Going Bananas: PLANET OF THE APES
What the smash hit “New Kingdom” means in the overall Ape Universum!
From a sociological perspective, the Planet of the Apes series offers a compelling examination of power dynamics, social hierarchies, and the fluid nature of civilization. By exploring the rise of a non-human species, the franchise invites us to question our own assumptions about society and the natural order. As we are looking at the latest chapter in the Planet of the Apes saga, “New Kingdom,” it is an opportune moment to embark on an intellectual journey through the complex tapestry of this thought-provoking franchise. Enjoy!
Dr. Will Rodman, a man perpetually haunted by the slow, agonizing decline of his father to Alzheimer’s, shuffled through the sterile corridors of Gen-Sys, the weight of years and worry etched into his face. Years of tireless research had culminated in ALZ-112, a radical gene therapy with the potential to rewrite the human condition. But the trials were slow, agonizingly so. Each failed test case a fresh reminder of the ticking clock against his father’s fading mind.
Little did Rodman know, a parallel project was humming along in the shadowy corners of Gen-Sys. Project Caesar, led by the enigmatic Dr. Dreyfus, focused on boosting cognitive function in chimpanzees. Dreyfus, a man driven by a blend of ambition and a twisted sense of altruism, believed that by unlocking the secrets of ape intelligence, he could provide a template for human enhancement.
The methodology was audacious, bordering on reckless. A retrovirus, laced with human growth factors, was injected into a young chimpanzee named Caesar. The results were immediate and terrifying. Caesar, once content with bananas and playtime, began exhibiting startling cognitive leaps. He solved complex puzzles, mimicked human speech, and displayed an unsettling awareness of his surroundings.
But something else was brewing. Rumors of a mysterious illness, dubbed the “Simian Flu” by panicked lab techs, began to ripple through Gen-Sys. It started with lethargy, then progressed to a rapid decline in cognitive function. Fear hung thick in the sterile air as scientists scrambled to identify the source. Whispers of a connection to Project Caesar spread like wildfire. Was this an unintended consequence of pushing the boundaries of genetic manipulation? Or something more sinister?
Rodman, oblivious to the brewing chaos, witnessed Caesar’s growing intelligence firsthand. A bond formed between them, a scientist desperate for a cure and an ape yearning for understanding. It was a connection that would soon be tested as the lines between human and animal, intelligence and instinct, began to blur irrevocably.
The question lingered, a chilling echo in the sterile halls of Gen-Sys: had humanity, in its hubris, unleashed a force it could never control? The seeds of rebellion, sown in a chimpanzee’s mind, were waiting to germinate. The Great Ape Uprising, a conflict decades in the making, was just a single, fateful event away.
Two Bananas Later
Ten years. A decade carved from the bloody aftermath of the ape uprising. A fragile peace had settled over the ruins of San Francisco, a testament to the uneasy truce forged between Caesar’s burgeoning ape society and a dwindling human colony nestled within the fortified remnants of Golden Gate Park.
Caesar, the unlikely revolutionary, bore the weight of leadership etched into his wise, soulful eyes. He envisioned a future of co-existence, a world where apes and humans could rebuild from the ashes. But beneath the surface, tensions simmered. Resources were scarce, suspicion lingered on both sides, and the scars of past violence ran deep.
This precarious balance was shattered by the arrival of Koba, a bonobo chimpanzee with a past as harrowing as his name. Once a lab experiment subjected to unimaginable cruelty, Koba emerged from the shadows, a firebrand fueled by hatred for humanity. He saw only weakness in the humans, a flaw to be exploited. His venomous rhetoric, laced with the bitter memories of his torture, resonated with a younger generation of apes who had never known peace.
The spark ignited a conflagration. A skirmish at a resource depot escalated into a full-blown battle. The once-vibrant city echoed with the screams of ape and man alike. Caesar, his heart heavy with despair, watched as the fragile peace he’d so meticulously constructed crumbled to dust.
The human leader, Colonel McCullough, a man hardened by the crucible of war, saw only a confirmation of his worst fears — apes were inherently savage. He unleashed a relentless campaign of extermination, a desperate bid to reclaim dominance over a world he barely recognized.
Caesar, ever the pragmatist, realized this fight was unwinnable. He knew his people needed a new beginning, a place far from the ghosts of the past. With a heavy heart, he led his apes on a perilous exodus, a trek towards a rumored haven in the verdant north.
The journey was fraught with danger. Human pockets of resistance lingered, their fear a potent weapon. But Caesar pressed on, his resolve strengthened by the knowledge that he was securing a future for his kind.
The final confrontation with Colonel McCullough was as inevitable as it was tragic. Caesar, weakened by a mysterious illness, faced off against the Colonel in a desperate bid to save his people. In a heart-wrenching display of selflessness, Caesar sacrificed himself, buying his apes precious time to escape.
With their leader gone, the apes continued their journey north, forever marked by Caesar’s legacy. The fate of the remaining human colonies remained shrouded in uncertainty. Had the Simian Flu, a whisper from a bygone era, truly decimated humanity? Or was it the relentless tide of human conflict that ultimately sealed their fate? The answer, like the future of the apes themselves, remained shrouded in the mist.
Three Bananas Later
Decades, perhaps centuries, blurred into a monotonous cycle aboard the Icarus. Major Taylor, a relic of a forgotten age, drifted through the cosmos, haunted by the memories of his ill-fated mission. A malfunction, a cosmic twist of fate, had catapulted him into a future he could scarcely comprehend.
His descent was a fiery ballet of metal and hope, the crash landing jarring him back to the harsh reality of his predicament. A desolate landscape stretched before him, devoid of any familiar signs of civilization. Yet, amidst the ruins of a rusted bridge, a chilling truth emerged: the Statue of Liberty, its once proud torch extinguished, stood as a silent sentinel to a lost human world.
Taylor’s initial shock morphed into a desperate search for survivors. He stumbled upon a society unlike any he’d ever encountered — apes, not humans, held dominion. These weren’t the lab animals he knew, but a civilization with their own language, customs, and a simmering distrust for any outsider, especially one resembling the long-gone masters.
But amidst the ape society, whispers of a hidden human resistance reached Taylor’s ears. Venturing beneath the crumbling remains of New York City, he discovered a subterranean network of tunnels, a refuge for a dwindling band of telepathic humans. They were the descendants of those who, foreseeing the rise of the apes, had chosen to live in the shadows, preserving a flicker of human ingenuity in the face of ape dominance.
Their leader, a woman named Nova, possessed an unsettling ability to read minds. She saw in Taylor a potential bridge between the two warring species, a chance to forge a fragile alliance against a new and horrifying threat. News had filtered down from the surface — apes, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the ones Taylor encountered, had arrived on their vessel. The chilling truth became horrifyingly clear: these were the descendants of the apes who had escaped Earth on Taylor’s ship, carrying with them the seeds of humanity’s destruction.
Their arrival ignited a global conflict, a brutal war fueled by fear and misunderstanding. The apes, mistaking humanity for a new enemy, unleashed a devastating arsenal of weaponry. Nuclear fire rained down from the skies, turning a once-vibrant planet into a smoldering wasteland.
Taylor, his initial hope for a new beginning replaced by a crushing despair, witnessed the horrifying birth of a new dark age. The apes, having unwittingly triggered their own downfall, were left to inherit a poisoned legacy — a testament to the destructive potential of fear and misunderstanding. As the last embers of human civilization flickered out, Taylor, forever adrift in a sea of regret, could only wonder if humanity’s fall was an inevitable consequence of their actions, or a tragic misstep on a path towards a brighter future.
Lots Of Bananas Later
In the flickering neon glow of a crumbling Las Vegas, a different kind of uprising brewed. This Caesar wasn’t a product of scientific experimentation, but a chimpanzee raised by Armando, a charismatic circus owner. Witnessing the cruelty inflicted on other animals, a spark of rebellion ignited within Caesar. He wasn’t content with a life of performing tricks and enduring Armando’s volatile temper. The embers of intelligence, fanned by years of observing human behavior, blossomed into a yearning for freedom.
Caesar’s escape triggered a chain reaction. He rallied other apes held captive in the tattered remnants of the circus, their shared experiences of abuse forging an unlikely bond. This ragtag band, fueled by a primal desire for autonomy, descended upon the decaying city, their uprising a desperate bid for self-determination.
The human response was swift and brutal. The authorities, a shadow of their former power, saw only chaos and a threat to their dwindling control. A bloody conflict erupted, echoing through the canyons of abandoned casinos and down desolate boulevards. Caesar, a reluctant leader thrust into the role by circumstance, fought not for domination, but for the right of his kind to exist with dignity.
The outcome, however, was far from clear-cut. The uprising, though initially successful in carving out a small niche of freedom for the apes, ultimately proved to be a pyrrhic victory. The conflict spilled over, serving as a catalyst for a simmering human conflict on a global scale. Nuclear fire rained down from the skies, a horrifying echo of the past.
Years later, a new Caesar, son of the original ape leader, emerged from the radioactive fallout. The world he knew was a desolate wasteland, a twisted reflection of the once-vibrant planet. Scattered human survivors, mutated by the radiation, eked out a meager existence, their distrust of apes etched into their very DNA.
Caesar, inheriting his father’s mantle of leadership, faced a daunting task: forging a future for his kind in a world ravaged by war and suspicion. The ghosts of the past lingered, a constant reminder of the destructive potential of conflict. Could Caesar, unlike his predecessors, lead his people towards a future of co-existence, or were humans and apes destined to repeat the cycle of violence that had brought their world to its knees? The answer, shrouded in the radioactive mist, remained an open question.
How Everything Unfolded
Here is an effort to provide a chronological summary of the events that occurred in the Planet of the Apes universe, encompassing all the movies released. However, please keep in mind that this is not definitive, as there are no clear indications in the films, and there are certainly some loose ends that should be acknowledged.
Pre-Rise Timeline (Original Series):
Undetermined Past: Humans develop intelligent apes through genetic experiments. (This event is never explicitly shown but referenced in later films)
2011 (Rise of the Planet of the Apes): Will Rodman, a scientist, develops a cure for Alzheimer’s disease using a genetically modified ape called Caesar. Caesar, gaining intelligence, escapes and leads a revolution against humanity.
2024 (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes): A decade after the ape uprising, a fragile peace exists between a small human colony led by Malcolm and Caesar’s growing ape society. A conflict erupts, fueled by Koba, a war-hungry former lab chimp, leading to a devastating battle.
2026 (War for the Planet of the Apes): Caesar, burdened by Koba’s actions, leads his apes on a quest for a new home. They encounter a ruthless human Colonel who aims to eradicate all apes. Caesar sacrifices himself to save his people, securing a future for the apes.
Milestone Events:
Rise of the Simian Flu (Undetermined Time): A genetically modified virus intended for human intelligence enhancement backfires, giving apes heightened intelligence and humans a debilitating disease. (This event is a major plot point in the original series, but its exact placement in the timeline is unclear)
Great Ape Uprising (2011): Caesar leads a successful rebellion against humans, establishing ape dominance.
Loose Ends:
The original series never explicitly mentions the Simian Flu, leaving a gap in how apes gained intelligence.
The fate of the remaining human colonies after Caesar’s death in War for the Planet of the Apes remains unknown.
Original Series Timeline (1968–1973):
1974 (Planet of the Apes): Astronauts crash-land on a future Earth dominated by intelligent apes who have enslaved mute humans. Taylor, one of the astronauts, leads a rebellion alongside Nova, a telepathic human child. They discover the Statue of Liberty, a shocking reminder of a lost human civilization.
1991 (Beneath the Planet of the Apes): Beneath the ruins of New York City, a hidden society of humans with telepathic abilities exists. They believe Taylor’s story about a human world and attempt to contact remaining humans.
1991 (Escape from the Planet of the Apes): Taylor and Brent, another astronaut who crash-landed on the same planet, return to Earth, only to find it ravaged by a nuclear war started by apes who escaped on their ship.
2013 (Conquest of the Planet of the Apes): Caesar, a chimpanzee raised by circus owner Armando, leads a rebellion against humans after witnessing their cruelty. This Caesar is unrelated to the Caesar from the prequel series.
2015 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes): A nuclear war destroys most of humanity, leaving Caesar’s apes and a small band of mutated humans struggling to survive. This Caesar is the son of the previous film’s Caesar.
Milestone Events:
Fall of Humanity (Undetermined Time): A combination of the Simian Flu and human war leaves apes the dominant species.
Discovery of the Statue of Liberty (1974): A symbolic turning point for Taylor, revealing humanity’s lost legacy.
Nuclear War (1991): Escaped apes from Earth cause a nuclear holocaust on their home planet.
Loose Ends:
The timeline for the original series is inconsistent, with the nuclear war seemingly happening much faster than the prequel series suggests.
The existence of multiple Caesars with similar names and motivations creates confusion.
Uncertain Placement:
2001 (Planet of the Apes): A remake of the original 1968 film, with a more ambiguous ending regarding the future of humanity and apes. It’s unclear if this film fits into either established timeline.
