Planet Origo ver. 0.10e
last updated 2009-02-28 18:05 CET
Please welcome guest contributor Rich Handley, author of Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology. The book uses information from all of the various Apes incarnations to build a history of the apes as a dominant force on the Earth. Incredibly detailed, it’s a book every Apes fan needs to own.
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When I first announced the release of Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology, reactions varied greatly, from "That's so cool — I love Planet of the Apes!" to "Really? Oh, I thought Planet of the Apes was dead." Much as I hate to admit it, both are valid responses. Despite its timelessness, at age 40, Planet of the Apes is far less prevalent in the public eye than the "Four Stars" — Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Battlestar Galactica. It's common to find a wide variety of magazines, books, comics and other publications about those other franchises on store shelves. But Planet of the Apes? Sadly, such is not the case, and rarely ever has been.
However, it should be.
Few films can boast as stellar a cast, as intriguing a premise, as literate and relevant a screenplay, and as iconic and shocking an ending, as Planet of the Apes. And with an incessant stream of unwatchable sequels, prequels and remakes being pumped out every year, few franchises have produced follow-up films as entertaining and engaging as those of the Apes series. If any universe deserves more appreciation and bolstering than it has historically received, it would be Planet of the Apes.
My fascination with Planet of the Apes began in 1977. Like many children in New York, I lived for The 4:30 Movie, a daily film showcase airing on ABC's local Channel 7 affiliate. The films were edited, and I watched them on a small black-and-white set with a 13-channel dial, a wire antenna and a second dial for UHF. But that didn't matter — The 4:30 Movie introduced me to such classics as Journey to the Center of the Earth, Fantastic Voyage, Adam West's Batman, The Pink Panther, Westworld, The Land That Time Forgot, Godzilla, Ben-Hur, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. (Apparently, Channel 7 had a Charlton Heston fixation — and who can blame them?)
But my most vivid memories of The 4:30 Movie are of "Planet of the Apes Week". Between 1977 and 1981 (when ABC replaced The 4:30 Movie with People's Court), Channel 7 aired the first four Apes films — three if an ABC After School Special ran on Wednesday — as an annual marathon. (The fifth film, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, aired during "Sci-Fi Week" since the first was split into two parts, shown on Monday and Tuesday.) This was before VHS, DVD, DVR and other home-viewing options, so being able to see the Apes films, long after they'd left theaters, was a big deal.
In the three decades since The 4:30 Movie and its glorious theme weeks went off the air, I devoured the TV series, then the cartoons, and — ironically, not until I was an adult — the comics. (Yes, there were Planet of the Apes comics — more than a hundred, in fact, from Gold Key, Marvel, Malibu, Dark Horse and Mr. Comics, along with others published only in Britain and Argentina.) That might surprise casual fans — the person who deflated my sails, for instance, by pronouncing the death of a mythos about which I'd just written a book — for whom Apes is merely a couple of quaint films from the 1960s.
Strangely, however, there are surprisingly few Apes-related reference books. We've seen novelizations of the films, TV series and cartoons, as well several original novels based on Tim Burton's 2001 remake, and there have also been a handful of unlicensed volumes about the franchise's history. But that's about it. Fans of the "Four Stars" could fill a room or three — and many have — with the countless books chronicling their favorite universes. But for the Planet of the Apes devotee, a shelf or two suffices to house everything ever published over the past four decades.
Still, a lot of back-story is contained within those ancillary tales: We've seen glimpses of simian savior Caesar's childhood as a circus performer, forced to hide his sentience; met George Taylor's wife and daughters, abandoned when he ventured into space; learned the origins of the Alpha Omega Bomb, and Governor Breck's rise to power; witnessed as Caesar's grandson, Alexander, continued his revered ancestor's legacy…gained insight into Dr. Zaius' psyche by reading about his childhood, and his dreams…savored nuggets of insight into the parents of Zira and Cornelius; learned the fates of TV astronauts Alan Virdon and Pete Burke; viewed events leading up to the nuclear war that devastated human civilization; explored a plethora of ape, human and mutant cultures that arose in the wake of that war; and even discovered how the Statue of Liberty ended up in pieces.
With all of that in mind, I set out to make Timeline of the Planet of the Apes as complete as possible, in order to provide a bible of sorts for Apes fans. Those unaware of the comics and novels, who have never watched the TV series or cartoons, who eschewed Burton's remake (understandably so), might be unaware of just how richly woven a tapestry exists outside the classic five films.
As commentaries on religion, science, paranoia, race hatred and the human condition, the Planet of the Apes films are just as relevant today as they were when I watched them on The 4:30 Movie — even more so, given all that has transpired in recent years. But they're just the beginning of the story. The brilliant artwork and psychedelic storytelling of the Marvel line; the light-hearted humor of the Malibu run; the dark, gritty examination of Caesar and the war, in the Revolution on the Planet of the Apes miniseries; the detailed backgrounds given for Taylor's crew in the Blu-Ray set; and, yes, even the unique takes on the mythos offered in Burton's remake, and in the animated series; have all enriched the world of Planet of the Apes, far beyond what was shown on film.
Planet of the Apes may not be in the same category as the "Four Stars" in terms of sheer volume of related publications, but it's a four-star saga all its own that deserves the same treatment. Two thousand years pass between Taylor's era and that of the first film, and yet, even with all that has been published (more than enough to fill a 320-page timeline book) the majority of that history remains unrecorded.
For whatever reason, Fox has largely neglected the Planet of the Apes fan base. If Scott Frank's upcoming reboot, Caesar, is more successful than its disappointing 2001 predecessor, we could finally begin to see new Apes-related titles hitting stores. But in the meantime, perhaps my timeline book can help satisfy those hungering for more.
About the author:
Rich Handley has penned numerous articles and short fiction titles for Lucasfilm's licensed Star Wars universe. He has also written for Star Trek Communicator, Star Trek Magazine, Cinefantastique, Cinescape.com, Dungeon/Polyhedron, Toons: The Animation Magazine, Sci-Fi Invasion!, Simian Scrolls and other publications.
For more information about Rich's book, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: Definitive Chronology, visit hassleinbooks.com
Essay used with permission from SFuniverse.com
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