In the absence of a gigantic Oral History somewhere online, this late 90s making of doco is the next best thing. For one thing, it captured most of the principals' thoughts and recollections while they were still with us – Roddy McDowall died the year it played on TV.

He hosts as he wanders through the forests near Malibu where the Fox Ranch once stood (the set of the original movie) and tells the story of how Pierre Boulle's novel became a Hollywood sensation back before anyone had ever heard of the word 'franchise'.

In between clips from the movies, talking heads from star Charlton Heston, Kim Murray, then-studio head Richard Zanuck (Murray says demurely that she was dating the head of the studio at the time, the most overt reference to the casting couch culture that drove the industry in the late 60s), McDowall issues tidbits about the production of the whole series, including the animated kids show.

I know a fair bit about at least the early films, but this doco completed the picture. It's a live action IMDB page with McDowall and others talking about what filming was like, where it took place, how much it all cost, the legacy and impact it had on audiences and the business and the sociopolitical themes of animal rights, racism, slavery and human nature it was essentially talking about.

And of course, due reverence is dedicated to the still-fantastic Oscar-winning makeup effects by John Chambers and his department.

Among the most interesting revelations; each movie was a success yet 20th Century Fox greenlit each subsequent sequel with a lower budget. And Boulle's novel depicted a fairly advanced ape society of flying vehicles and vast cities. It was creative steward and series producer Arthur P Jacobs (married to co-star Natalie Trundy, who also showed up multiple times throughout the original films) and director Franklin Shaffner who decided to situate the apes in a pre-industrial world to save money.

Informative, great fun and a worthy companion piece to an immortal sci-fi series that continues to this day.