While there is that cliché of not judging a book by its cover, it was the cover that first attracted me, as it was in 3D! Yes, I know 3D is no great shakes in the movies, but imagine a book cover that is 3D and comes with 3D glasses. What joy! When the book duly arrived, the first thing I did was to clap on the nifty glasses and look at the cover through them. There it was — all in glorious 3D, the ape, the man, the planets and the spaceship.
Book take
Pierre Boulle wrote La Planète des Singes in 1963; it was translated into English as Planet of the Apes . Though Boulle considered the book a minor work, it was a critical and commercial success. The Los Angeles Times called it a “scintillating mix of sci-fi adventure and allegory”, while The Guardian described it as “Classic science fiction... full of suspense and satirical intelligence”.
Tim Burton, who made the sixth Planet of the Apes movie in 2001, is quoted as saying, “It is like a good myth or fairytale that stays with you... Part of the strength of this material is its disruptive, questioning nature. Who came first? Where are we going?”
The book opens with a swish couple, Jinn and Phyllis, travelling through space for leisure. They find a manuscript in a bottle. They read the story written by a journalist Ulysse Mérou, who travelled with a brilliant scientist, Professor Antelle, and a physician Arthur Levain to Betelgeuse, 300 light years away. The year is 2500; with the space time continuum being bent, Ulysse cannot publish his story for another 800 years — oh for such liberal deadlines!
When the trio near Betelgeuse, they decide to land on a planet orbiting it, as its atmosphere contains oxygen and nitrogen, and being so like earth with vegetation and water, the travellers name the planet Soror (sister). They find Soror peopled by mute, primitive humans ruled by intelligent apes. The ape society is divided into three, with the gorillas providing the might, the orangutans making for the administrators and the chimpanzees being the thinkers. Boulle said he drew inspiration from the travelogues of the 18th century, particularly Gulliver’s Travels , to use allegory to make a satirical observation on society.
Boulle was writing during the height of the Cold War and explored what would happen to a human race bent on destroying each other. The book also draws on Boulle’s experiences as a prisoner of war during WWII, to comment on race and the misuse of power.
Movie makeover
Planet of the Apes was made into a hugely successful movie in 1968. The film, directed by Franklin J Schaffner, made significant departures from the book, including the classic twist in the end. Ulysse, with the evocation of the classical voyager, is replaced by an astronaut, George Taylor played by Charlton Heston. Taylor’s spaceship crashes into an unknown planet in the year 3978. The planet, while having breathable air, food and water, features primitive mute humans enslaved, hunted and experimented on by apes — the boot is definitely on the other foot.
Four sequels, television series, comics, books, videogames and toys followed in the wake of the film. After being in development hell forever came Burton’s Planet of the Apes . Mark Wahlberg played Leo Davidson, an astronaut who travels through a worm hole to land on a planet ruled by apes etc, etc. The movie was a reimaging and closer to the novel in the sense that it ended like the novel on an earth ruled by apes.
Ten years later came Rise of the Planet of the Apes , which told the story of a chimpanzee named Caesar and how he came to lead the simian rebellion against humans. While there have been theories that this is the story of the lead character from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), the timelines don’t synch. Andy Serkis, after playing Gollum, Supreme Leader Snoke and King Kong, played Caesar with performance-capture acting.
The film was well-received and paved the way for two sequels — Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes running in a theatre near you. War brought Caesar’s story to an epic end while leaving an opening for a third sequel with Caesar’s son Cornelius bearing the torch.
In the book, Cornelius is an intelligent chimpanzee whose enquiring mind is willing to give credence to Ulysse’s ravings about intelligent humans. What goes around most definitely comes around.
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