I love Apes. No, not apes per se, but Apes. The entire crazy, convoluted chronology of those damn dirty Apes and how they ascended to dominance over the Earth, then fell in an explosive cataclysm, then rose again (sort of), then proliferated into a pop culture phenomenon with films, TV shows, books, comics, toys, and ephemera of all kinds. I love Apes!
But even as the latest film in the saga, War for the Planet of the Apes, arrives, we must face one fact, Apemaniacs: There’s a gorilla in the room and it’s called “continuity.” While other fandoms bang their heads against countless inconsistencies, desperately trying to reconcile bits of dialogue here and references there so their beloved saga maintains a pristine order of events (which is always impossible), we’ve had to resign ourselves to the fact that the Apes saga is not a single strand but a glorious multi-threaded wonder of many timelines and branched events sequences. And that’s fine! But for the sake of conversation, just how confusing is it? Let’s take a look!
Caveat: There are folks that have tried valiantly to cram everything into one consistent timeline, but the simple fact is that you can’t do that; the many Apes stories told in multiple media do not belong together, nor should they. Consider them variations on a theme, riffs on a melody, or perhaps a freeway with an infinite number of lanes all leading from the past into the future.
We could try to fit some into a unified timeline, but that’s just a silly exercise since even the films themselves thoroughly screw up their own continuity as early as Beneath the Planet of the Apes (we’ll talk about this soon). And you’d have to believe that about a thousand years apart, there are two nearly identical Dr. Zaiuses dealing with talking humans from the past. Yes, yes, they’re related. Sure, whatever makes you happy. Anyway, let’s examine the big ol’ mess the Apes have left us, and why it’s so much fun even though it doesn’t fit together. As a matter of fact, I came prepared to do just that.
Caveat Two: We’re going to ignore the original Pierre Boulle novel, and for the same reason, we’ll save some time and space (heh) by skipping the comics and any other media other than the live-action and animated productions. Entire books can and have been written about the Apes saga, but for this feature we need to rein it in a bit.
Caveat Three: I’m going to refer to characters and events as if you have a pretty good knowledge of the events in the original films and some of these other productions, because if I had to explain everything, we’d be here all day. Onward!
Actual Year of Release: 1968
Temporal Coordinates: 1973^3978 or 3955
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: This is where it all starts
There’s nothing much to argue about here. The timeline for everything begins with this film, which also posits a time frame for Taylor’s arrival in the future that will be immediately contradicted in the first sequel. Oh, and just for the record, the Statue of Liberty is buried, not broken (although if you like that better, feel free to think that – there’s really no right answer).
Actual Year of Release: 1970
Temporal Coordinates: 1973^3955
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: Pretty easy, despite some character inconsistencies
Here is the first instance of continuity changing; yes, it’s that soon. For one thing, we get a different date for the future and Earth’s destruction, one that will at least be reinforced in the next film. For another, Zaius treats Cornelius and Zira quite differently here after the events of the first movie; it almost seems as if things have drastically changed. Perhaps we’re already in an alternate timeline. Hey, even Cornelius looks and sounds different! (Yes, I know why, I’m joking. Different actor!)
Actual Year of Release: 1971
Temporal Coordinates: 3955^1973
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: Branching out?
Here’s where things go really wonky. In 1973, after traveling back to Taylor's past, Cornelius and Zira tell Dr. Hasslein about the downfall of Man, describing a sequence of events that begins with a space-borne plague that eradicated dogs and cats in their “prehistory” (which the next film, Conquest, will nail down as 1983, 10 years after this film’s story). Man took apes as pets, but a master-slave dynamic in which the apes performed services rather than tricks evolved over the course of, as Cornelius explains, “two centuries.” Then, after “three more centuries” as Zira adds, the apes became aware of their situation, giving rise to the first articulate ape to say “No” -- Aldo. All well and good… until the next movie comes along. But before we get there, there’s another big issue here, which is that this prehistory Cornelius and Zira know so well from the Sacred Scrolls is exactly the sort of thing they apparently did not know at all in the original films, nor would the Scrolls ever have told of a time of talking humans dominating Apes. So did their time trip immediately shove them into an alternate lane where they now remember a different history? This is getting confusing, and Conquest is just around the corner…
Actual Year of Release: 1972
Temporal Coordinates: 1991
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: I think we're not in Kansas anymore
It’s then some 10 years after the plague in 1983, but the apes are already slaves bought in auctions and performing all manner of tasks and services. Isn’t eight years a lot shorter than “two centuries?” But wait a minute, because here comes Milo/Caesar, the messianic talking ape (and child of Cornelius and Zira) that will liberate his people! And here’s their uprising… right now in 1991, not after “three more centuries.” Did Cornelius and Zira’s time trip alter Ape history from five centuries of slow development and rebellion to a mere eight years? And – pet theory – did their arrival perhaps even bring that space-borne plague with them? I always thought it might be that the radiation from their ship passing through time may have eliminated the dogs and cats, mutated the apes much faster than in the original timeline, and perhaps even degraded human intelligence so that they would devolve. My theory – which apparently was shared independently by many fans – eventually became a core element in the new films, so… yay me? Still waiting for my check!
Actual Year of Release: 1973
Temporal Coordinates: Early 2000s and 2670
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: Not really a problem
Where are we now? Well, we’re in two places. First up, the framing sequence takes place in 2670, with a living Lawgiver (ah, that John Huston/Gandalf voice!) speaking to a mixed class of talking humans and apes. Then in the “present,” we follow Caesar post-Conquest (but this is the theatrical cut Caesar, mind you, not the militant of the original cut… never mind, long story) as he attempts to build a new mingled society. But when is this? There is no easy answer: The film’s script outline refers to 2000, the Blu-ray says 2004, and some fan timelines go further in order to reconcile armory guardian Mandemus’ statement that he’s been there for 27 years. The fact that Roddy McDowall’s Caesar doesn’t look appreciably older than he did in Conquest, with not even a bit of gray (which they really should have added), enhances the confusion. Basically, we have to assume this is about 30 years after Conquest or it just doesn’t work.
Actual Year of Release: 1974
Temporal Coordinates: 1980^3085
Reconciliation with Primary Timeline: Tricky, probably not viable
Things start to diverge drastically with the television adaptation, which is set in 3085, thus placing the series at about 870 years before the original films. It also means this is 415 years after the framing sequence in Battle, which would suggest – if we’re trying to match them up – that the co-mingling of talking humans and apes in a lopsided but still recognizable society of both species would endure that long. It is possible to say that the show happens in the same timeline if you really want to, but too many other things fail to line up, including the existence of another Dr. Zaius centuries before the other one we’ve already met. Yes, they could be relations along a family line, but really now…
When the TV series was repackaged as a set of five compilation movies, McDowall played the show's chimp Galen one last time (this time with graying hair – take that, Battle!) and welcomed us to visit as we watched the edited exploits of the show's human stars Burke and Virdon. The intro/outro segments play as one creepy little farewell from McDowall, and after years of obscurity they’re now readily available to watch via smeary videotape copies on YouTube. And for the record, they presumably take place about 20-30 years after the show.
Continues
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