Ponderings on PotA

Let us forget that the horrible Tim Burton version of Planet of the Apes ever existed.  We have the five original movies plus the OK (from what I remember) TV series, an excellent comics adaptation, and now we have the first two installments of the _____ of the Planet of the Apes reboots. These are enough Apes related goodness to keep a PotA fan going.

After recently watching Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Colbinski pointed me in the direction of a recap of the original movies I wrote. This got me to thinking about the story this new reboot is attempting to tell compared to the story the original told. It makes me wonder if the producers have an overarching theme for the rest of the series. The originals had five installments although the follow-up, short-lived TV series, is often presented as movies. Those five were:

Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The first two originals had humans as the heroes. The third shifted protagonists to the apes that went back in time and landed in 1970’s America where they met. The fourth chronicled Caesar’s revolution (subtext in this attempted to mirror the social unrest that was occurring in America at this time) and then the final installment, perhaps the worst of the lot, but not without its moments, showed the remaining humans and apes living together and how the apes eventually took over waiting for the events of the first one to occur many years later. As a young’un watching these, I always enjoyed and was enthralled by the circle it created, even if it used time travel, mind readers, nuclear bombs, terrible NYC geography, and other outlandish claims to get there.

With minor spoilers for the new movie, I’ll just say that Caesar the Ape is the hero of both and this is the opposite of the originals. I would like to see this inverse continue for the new movie series and see if they can make another circle of a full, complete story. As Dawn ends with Caesar resigning himself to

war with humans, I see the third movie portraying the world where Apes dominate. Hollywood being

Hollywood, I gather that they want to keep Casar as the lead although it may do the series some good to jump ahead in time to a world where Apes have really taken over.  This can show the shabby treatment of the remaining humans, perhaps being treated as humans currently treat primates – zoos, experiments, inferior, etc. This would allow the tone of the series to change form Ape heroes back to human heroes, jyst as Escape allowed Cornelius and Zira to be the heroes. Killed in the end but still the heroes and that movie paved the way for the original Caesar.

This brings us to the fourth movie in the reboot.  I would like to see this follow-up on the Easter Egg provided in Rise about a lost manned spaceship to Mars. Have the lost ship land on Earth under ape rule and we can ressuruct a bonafide hero like the Taylor character from the original. This would provide a human hero countering the Caesar of Conquest. The fifth movie of the reboot can be humans, led by the astronauts of the fourth movie, trying reclaim civilization, perhaps with some newfound humility and lessons learned. Or maybe during a kick-ass battle scene, which is much more likely. It may also be interesting for the movies to span out from the northern California area and let us see how the rest of the world is faring. Maybe provide an explanation of how intelligent apes came to be in other parts. Did the virus that killed humans also move to apes all over the world and allow them to become like Caesar’s crew in the Redwoods?

I’m glad to see what they are doing with these reboots so far. I’m sure Hollywood will do its best to disappoint me in these future installments but one can hope that they continue the quality and thoughtfulness they have so far. No mind readers, please.