Planet of the Apes and Movie Writing

[Barry]

I just saw the original Planet of the Apes, written by Rod Serling, and it made me think of many of the sci-fi movies I have seen lately, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
 
There is no question that the special effects of today are just incredible, anything you can image can be on the screen.
 
But I think one thing is missing in today’s features: Writing. The special effects on POTA were okay for that time and the make-up was rather good, but it was the story….and that incredible ending, that stays with me.  And I can see that movie many times and pick up new things.  This goes for “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Forbidden Planet,” “2001, ” “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and if you want to get into the 1970s there is “Close Encounters” and “E.T.”
 
There many recent sci fi movies I like, but they are just not written as well.  Same for most of TV. Nothing was better than the “Twilight Zone.” I am still haunted by Burgess Meredith looking for his glasses.  I enjoyed the first year of Outer Limits and, of course, “Star Trek TOS.”
 
In writing this, I realized how many of the titles I just mentioned, movies and TV, have been remade, trying to catch the magic of the original. They rarely do.
 
 

[David Vaughn]

The make-up on POTA was freaking amazing for the time period and frankly, revolutionary. Like you, I think it has phenominal writing as well. 

[Paul Heroy]

I don't think movie studios even want big SF movies to be really written, for 2 reasons. Obviously CGI visuals have taken a much bigger role, but the other is that movies are made now for as big an international audience and $$$ as possible, which means dumbed down writing that can be understood in East, West, North South "BFE". Literally.

[SRW1000]

The make-up on POTA was freaking amazing for the time period and frankly, revolutionary. Like you, I think it has phenominal writing as well.

John Chamber's work was remarkable for that series.  

As a fun fact, he's portrayed by John Goodman in Argo, and has an important role in the story (based on real events).

[Paul Heroy]

And right as this thread is going, I saw this posted on Twitter by a favorite TV/movie writer (J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame):

Annoyed to see so much convenient writing in movies lately. The writing process is supposed to be hard on the writer to make it easy on the audience, not easy on the writer making it hard on the audience. Sloppy and inconsistent storytelling serves no purpose.

[SRW1000]

There is still some good writing out there, but it does seem harder to find.

I actually liked the recent Apes movies, although they're not really related to the versions from the 60s and 70s.

For Twilight Zone type stories, you may want to check out Black Mirror on Netflix.  Although most of the stories are much, much darker, there is a good exploration of themes, and much of the writing is pretty smart.  Unlike Twilight Zone, there are plenty of stories that aren't appropriate to be shared with family.

On the movie side, there are some small-type films that still manage to satisfy.  The digital revolution has another benefit, allowing the use of some visuals without blockbuster budgets.

Some that come to mind are:  Moon, District 9, A Quiet Place, Voyagers, The Endless, The World's End, The Martian, and Source Code.

I do think that the big studios have become more fixated on spectacle and star power, leaving scripts as an afterthought.  It doesn't help that some of these are formed by committee, and visions are easily compromised.

Sturgeon's Law also comes into effect, but it seems movie companies are struggling to even hit that low mark lately.

Scott