Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes is one of five TV movies made in the early 1980's by editing together episodes of the canceled Planet of the Apes TV series. This one is made from two of my favorite episodes: The Gladiators and The Legacy. Some consider the editing of two episodes together to be a flaw of these TV movies, but I found all five TV movies to be quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed them when they were first shown on TV because they gave me a much wanted glimpse of the long canceled TV show which wasn't being re-run in the years long before the Planet of the Apes television series was made available on DVD. Roddy McDowall as Galen is my favorite character of the entire Apes franchise, but the entire cast of this version of the Apes series does a wonderful job. Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes stands out in my mind as one of my absolute favorites due to Ron Harper's sensitive portrayal as astronaut Alan Virdon who longs for the wife and child he left behind when he blasted off into space. Virdon's longing to return to his family is a highpoint of this series, and it really comes into play in The Legacy segment of Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes. Harper as Virdon really shines in this one, and he helped to make Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes a very enjoyable part of my youth. I still have warm feelings for it.
