Planet of the Apes

**Pamela Barnes** · 10-07-2005, 10:42 PM

I adore Planet of the Apes, the concept of the original movie was great. The Gorillias used to be so scary.

Then of course there was the TV series.

At the moment I am watching Battle for Planet of the Apes, apparently this was the last movie. So I have a couple of questions:

1. Do the movies all follow the same timeline. In this movie Cesar is in control but what era is he from. I know his parents were murdered and came from the future. So I am confused as to what Im watching in terms of the other movies and where its set in time.

2. Did the TV series come after all the movies? Which characters were featured in the series? The same as the movies?

Thanks

**ChrisSumnerMatheson** · 10-08-2005, 12:12 AM

From what I remember, the tv show had new characters and the cast was led by Roddy McDowell. I've never seen much of it, but I LOVE the original series. My favorite is definitely Escape From the Planet of the Apes. I definitely need to get the entire set on DVD.

**SnarkyOracle!** · 10-08-2005, 01:46 AM

The TV show was 1974, and I believe the fifth movie, "Battle for..." was '73.

I love the original--- I wonder if Heston even realized he was appearing in a movie that was really so subversive.

**sunshineboyuk** · 10-08-2005, 02:49 PM

Yes its deliciously ironic that racist , ignorant bigoted ole Heston - he is quite repulsive as a human being - starred in this fantastic tale with its themes of racism and human rights - a concept he has currently no understanding of...

It is highly doubtful that he did realise , such are his racist views on life ..... Perhaps he thought it was anti black , a white supremicist movie , thats more likely !Still I think its worth such a grotesque person as Heston being in this movie - and giving such a great performance - if the legacy is this stunning piece of cinema. It's perhaps more relevant now than ever....

As far as Im aware the time line of the original movies is pretty good and makes sense. I think Battle is set far in the future - Its the most violent movie and has a wonderful set and cinematography... There is a brilliant and thorough - and very long - docu on the movies on the dvd widescreen box set I have - Ill dig it out and check on the timeline....

How rubbish was the recent remake..... Too funny for words...Goes to show that its talent not technology that make a great movie...

**sunshineboyuk** · 10-08-2005, 02:51 PM

" From My Cold Dead Hands " Heston proclaimed at the NRA mob's gathering, no doubt an event Susan Howard also supporting...

Oh we can only wait and hope Charlie Boiiiiii

**Miss_Texas** · 10-08-2005, 03:40 PM

Tell us how you really feel about heston...............

**Pamela Barnes** · 10-08-2005, 04:00 PM

Yes, there was an atmosphere in these movies that the newer film didnt recreate. The old films managed to create this harsh enviornment, raw and edgy which was maintained thoughout all the movies. I always felt quite vulnerable watching them, unsafe. The music assisted this atmopshere, wonderful and the unpredictability of the community and culture of the Ape world.

**ChrisSumnerMatheson** · 10-09-2005, 02:08 AM

That new movie was a disaster. Definitely one of the worst remakes of all time. They did a terrible job casting that.

**Miss_Texas** · 10-09-2005, 02:13 AM

I think that having the humans talk in the new one wasn't a good move. It was important to the storyline.

**SnarkyOracle!** · 10-09-2005, 03:19 AM

Originally Posted by Pamela

Yes, there was an atmosphere in these movies that the newer film didnt recreate. The old films managed to create this harsh enviornment, raw and edgy which was maintained thoughout all the movies. I always felt quite vulnerable watching them, unsafe. The music assisted this atmopshere, wonderful and the unpredictability of the community and culture of the Ape world.

That seems to be, in part, a 60s thing... I've noticed ever since I was a kid that films that had a sci-fi theme, or a horror/thriller theme, or were intended to be an epic, that were made in the 60s just seem to a quality about them that somehow makes them bigger than their borders.

Horror films felt more chilling--- inherently, eerily supernatural, even when the plot was not, technically, supernatural; epics had a forlorn sense of "size" that seemed to surpass even the most elaborate CB DeMille films of earlier decades; and sci-fi pictures really did have a futuristic "feel" to them that's diffucult to delineate, but seems undeniably there.

The zeitgeist of the times, I suppose.

Even though I wasn't a fan, even silly shlock like the original TV version of "Star Trek", despite its fuzzy philosophy and papier mache sets, felt strangely more "futuristic" in mood than far-higher budgeted, better-written science fiction efforts from subsequent years.

**SnarkyOracle!** · 10-09-2005, 03:20 AM

Originally Posted by sunshineboyuk

It is highly doubtful that he did realise , such are his racist views on life ..... Perhaps he thought it was anti black , a white supremicist movie , thats more likely !...

Too funny...

**PamelaE** · 10-09-2005, 09:29 AM

Yes you are right about the era of film. Have you seen the Omega men? Again with Heston. Another chilling reality.

Maybe thats part of the problem. Films now strive to be slick and 'intelligent', whereas before they just were due to writing. In the Ape films there really was a feeling of 'it could happen'.

But if someone could let me know the timeline I would appreciate it. The reason I ask is because from my understanding the first Movie is set well in Earths future, and then we have the Apes coming to Earth in an earlier time zone where they get shot and then their son survives. So I'm not clear if this is more or less explaining how the Apes came into being. Which would mean the first movies didnt happen. Because the two apes travel back in time and die but their son starts the ape vs man thing. So in a sense they created the ape world and being killed in the past means they were not alive in the future.

**SnarkyOracle!** · 10-09-2005, 09:41 AM

"Omega Man"--- I dont think I've seen it since the 70s... And it's been mucho-years since I've seen the other "Ape" movies, except for the first one (of which I own a copy).

**Seaviewer** · 10-10-2005, 07:09 AM

There are a number of inconsistencies between the films which give rise to some alternate theories but the basic time line is this.

The first movie takes place in (from memory) 3975. I'm assuming everyone here has seen it and knows that the ending reveals that it was Earth all the time following a nuclear holocaust.

Beneath starts immediately after the first one but the date is given as 3995 - one of those inconsistencies that you can either ignore or debate for hours.

The Earth is destroyed at the end of Beneath but Escape reveals that Cornelius, Zira and a chimp scientist named Milo took off in Taylor's recovered spaceship just before that happened. They wind up two thousand years in the past in 1973. All are eventually killed but not before Zira gives birth to a baby named after Milo.

Conquest takes place some twenty years later in the 1990s. Baby Milo has grown up and taken the name Caesar and becomes the leader of an ape rebellion - setting in motion the events which will lead to future we have already seen. The question of whether and how Caesar can be his own ancestor is another of those debating points.

The main story of Battle takes place shortly after but the framing sequences are set much later. The ending leaves open the possibility that it may be possible for human and ape to live peacefully and the cataclysm could be averted.

The TV series takes place either after the last movie or before the first depending on how you look at it. Humans have not yet devolved to the point of animals and are used as slaves. Two astronauts from our time (1974) crash there and become the subjects of an ongoing Fugitive style chase by the ape authorities.

**Pamela Barnes** · 10-10-2005, 07:21 AM

That explains why in Battle the wise ape says that there are different timelines with different endings & consequences.

So in theory the first movies didnt happen.

**Seaviewer** · 10-12-2005, 06:32 AM

Well, another way to look at is that the timeline starts in 1973 with Escape. Then it's an open question as to whether the first two are the future or not.

**sunshineboyuk** · 10-12-2005, 10:17 PM

One alternate timeline finds Heston confused and slightly heavier than we have previously seen him - and why not? - and with some kind of knee/leg injury struggling remember who he is and where he has come from.

Everywhere he turns he see's humans talking but he cannot comprehend what they are saying , why they are saying it or indeed who he is. At first he feels comfortable in this all white environment - naturally - but then he see's flashes of a strange alien world where everything is filtered and pink. It is a frightening , spooky and eeire piece. I got was quite scared during this tale of ape trickery and illusion.
He only begins to suspect that apes are behind every corner when a weird old lady starts to remind him , slowly ,as she chatters and mimicks human form of the ape world from which he came.
Debate still rages furiously on fan forums as to the exact time line and subversive meaning behind this piece but I applaud the production team for their time twisting tale.

Has anyone else seen it? Its called The Colbys....

**ChrisSumnerMatheson** · 10-14-2005, 12:16 PM

Sci Fi is showing an 8 episode marathon today. I've already set my DVR to record it! Can't wait to see how the tv show holds up with the movies.

**david1987** · 10-20-2005, 11:12 AM

the original films are great, but the remake was rubbish - suddenly apes can fly??? i'd like to see the tv series, although it must be set in alternate universe since the astronauts in it were sent after Taylor and the other guy, but the planet had been blown up already.

**Seaviewer** · 10-21-2005, 03:13 PM

They left later but arrived earlier. It all makes a nice circular story if you choose to see it that way.

Thread: Planet of the Apes

Thread Tools

Rate This Thread

Display

Planet of the Apes

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions