Planet of the Apes

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Last Wednesday, Boom! Studios released a new Planet of the Apes comic book series. According to editor Ian Brill, the new series is set in continuity with the five original films, and takes place some 1200 before Taylor “fell from the stars.” The art is real nice and it’s in color. The story? Too soon to tell. I will say I’m more impressed so far than I was with Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, the six-issue mini-series published in 2005-6 by Mr. Comics. I read that one and I remember discussing it here, but I don’t remember much about it, other than that I didn’t particularly care for it. Anyone here remember that one? (I know Mark read it.) Anyone here reading this new series by writer Daryl Gregory and artist Carlos Magno.

I was surprised (and oddly pleased) to learn this weekend that a new film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is going to open August 5.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I flipped through it. I like the concept of Planet of the Apes. However the films I have seen bore me to tears. I always liked the make-up on the actors and the cinematography. I thought about giving the comic a shot but decided to pass for now. I also wasn't wild about the art. I do look forward to your further reviews of the series.

 

I will say that I saw the trailer for the new film and it looks quite good. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll find the trailer for it and post it here for you to look at.

[Philip Portelli]

I enjoyed Revolution OTPOTA especially how Caesar's displacement in time, if he was conceived in the future, altered the world and "jumpstarted" the other apes' intelligences.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

[Figserello]

That film looks good in a low-key sort of way.  Suitably understated.  Does it tie into the previous movies at all?

 

I had wondered how the monkeys evolved so quickly in the original movies, but if you are saying the Revolution OTPOTA story puts Caesar even further back in time than Cornelius and Zira went (ie before 'our time'), that would explain it a bit.

 

(Even though any explanation still has to get around Caeser mating with females considerably lower down the evolutionary chain than himself!  A bit like the idea of Gulliver doing it with the Yahoos in Swifts book.  Gulliver of course finds the idea repugnant and doesn't go there!  Caesar must just close his eyes and think of Ape-world!

 

This explanation also involves Caeser mating with his great, great, etc etc grandmother!)

[Philip Portelli]

No, no. Caesar in Revolution is still the child of Cornelius and Zira born during Escape, starting the rebellion in Conquest and leading the Intelligent Apes in Battle. What they are saying is that Zira was pregnant when she travelled to the past and that Caesar (or Milo) was conceived in Beneath. So being out of his intended time somehow made the other apes grow smarter and evolve in a very short amount of time since Revolution took place between Conquest where the Apes are animals, though certainly more aware than real apes, and Battle where they are talking and philosophizing e.g. Virgil.

Caesar's mate, Lisa, learns to speak in Revolution and Aldo was a gorilla who was experimented on.

Still there are mysteries to uncover and lessons to be learned!

We who are not human can afford to be humane!

[Figserello]

So being out of his intended time somehow made the other apes grow smarter and evolve in a very short amount of time since Revolution took place between Conquest where the Apes are animals, though certainly more aware than real apes, and Battle where they are talking and philosophizing e.g. Virgil.

 

This is exactly the bit that is hard to make sense of.  20-100 years seems like a very short time to produce a whole race of virgil-quoting apes!  And there's still the question of Caeser doing it with ..animals basically.  Animals who were his great great etc, at that!

 

I completely agree with you however that the Ape movies do give us plenty of food for thought, even if they don't quite make sense.  In that way, they are 'comicbook' in the best sense of the word.

[Philip Portelli]

Certainly, "normally" it would take generations to go from learning and obeying simple commands to sentient decision making and learning complex sciences (at the very least), but the Planet of the Apes creators needed Caesar to command Apes now (or then)!! So a little logic goes out the window but Caesar's time altering theory does soften the blow a bit!

Ape Must Not Kill Ape!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Thanks for posting the link to that trailer, Jason. Looks intriguing!

I discovered PotA first through the black and white Marvel magazine, then the TV show, then the movies, with the original (the best of the lot) being the film I managed to see last in those pre-VHS days. I guess the concept has to hit you at just the right age to capture your fancy for life. I loved the Marvel magazines because I could learn the entire story before I had the opportunity to see the movies. I didn’t like the Moench/Ploog “Terror on the Planet of the Apes” series at first, but as I grew older I learned to appreciate it. No comic book series (including the various mini-series and one ongoing published by the now defunct Adventure Comics) has since captured that “sensawunda” the original held for me.

You’re right, though, that I do intend to buy the rest of the series.

[doc photo]

I really liked the first two Planet of the Apes films but found the subsequent sequels almost unwatchable. The re-make left me cold as well. I'm hoping the new film provides a better explanation for the rise of the apes, tying into the implication of the first film that a nuclear holocaust sent man back to the stone age while sparking the evolution of the apes.

I never bought into the space/time traveling scenario presented in Escape. How could the apes, shown to be a pre-industrial society, pull Taylor's ship out of the lake, repair it and launch it through space/time?

 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

While I was waiting for the first four-issue of the new series to be collected in tpb, I killed time by re-reading Revolution on the Planet of the Apes which is a sequel to the movie Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (a very direct sequel which picks up the very next day) and fleshes out some the details the movie left out between the third and fourth sequels. (Back in the ‘70s, Marvel comics also added a chapter at this point which was more of a prequel to Battle of the Planet of the Apes.) Each issue also featured standalone back-up stories as well as entries from Caesar’s journal which tied in to the main story.

Issue #5 of the current series was $1 and released the same day as the tpb collecting the first four. #5 is touted as the beginning of a new story but it’s not, really; it just advances the overall arc and moves it in a new direction. That aside, I will say this series is the best original POTA we have seen since “Terror on the Planet of the Apes” (which ran for 15 chapters in Marvel’s POTA b&w magazine). Full disclosure: there are three POTA mini-series (released in the wake of Tim Burton’s re-vamp) which I have not read. My LCS has tpbs of all three in stock, and although I looked at them last week, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy them. Also, I missed one issue (#24) of the Adventure Comics series. If anyone has it and would care to sell or trade (or has a line on where I can get one), please let me know.

I’ve also recently re-read the original novel and have started reading the paperback adaptations of the sequel movies, (alternating back and forth with Dark Shadows paperbacks). Over the weekend I started reading the new Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes which follws Landon instead of Taylor, fleshes out the backstory and sets up the sequels. It is also profusely illustrated by 26 different artists, including Jim Steranko (who supplied the cover art), Joe Jusko, Mark Texiera, Dave Dorman and Tom Scioli. I’m only seven chapters in, so I’ll likely have more to say about it later.

And there's still the question of Caeser doing it with ..animals basically.

That concern (regarding Taylor and Nova) is addressed in the original novel, as well.

I never bought into the space/time traveling scenario presented in Escape. How could the apes, shown to be a pre-industrial society, pull Taylor's ship out of the lake, repair it and launch it through space/time?

That’s a large part of the mystery which Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes sets out to resolve. (I haven’t gotten to that part yet, though.)

I completely agree with you however that the Ape movies do give us plenty of food for thought, even if they don't quite make sense. In that way, they are 'comicbook' in the best sense of the word.

Obviously, I agree.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

I never bought into the space/time traveling scenario presented in Escape. How could the apes, shown to be a pre-industrial society, pull Taylor's ship out of the lake, repair it and launch it through space/time?

That’s a large part of the mystery which Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes sets out to resolve. (I haven’t gotten to that part yet, though.)

 

I'd be interested in hearing what that answer is ... maybe ... but I'm content leaving in the "... and then a miracle happened, now move along ..." category.

[Philip Portelli]

He just wanted to make sure that he wasn't in anymore sequels! That's why Escape took place in the then-present to save on the budget!

As for how they escaped in...uh...Escape, the rocket probably wasn't that damaged. Perhaps there was an emergancy bulkhead that prevented water damage. The third ape was a brilliant and future thinking scientist (Milo the Pathfinder). Taylor told Cornelius and Zira where his rocket crashed in the Forbidden Zone. It may have been programmed to resurface if sunk. If the autopilot and computers were still functioning, Milo could have found the ship and gained access to its memory banks and/or operational instructions. Since they all spoke and read English (thus how could Taylor NOT know he was back on Earth?), it may have been relatively easy for three educated and daring chimpanzees to figure out how to fly the ship to flee from the destruction that they somehow knew was coming.