The plot of Boulle’s novel is best summarized as follows, edited from www.planetoftheapes.fandom.com: Jinn and Phyllis, a rich couple traveling in space, find a mysterious manuscript encased in a glass bottle. The manuscript was the testimony of Ulysee Mérou, who recalled his traveling from Earth to the planet Soror, where he encountered a harsh and highly-civilized ape culture that suppressed his primitive fellow-humans. Mérou escaped back to his own planet, only to find a similar fate awaiting him there. The final chapter of the book has Jinn and Phyllis refuting the story as nonsense, the reason being that they themselves are, in fact, chimps, and Jinn, having been partly educated on Earth, knows such humans do not exist.

The shock ending may not have had the same flair as the Statue of Liberty at the end of the ‘68 film, but the inspiration for that all-time classic denouement was certainly seeded.

The First Wave

For the purposes of this section, I define The First Wave as the original five films, and the two television series that followed. My judgment was based on the years between product, as there was little distance between the final feature film of the period — 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” — and the subsequent 1974 and 1975 television series. (Further, I will frequently refer to the collective monkey species discussed herein as “apes” for the sake of simplicity.)

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“Planet of the Apes” (1968)

In 2001, the 1968 film version of “Planet of the Apes” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. “Planet of the Apes” was a major success upon its release, earning $32.6 million domestically.

Starring Charlton Heston as astronaut George Taylor, Roddy McDowall as archaeologist Cornelius — who would go on to star in all but one of the First Wave “Apes” films (and the 1974 live-action series) — Kim Hunter as animal psychologist Zira, and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius, the plot concerns Taylor and his surviving crew of Landon (Robert Gunner) and Dodge (Jeff Burton), crash landing on an unknown planet following a malfunction during light speed. As they escape, Taylor notices the ship’s time clock: November 25, 3978, approximately two millennia after their departure in 1972. They explore their new surroundings and discover that apes are the dominant species, while humans are mute, subject to experimentation and hunted. Taylor is shot in the throat and the three survivors are captured. Landon is enslaved and lobotomized. Dodge is killed and becomes a museum display, while Taylor is set to mate with the caged Nova (Linda Harrison). Taylor escapes, and he has regained his power of speech. When the apes realize “the animal” can speak, Dr. Zaius perceives him to be a grave threat to ape civilization as the possible leader of mutinous humans. Zira helps Taylor escape and a final confrontation with Zaius sets the stage for Taylor’s leave with Nova, on horseback. As they ride, he slows his horse in the stead of the Statue of Liberty and realizes he has been on future earth all this time, a nuclear war having brought the world to this point.

“Planet of the Apes” won a Special Oscar the following year for John Chambers’ groundbreaking makeup, and shortly after the film’s release 20th Century Fox, the film’s studio, began preparation for a sequel.

Note: Rod Serling. creator of “The Twilight Zone,” penned an early draft of the screenplay, which formerly blacklisted screenwriter Michael Wilson was subsequently asked to rewrite. As suggested by director Franklin J. Schaffner, the ape society was made more primitive than that in the novel to reduce costs. The Statue of Liberty twist ending was created by Serling and retained as originally written.