A is for ANAKIN: #2 in a series of pop culture primers

A is for ANAKIN, born on Tattooine

B's for BARBARELLA, the Galaxy's Queen

C is for CAESER, who brought humans down

D is for DIM, not as dumb as he sounds

Kevin Geeks Out About: Rise of/Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

"There is something undeniably appealing about watching gorillas dressed like Fonzie aiming shotguns at Moses dressed like Tarzan."

- Dana Gould

In case you don't know, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is something of a re-make of the third sequel in the original APES series.  (That's CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES)

I haven't seen RISE yet, but I imagine it won't include the time-traveling chimps backstory or the controversial race-riot subtext.  (But, the optimists point out, it does have Andy Serkis!)

Listen, I'm a sucker for the APES films (I have a Czech poster of "Conquest" in my living room and my wedding cake was topped with figurines of  Zira and Cornelius), so of course I HAVE TO to see the new one.

In the meantime, you can get ready for the remake by studying this handy cheat sheet and by watching my old AMC video taped at the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest (below.) 

Note: the Zoo's PR team wanted to end the video with a line about how we need to save "this" planet, or some such line -- and I had to explain the most basic premise of the franchise: it's the same planet.  We finally really did it! Etc.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (at the Bronx Zoo)

Employee Review (the lost webisode!)

AMC hated this episode and removed it from the website shortly after it posted. Maybe it's because there aren't any FACTS. Or maybe it's because we talk about layoffs while AMC was facing actual layoffs. Some people like this episode best of all.

That's Mickey Ryan as the HR guy.