The Planet of the Apes movies were hugely successful in Japan; Japanese audiences were treated to an extended cut of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes because of their devotion to the movies. In response to the popularity of the movies, a Japanese company, Tsubaraya Productions, created a TV series consisting of twenty-six half-hour episodes in 1974, with a storyline remarkably similar to Planet of the Apes but without actually making any reference to the franchise. 'Saru no Gundan' (猿の軍団, literally 'Army of the Apes') concerns a woman and two children who wake up in a world populated by sentient apes. While it doesn't directly contradict the official Planet of the Apes universe, the regular appearances of a mysterious UFO (albeit created by advanced humans) does cause some problems fitti