AG Monday!
This week: the 1968 classic, Planet of the Apes!
It’s a madhouse! A maaaaaadhouse! One of the critical Big Ideas science fiction movies of our youth was Planet Of The Apes. Not only was it filled with jaw-dropping revelations, but it became popular enough to inspire four sequels in rapid succession. The world went ape, and so did we!
One of the biggest plot twists in movie history! Satire! Misanthropy! Incredible makeup effects! The original Rod Serling script! It’s all here.
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
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I never liked those movies. Never saw the remakes, either.
So, to the first one, I recall seeing it on TV when I was 8 or 9. It was shown over and over, along with the sequels later. Now, my thought right away is the astronauts either had traveled in time, or had undergone some long time dilation. Because any planet that has gorillas, chimps, orangutans, and humans, not to mention horses and all that familiar vegetation, has to be Earth*.
So the famous twist ending felt more like the resolution of an idiot plot. How did Charlton Heston’s character not know all along he was on Earth?
As to other versions, this is the one worth seeing, because it’s mockery of the whole idea. It also mocks musicals 😀
*That everyone spoke English didn’t enter into the equation. The law of quantum linguistics clearly states all entangled languages are indistinguishable from English of the time period when the movie or book is made.
BTW, Matt Groening’s properties have milked that ending some more:
Homer Simpson
Philip J. Fry
I haven’t quite finished the podcast (I left off at merch), so maybe you did cover the movie was an adaptation of a French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle.
The plot summary notes the species specialization among the apes:
I wonder who grows the crops, and makes the clothes, and writes the books, etc., etc.
@Kathy:..Philip J. Fry…
Just when I had finally forgotten about the slug I found on the ceiling right above my bed, this clip has me thinking about it again. How slimy can a slug be that it can attach itself upside down and slime several feet across the ceiling to a spot where I would see it while I was lying on my back looking up at the ceiling? I was able to remove the mollusk and throw it outside where it belongs. For days I thoroughly inspected the walls and ceiling before turning in. No way to know if the slug I evicted didn’t tell his slime bag buddies about my abode and is leading them to my old trailer house. AARRGGHHH!
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
I’m sorry. I’d no idea slug warnings were required. I’ll make a note for future reference.
@Kathy:..slug warnings…
I’ll get over it.
The only slug that really annoys me rhymes with chump.
Submitted without comment: Hanging with Doctor Z
@Kathy: Were you aware of it before you heard about it on the podcast? J
@Kathy: BTW: I thought about the English thing while we were recording, but never got around to bringing it up.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Not at all. I thought some in the OTB community might like to check it out.
@Steven L. Taylor:
If possible, try and bring up the totally made up quantum linguistics bit if you ever get the chance. Lots of SF where all sorts of aliens never contacted before speak English.
@Kathy: I am glad you posted it and also glad that you got something out of the podcast, despite your dislike of the film!
@Steven L. Taylor:
I got more out of the discussion of the film, like subordinating science to religion and such. That’s the whole point of the podcast. Good job!
But I still wouldn’t watch the movie again, for the reasons stated above.
About endings. Another Heston movie of that era also has a surprise ending. Namely Soylent Green. and yet, what does everyone who has never seen it know about that movie? That Soylent Green is people!
A movie also around that time with a more conventional ending is Logan’s Run. Everyone knows “people are killed when they turn 30,” but no one talks much about the ending.
Completely unrelated, any plans to discuss either Soylent Green or Logan’s run in the podcast?