Planet of the Apes -Trading cards

1969 Movie cards vs. 1975 Television series cards.

A Guide by CaptKirk42

How to tell the difference between the 1969 Movie (That starred Charlton Heston) cards from the 1975 television series cards.

                                                   

This guide's basic premise will be to identify the difference between the two series of Planet of the Apes trading cards produced by Topps in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This guide will not deal with the more recent movie starring Mark Wahlberg (That is for another Guide maybe). There are too many auctions for these card sets on Ebay that can cause confusion and lead buyers into thinking that an auction for the television set is for the original movie or vice-versa.

The Problem (or at least part of it that causes some confusion).

Topps Cards made two similar card sets based on the Planet of the Apes stories. The first set they released in 1969 based on the Original 1968 movie starring Charlton Heston. Then in 1975 they released a set based on the 1974 television series using the same card design as the previous set. To add to the confusion Topps marked the 1975 television series cards with the original 1967 copyrights for the Planet of the Apes (POTA) material. Unfortunately most of the Ebay auctions selling the TV cards erroneously have the 1967 date in their titles and descriptions. Also auctions for the wax packs. wrappers and sometimes the pack boxes give this date misinformation. The television series cards are more common and easier to find. Before the advent of the internet and Ebay in particular the Original movie cards were so rare they were extremely hard to find nearly impossible (wasn't everything?), they are easier to find now. The Original cards are therefore worth about 10 times more than the television cards.                                          

The Original Movie Cards from 1969

The Movie series cards are the standard size (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") with a total count of 44 cards to the set. These cards were manufactured in 1969 by Topps. Their fronts feature color photographs taken from scenes from the Original 1967 Planet of the Apes movie starring Charlton Heston with white borders. On a side note Heston appears on only a few of the cards. A clever title for each card is printed in yellow inside a wavy red panel with white border. The Backs have the storyline or movie facts in black text on a solid green background. The card number is on the back inside a little circle. There is also a drawing of ape characters around the text.

                                            
                                           Back of 1969 Series             The black box shows the card number area.

The wrappers for this series have drawings of an Orangutan and a Chimp head borded by some trees. Believe it or not the pack price back then was only 5 cents.

The Cards:
When I have the time I may add the card titles (a checklist of sorts) here.

The Television Cards from 1975

In 1975 Topps brought Planet of the Apes back, only this time the cards are based on the 1974 television series. The set is once again stardard size, the set count now totals 66. Confusion factor number one these cards are in the identical format as the movie cards. They have photographs from the television series with the same white borders and wavy red panel. The backs are majorly different, they have a brief description/storyline paragraph and part of a picture puzzle piece. The pieces form a picture from the television series. The card number appears next to the copyright date. Confusion factor two is the copyright date is 1967 the date for the original material.

                                       

                             Back of the 1975 Series.                     The black box shows the card number area.

                                                     

The wrappers for this set, again due to the copyright dates are often mistaken for packs from the original movie set, but they are not. These packs/wrappers have a yellow background with Planet of the Apes in red text with a mean looking gorilla soldier.

The Cards:
When I have the time I may add the card titles (a checklist of sorts) here.

Thanks.
CaptKirk42
AKA: Kirk Andersen