Sci-Fi Film Fiesta, The Swingin' 60s - Volume 3: Freaky Future Shocks by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

APE SOCIETY

What Taylor has learned so far about this planet of the apes:

● An advanced society of talking apes.

● Theocracy

● A strict hierarchy or caste system:

1. Gorillas (military and police force, hunters and workers)

2. Orangutans (government administration, legal system and religion)

3. Chimpanzees (intellectuals, scientists and doctors)

4. Humans (primitive, vermin to be hunted for sport, killed, enslaved for manual

labor, or used in scientific experiments.)

The Hearing

While back in custody of the Ministry of Science, Taylor tells an uncomprehending Nova, "No one will listen to me. Only you." Ironically, it took an immense journey across time and space for him to realize that unlike back on earth, he actually needs someone. On Earth there had been “lots of women, lots of lovemaking, but no love. That was the kind of world we'd made” which Taylor decided to leave “because there was no one to hold me there.”

Taylor wonders if Nova can actually love him, but it seems to be a mute point as she’s “the only girl in town.” Nova’s physical reactions towards Taylor despite her inability to verbalize, do speak volumes as to her thoughts and feelings though.

Taylor is eventually brought before an ad-hoc tribunal hearing of the National Academy, presided over by its President, assisted by Maximus and Zaius, with Dr. Honorious as Deputy Minister of Justice, appearing for the state as its prosecutor. It soon becomes apparent as the proceedings progress that the hearing is little more than a kangaroo court with powers akin to an inquisition aimed at justifying a predetermined verdict.

Honorious begins by arguing that the “exhibit” Taylor being a human has no rights under ape law. Dr. Zira counters by stating, "he is unlike any man you have ever seen." Cornelius then modifies the argument by asking, "Is he a man, is he a deviate, or a freak of nature?" Dr. Zaius refocuses attention to what he sees as the real matter at hand, namely that "it is scientific heresy that is being tried here" with the implied threat that anyone defending "this animal" would be endangering their own career.

Taylor volunteers to defend himself, but is forcibly restrained and silenced whenever he tries to speak. Honorious declares that the case is “based on our first article of faith: That the almighty created the ape in his own image; that he gave him a soul and a mind; that he set him apart from the beasts of the jungle and made him the lord of the planet. These sacred truths are self-evident.” He then rails against the “perverted scientists who advance an insidious theory called evolution.”

One cannot help but be reminded of historical precedents where the quest for scientific truth and knowledge has clashed with the precepts of orthodoxy, doctrine, dogma and faith: Copernicus, Galileo, the 19th Century Creationism vs. Evolution theory debates and so on.

Honorious representing the state charges that Zira and surgeon Galen operated on “this wounded animal” and thus tampered with his brain and throat tissues to produce "a speaking monster." Zira objects and states that "not only can this man speak, he can think. He can reason."

As if from a scene taken from the Salem witch trials, Honorious proceeds to demonstrate that the notion of a speaking human is simply a hoax, by asking Taylor questions about Ape faith and culture that he simply cannot answer. This is then used as proof to demonstrate that Taylor cannot think.

Other questions are asked which seem to neatly match our own human arrogance when it comes to our perceived special status in the divine scheme of things from which non-human species are apparently barred: “Why do men have no souls? What is the proof that a divine spark exists in the simian brain?” Eternal questions that are unanswerable or are matters of faith rather than matters of earthly legality, notions of right and wrong, and the realm of fact, truth and evidence.

Taylor then decides to have Cornelius read his written statement concerning his arrival from a planet in a different solar system as a space explorer, and that he had two "intelligent companions" with him at the time of his capture.

The court later proceeds outside where a group of "creatures" that survived the hunt including Landon are gathered in a group. Taylor acknowledges Landon as possessing "kinship" with him, but it quickly becomes apparent that Landon cannot speak as he has been lobotomized. An outraged Taylor launches himself at Zaius screaming out, "You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon! You cut out his memory. You took his identity, and that's what you want to do to me." Taylor is quickly restrained before he can do any harm.

During the course of the proceedings, Cornelius affirmed that while “this creature cannot have come from another planet...this much is certain. He does come from somewhere in the Forbidden Zone” because he had accurately described it. Cornelius goes on to describe how he had found evidence a year ago of a simian culture that existed long before the sacred scrolls were written.

Zira adds that if the human had originated on their planet, she had found "no physiological defect to explain why humans are mute...Their speech organs are adequate. The flaw lies not in their anatomy, but in the brain." In a rather comically cute tableaux, the three tribunal officials assume the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" pose.

Cornelius concludes by referring to the human as being a "living paradox, this missing link in an evolutionary chain." This is too much for the court authorities who charge Zira and Cornelius with “contempt of this tribunal, malicious mischief, and scientific heresy.” The hearing is then adjourned until the fate of Taylor, Cornelius and Zira is decided.

Later on in his private chambers, Dr. Zaius commends Taylor for making it possible for the state "to expose Zira and Cornelius." He rather arrogantly states that “they'll soon be brought to trial for heresy” and that his “case was preordained.”

Taylor is then threatened with emasculation, followed by experimental surgery on the speech centers of his brain - “a kind of living death” unless…... Taylor cooperates by answering Zaius’ demand: "Tell me who and what you really are and where you came from, and no veterinary shall touch you....Where is your tribe?"

Taylor unsuccessfully tries to convince Zaius that he is from another planet, but is at least able to get him to acknowledge that he didn't think Taylor was a "monster created by Dr. Zira." Zaius refers to Taylor as being a mutant and believes that “where there's one mutant, there's probably another and another, a whole nest of them."

Taylor asks the most pertinent question concerning this whole nightmare situation: "Who are you? How in hell did this upside-down civilization get started?" There is however no answer forthcoming to this question yet. Zaius admits that he was aware Landon could talk, and had the lobotomy performed on him to prevent him from talking and keeping the knowledge of intelligent humans hidden from from the rest of ape society. Zaius also admits that he believes that Taylor and his "tribe" originated from the other side of the Forbidden Zone and demands to know about the possible existence of this other human civilization. Clearly fearful about the future consequences for Ape society, Zaius calls Taylor a problematic "menace, a walking pestilence." Taylor is given six hours to make a "full confession" about his origins – or Zaius will use surgery to obtain one. As Taylor is led away to his cage, he yells out to Zaius, "What are you afraid of, Doctor?"

Truth Revealed & Concealed

Lucius, Zira's rebellious teenage nephew helps Taylor escape from his cage by explaining to Julius the guard that Taylor is being transferred to the zoo. When Julius questions the authorization, Lucius with the help of Taylor, knocks the guard out and escapes. Taylor not surprisingly also insists on Nova being included in the escape bid.

Zira awaits the arrival of the fugitives with horses, supplies, and guns. Both Zira and Cornelius are also fugitives having been indicted for heresy. Taylor takes one of the guns for himself and defiantly declares that no one would be in charge of him from this point on. Cornelius leads the party in the direction of the Forbidden Zone, a 3-day trek across the desert, where Cornelius had performed an archaeological excavation a year earlier and had located artifacts. It is these artifacts, hopefully that will prove Zira and he is innocent of the heresy charges.

The Forbidden Zone: said to be a deadly quarantined area - "an

ancient taboo set forth in the sacred scrolls" that were written

1,200 years earlier.

After trekking across the desert the small party of fugitives eventually arrive at the dig site at a cave that overlooks a beach that faces the ocean. Suddenly, Dr. Zaius and an armed gorilla force arrive on horseback and declare the fugitives as being under arrest. Taylor, however threatens them with his gun and insists on their withdrawal which they comply with. Taylor then negotiates with Zaius with the condition that if Cornelius can prove his theory, Zaius will let him off his charges. Zaius agrees to this.

With Zaius as a hostage, the group enter the vast cave - "a fabulous treasure of fossils and artifacts" that possibly point to the existence of another culture maybe older even than the sacred scrolls.

On the lowest level of the diggings, Cornelius points out artifacts, ruins and bones from a civilization about 2,000 years old - a paradox however, "for the more ancient culture is the more advanced." Even more surprising and damning is the fact that "no trace of simian fossil has been found in this deposit."

Not surprisingly, Zaius remains unconvinced and retorts, "keep digging, Cornelius. You'll find evidence of the master of this house, an ape." Armed with the evidence of fragments of artifacts and the existence of a doll, Taylor declares that there were humans, and that although they were "a weak, fragile animal," they were present before the apes, "and he was better than you are." When handled by Nova, the human doll utters the word: "Mama, Mama." Taylor then asks, "Would an ape make a human doll that talks?"

Suddenly the sound of gunshots erupt from the beach outside the cave interrupting the discussion. The young hot-headed idiot Lucius has been overpowered but Taylor exercising his 2nd Amendment rights manages to spoil the day for a number of the gorilla hostiles. He then fakes an injury in order to draw Zaius out of the cave. The ruse works and Zaius is trapped and forced once again to order his gorilla soldiers to withdraw. Taylor then demands that he and Nova be allowed to escape with a horse, ammunition and a week's worth of supplies.

Taylor confronts Zaius with the seemingly inescapable truth that Cornelius' work does indeed prove the superiority of humans over apes. He proclaims that "man was here first. You owe him your science, your culture, whatever civilization you've got." As to the question why the humans didn’t survive? Taylor conjectures that it may have been due to "a plague, some natural catastrophe, a storm of meteors."

Even more to the point is that as "defender of the faith, guardian of the terrible secret" Zaius knew the truth all along. But why persist with such a charade? It may not be so much as to what it say as about the likes of Zaius and Ape society as it says about human civilization the preceded it. The answer is akin to holding up a mirror to the face of the human race with the underlying motive behind the concealment of the truth being based on fear:

29th scroll, the 6th verse, of the sacred scrolls where it is prophesied by the Lawgiver:

"Beware the beast man, for he is the devil's pawn. Alone among

God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will

murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not

breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home

and yours. Shun him... for he is the harbinger of death."

The writings of the scrolls provide a dire warning about man and the danger he presents. Zaius always knew that an intelligent human like Taylor would show up one day. Zaius admits that he doesn't really hate humans, but he does fear them - not for what they are, but for what they were. He explains that the Forbidden Zone was once a paradise, but it was destroyed by man long ago.

Full Circle

Nova and Taylor prepare to leave on horseback and follow the shoreline. After saying their goodbyes to Zira and Cornelius, Zaius admits, "I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand in hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him - even himself…” Taylor can’t understand why this has all come about on a planet where apes evolved from men, - "There's gotta be an answer." Zaius cryptically replies, "Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find."

As Nova and Taylor depart, Zaius orders his force not to pursue them and then arranges for explosives to be detonated to seal up the cave along with evidence of humans and their society. Without that evidence as proof to exonerate them, Zira and Cornelius would both stand trial for heresy. Zaius tells them that the destruction of that evidence may have just saved the future for all of them. He finally predicts that Taylor will soon find "his destiny."

Taylor and Nova ride down a beach shoreline somewhere in the Forbidden Zone but soon come to a halt upon seeing some kind of structure. Taylor dismounts and stares upward. We then have a view of him through a series of spikes protruding from something that is becoming gradually and uncomfortably familiar. Suddenly Taylor exclaims in shocked anguish: "Oh, my God! I'm back, I'm home. All the time, it was..." Dropping to his knees in defeated, bitter realization he continues: "We finally really did it"…. [Pounding his fist into the sand]……."You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!" As the camera pans backward, the spiked crown of a battered and corroded Statue of Liberty buried waist-deep in beach sand is revealed, a decayed tombstone marking humanity’s folly buried beneath the surface upon which Taylor pounds with an angry fist of grief.

Somewhere deep within his psyche, Taylor's knew something like this would have to come to pass as foreshadowed by his bitter reference to a tarnished and ruined statue of Landon and his mocking laughter at Landon's pathetic planting of a small American flag in the Forbidden Zone. And now Taylor is on his knees before the ruined Statue of Liberty in the former United States of America. A cruel cosmic joke perpetrated on him and the whole human race!

The bitter irony is that Taylor now realizes that he has been on Earth the whole time, and that Zaius was right about humanity destroying itself and apes becoming the dominant species.

[Fade to black]

Points Of Interest

The Franchise:

➢ Planet of the Apes (1968) (Original)

➢ Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

➢ Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

➢ Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

➢ Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

➢ CBS-TV's Planet of the Apes (1974) (TV series)

➢ Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975) (animated series)

➢ Planet of the Apes (2001) (Re-imagining by Tim Burton)(Charlton Heston and

Linda Harrison also appear in this film)

➢ Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) (prequel directed by Rupert Wyatt)

➢ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) (directed by Matt Reeves)

➢ War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) (directed by Matt Reeves)

Origins

Planet of the Apes was based somewhat on the 1963 French science fiction novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boule, with a script by The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling, and ex-blacklisted Michael Wilson. In Wilson's case, it may very well have been his being a target of the McCarthy era anti-communist blacklisting witch hunts that comes through powerfully in the kangaroo courtroom scene.

The script underwent many rewrites before filming eventually began. A major concern centered around the technologically advanced ape society of Serling's script which would have increased the cost of production requiring expensive sets, props, and special effects.

Producer Arthur P. Jacobs secured the rights to Pierre Boulle's 1963 book "La Planète des singes" before it was published in the English language. Boulle never thought they could make a movie out of it. I can see why as after reading the English version of the novel, I came away feeling I was reading a very stilted 19 th Century Jules Verne-style sci-fi story.

[Novel Spoilers!] In Pierre Boulle's novel, the spacecraft crew land on another planet some 350 light-years from Earth in orbit around the star Betelgeuse, which is in the constellation of Orion. Unlike the film version, the ape society is technologically on a par with mid-20th century Earth, with cities, automobiles, televisions and other technology left over from the planet's human population. The main character, Ulisse manages to escape from the ape authorities with Nova, and they return to Earth which has undergone the same evolutionary process. Ulisse and Nova flee Earth and leave a message in a bottle floating through space to warn off anyone else who might stumble across either planet. The bottle is eventually discovered by an old married couple named Jinn and Phyllis, who are….wait for it!….. chimpanzees. They dismiss the story, declaring that no human could be intelligent enough to write it.

Awards & Recognition

Two Academy Awards Oscar nominations for Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

Honorary Award presented to John Chambers for "outstanding makeup achievement." The film was at the time groundbreaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques. John Chambers' make-up effects were based on a technique he had used during World War II to give disfigured veterans a normal appearance. Chambers spent many hours observing apes at Los Angeles Zoo, taking note of their facial expressions.

Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) (Jerry Goldsmith).

Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.

In 2001, Planet of the Apes was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Location

Filming took place between May 21 and August 10, 1967, in California, Utah and Arizona, with desert sequences shot in and around Lake Powell (where the spaceship crash-lands in the lake,) Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The three astronauts' journey in their raft was filmed along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon.

The concluding beach scenes were filmed on a secluded stretch of California seacoast between Malibu and Oxnard. The cast, crew, film equipment, and horses had to be lowered in by helicopter to the beach due to its inaccessibility by foot.

Trials & Tribulations

One thing that can be said about the 21st century incarnations of the Planet of the Apes is thank goodness that technological developments have allowed the use of computer-generated ape faces to replace the rubber-latex masks (great work for the time!) used in the earlier films. Yes folks, not all CGI use is “bad.”

Back in the day….the actors began their day at 5am when eyebrows and sideburns were painted with a protective wax. The inside of the mask for the top half of the face was coated with adhesive and a make up artist would then glue it to the actor’s face. The ears, which made hearing difficult, were added. The actor's teeth were painted with black enamel and the 'chin' was put on. Finally four facial hairpieces (which were carefully woven onto the perimeter of the “facial appliance”) and a wig were fixed in place. The whole process took three hours and the actors often had to wear it for more than 12 hours a day! Just think about the actor who played the Frankenstein character in the recent award-winning Frankenstein adaption. His make up took 10 hour to apply and he endured this for over 400 hours during the course of filming!

The ape actors and extras had to wear their masks even during breaks and in between shots due to the amount of time required to make them up. Their meals also had to be liquefied and drunk through straws. The actors also had to eat their lunch in front of a mirror to monitor any changes to their make-up.

Kim Hunter apparently found the facial ape prosthetics so claustrophobic that she took a Valium each morning while being made up as Zira. By the end of several days, the spirit glue used in the facial appliances burned her skin. As a result she had to sleep with Vaseline on her face to avoid having a bright red rash each morning.

If all that wasn’t enough, the heat during the desert scenes at the opening of the film was so intense that many of the cast and crew fainted, including director Franklin J. Schaffner.

Charlton Heston certainly earned his paycheck as he spent much of his time being blasted with a water pressure hose, chased and pummeled by simians, running around half-naked and all the while feeling sick with the flu.

The Human Ape

After watching a film like Planet of the Apes, one cannot help but reflect on the human race itself. Human history both ancient and modern is filled with instances whereby powerful and influential elites jealous of preserving their positions and furthering their vested interests strive to shut down alternative views or actions that challenge their positions of power and the world view they wish to perpetuate and on which that power depends. This holds true for any human endeavor from politics; economics; culture; science; religion; environmental, gender and racial politics; and on and on.

What crime had Taylor actually committed? Nothing apart from what he represented and the threat his existence posed to the prevailing order of Ape society. Just take for purposes of comparison a couple of instances from modern history. One being the so-called ‘Great Train Robbery’ of the early 1960s, while the other being the disgraceful vendetta against Julian Assange for disclosing or publishing information hidden from the public under the guise of national security. In both cases, it was not so much the individual act or crime that the individuals concerned were pursued and punished for committing. It was rather what their actions represented: flipping a middle finger at the Establishment and posing a threat to the perceived power and integrity of the ruling elite.

In the film, Dr. Zaius recognized the danger that human beings would pose to his ape society. In our endeavors to extend our presence beyond the confines of our planet, it would not be surprising that any intelligent alien species would be hostile toward our presence in their galactic neighborhood given our propensity for violence, greed and sense of entitlement and proprietorship over anything that’s not nailed down. From our point of these intelligent alien entities could be seen as posing a threat to our various established political, economic, cultural and religious systems, not to mention the potential threat to humanity’s survival. Under such conditions ‘truth’ will be one of the first causalities.

It is becoming increasingly the case of late that we seek to view people and events in terms of absolutes: actions and ideas are seen as being either right or wrong, good or bad, black or white, true or false. In Planet of the Apes, such clearly defined distinctions don’t apply. So much depends on one’s point of view or perspective. The simian inhabitants of ape society appear to be quite callous and cruel in their attitudes and behavior toward human being. Bur not all them hold such attitudes. And what of the attitudes and behavior of human beings toward other species and toward members of its own species? Are we any better? It seems that any view of ape society is tantamount to holding up a mirror to ourselves. Despite our hubris and inflated sense of self-worth and superiority, we are after all not much more at heart than primitive apes with processing power, the kind of power that if we are not careful could wind up destroying our species. What will nature and the process of evolution choose to fill that little void with I wonder?

On A Lighter Note

During breaks in filming, the actors tended to segregate according to the different ape species they where made up to play. An interesting observation about primate behavior one might say!

The "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" shot was entirely ad-libbed on the set on the day of shooting which gave the film some sense of amusement within an otherwise serious sequence of events.

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The Power (1968)