In 1983, a parasite brought back from space killed off all dogs and cats. Later that same year apes became the predominant pet for humans.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes begins eight years after that incident and Armando has been raising Milo, whose name has been changed to Caesar (Roddy McDowell), for the last 17 years. He can now speak, but he is the only ape that can although other apes are showing advancements in domestic tasks and serve as pets, but more appropriately slaves and servants for humans.
The rumors of Cornelius and Zira’s baby persists and in the film’s opening moments Caesar speaks while witnessing violence against an ape. Armando takes the blame and ultimately dies attempting to escape police custody while Caesar enters the Ape Integration Training program, all while trying not to let on he can speak.
Caesar begins what I have to assume served as a major influence on David Fincher’s Fight Club (after all one of the names The Narrator uses at the Testiculr Cancer Support Group is Cornelius). Caesar forms his own Project Mayhem and begins building an army that will soon lead to revolution.
Caesar leads his simian army in full revolt and gives the menacing speech you can watch above, a moment I would say is right up there with Taylor’s discovery of the Statue of Liberty at the end of Planet of the Apes as the two greatest moments in the franchise:
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–the day when he finally and self-destructively turns his weapons against his own kind. The day of the writing in the sky, when your cities lie buried under radioactive rubble! When the sea is a dead sea, and the land is a wasteland out of which I will lead my people from their captivity! And we will 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!
That speech was presented a little differently upon theatrical release with a softer and more hopeful conclusion. The Blu-ray edition of the film allows you to watch the unrated version of the film, though, without the tacked on soft and cozy ending.
13 years have passed since Caesar’s revolt. The world has been largely destroyed by a global nuclear war waged by mankind in a last ditch effort to survive the apes uprising. It failed. The apes are now starting from scratch in a ravaged land and humans are now serving apes, teaching them to read and write and performing menial tasks.
During an expedition to the ruins of New York City, the apes come across a group of mutant humans as well as finds a record of Caesar’s parents’ story of the future and the destruction that lead to their time-traveling flight. The question the audience now raises is whether that future is truly in the offing or if the future has now been permanently altered after Cornelius and Zira traveled back in time.
In Escape from the Planet of the Apes Cornelius quotes the Sacred Scrolls, telling of the first ape that dared defied humans, saying:
“On an historic day, which is commemorated by my species and fully documented in the Sacred Scrolls, there came Aldo. He did not grunt. He articulated. He spoke a word which had been spoken to him time without number by humans. He said, ‘No’.”
Aldo is revealed in Battle for the Planet of the Apes to be a gorilla general in Caesar’s army played by Claude Akins.
Learning of the apes whereabouts, the mutant army goes on the attack, scared the apes will capture them and also make reference to a nuclear bomb they are holding and expect to launch should they be defeated.
The mutants are defeated, but the surviving mutants choose not to launch the bomb, but instead revere and respect it, just as the telepathic mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes did. Is it a sign history will repeat itself? It seems so.
As for the original timeline, before Cornelius and Zira upset it by traveling back in time, it too is different than the one that will be presented in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
The original story tells of apes naturally evolving in the year 2050, 450 years after a similar parasite killed dogs and cats and saw man taking on apes as pets. 50 years later, Aldo leads the Ape Revolution, being the first ape to say “no” to his master as referenced in the quote from Cornelius above.
This is where questions begin to arise when looking at Rise of the Planet of the Apes. In the one trailer I saw the apes did not speak, will we hear them speak in this film? My guess is we will in the final moments, which will leave us with more story to be told in eventual sequels.
I also wonder if this film will merely through nods for those looking to the original franchise or if it will be looked at as a complete reboot of the franchise. Considering it is set in present-day San Francisco, reboot is the only way I can look at it. The press notes don’t even mention Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, though senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri does call it an “origin story” saying, “Planet of the Apes is such a classic and beloved film that the idea of working on an origin story – the story about how it all came to be – was interesting, especially being able to focus on the point of view of Caesar as our main character.”
The official synopsis also calls it an origin story in the truest sense of the term, which is a bit confusing if you look at either the original or alternate timelines I mentioned above. Based on those, in 2011 the world was either dominated by apes or the idea of an Ape Revolution was over 500 years away.
My assumption is that the only way to look at it is to say it’s the origin of a brand new story that simply holds a common bond to the original franchise and the characters created by Pierre Boulle in his 1963 novel “La Planete des singes” (Monkey Planet). Either way, I hope it satisfies.
Now, I leave you with a special treat I found while putting this article together, the entirety of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes presented by YouTube. If you haven’t seen it and enjoy a bit of campy science fiction meets science fact have a look below. Personally, the build to the finale is excellent if you ask me.
As for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it hits theaters this Friday, August 5. For more on the film including pictures, trailers and more click here.
