover design (below) was built using four photos from Fox. Stars Ron Harper and James Naughton were grabbed and isolated from a black and white publicity shot (far left in the above), and franchise vet Roddy McDowall was taken from another (middle). The photos were then combined and broadly colorized with a strong orange and blue contrast meant to parallel the show's distinctive opening titles. Likewise, the series title was redrawn and textured to give it a suitably vintage, earthy vibe.
