Rückkehr zum Planet der Affen

The only film in the original series of five that does not star Roddy McDowall, who was committed to another project, his sole directorial effort "Tam Lin". Archive footage of McDowall as Cornelius is played at the start, and David Watson plays the character in the film proper. Despite this, McDowall is often pictured on video and DVD packaging for this film. Interestingly, Watson and McDowall appeared together two years earlier in the made-for-television musical "The Legend of Robin Hood" with Watson in the role of Robin Hood and McDowall playing Prince John.

(at around 22 mins) In the "steam room" scene, Zaius and Ursus are wearing only towels, yet they seem to have twice as much body mass naked than when they are wearing their costumes.

The 20th Century Fox logo does not appear on this film.

When originally released in the UK, the film was heavily cut to receive a lower certificate from the BBFC. This version excised most of the violent and horrific scenes, most notably from the last third of the film, including both scenes where Brent is forced to attack Nova, the revelation of the underground humans' true appearance, the fight Brent and Taylor are forced to have in the prison cell, the killing of the mutant guard on a spiked door, and much of the shoot-out at the film's climax. This cut version was later shown on British TV, c.1991, even though all UK video and DVD releases have been fully uncut and rated '15' since 1987.

Featured in Flucht vom Planet der Affen (1971)