Planet of the Apes

[saltysnacks]

How did the monkeys get the Statue of Liberty on their planet?

[St_Eddie]

They didn't put the Statue of Liberty on their planet, you daft apeth!

They made a fiberglass replica of the Statue of Liberty, to boost the tourism on their Planet of the Apes.

[saltysnacks]

They didn't put the Statue of Liberty on their planet, you daft apeth!

They made a fiberglass replica of the Statue of Liberty, to boost the tourism on their Planet of the Apes.

Pretty sure it's the real one mate.

[St_Eddie]

Pretty sure it's the real one mate.

No, it's not.  Not if you take the sequels into account, at least.  In Return to the Valley of the Planet of the Apes, it's confirmed that the Statue of Liberty seen at the end of the first film is a fake.  The protagonist notices that the hand of the statue is crumbling; exposing the shoddy wire mesh structure underneath and exclaims "wait a second, these are fake hands!".

[Dex Sawash]

Statue of Liberty is actually a very clever rocket from france. Le rocket.

[Custard]

I like the fact that they went to the effort of building a beach around it. Good effort from the monkey lads

[St_Eddie]

I like the fact that they went to the effort of building a beach around it. Good effort from the monkey lads

Aye, they're a great bunch of monkey lads.

[momatt]

The original Planet of the Apes is a brilliant film, if you've seen that, the original, it's fantastic.
It's got an amazing shock, surprise ending.
If you've not seen the original Planet of the Apes, it's got an amazing shock, surprise ending.
What happens at the end of the original Planet of the Apes is that it turns out that, on their planet, the apes have made an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty.
And it's never explained why.
It's mad! And Charlton Heston is on the beach at the end, he's on his knees and going "Why? Why have you made this?" "Why, you dirty apes? Why have you made this statue?" "Why? It's a civilisation of apes! "Why would you, it's human it's insane!" And the apes go, "I don't know, we've just done it."

It's an amazing scene.
It's one of the most iconic images of cinema.
Completely meaningless, though.
Stupid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQAJFVV_h-U

[Small Man Big Horse]

What I don't get is that the Statue of Liberty is only 151 feet tall, and there are plenty of other buildings in New York which are far far bigger, why he didn't notice one of those beforehand?

[Endicott]

What I don't get is that the Statue of Liberty is only 151 feet tall, and there are plenty of other buildings in New York which are far far bigger, why he didn't notice one of those beforehand?

Testament to French craftsmanship.

[momatt]

What I don't get is that the Statue of Liberty is only 151 feet tall, and there are plenty of other buildings in New York which are far far bigger, why he didn't notice one of those beforehand?

They were all hiding.

[purlieu]

What I don't get is that the Statue of Liberty is only 151 feet tall, and there are plenty of other buildings in New York which are far far bigger, why he didn't notice one of those beforehand?

Terrorists knocked them down with aeroplanes.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Terrorists knocked them down with aeroplanes.

Ape terrorists or human terrorists?

[purlieu]

Racist.

[Kelvin]

Ape terrorists or human terrorists?

According to reports, it was humans flying the planes, while a single giant ape tried to swat them away from the building.

[bgmnts]

' "Help, the human's about to escape"
"Get your paws of you dirty ape"
*gasps*
"He can talk! He can talk, he can talk, he can talk, he can talk, he can talk, he can talk"
"I can siiiiiiiiiiiing"
"Ooooh help me Dr Zaius!"

[St_Eddie]

The original Planet of the Apes is a brilliant film, if you've seen that, the original, it's fantastic.
It's got an amazing shock, surprise ending.
If you've not seen the original Planet of the Apes, it's got an amazing shock, surprise ending.
What happens at the end of the original Planet of the Apes is that it turns out that, on their planet, the apes have made an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty.
And it's never explained why.
It's mad! And Charlton Heston is on the beach at the end, he's on his knees and going "Why? Why have you made this?" "Why, you dirty apes? Why have you made this statue?" "Why? It's a civilisation of apes! "Why would you, it's human it's insane!" And the apes go, "I don't know, we've just done it."

It's an amazing scene.
It's one of the most iconic images of cinema.
Completely meaningless, though.
Stupid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQAJFVV_h-U

Hand on heart, I've never seen that before.  I guess that I possess approximately 1% of Stewart Lee's brilliance.

[momatt]

Don't forget, you're very lucky to have that 1%.

[Steven]

Don't forget, you're very lucky to have that 1%.

Depends on the girth, I suppose.

[St_Eddie]

Depends on the girth, I suppose.

It's what you do with the 1% that counts.

[Dr Rock]

On the Planet Of The Apes, why doesn't he twig once he's seen some horses? And human beings who look exactly like him.

[Steven]

On the Planet Of The Apes, why doesn't he twig once he's seen some horses? And human beings who look exactly like him.

Or The Apes have shotguns and that, also speaking perfect English. Isn't the first moment he even suspects anything when he finds the dolly "Ma-ma!" at the archeology site, but also aren't the viewing audience meant to be similarly ignorant to facilitate the 'big reveal' with the Statue? I don't know how it's handled in the original French book, but yeah, they could have written in something to explain things better.

EDIT. Ok, the 'reveal' ending was written in for the movie as a Twilight Zone-y 'twist' what with the Statue being an American symbol - even though she's French. In the book Cornelius experiments on a human subject and from a 'racial memory' he recounts how humans tamed apes who then took over the human cities and drove them out to the plains.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

EDIT. Ok, the 'reveal' ending was written in for the movie as a Twilight Zone-y 'twist' what with the Statue being an American symbol - even though she's French. In the book Cornelius experiments on a human subject and from a 'racial memory' he recounts how humans tamed apes who then took over the human cities and drove them out to the plains.

If anyone has the right to deploy a Twilight Zone-y twist, it's Rod Serling, who co-wrote the original film. He was all about the Twilight Zone-y twists. And man's inhumanity to man.

[Dr Rock]

It could've been worked around somewhat if we see the astronauts blast-off from an Earth from just after apocalypse times, then none of them had seen a primitive gun, or a tree and nature and that, or a horse... or, er, a bare woman... and they weren't in any school books for some reason.  But the Statue Of Liberty was still really famous.

[Steven]

If anyone has the right to deploy a Twilight Zone-y twist, it's Rod Serling, who co-wrote the original film. He was all about the Twilight Zone-y twists. And man's inhumanity to man.

Thanks, I'm sure I did know that but forgot somewhere down the line. More information on the development of the script here, which was taken away from Serling and finally adapted by Michael Wilson who wrote It's A Wonderful Life and many other classics. Though from reading the chronology of the changes it seems it was definitely Serling who came up with many of the iconic moments. The foreshadowing with the doll "Ma-ma!" is very Twilight Zone-y.

THE ENDINGS, IN ORDER
Prior to 5/15/64 (Serling)
At archeological dig, they find caskets, a human doll which cries "mama?"—and film showing bombs, explosions, etc. Zaius doesn't want Thomas to take Nova, but he escapes with her and LeFever, and flies home to earth—which is inhabited by apes.

5/22/64 (Serling)
They find the doll and film showing a mushroom cloud—"filmed by U. S. Air Force." Thomas delivers a long monologue explaining everything, but gorillas in a helicopter try to "assassinate" him. The apes plan to explain everything as a hoax—using a robot resembling Thomas, but a switch is made at the last minute and he escapes in the landing craft with Nova and flies off, as Zaius muses about his future.

Date unknown (Serling)
Similar to above, but there are references to disease (radioactivity). Explosions near the excavation loosens terrain, which reveals the "giant metal arm." Thomas reads the ship's computer tapes—then looks at the Big Dipper and realizes he's "home" (the first appearance of the Statue of Liberty).

12/17/64 (Serling)
They find the doll, then skeletons and a sign reading "Public Air Raid Shelter." Thomas presents his hypothesis about an atomic holocaust. He escapes, and sees the "arm" loosened by explosions. At his ship, he's able to read the computer tapes and realizes where he is. As he flies off in a helicopter toward the jungle he spots the Statue of Liberty.

1/6/65 (Serling)
Thomas escapes to his ship with Cornelius and Zira following close behind, and together they discover the "metal arm." Aircraft engines are heard, and they tell him to escape, but he stares at the arm, finally realizing where he is. The gorillas arrive and shoot him dead. As they carry him away the camera pans to reveal the full Statue of Liberty in the sand.

2/23/65 (Author. unknown, script bound with 20th Century fox cover)
Essentially the same as above, with a few minor dialogue changes at the end.

5/5/67 (Wilson)
Zira, Cornelius, and Thomas escape to the excavation. Zaius arrives with the gorillas, and he promises to give in if solid evolutionary evidence is found. They find a human doll which can talk but Zaius goes back on his word, so Thomas escapes on horseback with Nova, and riding up the beach he discovers the Statue of Liberty.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Thanks for sharing that, it's absolutely fascinating. Serling, then, came up with the Statue of Liberty ending in his third draft; a real Eureka moment.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That article also shows that Serling wasn't responsible for any of the more on-the-nose satirical elements of the screenplay. He could often be quite preachy, but he didn't actually write the scene in which the astronauts have a rather stodgy debate about What It Means To Be Human.

The only bit of the film I don't like is the 'DO YOU GET IT, FOLKS?!' see no evil, hear no evil gag. It's good to know that Serling didn't come up with that egregious gilding the lily moment either.

I'm a great admirer of Rod Serling, as my avatar no doubt indicates.

[St_Eddie]

The only bit of the film I don't like is the 'DO YOU GET IT, FOLKS?!' see no evil, hear no evil gag. It's good to know that Serling didn't come up with that egregious gilding the lily moment either.

Aye, that moment's far too on the nose for my tastes and always makes me cringe. Aside from that criticism, I rather enjoy The Planets of the Apes.  It's an enjoyable enough film, in my opinion.

[purlieu]

Any thoughts on the sequels? I remember watching the first half of Beneath... as a kid and having no fucking clue what was going on.

[Steven]

Any thoughts on the sequels? I remember watching the first half of Beneath... as a kid and having no fucking clue what was going on.

I watched them all in chronological order as a kid as one shop would let you rent out about 6 videos in a package, I went through the Star Trek films the same way. The 2nd one is passable, as is the 3rd, but then they get quite TV-movie-ish and the make-up gets considerably worse than the original movie. The second is rendered a bit rubbish due to them getting Heston back just for a bit of a cameo who's then killed off, then they play entirely with underground psychic humans praying to an atom bomb, it's quite Twilight Zone-y too, in that way.

There's also this poor rock throwing moment in the original. Paul Williams did a cameo in one of the later ones, here he is crooning as an Orangutan on The Tonight Show.

For the 2nd one they should have got Heston to pour psychic goo all over the Statue Of Liberty then get in the head and drive it around like a car, then uses it to squish the ape city to bits, ending with a big showdown with Dr Zaius at some Ape History Museum, proper Blockbuster stuff. I am so good at telly.