The Stop Button

Marshall ties a crossover between Planet of the Apes and Alien Nation directly into his Apes series. Meaning Ape Nation would be incomprehensible without reading Apes. While Marshall does introduce a new protagonist, the lamely named Heston, most of the setup directly involves Apes events.

The result is somewhat sillier than it need to be, but also far more tangible. Marshall’s not treating it as a castoff. Ape Nation will have consequences for regular cast.

Of course, coming into Ape Nation blind might be better. The inexplicable changes some of the characters have gone through… specifically the Tarzan stand-in. Marshall gives him an entrance like he’s got his own series.

A lot of the dialogue is bad. The stuff with the aliens is pretty bad. The apes act like it’s old hat, which is sort of believable but mostly not. They’re on horseback, these are spaceships.

But it’s passable.