All language subtitles for Behind the Planet of the Apes (Kevin Burns & David Comtois, 1998).english

(Roddy McDowall)
This is Malibu Creek State Park...

...located near the city of Los Angeles.

All of this once belonged...

...to one of Hollywood's biggest and most
prestigious studios: Twentieth Century Fox.

Nicknamed "The Fox Ranch"...

...it was home to some of the most
memorable motion pictures ever made.

But in 1968, this location was used
for a very different kind of film.

Produced during one of the most
turbulent periods in our nation's history...

...it explored religious,
social and political themes...

...and managed to be wildly
entertaining at the same time.

World gone insane.

Upside-down civilisation.

Take your stinking paws off me,
you damn dirty ape!

The only good human is a dead human!

My God, it's a city of apes!

Now! Fight like apes!

It's a madhouse!

Planet of the Apes spawned four sequels,
two television series...

...and a mountain of merchandise.

It became a cultural phenomenon.

And it started as the vision of two men.

A French novelist named Pierre Boulle...

...and a Hollywood film producer
named Arthur P Jacobs.

Born in 1922, Arthur Jacobs began his career
as a messenger at MGM in the 1940s.

Energetic, forceful and full of ideas...

...he soon found himself working
in their publicity department.

A master of promotion, he was
eventually lured away by Warner Bros.

But Arthur wanted control of his own destiny.

In 1949, he left Warners
to form his own public relations firm...

...and within two years his client roster
included such high-profile celebrities as...

...Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart...

...Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn helped Jacobs make the transition
from publicist to producer in the early 1960s.

She agreed to star in a film he was
developing called What a Way To Go.

But, before production could begin,
Marilyn Monroe died on August 5th, 1962.

Arthur had lost his star,
but not his determination.

(wolf whistle)

(trailer) Hi, folks! In case
you didn't know it, that's a girl - all girl.

Yeah! Shirley MacLaine.

Jacobs got his movie made.

The film became one of Fox's
top moneymakers of 1964.

Arthur's reputation as a skilful,
creative producer was assured.

Just after the film's release,
Fox studio head, Richard Zanuck...

...showed his appreciation by agreeing
to finance another Jacobs project...

...called Dr Dolittle.

Starring Rex Harrison,
the film featured original songs...

...dazzling special effects,
hundreds of extras...

...and a large supporting cast
of trained animals.

The first film in which a human being -
myself - actually talks to animals.

It was during Dolittle's lengthy
preproduction phase...

...that Arthur approached Zanuck
with an idea for another motion picture.

It, too, played with the concept
of talking to the animals, but...

...in a much more serious way.

It was called Planet of the Apes.

In 1963, Jacobs had acquired the rights
to a novel entitled La Planete Des singes...

...or The Monkey Planet...

...by one of France's
most acclaimed authors, Pierre Boulle.

La Planete Des singes...

...told the story of three astronauts
who travel to an alien world...

...where man is a primitive beast,
dominated by a race of superintelligent apes.

Jacobs read the book shortly before
its official publication...

...and quickly purchased the screen rights.

He felt that the concept
would make for a visually intriguing...

...highly original motion picture.

But Boulle disagreed.

He considered the novel one of his lesser
works, with no potential for screen success.

During the next few months,
Jacobs commissioned sketches...

...depicting his concept
of the apes' strange, alien world.

Seven different artists worked on
various concepts as the story evolved.

He prepared a merchandising book
for Planet of the Apes...

...like nothing I have seen before or since.

It was about 130 pages of ideas.

And that's what Arthur was - an idea man.
And he was marvellous at it.

(Roddy McDowall)
Jacobs also contacted Rod Sterling...

...a prolific writer, most famous for his highly
acclaimed Twilight Zone television series.

Intrigued by Boulle's novel,
Sterling began adapting it into a screenplay.

But the challenge
proved harder than anticipated.

After nearly a year,
he completed more than 30 drafts.

With paintings and script in hand...

...Jacobs spent the next year pitching
Planet of the Apes to all of the major studios.

But everywhere he went,
he was met with the same response:

No.

Rejected and ridiculed...

...Jacobs reached back to his roots
as a publicist.

He knew that only one thing got Hollywood
executives excited about a project.

A star.

On June 5th, 1965,
Arthur made an appointment...

...with one of the most respected
and powerful actors in Hollywood:

Charlton Heston, a veteran of blockbusters
like The Ten Commandments...

...and an Academy Award winner
for his performance in Ben Hur.

I was approached by Arthur Jacobs with
Pierre Boulle's novel Planet of the Apes...

...and a remarkable series of paintings of
scenes in the picture that Arthur envisioned.

And it attracted me. I liked the idea of talking
monkeys and the different civilisation...

...and it was simply
a marvellous idea for a movie.

(Roddy McDowall) Heston also recommended
a director, Franklin Schaffner...

...having just finished
a film with him called The War Lord.

(Charlton Heston) So Arthur already had two
key ingredients - a lead actor and a director.

And he would go from studio to studio
and they would say...

..."What are you talking about?
Spaceships? Talking monkeys?"

"You're outta your mind!
That's Saturday-morning serials!"

(Roddy McDowall)
Their reluctance isn't hard to imagine.

Looks like the real thing.

Up to that time, actors in ape costumes...

...were more often found
in low-budget B-pictures...

...and tended to be
more laughable than believable.

But, despite the obstacles...

...Jacobs persevered.

Finally Richard Zanuck, who then ran Fox,
having just taken it over from his father...

...said "You know,
let's have a meeting on this."

(Zanuck) I'd made a picture, too,
with Arthur at that time...

...and we signed him
to a multiple-picture deal.

So he presented the script, which needed
a lot of work, with these sketches...

...and gave me a small pitch on it...

...and I read it over the weekend
and was captivated by it.

But I had some reservations.

Dick Zanuck said "These monkeys, they're
really gonna be actors, right? In makeup?"

"Not real monkeys."
We said "Well, sure, of course."

And he said "What if
people laugh at the makeups?"

You know,
it could be some very humorous idea...

...if not done properly.

And I asked him...

...to make this test.

(Roddy McDowall) On March 8th, 1966, Arthur
and his team went to Fox and shot the test.

We erected a jury-rigged set.

The whole test cost $5,000...

...which was the limit Dick would give us.

Good evening, Mr Thomas.

Feeling fine, I hope?

Considering I've been kept in a cage
for six weeks, I'm fine. Yes.

Good.

The test featured Charlton Heston...

...and Hollywood legend Edward G Robinson
as the orangutan leader, Dr Zaius.

Man here is an animal.

Man here was an animal.
He had no civilisation.

He wore no clothes, he thought
no thoughts, he spoke no language.

Just a few feet from this tent,
you found a cemetery.

Built and filled by a civilised race.

A race which, according to you, never got
beyond a crawl and a couple of grunts.

You found more than a cemetery, Doctor.
You found a question.

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
The ape or the man?

Dr Xaius? You'd better take a look at this.

We found it in some kind of artificial shaft.

Look closely and you might
recognise James Brolin...

...playing the chimpanzee Cornelius.

What do you think you've found,
Mr Cornelius?

Not found, Doctor. Lost.
And I'm afraid that would be a birthright.

Mama!

Mama!

They had a language.

While we swung from trees...

...they had a language.

Well, you were right, Mr Thomas.
We have uncovered a question.

Now we must unearth an answer.

If man had a civilisation here,
what happened to it?

You'd better go and supervise
the preparations for our departure.

(Roddy McDowall)
The makeup was the work of Ben Nye...

...the head of Fox's makeup department.

Although primitive, it did the trick.

It proved that...

...the idea could work. It wasn't laughable.

(Roddy McDowall) After screening the test,
Zanuck gave Jacobs the green light...

...he had long been waiting for.

Planet of the Apes would, at last,
become a reality.

Planet of the Apes was scheduled
to begin filming in the spring of 1967...

...leaving the filmmakers
with only seven months to prepare...

...an uncomfortably short time
for such an ambitious production.

Although there was still some
dissatisfaction with the script...

...everyone agreed that the biggest challenge
was the ape makeup.

Ben Nye's test had been a good start...

...but a makeup artist was needed
with experience in prosthetics...

...lightweight latex appliances that could be
moulded and used for long periods of time.

A call went out, and the man
who answered it was John Chambers.

Chambers was a former World War Two
medical technician...

...who had begun his career
working in a veterans' hospital...

...designing prosthetic limbs and
facial restorations for injured soldiers.

In the early 1950s, he moved to California...

...believing his unique skills
would prove a valuable asset...

...to the newly emerging television industry.

His skill with prosthetics soon put him
at the top of his profession.

Within a decade, he was developing creature
makeups for shows like...

...The Munsters, The Outer Limits...

...and Lost in Space.

He even designed Mr Spock's famous ears
for the Star Trek television series.

Chambers was innovative, clever and quick.

Skills that would be put to the test...

...when he began working on
Planet of the Apes in January 1967.

The task was formidable.

Chambers had to design appliances...

...that could turn over 200 human beings
into walking, talking apes...

...do it for under $1 million...

...and make it happen
in less than four months.

When I saw the test film,
I thought it was very good...

...for what they had just tried offhand...

...without any experimenting.

When you do people like that...

...you have to be very careful that
you don't make the audience laugh at you...

...but laugh along with you.

(Roddy McDowall) With Fox's makeup lab
at his disposal, Chambers got down to work.

The first order of business
was to solve the technical challenges.

The makeup needed to suggest
realistic mouth movements.

The appliances worked more
with the facial muscles...

...showing the animation through the...

...actor creating
the over-extensive smile or talk.

(Roddy McDowall) Surrounding himself
with talented artists and newcomers...

...Chambers worked around the clock.

And extras were hired just to sit in
for numerous makeup tests.

Arthur Jacobs called me one day and he said
"We're not gettin' anywhere."

"We gotta get goin'."
He said "See if you can help those guys."

I said "Anybody ever thought of...

...actually looking at an ape?"

He said "Yeah. If you think you can
get us an ape, we'd love to see it."

So I went back to Arthur
and I said "They need an ape."

He said "Get 'em one."

The next day I walk into makeup with
a chimpanzee, and these guys went crazy!

(Roddy McDowall) Next, design choices were
made to differentiate various types of apes.

Chimps, who were sympathetic
to man in the story...

...were made to look
a little more human in appearance.

The gorillas represented the ape military...

...and were given faces much fiercer
than their real-life counterparts.

And the aristocratic orang-outangs
were given a more noble visage.

What Chambers was creating for
Planet of the Apes was not only ingenious...

...it was breaking new ground.

The actors actually were able to express
emotion through those makeups.

It's kinda tough.
And John Chambers made it work.

While John Chambers laboured
on the makeup design...

...Arthur Jacobs turned his attention
to the script.

Rod Serling's screenplay had remained
faithful to the original novel...

...and depicted
a technologically advanced society.

But the production team began to fear
that the apes were too evolved.

Futuristic helicopters and cars
would be too expensive to film.

The early designs were
very high-tech civilisation...

...which meant you had to design all kinds
of special vehicles and so on. And buildings.

And Frank said
"I don't have enough budget as it is."

He said "Why don't we say
it's a very primitive society...

...and they use horse and wagons
and very primitive buildings?"

And that's what we did.

(Roddy McDowall) After deciding on a more
rustic and cost-efficient ape society...

...Jacobs contacted
screenwriter Michael Wilson.

Wilson was an Academy Award winner
who had earlier collaborated...

...on the screen adaptation of Pierre Boulle's
The Bridge on the River Kwai.

(Mort Abrahams) Mike Wilson did a rewrite
which was very close to being right.

We were already dealing
with a science fiction... central idea.

And I had learned, because I'd done
a lot of science fiction things on television...

...that you cannot present too many...
science fiction ideas...

...and have them work,
unless you had characters.

Believable human...
or characters with human responses.

And we couldn't contain all the science
fiction that Pierre had envisioned.

And we had to simplify it.

(Roddy McDowall) As it took shape...

...production designer William Creber began
designing the more primitive ape society.

I needed to come up with some
ape unearthly architecture...

...and so I looked at all the books I could find
of... you know, to be inspired.

And I found in Turkey there's
a troglodyte city carved into a mountain.

And I liked the shapes and that was
a very strange place. And that was it.

It was like "That's what we're gonna do.
I don't know how."

But we had our meeting with the director
and Arthur and they said "Yeah!"

(Roddy McDowall)
With the start of filming drawing near...

...the production was hit by the unexpected
loss of actor Edward G Robinson.

Voicing concerns over
the lengthy makeup process...

...he decided to withdraw
from the role of Dr Zaius.

When we got to make the picture and
we said "Eddy, we gotta have a go"...

...he said "Guys, I can't do it."

He said "My heart's shot."
He said "I'm too old."

And he said "That makeup
just drove me crazy."

He said "I couldn't possibly do that,
day after day." He said "I gotta pass."

(Roddy McDowall)
Studio executives were also concerned...

...this time over the film's escalating budget.

On April 28th, only three weeks
before filming was set to begin...

...the studio cut the production's
55-day shooting schedule by ten days.

All aspects of the production were affected...

...with the exception of the makeup
and wardrobe budget...

...which remained at almost
one million dollars.

Jacobs and the studio finally settled
on a budget of $5.8 million.

And, on May 21st, 1967...

...Planet of the Apes
went before the cameras...

...and Hollywood history
was about to be made.

In less than an hour we'll finish
our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy.

The earth has aged nearly 700 years
since we left it.

While we've aged hardly at all.

Seen from out here, space is... boundless.

It squashes a man's ego.

I feel lonely.

I leave the 20th century with no regrets.
But... one more thing:

Does man, that marvel of the universe, that
glorious paradox who sent me to the stars...

...still make war against his brother?

Following a prologue establishing
the character of astronaut George Taylor...

...the film's opening sequence
depicted a dramatic spaceship crash.

Striving for realism,
Franklin Schaffner and William Creber...

...came up with a simple
yet effective visual approach.

I convinced Frank to do it subjective...

...as though you were looking out
the front of the spaceship.

A whole montage
of kind of tumbling, crashing.

You just see the hurtling at the water.

And then the screen goes black,
and when it comes up...

...the camera pulls back,
you're inside the spaceship.

She's sinking! Dodge! Read the atmosphere.

(Roddy McDowall)
To show the astronauts' escape...

...a full-size mock-up of the ship's nose
section was constructed out of plywood.

It was 24 feet long or longer, and we took that
to Lake Powell and I anchored it in the lake.

Blow the hatch!

Abandon ship!

So those scenes with the guys
comin' out of it, we rigged it all.

They could get inside and jump off of it.

It was in 300 feet of water.

(Roddy McDowall) A miniature
and a detailed matte painting...

...were used for the shots of the sinking ship.

Going.

Going.

Gone.

OK, we're here to stay.

(Roddy McDowall)
The first sequences to actually be filmed...

...depicted the surviving astronauts'
trek across a desert wilderness.

They were shot in a remote area surrounding
the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona...

...by director of photography Leon Shamroy.

The location was desolate and treacherous.

Camera and sound equipment arrived
by helicopter, foot and mule-pack team.

Jeff Burton, who played astronaut Dodge,
fainted from the heat...

...which often reached 120 degrees.

You're no seeker.

You thought life on Earth was meaningless.
You despise people.

So what did you do? You ran out.

No, no. It's not like that, Landon.

I'm a seeker too.

But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help
thinking somewhere in the universe...

...there has to be something
better than man. Has to be.

(Mort Abrahams) At the beginning of the film,
little figures move across the landscape.

The shooting went for days and days.

I said "Frank, why are you so particular
about the opening sequence?"

He said "It sets the mood, the tone
and the objective of the film."

We're going.
We don't know where we're going.

We have no idea of what's going to happen.

Scarecrows?

Let's see.

And that sets the body of the film.

To hell with the scarecrows!

(Roddy McDowall) Most of the filming was
at the Fox Ranch, where this scene was shot.

- Whoo-Hoo!
- Hey! Yay! Yay!

This swimming hole was originally
created for Arthur Jacobs' Dr Dolittle.

But the waterfall was enhanced
for this production...

...courtesy of two dozen
carefully hidden fire hoses.

Taylor, look!

Obviously the intent here was to show
the astronauts from the touchdown...

...very gradually going into the green area.

(Taylor) They look more or less human
but I think they're mute.

The logistics were tough.
For example, we had to grow a field.

The location we selected on the ranch
was perfectly equipped to grow corn.

If this is the best they've got around here,
in six months we'll be running this planet.

(William Creber)
Franklin wanted the corn six feet high.

(roaring)

We had, like, ten weeks.

We had sprinklers, you know,
goin' 24 hours a day watering it.

And we'd fertilise the whole field
with special fertiliser and, you know...

...everything to pump this stuff up
because of the amount of time we had.

And about three days before shooting,
we had eight feet.

So I went back to Franklin Schaffner
on the set.

I said "Hey, Frank, we got the corn. It's
gonna be eight feet." He said "I said six feet."

And I said "What do you want me to do?"
He says "Mow it at six feet"...

...you know, then smiled and puffed his cigar.
That was his sense of humour.

He destroyed that field of corn.

(Roddy McDowall) The cornfield hunt
offered one of the most powerful...

...and disturbing sequences.

That sequence really had to grip you...

...and convince you right away
what you were gonna see...

...was going to be extraordinary...

...was going to be shocking, was going to be
unlike anything you'd ever seen before.

I knew right away we'd made
the right decision with Schaffner...

...when I saw how he was shooting
that sequence. He hit it.

(Roddy McDowall) Helping to create
an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere...

...was the experimental music score
composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Goldsmith utilised unusual instruments,
like metal mixing bowls...

...a ram's horn...

...and a Brazilian cuica,
which could recreate eight vocalisations.

At the conclusion of the hunt...

...Taylor is taken captive.

- Smile.
- (all chuckle)

Now a prisoner of the apes...

...Taylor attempts to make contact
with a sympathetic female chimpanzee...

...named Dr Zira.

Well, Bright Eyes. ls our throat feeling better?

That Bright Eyes is remarkable.

He keeps trying to form words.

You know what they say.
Human see, human do.

Zira was played by Kim Hunter...

...best known for her Academy
Award-winning performance as Stella...

...in A Streetcar Named Desire.

My agent sent me a copy of the script...

...wanted to know whether I was interested,
should he pursue it.

And I thought it was fascinating.

Eventually it came through and they flew me
out to LA for the costume tests.

So I figured I'd be going
to the costume department, right?

No. Went to John Chambers' department.

And I couldn't believe it. What we had
to go through to get all of that on.

It took about five hours, the first time.

Not only in appliances,
but all the other stuff that went with it.

The wig. We had fur on our hands.

I had to wear brown nail polish.

The only thing that was not covered
in some way or another were my eyeballs.

We then, you know, did tests
out in front of camera.

People asked me a lot "As an actress, didn't
it bother you that they couldn't see you?"

Well, they saw the character I was playing.
That's all I care about.

Julius!

I loved the character - Dr Zira.

- I told you what you'd get!
- Julius, don't hurt him!

And I thought the script had much to say.

Julius!

Everybody seems afraid around those
creatures that are different from us.

Natural-born thieves, aren't they?

Zira, as a psychologist, of course,
was interested in finding out about them.

Get me a collar and leash.

(Roddy McDowall) Another leading
ape role was that of Cornelius...

...Zira's archaeologist husband.

What about your theory?

The existence of someone
like Taylor might prove it.

Do you want to get my head chopped off?

A missing link between
the unevolved primate...

- ...and the ape.
- (Taylor bangs table)

- Touchy, isn't he?
- Hm.

"I am not a missing link."

Well, if he were a missing link, the sacred
scrolls wouldn't be worth their parchment.

Well, maybe they're not.

(laughs) Oh, no, thank you.
I'm not going to get into that battle.

(Roddy McDowall) Jacobs personally
offered me the part of Cornelius...

...on a plane flight back from London.

I accepted immediately,
intrigued by the technical challenge...

...of acting inside the elaborate ape makeup.

I remember Roddy McDowall saying that
the trick for acting behind those makeups...

...was to overact with your face.

Then it would bleed through the makeup.

(Kim Hunter) If we didn't
keep the appliances moving...

...they began to look like masks.

I got very used to
making them move all the time.

We were doing all kinds of crazy things with
our face all the time, to keep them moving.

Roddy and I had to kiss.
And we had no sense of feeling.

We had to really work hard to make it look
as if we were properly kissing each other...

...without squishing the appliances.

Cornelius!

Man has no understanding.

He can be taught a few simple tricks.
Nothing more.

To suggest that we can learn anything
about the simian nature...

...from the study of man is sheer nonsense.

(Roddy McDowall) One of the pivotal
ape characters in the film was Dr Zaius...

...the elder orangutan statesman.

Inheriting the role
after Edward G Robinson's departure...

...was the noted Shakespearean stage
and screen actor, Maurice Evans.

(Richard Xanuck) People said
"Why spend all the money on the actors?"

"You never see their faces."

To be convincing...

...and for the idea to work,
we had to have great actors.

People weren't expecting
for a science fiction picture...

...to find that kind of talent.

And I think that was surprising
and impressive to audiences.

And it certainly lent
to the credibility of the piece.

You hear their voices, and it's their delivery.
That was the key - unmistakable. Voices.

Man is a nuisance.

He eats up his food supplies in the forest...

...then migrates to our green belts
and ravages our crops.

The sooner he is exterminated the better.

The role of Taylor...

...was one of the most physically
demanding of Charlton Heston's career.

In Planet of the Apes he's running around
half-naked half the time.

He's getting beaten up by gorillas.

He's burned, he's almost lobotomised,
castrated, almost killed.

Charlton Heston is not having
his best day on Planet of the Apes.

If you look at a lot
of Charlton Heston's earlier films...

...he's often playing
these larger-than-life characters.

And he's a tremendous hero
and vision of strength.

But in Planet of the Apes,
all that's out the window...

and the audience's
point of identification changed.

The Charlton Heston hero,
who used to be counted on to win the day...

...all of a sudden is
in a much more precarious position.

(ape screams)

So there's this sense of things aren't as
secure and stable as we thought they were.

(gunshot)

Actors should be able
to accept the circumstances...

...the premises of
whatever project they're doing.

But it was a very unusual
acting challenge. Painful.

So I could run apparently barefoot -

they had rubber booties
that were moulded to be feet -

and that protected me from thorns.

We were doing some stuff
where I'm running through the shrubbery...

...and people are throwing things at me.

And I said to Joe Canutt, who doubled me...

..."Would you mind just doing these last
couple of run-throughs?" He says "No."

I said "What do you mean?" He said "You've
been working all afternoon in poison ivy."

And so I was! He says
"You'll notice it tomorrow." And I did!

(Roddy McDowall) Exhausted
by the relentless schedule...

...and subjected to
extremes in temperature...

...Heston came down with a bad case of the flu
just before shooting this scene.

Fortunately, the actor's hoarse voice
actually enhanced his performance.

- Taylor! Why did you run away?
- Security police.

I'm in charge of this man.

He is in the custody
of the ministry of science.

Take your stinking paws off me...

...you damn dirty ape!

No one'll listen to me.

Only you.

You.

Nova.

You... Nova.

No...

Yeah. Me Tarzan, you Jane.

(Roddy McDowall) The role of Nova,
Taylor's mate, went to lovely Linda Harrison.

Linda, a former beauty queen...

...had made an appearance
in the original Apes test film as Zira.

I was under contract at Fox and...

...I was also dating the head of the studio,
Richard Zanuck.

And he said "I think there might be
a part for you in it."

So I eventually got the part of Nova.

Everybody that was involved in it...

...they all realised that I was a neophyte.

I was, like, 21 years old.
So they kind of took me under their wing.

Since I hadn't done acting that much,
I think I went instinctively with her.

I thought about animal instincts.

The way she would move and react
would be more like an animal would react...

...more from fear...

Where are you taking her?

...and would seem to be
what the director wanted.

Damn you! You hairy scum!

Shut up, you freak!

- Julius, you...
- I said shut up!

It's a madhouse!

A madhouse!

(Roddy McDowall)
The Ape City and its surroundings...

...were constructed on the Fox Malibu ranch.

Urethane foam was just getting started
in the film business...

...and to be able to spray this foam
in shapes and carve it.

So we dreamed up a system...

...where we would sculpt the building
out of pencil-rod metal and weld it all up.

And then we would cover the building with
cardboard and then get inside that structure...

...and spray the foam against the cardboard
and let it set up...

...and then peel the cardboard off so it left
this sort of cement, but in these odd forms.

And I remember coming across an article
by MIT a year or two later...

...how they'd come up with this system,
and we'd already put it in the movies.

Do you acknowledge kinship
with any of these creatures?

- With one of them, yes.
- Identify him, then. Speak to him.

Landon?

Landon.

You did it.

You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!

(president) Stop him!

Comparative to the makeup for the apes...

...there were other
makeup challenges on this film.

Take him inside!

They're small things, but I wanted
to make sure they were realistic.

For instance, there was this one astronaut.
The apes took him and gave him a lobotomy.

I went to my medical histories
and books of surgery.

And I knew what the lobotomy scars
looked like. Minor things like that.

Small, but done right.

(Roddy McDowall) But it was the ape makeup
that created the biggest logistical problems.

Up to 80 makeup artists, hairstylists
and wardrobe personnel...

...were required for scenes
involving as many as 200 apes.

The number of craftsman utilised resulted
in other Hollywood films being delayed...

...due to the unavailability
of qualified makeup artists.

The principal actors
got new appliances every day.

So I taught everyone
how to run the foam rubber.

I had 'em workin' night and day
for some weeks...

...to run enough rubber
so we had enough to go around.

(Roddy McDowall)
Eventually the makeup process...

...which had originally taken up to six hours...

...was streamlined to a mere three.

But I had people
that I had trained in my laboratory...

...and it flowed just like an assembly line.

They knew what they were doing.

(Roddy McDowall) Actors had refrigerated
trailers to preserve appliances between shots.

We had to be very careful. In those days,
of course, many people smoked.

And so we were all presented
with cigarette holders...

...to keep the cigarettes
far enough away from us.

And had to look into the mirror as we ate
so we didn't destroy the appliances at lunch.

(John Chambers) The actor's chin
would pop loose if it was overworked.

So we used to say,
when lunch would come...

..."Don't get any hard foods that you have
to chew. Get milkshakes, soft foods."

And when they'd come back from lunch...

...the lower chin'd be layin' down,
and there was a...

...a sac in there, you know - a space.

And there would be peas and carrots in 'em.

I didn't mind. It didn't take much time
to put 'em back on.

(Roddy McDowall) Many on the set noticed
another unusual lunchtime occurrence.

There was kind of a self-segregation.
The gorillas would all eat at one table...

...the chimpanzees would eat at another,
and the orangutans would eat at another.

I have no explanation for that whatsoever.
But it was true.

The gorillas sort of hung together
and the chimps did and...

I didn't really talk to Maurice Evans much,
as a matter of fact...

...while we were on the set together.

And I knew him fairly well but...
he was an orangutan. One of those others.

The actors were never conscious of it.

They just drifted to their companions.
To their...

To the same...

...groupings as in the film.

Fascinating.

(Roddy McDowall) Ironically, the issues
of class separation and prejudice...

...are one of the film's main themes.

You promised to speak to Dr Xaius about me.

I did. You know how
he looks down his nose at chimpanzees.

The ape's society is given
a distinct class structure.

The orangutans are the politicians.

Learned judges, my case is simple.

It is based on our first article of faith.

That the Almighty created the ape
in his own image.

The chimpanzees are the scientists
and intellectuals.

I discovered evidence...

...of a simian culture that existed
long before the sacred scrolls were written.

The gorillas are the labourers
and the military enforcers.

It was an allegorical device...

...used by the filmmakers to make some
pointed observations about human society.

Why are all apes created equal?

Some apes, it seems,
are more equal than others.

Michael Wilson said
the key point of Planet of the Apes...

...was that it was more about
the human predicament than about apes.

When Wilson wrote
the final Planet of the Apes script...

...he brought much more of a political edge
to it, reflecting his own experience:

being blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

The question is: have you ever been
a member of the Communist Party?

You refuse to answer that question?

- I have told you that I will...
- All right.

- Stand away from the stand.
- ...fight for the Bill of Rights...

Take this man away from the stand.

- My name is Taylor!
- Bailiff! Silence the animal!

Probably the best example of Wilson's
political perspective is the trial scene...

...where basically it's an inquisition that's held
against Zira and Cornelius and Taylor.

By your leave, Mr President...

...this tribunal has not yet defined
the purpose for this inquiry.

At the very least, this man has the right to
know whether there's a charge against him.

The accused is a non-ape
and therefore has no rights under ape law.

Then why is he called the accused?

Your Honours must think him
guilty of something.

Let us warn our friends...

...that they endanger their own careers
by defending this animal.

(Richard Xanuck) I saw this
more as an adventure piece.

I didn't see it as any kind of breakthrough
piece, either politically, socially...

People have dissected it and added
a lot of layers of meaning to it...

...that we... at least I, as the head
of the studio, never thought of.

You didn't want the audience
to go up the aisle...

...thinking anything
but that they'd been entertained.

Maybe I was... in the dark.

Maybe there was
some kind of hidden message...

...that Michael Wilson and Arthur Jacobs
and these guys were trying to sneak through.

But I never saw it like that at all.

Without ever saying it...

...we were doing a political film.

We never even said it
very loudly among ourselves...

...because at that time we were in Vietnam.

And a political picture was
the last kind of film that the studio wanted.

The country was having
very serious problems.

(Eric Greene) We had
the assassination of John Kennedy.

We had the assassination of civil rights
leaders like Martin Luther king Jr.

Race riots.

There were a lot of shocks
to America's image of itself...

...and to America's sense of itself
as a kind of stable democracy.

Dr Xaius...

...I know who I am.

But who are you?

How in hell did this upside-down
civilisation get started?

Huh! You may well call it upside-down...

...since you occupy its lowest level.
And deservedly so.

Science fiction can be a way
of presenting controversial material...

...without the material
being attacked as controversial...

...because it is slightly disguised.

You can hear "All humans look alike
to most apes" or "Human see, human do".

And you can laugh it off if you want to.

But at the same time
you can let it sink in as far as:

what is this saying about
how groups interact...

...and how people in power
view people who aren't in power?

You can cut pieces out of me.
You've got the power.

Return this creature to his cage.

But you do it out of fear!

Remember that! Because you're afraid of me!
What are you afraid of, Doctor?

(Roddy McDowall) But serious
thematic content on the screen...

...did not prohibit a sense of fun on the set.

(Charlton Heston) I remember
when we did the courtroom scene...

...where they take the filthy loincloth.

These rags he's wearing
give off a stench that's offensive.

I think that was my first nude scene...

...and when they were setting up the shot...

...one of the coffee girls passing coffee
around walked behind me and said...

..."Mm, nice buns!"

The lighting people
would speak of us as monkeys...

...and then they'd kid us with...
bringing us bananas.

I got to hate bananas
during the course of the film!

There was a famous day when the gorillas
were being made up at the studio...

...and then hauled out to Fox Ranch
in a station wagon.

And they took over from the driver one day
and they pushed him down in the back seat.

So you have this gorilla
drivin' the station wagon down PCH...

...you know, stoppin' traffic.

(Roddy McDowall) An off-the-cuff gag
on the set between Heston and Schaffner...

...resulted in one of the film's
most famous scenes.

Let us assume
that the prisoner's story is false.

But if he did not come from another planet...

...then surely he sprang from our own.

While shooting this sequence,
the star joked...

...that the director should film the ape tribunal
performing the oldest of simian clichés.

I have found no physiological defect
to explain why humans are mute.

- Objection!
- Sustained!

(Zira) Their speech organs are adequate.
The flaw lies not in anatomy, but in the brain.

- Objection!
- Sustained!

(Mort Abrahams)
Frank said "I want you to see this."

This was the examination
before the three judges.

And of course, when the executives
looked at it, they said "Oh, my God!"

And Frank said "You think it's too much?"
Then of course it appears in the final version.

(Roddy McDowall) Schaffner had
a very specific vision for the film.

And its success owed much to his
considerable abilities as a director.

He was a visionary.
He was underrated as a director.

This really was his first step up.

We took a chance, really,
because he hadn't done anything.

At least, I hadn't seen anything that indicated
that he could give it scope and meaning.

And that's what it's all about. There's a lot
of guys that are technically competent...

...but don't have a real vision,
or enthusiasm. But he did.

(ape) Grab him!

(Roddy McDowall) As the film draws
to its conclusion, Taylor escapes.

- Who are you?
- So you can talk!

I'm Dr Xira's nephew.
This abduction was her idea.

Cornelius!

He is pursued to an archaeological site
in the forbidden zone.

- Lucius, don't fire at them!
- You're all under arrest!

If there's any more shooting, Dr Xaius,
you'll be the first to go. You can count on it.

There, an amazing discovery is made.

One that challenges the ape's dominant role.

You say these things were found
at the same level as that doll?

Whoever owned them
must have been in pretty bad shape.

He wore false teeth.

And eyeglasses.

I don't say he was a man
like I knew at home...

...but he must have been a close relative.
He had all the same weaknesses.

He was a weak...

...fragile animal.

But he was here before you...

- ...and he was better than you are.
- That's lunacy!

(doll) Mama!

(doll) Mama!

Dr Xaius, would an ape make a human doll...

...that talks?

It was a conflict of civilisations, if you like.

What interested me particularly about it...

...was the dichotomy of Taylor's character.

He was a harsh, embittered man...

...who had become so disenchanted
with his civilisation...

...that he literally leaves the earth.

You who are reading me now
are a different breed.

I hope a better one.

And then he finds himself
in an alien planet populated by apes.

And he is alone
required to defend humankind.

I oughta kill you right now.

Come on!

It's an interesting dichotomy and I...

...I tried to get as much out of it as I could.

(Roddy McDowall) The final scenes
were shot on the California coastline.

At Zuma Beach near Malibu.

Here, Taylor manages to subdue Dr Zaius
and they face off in one final confrontation.

Don't try to follow us.
I'm pretty handy with this.

Of that I'm sure.

All my life I've awaited your coming
and dreaded it, like death itself.

Why?

I've terrified you from the first, Doctor.
I still do.

You're afraid of me and you hate me. Why?

Because you're a man.

And you're right.

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.

What evidence?
There were no weapons in that cave.

The forbidden zone was once a paradise.

Your breed made a desert of it... ages ago.

It still doesn't give me the why.

A planet where apes evolved from men.

There's gotta be an answer.

Don't look for it, Taylor.

You may not like what you find.

The film's ending was a source of
controversy for the studio and filmmakers.

Shot, but later deleted, was a sequence
revealing Nova's pregnancy.

We decided that the structure
would be badly affected...

...changing her situation to a specific
such as her being pregnant...

...cos you have to follow through.

If she's pregnant,
that becomes an element of the story.

And now we're off to...
something else entirely.

If Taylor and Nova have a child,
will that child be able to speak?

Will that child have the same kind
of intelligence as Taylor?

What if they breed a new race of intelligent
humans? What could happen then?

But when you take that notion out...

...then this whole question about humans
being able to have some kind of rebirth...

...gets eliminated, because really they weren't
telling a story of possible salvation.

(Roddy McDowall)
The ending that was used...

...had its genesis in one of Rod Serling's
early script drafts.

It proved to be one of the most surprising...

...memorable and chilling climaxes
in motion-picture history.

Oh, my God!

I'm back!

I'm home.

All the time, it was...

We finally really did it.

You maniacs!

You blew it up!

God damn you!

God damn you all to hell!

(Eric Greene) That final image is one of
the most memorable scenes of '60s cinema.

The American hero is standing in front
of this fallen icon of American expectation.

And it really speaks to
this sense of all America's aspirations...

...the self-image that we had as defenders
of liberty and the beacon of hope.

All of that now is laid waste - literally.
It's in ruins.

It was really designed
not to send a message...

...but to throw in a big surprise,
from an audience standpoint.

So they say "Oh, my goodness!
Look where we've been all this time!"

(Roddy McDowall) The haunting image
of a decayed Statue of Liberty...

...entails some interesting
technical challenges.

We found a location at the end of Zuma
Beach, which was about the right scale...

...and it had rocks with moss on 'em
on the end of the beach...

...that looked kind of like disintegrated...
bronze, or whatever.

So we integrated those rocks
with the base of the statue...

...which was a painting by Emil Kosa,
who was chief matte artist at the studio.

And Frank was lamenting that he
just didn't want to cut to the master shot.

He wanted to introduce the statue,
but you don't know what it is.

And so I had envisioned, you know,
being up on the bluff on a dolly track...

...and shooting down
over a foreground miniature.

And what it entailed was building
the head and the torch, one half full-scale.

I had the grips build a tower...

...70 feet high...

...to get the right perspective.

Leon Shamroy was the cameraman
and Leon was close to 70...

...and he looked at this 70-foot tower
and he says "I'm not goin' up there."

So he didn't go up there.

And the first assistant director was...
had acrophobia. He wasn't goin' up there.

Frank handed me the megaphone. He says
"You build it. I'll meet you at the top."

So Frank and I went up and made the shot.
The rest was history.

(Roddy McDowall) Shooting was
completed on August 10th, 1967...

...with the production coming in
on time and on budget.

(trailer) Charlton Heston.

The world he finds out in the galaxy...

...will challenge every idea
you've ever had of civilisation.

A planet where man
is the lowest order of living things...

...and the superior beings are... apes.

(Roddy McDowall) Planet of the Apes had
its world premiere on February 8th, 1968.

It was a box-office smash,
grossing over $26 million...

...and reaching audiences of all ages.

They build the cities,
make the laws. The Gods.

Adults responded to its intelligent
script and first-rate performances.

Man has no understanding.

Children thrilled to the film's
adventure and fantasy elements.

Twentieth Century Fox transforms
the motion-picture screen into...

The film also found favour with critics,
who praised its uniqueness...

...timely political commentary
and entertainment value.

Beyond your wildest dreams.

Planet of the Apes was nominated
for two Academy Awards.

Best Costume Design
and Best Original Score.

But special Academy recognition
was reserved...

...for the innovative
makeup wizard, John Chambers...

...who was awarded a special Oscar...

...for his outstanding achievement
on Planet of the Apes.

The award was presented to him
by Walter Matthau...

...and friend.

It's a madhouse!

It's a madhouse! A madhouse!
It's a madhouse!

Planet of the Apes had reached a pinnacle
of success that no one could have predicted.

It was now officially a phenomenon.

With audience interest at its peak, a meeting
was called at Twentieth Century Fox...

...between the producers
and elated studio executives.

Stan Huff, head of production, says
"You gotta do a sequel."

I said "Stan, there's no way we can
do a sequel. There's no place to go."

I don't wanna do a thing on Mars.

He said "You have to find a way."

I had never thought of a sequel.

At the time of Planet of the Apes...

...no one was talking sequels
very much, or at all.

For Twentieth Century Fox,
at that period of time...

...this started the notion
of recapturing the success of the first.

As thoughts inevitably turned
towards a sequel...

...the producers faced
an impossible challenge.

That half-buried Statue of Liberty had
become a cinematic and cultural milestone...

...and it cast a very long shadow.

How could anyone go
beyond the film's apocalyptic vision?

How could they go beyond
the Planet of the Apes?

With studio pressure mounting for a sequel...

...Jacobs returned to two of the men who had
helped make the original film so successful...

...Rod Serling and Pierre Boulle.

During the next few months, both men
submitted a wide range of proposals.

Jacobs rejected them all...

...feeling the concepts did not provide
the kind of visual shocks...

...that had made the original so successful.

Planet of the Apes was indeed
proving a hard act to follow...

...until associate producer Mort Abrahams
went to London...

...and met with Academy Award-winning
screenwriter and poet Paul Dehn.

Dehn was known for his work
on Cold War suspense thrillers...

...like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

He was also famous for co-writing
the James Bond classic, Goldfiinger.

I was in London on something else entirely,
and met with Paul...

...and told him frankly I was having trouble
with this development of this idea.

He said "Let me toss it around."

He called me two or three days Later and said
"I think I have an idea how to do this."

(Roddy McDowall) Working with Abrahams...

...he submitted his first outline
in September 1968.

Called Planet of the Apes Revisited...

...it contained many ideas that would
find their way into the final film...

...and one that would not:

the conception of a half-ape, half-human
child, seen here in a rare screen test.

Curiously, the studio feared that
the implied mating of species...

...could lose the film a G rating
and take away their family audience.

With Franklin Schaffner already committed
to Fox's big-budget epic, Patton...

...the job was given to veteran film
and television director Ted Post.

But just after Post signed to direct
the new Apes film, he threatened to resign...

...when told that Charlton Heston
was unwilling to return as Taylor.

I had told Arthur that I don't think
that a sequel will hold...

...without the original star being in it.

And they took a little bit of time
to scratch their heads about that...

...and finally came up with a solution which
hooked Chuck Heston back into the sequel.

Dick Zanuck called me. He said "Chuck, we
have to do a sequel. This film is enormous."

I said "I don't wanna do a sequel.
That's like the Andy Hardy series."

And he said "Chuck, I can't
make the sequel if you're not in it."

And I said "Well, you got me, Richard...

...because we couldn't have made this film
if you hadn't given it a go."

"So how about if I'm in the sequel
but I get killed in the opening scene...

...and you pay me whatever you want
and we'll give it to a school or something?"

He said "Ok, that's a deal." Then,
as the script developed, he called and said...

..."Chuck, how about if we have you
disappear in the first scene...

...and then you're killed in the last scene?"

And I said "Yeah, I guess.
Ok, fine. What the heck."

(Roddy McDowall) With the crisis resolved,
the production team still faced a final hurdle:

the studio's insistence on a reduced budget.

Since the release of the original Apes film...

...Fox had undergone
a troubled financial period...

...where a string of big-budget musicals
had performed below expectations.

Among them, Arthur Jacobs' Dr Dolittle.

They had a couple of failures, and the board
of directors got very anxious about that.

They didn't want to invest any more
than they had to. So the order came down:

cut the budgets of every production
that was being made at that time.

Settling on a budget of $3 million
- barely half that of the original film -

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
began filming in February 1969.

Don't look for it, Taylor.

You may not like what you find.

The story picked up
exactly where the first film left off.

What will he find out there, Doctor?

His destiny.

Taylor rides off into the forbidden zone,
accompanied by Nova...

...played once again by Linda Harrison.

After encountering a series
of strange phenomenon...

...Taylor mysteriously disappears.

A new leading man then takes centre stage:

Brent, the leader and lone survivor of an
astronaut rescue team sent to find Taylor.

Although Burt Reynolds was approached...

...the producers ultimately cast
popular television actor James Franciscus.

Hey!

No. No, no, I don't wanna hurt you. I...

I just wanna know where I am.

When Brent meets Nova, he realises she is
his only link to finding his lost comrade.

Taylor!

Is he hurt? Is he alive?

I think they picked Jim because he was like
a version - a smaller version - of Heston.

They kinda looked alike,
and a very strong voice and...

...took it very seriously.

You... take me... to Taylor.

(Roddy McDowall) Brent and Nova's search
brings them to Ape City...

...most of which was still standing
at the Fox Studio Ranch...

It's a city of apes!

...allowing the filmmakers to save
valuable dollars on set construction.

The only thing
that counts in the end is power.

Naked, merciless force!

But budgetary constraints did become
evident in crowd scenes like this one...

...where the background apes were portrayed
by extras in pull-over masks.

A cost-cutting device
that proved a little too obvious.

The role of the gorilla military leader,
General Ursus...

...was originally offered
to Hollywood legend Orson Welles.

But when Welles declined, the noted
character actor, James Gregory, stepped in...

...and gave a rousing performance.

The only good human...

...is a dead human!

Nova takes Brent into the city...

...and the audience is reintroduced
to some familiar ape faces:

Zira, once again played by Kim Hunter.

Taylor?

No, not... not Taylor. My name's Brent.

You... talked.

And Dr Zaius, played by Maurice Evans.

As minister of science, it is my duty...

...to find out
whether some other form of life exists.

- Where are you going?
- Into the forbidden zone, with Ursus.

As fate would have it, I was directing a film
in England at the time...

...and was unable
to reprise my role of Cornelius.

The part went instead
to British actor David Watson.

With the help of makeup, it was hoped that
the audiences wouldn't notice the difference.

If you are caught by the gorillas,
you must remember one thing.

- What's that?
- Never to speak.

As Brent and Nova go underground
in their search for Taylor...

...the filmmakers hoped to give audiences
an even more impressive visual...

...than the half-buried Statue of Liberty.

Their solution:
bury the whole city of New York.

(William Creber) It was done almost for free.

I got photos out of books...

...and kind of imagined
angles that would work...

...and I wrote a letter
to the studio in New York...

...and asked them to specifically
shoot these pictures.

We made big blow-ups
and cut 'em up with a razor blade...

...and then had the matte artist
kinda touch 'em up.

And that was our matte shots.

(Roddy McDowall)
Here, in the forgotten city,..

...Brent and Nova
encounter a mutant civilisation.

Genetically altered beings
who possess telepathic powers.

Your lips... don't move...

...but I can hear.

I know what you're thinking.

To save costs, this scene was actually shot
on a set previously used in Fox's Hello Dolly.

- (rapid bleeps)
- No, wait! Wait a minute!

I can't understand you...

By the way, that's Natalie Trundy
playing the female mutant, Albina.

In real life, she was Mrs Arthur P Jacobs.

Are we to understand that
you were in the city of the apes?

- You're talking.
- Certainly we can talk.

It's a primitive accomplishment.
We use it when we must.

When we sing to our God.

Another Hello Dolly set
was also transformed...

...into this chapel, where the mutants
pray to a most unusual god.

The heavens declare the glory of the Bomb...

...and the firmament showeth His handiwork.

- I reveal my inmost self unto my God.
- Unto my God.

The mutant society raised
some new and unique makeup challenges...

...for director Ted Post
and makeup designer John Chambers.

(Chambers) It looked like tissue that was
destroyed by exposure to the atomic bomb.

It was challenging,
how far we should create the mutation.

(Ted Post) In the makeup room, they showed
me all the faces they had in mind...

...that would depict a mutant...

...with Cyclops one eye and three eyes...

...with the ear here, the ear there.

Everything was kind of jangled, mangled and
disjointed, etc. It looked terrible to me.

So I looked at a book of anatomy,
Gray's Anatomy...

...and saw a face that had been
stripped of the epidermis...

...and saw the dermal region,
with the vessels and the nerves.

I said "That's the kind of look
I think would make the mutants work for me."

And they went ahead and made it that way.

O God, bless, we pray You...

May the blessing of the Bomb Almighty...

...our great army
and its supreme commander...

...and the fellowship of the Holy Fallout...

...on the eve of a holy war...

...descend on us all this day...

Amen.

(Roddy McDowall) The subtle
social satire of the first Apes film...

...gave way to more obvious and direct
political commentary...

...as the apes moved closer to a planned
military invasion of the forbidden zone.

It's the sense of this unnecessary war
that the people are being led into...

...that the liberal youth and many
of the intellectuals are opposed to...

...but that the political elite winds up backing.

There's one scene
where there is a chimpanzee protest...

...with the chimpanzees
carrying protest signs saying...

- Peace and freedom!
- Get 'em out of the way.

Very much like you would expect
to see at the anti-Vietnam rallies.

Not one of the more subtle uses
of political commentary...

...but a very direct paralleling of
what was going on in the US at the time.

Advance!

(Roddy McDowall) The apes declare war...

...and a battle between
mind and muscle begins.

Hold your positions!

Charlton Heston also makes his promised
appearance near the end of the film.

- Taylor!
- You're... Brent!

My God! Taylor!

And, as the ape-mutant war rages...

...the action moves towards
its apocalyptic finale.

Someone at the pillar!

(cry of pain)

The ending was suggested
by Heston himself...

...who was very wary of any more ape sequels.

It's Doomsday.

I said "How about if I set off this atom bomb
and blow up the whole earth?"

And they said "That's very good."

Man is evil,
capable of nothing but destruction!

And I thought, that's the end of the sequels.

(trailer) The Planet of the Apes was only the
beginning. What lies beneath may be the end.

Released on May 26th, 1970...

...Beneath the Planet of the Apes
opened to a mixed critical reaction.

Invade!

(trailer) The gorillas are on the march.

Human mutants strike back with new,
frightening weapons of the mind.

But there was no debating
its success at the box office.

The film made $14 million -

over three times its production cost.

(trailer) Can a planet long endure,
half ape, half human?

The answer lies
Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Rated G.

I'd say we were moderately successful. I don't
know whether that's all we could have been.

But I think that's all we were.

Which is not to downplay the project at all,
but to be honest about it.

The surprise of the first picture
was not to be topped.

With Beneath the Planet of the Apes...

...the ape saga now seemed to have reached
a logical conclusion.

The prophecies of the apes'
sacred scrolls had come true.

The beast man had wielded
his final weapon of destruction.

But, just four months after the film's release,..

...screenwriter Paul Dehn
received a telegram from Arthur Jacobs.

"Apes exist. Sequel required."

Dehn was now faced with
a seemingly insurmountable task.

How do you carry on
after you've blown up the world?

While puzzling over the problem of
how to create a third Apes adventure...

...Paul Dehn thought of astronaut Taylor's
spaceship from the first film.

It gave him an idea.

- All right, open her up.
- Open it up!

What if, just prior to the world's destruction
in Beneath the Planet of the Apes...

...the abandoned craft had somehow
been salvaged and repaired?

Now the story could move forward...

Welcome, gentlemen, to the United St...

...by bringing the apes back in time.

And, through the magic of science fiction...

...that's exactly what happened
in Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

This time I was able to
take the role of Cornelius...

...with Kim Hunter also returning
as my wife, Zira.

There was also a third ape accompanying us
on the journey: Dr Milo.

He was played by Sal Mineo, acclaimed
for his role in Rebel Without a Cause.

Having only three apes made sense
storywise... and budgetwise.

The number of makeups and effects
was greatly reduced...

...and made it no problem to work
within the film's $2.5 million budget.

Because number two did not do
as well as number one did...

...number three should then
not probably do as well as number two did.

So you've got to look at something more
contained, which is what we tried to do.

Action! A little more on the left!

(Roddy McDowall)
Filming began on November 30th, 1970...

...under the direction of Don Taylor.

Hey, Bill Creber, take your cue on action!

You must realise that mine was
the third film of this particular series...

...and I inherited everything, practically.

I inherited the two actors, Roddy and Kim...

...who certainly knew more
about the characters than I did.

The only thing that I didn't inherit was
the plot. It was different. It was fresh.

(Roddy McDowall) The story showed the
ape-onauts brought back to a laboratory...

...and put under scientific examination.

The two animal psychiatrists
were played by Bradford Dillman...

...and Natalie Trundy, now making
her second appearance in an Apes film.

Well, why doesn't she take it?

Because I loathe bananas!

- Xira!
- I don't believe it.

Use your heads and start thinking.

Now that they know we can speak,
how much will we tell them?

Milo!

The character of Dr Milo
meets an untimely end early in the film...

...much to our disappointment,
and to Sal Mineo's relief.

We did have to hug Sal a lot.

It was very, very difficult for him...

...being confined in the appliances.

He was not comfortable at all
being a chimpanzee.

If you'll just be seated,
we'll get right down to business.

Dr Dixon. As a zoologist,
I know and respect your work...

...but if you want to turn
a Presidential Inquiry...

...into a ventriloquist's act,
I have to inform you...

And I have to inform you
that these apes have the power of speech.

It was during the filming of this scene...

...that Kim and I had
one of our most unusual experiences...

...while working on an Apes picture.

- Have you a name?
- Xira.

(public gasps)

- One might as well be talking to a parrot.
- A parrot?!

(laughter)

(Kim Hunter) We had to face
this Presidential Commission.

Roddy and I were facing the commission,
which was up on a stage...

...sort of in a semicircle.

And we were here,
and behind us were members of press.

Does the other one talk?

- Only when she lets me.
- (laughter)

So, in order to get rid of all those extras...

...of course, they shot us first.

Then the director said "Look, you and Roddy
can start getting the appliances off...

...because we won't be shooting you
the rest of the day."

"Just come back to be off camera
for the Presidential Commission...

...for their questions,
and respond to the other actors."

So it was marvellous. We started taking it off.
But it was so weird.

"Roddy," I said,
"are you feeling the same thing I'm feeling?"

It didn't feel like Zira and Cornelius
when they started taking this stuff off.

I finally said "Stop taking it all off."

"Leave on some."

"I've gotta have it."

It just didn't work without the appliances.

The character just... sort of disappeared.

Internally I was thinking
and feeling the same thing...

...but it didn't come out properly
without the appliances.

It was very strange.

(Roddy McDowall) The film was
primarily set in and around Los Angeles.

This helped the studio to control costs
and keep the production close to home.

Address, please?

- The zoo.
- (laughter)

It also gave us the opportunity to create
some of the film's most memorable scenes...

...as Cornelius and Zira
become media celebrities.

Dr Cornelius. Tell me,
how do you find our women?

- Very human.
- (laughter)

Many of these scenes were inspired by
episodes in the original Pierre Boulle novel.

How do you like it, Cornelius?

Beastly.

...and recaptured much of the original film's
humour and social satire.

- How is that?
- Soothing...

...but very wet.

But the light-hearted tone of the film
began to shift...

...when Zira offered this surprising revelation.

- It must have been the shock.
- Shock, my foot!

I'm pregnant.

Eventually, fearful government officials
put the apes into custody.

- Cornelius?
- (Cornelius) Xira!

They made me tell them everything,
Cornelius.

We can't live with lies.

After this, I doubt we shall
be allowed to live at all.

You have evidence, Mr President, that
one day talking apes will dominate Earth.

Now, what do you expect me to do about it?

Alter what you believe to be the future
by slaughtering two innocents...

...or rather three, now that
one of them is pregnant?

Herod tried that and Christ survived.

Do you want their progeny
to dominate the world?

The commission unanimously recommends...

...that the birth of the female ape's
unborn child should be prevented.

Savages! They are savages!

This is a major change in the series...

...because now the apes are
predominantly the heroes...

...and humans have become the antagonists.

And Zira and Cornelius, now they're
the strangers in a strange land.

Kind of an inverse of Taylor's situation.

They treated you like dirt.

Ma'am. Sir. Chow time.

You better have your soup and oranges
for the sake of that... little monkey...

The apes killed their orderly.

- Where are they?
- On the run.

Now they've killed,
and for that they must be killed.

Because they bring it back
to modern-day America...

...it shifts the focus away from the future
to the present, to the here and now.

- Cornelius, what have you done?
- I didn't mean to kill him.

- Please believe me.
- I do, Cornelius, I do. But they won't.

And it opens the door for a much more direct
address to the America of the time.

We'll catch 'em sooner or later.

That's what I'm worried about - later.
Later we'll do something about pollution.

Later we'll tackle the population explosion.

Later we'll do something about
the nuclear war.

We think we got all the time in the world.

How much time has the world got?

I think my pains have begun.

Let me get this straight.

You are asking me to risk imprisonment
for the sake of two fugitive apes?

The answer is a thousand times... yes.

(Roddy McDowall) Cornelius and Zira
find temporary refuge in a travelling circus.

Look. Look at Heloise.

She's showing an expectant mother
what to expect.

Mama. Mama.

- Xira...
- I'm getting into practice.

The sympathetic circus owner, Armando,
was played by Ricardo Montalban.

I identify very much
with this man's compassion...

...for these so-called beasts...

...which were remarkably
good and wonderful and kind.

(Lewis) There, that's good.

Come on.

Because the message, to me,
was man's inhumanity to man...

...that we have not conquered prejudice.

Are we ever going to
conquer prejudice? Ever?

That's a very powerful theme.

You have done enough
to make us grateful to you for ever.

I did it because
I like chimpanzees best of all apes.

And you, the best of all chimpanzees.

And if it is man's destiny
one day to be dominated...

...then, oh, please God,
let him be dominated by such as you.

Thank you.

(Roddy McDowall) The climax of the film
takes place on an abandoned freighter...

...as Cornelius and Zira
are brutally hunted down.

Xira.

I want that baby.
If you won't give it to me, I'll shoot.

- My God, stop him!
- (gunshot)

(Ricardo Montalban) What's interesting to me
about the Planet of the Apes is that...

...the endings were really not happy.

- (gunshots)
- No!

(wails)

But in a science fiction film,
you have a little more margin...

...to be able to express certain things.

So the public accepted the unhappy ending
because it was truthful.

It wasn't just to make you sad.

It was: that's the way it is.

It's a love story. Paul and I - Paul Dehn,
that is - we both said that to each other.

He said "That's what I wrote."

And a love story always ends unhappily.

Most love stories do.

That's what makes them a love story.
So, there you are.

(Roddy McDowall) The film's ending caused
much debate amongst the production team...

...the biggest question being: what if
the studio asks for another sequel?

(Armando) All hands on the guy lines.

- Drop the bail ring!
- Come on, let's go!

As soon as you get that canvas packed,
I want every hand in the menagerie tent.

Producer Jacobs and screenwriter Dehn...

...decided not to paint themselves
into another corner this time.

Intelligent creature.

But then, so were your mother and father.

Mama.

Mama. Mama. Mama.

(trailer) Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Their adventures are
completely fresh, completely new.

Released in May, 1971...

...Escape from the Planet of the Apes
proved to be another box-office success.

Adult audiences loved the humour
and subtle social commentary of the film...

...and the elements of fantasy and adventure
continued to captivate children.

The Apes films were still considered
ideal family entertainment.

Planet of the Apes was becoming
a full-grown franchise...

...and there seemed to be no end in sight.

Planning began for another instalment.

But, this time, the filmmakers would find
themselves going down a darker path...

...than they ever had before.

One that threatened to lose them
their loyal and profitable family audience.

The fourth Apes film
began shooting on January 31st, 1972...

...under the direction of J Lee Thompson.

You just take the book.

He was a prolific craftsman whose credits
included The Guns of Navarone...

...the original Cape Fear...

...and Arthur Jacobs'
first production, What a Way to Go.

(Thompson) keep low. keep low.

Once again, the script
was provided by Paul Dehn.

The title was
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

The film is set in a city of the future
which resembles an oppressive police state.

- Go!
- (screams)

A mysterious plague has wiped out
all dogs and cats from the face of the earth.

Do.

Apes have been domesticated
to take their place...

...and trained to perform like slaves.

No!

The main focus of the story
is on a new central ape character.

- Are you authorised to dress him like that?
- Oh, yes, sir.

He is Caesar, the now fully grown
child of Cornelius and Zira.

A circus ape, huh?

- Circuses are past history.
- Not while I live and breathe.

- All right, Senor Armando. Go ahead.
- Thank you.

Come, come.

Owing to the loyalty of Arthur P Jacobs,
I was given the leading role...

...and had the unique opportunity
of playing my own son.

That was the great leap for Roddy,
and that was wonderful because...

...it still brought his personality
to the character.

Maybe he's not the same exact individual,
but it's still his spirit coming through.

And then he became so identified with the
series that the continuity to an audience is:

"Roddy McDowall in Planet of the Apes."

Well, for heaven's sakes! A circus!

- (gorilla grunts)
- (Caesar screeches)

Home, Lisa.

Making her third appearance in the series
was Natalie Trundy.

This time, however, she joined me behind the
makeup for her role as the chimpanzee Lisa.

(Natalie Trundy) Arthur said "Natalina..."
He used to call me Natalina.

I said "I know what you're gonna ask."

I really didn't wanna play an ape,
having seen what everyone went through.

You know, for the makeup, there were
hours and hours of that... crap. (laughs)

Of course I did it.

(Roddy McDowall) Ricardo Montalban also
returned as kindly circus owner Armando...

...Caesar's mentor and conscience.

- Did I do all right?
- Yes, yes, yes.

But try to walk a little more
like a primitive chimpanzee.

After 20 years, you've picked up
evolved habits from me.

That could be dangerous. Even fatal.

(PA) Attention. Attention.
Disperse apes gathering in the mall.

(Ricardo Montalban) Facing Roddy, the way
he looked could be a little distracting.

So I had to concentrate more on thinking
of him as an actor, not as a monkey.

I remember very distinctly
the rapport with Roddy...

...when he's dying to speak in rebellion...

...of the mistreatment
of his brothers and sisters.

(ape moans)

Lousy human bastards!

The theme was so important to make
a parallel to the terrible thing of slavery.

Who said that?

I did.

He's a performing ape for my circus.

- A talking ape?
- It's right! The ape spoke!

- (crowd) Yeah!
- No! No, they're mistaken.

We better take him
to headquarters for interrogation.

When Armando is arrested,
Caesar hides among the ape servant class...

...and is subjected to a brutal training process.

Take a good look at this specimen.

Caesar soon finds himself
the prized object in a slave auction...

- Buy him.
- 1500!

1500 from Mr MacDonald!

For His Excellency, Governor Breck.

...and becomes a servant to the governor,
played by Don Murray.

Name yourself.

"Caesar."

A king.

Working in proximity
to the human seat of power...

...Caesar learns the value of power...

No!

...and force.

(screams)

About your sworn statement
that the circus ape is incapable of speech.

Hell, no!

Armando's death
at the hand of the government...

...kills any notion that Caesar has
of man's potential for good.

(roars)

He begins to plot a revolution...

...whose purpose is
the ultimate destruction of mankind.

(screaming)

Action!

With a budget of only $1.7 million, the
producers had difficulty finding a location...

...where they could film
an epic revolution in a city of the future.

But, as luck would have it...

...there was a recently completed
commercial and residential complex...

...right next to the studio.

Called Century City...

...it had been built on land that was formerly
part of Twentieth Century Fox's backlot.

It was pretty new and had a lot of
concrete stone and nice sharp angles.

So it became a kind of a natural thing
that, if we could shoot there...

...we could create a city of the future,
but not so far removed from today.

The main band of rioting apes are,
at this very moment, marching on the city.

Commander, I understand the situation.

Assemble as large a force
as you can and follow them.

(Roddy McDowall) Conquest also had
striking costume and colour design...

...making it look unlike
any other film in the series.

(Frank Capra Jr)
The black costumes conveyed...

...this rigid and
not-so-pleasant world of humans.

Not necessarily a dictatorship, but
it seemed to be a pretty controlled society.

- They've reached the Plaza.
- Good God! They're armed!

And organised.

No!

(J Lee Thompson) We definitely
set out to give it a city look.

I suppose you'd call it,
in its day, a modern look. And...

...we went for certain colours.

Ready!

Black and red were
the primary colours we used in the film.

Aim!

At night we would highlight
the costumes with cross-lighting...

...and opened it up as much as was possible.

And I think that helped the picture
look more expensive than it was.

Fire!

(Roddy McDowall) In the scenes where
the ape revolution reaches its zenith...

...director Thompson pushed
for a level of on-screen violence...

...that had never been seen
in an Apes film before.

In the first preview at Phoenix...

...mothers took their children, running down
the aisles, to get out of the theatre...

...because of the bloodiness of the riots.

Shoot them! Shoot them all!

(gunfiire)

(Frank Capra Jr) We made a conscious
decision to go to more action-adventure.

It was felt that that would be
a successful turn for the series.

We were always concerned about
the level of violence we could put in...

...because it was still a young people's picture.

The censor wouldn't
pass the film the first time.

Too much blood and too much gore.

Fox wanted to try and retain
the family audience...

...and they made us cut it a great deal.

It was a violent film...

...and politically very disturbing.

(Roddy McDowall) Dehn and Thompson
modelled the apes' revolt...

...on the 1965 Watts Riots...

...an event that had left an indelible
impression on the American landscape.

(Eric Greene) In 1972, there's no way
any major studio was gonna release a film...

...where the hero was
the leader of the Watts Riots.

But you could release a film where the leader
of an ape-slave revolution is your hero.

You can capture the audience's attention,
and try to get people...

...to maybe rethink the way they were
looking at the current events of the time.

That's one of the beauties of
well-done science fiction.

Why did you turn us into slaves?

Because your kind were once our ancestors.

And there's still an ape
curled up inside of every man.

The beast that must be
whipped into submission.

You are that beast, Caesar.

When we hate you, we're...

...we're hating the dark side of ourselves.

(J Lee Thompson)
We had quite a lot of discussion...

...about the political aspect of the film.

Eventually, we showed it in Inglewood...

...and a largely black audience cheered.

Caesar!

- By what right are you spilling blood?
- The slaves' right to punish his persecutors.

Caesar. I, a descendant of slaves,
am asking you to show humanity.

But I was not born human.

The African-American audience was very
vocal. They'd get up and yell and scream...

...all on the side of the apes.
It was like: revolution has come.

Where there is fire, there is smoke.

And, in that smoke, from this day forward...

...my people will crouch and conspire...

...and plot and plan
for the inevitable day of man's downfall.

And we shall build our own cities in which
there will be no place for humans...

...except to serve our ends.

And we shall found our own armies,
our own religion...

...our own dynasty!

And that day is upon you... now!

(Roddy McDowall)
As originally shot, Caesar's final speech...

...was a militant call for revolution.

(whimpers) No.

But, responding to test audience reaction...

...the studio and producer Jacobs decided
to alter this speech in postproduction.

I was called in to record some additional
lines, ending the film on a more hopeful note.

But now...

Now we will put away our hatred.

Now we will put down our weapons.

And we, who are not human...

...can afford to be humane.

If it is man's destiny to be dominated...

...it is God's will...

...that he be dominated with compassion.

So, cast out your vengeance.

Tonight, we have seen...

...the birth of the Planet of the Apes!

(screeching)

War, urban violence, racial unrest.

Issues that were strongly influencing
popular movie entertainment in 1972.

Films like Dirty Harry...

...The French Connection...

...Shaft, and yes...

...even Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

(trailer) Watch the screen explode
as man faces ape...

...in the most horrifying spectacle
in the annals of science fiction.

But, despite the initial test reactions,
parental outcries and a final PG rating...

...Conquest still found
an audience at the box office.

This will be the end of human civilisation
and the world will belong to a planet of apes!

Once again, Fox was asking
for the inevitable sequel.

And, for the first time,
producer Arthur Jacobs and the studio...

...found themselves at a crossroads.

Had Conquest gone too far in succumbing
to the trend of escalating screen violence?

Was it possible to move the story forward
and still make a family picture?

Soon after Conquest's release in 1972...

...producer Arthur Jacobs
once again asked Paul Dehn...

...to develop and script the fifth Apes feature.

Dehn quickly submitted a treatment entitled
Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

It continued the story of Caesar as he
fights against a group of human rebels...

...who possess an atomic bomb.

Ultimately, Caesar is killed
by one of his own generals...

...and a group of ape politicians
and military commanders...

...hold final governance
over the Planet of the Apes.

But Dehn's outline was rejected. Arthur
thought it was too bleak and too violent...

...for the more upbeat film that
both he and the studio wanted to make.

Dehn reshaped the story and script.

But two new writers were also hired
to give a fresh perspective.

They were John and Joyce Corrington,
a husband-and-wife team...

...who had found science fiction success
with The Omega Man...

...a recent film
that had starred Charlton Heston.

Keeping the title
Battle for the Planet of the Apes...

...the fifth Apes film
went into production on January 2nd, 1973...

...with a budget of $1.8 million.

J Lee Thompson returned to direct...

...having impressed both Jacobs and
associate producer Frank Capra Jr...

...with the epic and visual flair
he had achieved on Conquest.

Right from the start, Arthur said
"We're gonna make a kid picture...

...and something that will appeal to families."

We had no real political implications.

It was simply a kids' science fiction film.

(Roddy McDowall) For me, it was back
to the makeup chair to play Caesar again.

I was anxious to do it because I'd enjoyed
the role even more than the part of Cornelius.

Seen only in a brief prologue and epilogue...

...the role of the Lawgiver
had little screen time...

...but proved a most notable casting choice:

legendary producer, writer,
director and actor, John Huston.

"In the beginning,
God created beast and man...

...so that both might live in friendship
and share dominion over a world of peace."

"The surface of the world
was ravaged by the vilest war."

"Our saviour led a remnant
of those who survived...

...in search of greener pastures...

...where ape and human might
forever live in friendship...

...according to divine will."

The story focused on the ape leader Caesar...

...just a few years after
he has led the ape revolution.

A nuclear war has occurred...

...and Caesar now rules over
a surviving band of apes and humans.

- No humans in Council!
- They are here because I sent for them.

The two species have forged
a fragile coexistence.

The apes are also working with the humans
to educate themselves...

...and have begun forming their own laws.

- Read me what I've written.
- "Ape shall never kill ape."

"Ape shall never kill ape."

Shall ape ever kill man?

Oh, if only my mother and father,
whom I was too young to remember...

...if only they'd lived.

Perhaps they would have taught me
if it was right to kill evil...

...so that good should prevail.

In keeping with Jacob's new concept,
Caesar's character was softened.

Cornelius.

He is no longer militant and angry...

Cornelius.

...but patient and benevolent.

Father.

- I'm going on a journey.
- Mm... What will you bring me back?

What would you like?

More nuts for my squirrel. He's growing fast.

So are you.

One day you will be as tall as a king.

This was very much part
of the arc of what we felt...

...seemed to be a logical situation for him.

And it was also
more attractive as a character...

...that he becomes a more paternalistic
and a sort of a healer...

...rather than a revolutionary character.

(Roddy McDowall) Natalie Trundy
again signed on to play my wife, Lisa.

This was the fourth Apes film for both of us.

I don't want to have to remember
my husband. I want to love him now.

Look. Virgil will be with us.
Now, we'll take good care.

There it is... or was.

Some carefully placed rubble
and a clever matte painting...

...created the illusion
of a bombed-out forbidden city...

...where a group of
radiation-scarred humans continued to live.

Governor, look!

Somebody's breached
the warning system at F6.

For the interior of the forbidden city...

...the producers used the Hyperion water
treatment plant located in Los Angeles.

This background radiation alone
will give us 300 roentgens per hour.

Another interesting casting note:
the orangutan Virgil...

...was played by
singer/songwriter Paul Williams.

Can anything live down here?
I mean, for long?

Oh, yes. But in the end, not recognisably.

(Frank Capra Jr) The series
began to be more and more human-orientated.

We were thinking in terms of time always...

...because these long makeup sessions
cut the time of filming down.

It was difficult to get enough apes because of
the time constraints of the makeup.

And actually audiences wanted to see
more and more ape-orientated shots.

So it worked counterproductively.

(Roddy McDowall) When the humans
from the forbidden city attack...

Aldo will make the future... with this!

...Caesar engages in a power struggle with the
commander of the military, General Aldo...

We want guns!

...played by the noted character actor,
Claude Akins.

We will smash the humans!
And then, we will smash Caesar!

Look!

Caesar's son.

Father!

To the barricade!

Like all the entries in the series...

...Battle for the Planet of the Apes contained
plenty of rousing action sequences.

(J Lee Thompson) It was very low-budget...

...so we had to reduce everything.

I had to come in closer,
not use so many people. Come in closer...

Here they come.

...and rely more on quick cuts.

Then, putting it all together, it gave
a feel of a lot of numbers and a big battle.

Fall back! Fall back!

It's a pity that they downgraded
the budget for each film...

...instead of trying to go bigger and better.

But that was a decision
taken by the money people...

...and we had to live with it.

Now! Fight like apes!

(Roddy McDowall) Near the film's conclusion
the mutant humans are defeated.

No! No, no, no! Don't kill them.
Take them prisoner.

But the action is tempered by a much more
pacifistic tone than in previous Apes films.

No.

No, Virgil.

(apes chanting) Ape has killed ape.

Caesar also discovers that Aldo
is responsible for the death of his son...

Ape has never killed ape...

...let alone an ape child.

...and one final battle
for the Planet of the Apes is fought.

Aaargh!

As I look at apes and humans...

...living in friendship, harmony and at peace...

...now, some 600 years after Caesar's death...

...at least we wait with hope for the future.

Lawgiver, who knows about the future?

Perhaps only the dead.

Although Jacobs ultimately wanted
to send a positive social message...

...the film's final image is rather ambiguous.

Is the statue of Caesar crying a tear of joy
because man and ape are finally at peace?

- We have a destiny too.
- Respecting each other.

As equals.

Or is it a tear of sorrow because
he knows that is an impossibility?

The human way is violence and death.

These questions would never be resolved...

...because,
during the early stages of production...

...it had been decided that this would be
the final chapter in the Apes series.

And that is how it was advertised
when it reached theatres in May of 1973.

We felt like we had come pretty far.

Again, production-value wise,
we'd gotten to a point...

...where we'd practically boxed ourselves in.

If we went any further into the future
and told a continuing story...

...it would have been
a much more expensive picture.

(Roddy McDowall) But the story wasn't over.

Battle had done surprisingly well
at the box office...

...and the CBS network
had recently garnered tremendous ratings...

...with the broadcast premieres
of the first three films.

Although Jacobs and Fox briefly considered
producing another Apes movie...

...it was agreed that the future of the franchise
might best be explored...

...in the uncharted universe of television.

Jacobs had considered a Planet of the Apes
television series as early as 1971.

But the continued success of the theatrical
features delayed his plans for two years.

He had also been busy
on a number of non-Ape films...

...that included Woody Allen's
Play it Again, Sam...

...and family musicals like
Goodbye, Mr Chips and Tom Sawyer.

But during the production of his latest...

...a musical adaptation of
Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn...

...Arthur Jacobs died of a heart attack.

He was only 51 years old.

Arthur was very, very tough.
But everybody loved him.

But he was always there. Always on the set.

I tell you, the man worked
29 hours, eight days a week.

He was with everything, all the time.

He was just wonderful.
He was an extraordinary man.

Arthur's strongest point...

...was his intense sense of the meticulous.

But it generated results.

He was one of a kind, and I do miss him.

(Roddy McDowall)
With Jacobs' death, the Apes TV series...

...was in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox.

With the help of writers
Anthony Wilson and Art Wallace...

...they began to hammer out
a workable concept.

And, on September 13th, 1974...

...Planet of the Apes premiered on CBS.

I starred,
along with Ron Harper and James Naughton.

They played
astronauts Alan Virdon and Peter Burke...

...who are propelled through a time warp
and land on Earth in the year 3085.

By the way, their vehicle was the same
plywood spaceship used in the original film.

Well, we could've landed in a worse place.

Soon they're captured
and find themselves face to face...

...with a favourite Apes
feature film character, Dr Zaius...

...now played by stage actor Booth Colman.

Do you want this sacrilege and heresy
to infect the rest of the humans?

Certainly not, Urko.

And by questioning them,
we will learn how to avoid it.

Galen, you want to visit
our time period, don't you?

Oh... Look, I really don't know about...
it would be interesting, wouldn't it?

Maybe the humans who made that grenade
are still on Earth.

- And maybe they have the knowledge to...
- To what?

Build a spaceship and a computer?

- Yeah! Maybe.
- What's a computer?

With the help of a sympathetic ape
named Galen, the astronauts escape.

Watch out!

We kind of became The Fugitive. Each week
we were caught, and then we escaped.

That's what each show was about.

And I think that television frequently
winds up in a kind of a formulaic role.

Who's the bad guy and how will you escape?

(Roddy McDowall)
Week after week, the trio was pursued...

...by the ape military commander,
General Urko.

I'll quarrel with anything
that keeps these two humans alive.

Urko was played by Mark Lenard, best known
for his portrayal of Mr Spock's father...

...in another famous science fiction series,
Star Trek.

The show tried to retain the elements that
had made the motion picture so successful.

Drama.

Urko! You kill me, you kill yourself!

A bit of humour.

- There's a smell about you.
- Well, nobody's perfect.

Some social commentary.

These humans,
they think they're as good as we are.

And plenty of action.

(James Naughton) We were always whackin'
some guy over the head with a stick...

...or drop-kicking a guy in a monkey suit.

We had apes Fallin' out of trees everyhere.

(Roddy McDowall) The television series'
most loyal audience were children.

But network executives claimed this was not
the audience advertisers wanted to attract.

The show was also scheduled up against two
of the highest-rated comedies of the day:

Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man.

It wasn't long before the inevitable happened.

On December 6th, 1974,
after only four months and 13 episodes...

...Planet of the Apes was cancelled.

And, for the first time in its history,
the future of Apes was uncertain.

(trailer) In the beginning,
there was Planet of the Apes.

And the most exciting series
in motion-picture history began.

Although the demise of the television series
had proved disappointing to fans...

...its premiere had been accompanied
by a media blitz...

...that included the re-release
of all five films to theatres in 1974.

(trailer) Now is your chance to go ape.

Twentieth Century Fox, long aware of
Apes' popularity with children...

...also launched an extensive
marketing and merchandising campaign...

...encouraging kids
all over the country to "Go ape".

It was phenomenally successful.

There were 60 companies that were licensed
to turn out something like 300 items...

...and just this flood
of Apes products on the market.

(Roddy McDowall) Ape action figures,
masks, posters, games...

...lunch boxes and colouring books.

There was even a Planet of the Apes
wastepaper basket.

(Eric Greene) I think Apes helped
pave the way for later films like Star Wars...

...where you had mass merchandising blitzes,
which are now common, not extraordinary.

(trailer) Return to the Planet of the Apes!

In 1975, NBC TV launched
Return to the Planet of the Apes...

...a half-hour Saturday morning
cartoon series...

...that depicted a more evolved simian culture.

- We got all of 'em, Urko.
- Good. Take them to Ape City.

As in the original novel,
apes were finally allowed to drive cars...

...and fly airplanes.

Though the animated series
lasted only one year...

...other Ape incarnations
proved to have greater longevity.

More than three decades
after the premiere of the first film...

...Apes references still manage to
find their way into American pop culture.

♪ THE SIMPSONS ♪

♪ I hate every ape I see ♪

♪ From chimpan A to chimpan X ♪

♪ No, you'll never make a monkey out of me ♪

(whistling)

From films and television
to merchandising and memorabilia...

...Planet of the Apes
and its numerous sequels...

...have conquered audiences
all over the world.

And people continue to be captivated,
for many different reasons.

I think it just struck people's imagination.
It was different. And it still is.

You led me around on a leash!

- We thought you were inferior.
- Now you know better.

They're just as valid now
as when they first came out.

They probably will be 30 years from now.

We have heads as well as hands.

I call upon men to let us use them.

Some of the social statements,
unfortunately, remain with us.

Planet of the Apes
brings them back to our attention.

- What's the difference? You're all monkeys.
- Please! Do not say "monkey".

The only thing that counts
in the end is power!

Naked, merciless force!

(Linda Harrison) The possibility
we could do something horrible...

...lurks in our consciousness.

To me, that is the element
which has stirred so much interest.

It's Doomsday.

The films hold up as a way of getting at those
issues in an accessible, entertaining way.

I'd like to kiss you goodbye.

You're so damned ugly.

(J Lee Thompson) Planet of the Apes
depended on characterisation...

...as well as adventure.

If you've got good characters,
they'll stand the test of time.

If man was superior, why didn't he survive?

Those particular stories
have had a kind of a timeless theme...

...with premises that were very,
very applicable to...

...what people were feeling,
what people should feel.

It has relevance in that it, as a film...

...took a step up in that genre.

(Don Taylor)
Apes is a trailblazer in this genre.

It probably helped to push into
the things that have happened since.

I think the makeup, of course,
is the most innovative.

For the first time, really,
these were actors working...

...and emotions coming through this makeup.

I was a guy that helped
make those pictures work...

...and it's a wonderful feeling,
to go that long...

...and that those pictures stand up
as well as they have.

I believe they have a life of their own.

I don't think you can kill totally
the Planet of the Apes.

There will always be an audience.

I still get fan mail from all over the world.

I think it's gonna carry, carry, carry, carry on.

It appeals to everybody.

Little kids, grown-ups, anybody...

...because it widens
the avenue of the imagination.

Ape and man, ancestors and brothers,
their fates hopelessly intertwined.

One holds the secret of the past...

...the other, the key to the future.

But which is which?

Planet of the Apes holds up a mirror
and asks us simply to look at ourselves.

At our fears and prejudices.

At our hopes and dreams.

But, as a new millennium dawns...

...can we expect more exciting adventures
on the Planet of the Apes?

Perhaps the answer lies
somewhere in the stars.

Or maybe...

...right here...

...on Earth.