"Beware the beast man, for he is the devil's pawn."
"Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed."
"Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land."
"Let him not breed in great numbers,
"for he will make a desert of his home, and yours."
"Shun him... for he is the harbinger of death."
Nova.
-Where will you go? -Follow the shoreline.
Don't try to follow us. I'm pretty handy with this.
Of that I'm sure.
All my life I've awaited your coming and dreaded it.
You're afraid of me and you hate me. Why?
The forbidden zone was once a paradise.
Your breed made a desert of it ages ago.
It still doesn't give me the why.
A planet where apes evolved from men.
There's gotta be an answer.
Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.
Zira. Cornelius. Untie me.
-What will he find out there, Doctor? -His destiny.
Damn you all to hell!
-Food... -No. No, no, skipper. It's me again.
Just me.
-Brent... -Sir?
-Did you contact Earth? -I tried to, sir. Not a crackle.
Skipper, I took an Earth time reading just before reentry.
What'd you get?
3-9-5-5.
Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-five.
-AD. -Almighty God.
Well, we were following Taylor's trajectory.
Whatever happened to us must have happened to him.
What about us? Where are we?
Well, in my opinion, skipper,
we've passed through a Hasslein Curve, a bend in time.
I don't know what planet we're on, but the fact is, we're both of us here,
we're breathing, we're conscious, we got plenty of oxygen, water...
Here.
No, we're gonna be all right, skipper. We're gonna be all right.
As soon as you feel better, we'll run a navigational estimate.
God, if I could only see the sun.
It's up there all right.
You can feel it.
Yes. But which sun?
I don't know. I don't know.
Our computer's shot. We're lucky to be alive.
Lucky? No.
If it's 3955 AD, I...
Oh, my God. My wife.
My two daughters.
Dead.
Everyone I ever knew.
Everyone.
Who are you? I... Don't be afraid. I just...
Just tell me where I am.
Can you understand me?
My name's Brent.
Brent.
No. No, no, I don't wanna hurt you. I...
I just wanna know where I am.
Where are you from? I mean, your people. Where are they?
How do I... How do I get to them? Which way?
Can you... Can you talk?
Right, right. So you can't talk.
What's that?
Taylor!
Where is he?
Taylor. Taylor.
Nova.
Nova. Nova. Come on.
That's the idea. Taylor. Nova. Here.
Taylor. Taylor.
Here. There's a prize. You go to the head of the class.
Why don't we just settle down and found a colony?
All the kids'll learn to talk.
Sure they will.
Now, where in hell do we go from here?
We might make it yet.
Taylor. Taylor. Just tell me what happened to him.
Is he hurt? Is he alive? Where is he?
That wasn't here.
A minute ago, that wasn't here.
I'm not the only one. She sees it too.
Listen. Listen, now. If you lose me...
If you lose me,
try to find Zira. Remember? Zira. Go find Zira.
Zira.
This tag. Did he give it to you? Where did you get this?
Look, is there... is there someone... some other... someone who can talk?
Look, you take me
to Taylor.
Taylor.
Taylor. Now. Which way?
My God! It's...
It's a city of apes!
I'll tell you one thing that every good soldier knows.
The only thing that counts in the end is power!
Naked, merciless force!
Members of the Citizens' Council, I am a simple soldier.
And as a soldier, I see things simply.
I don't say all humans are evil, simply because their skin is white.
No! But our great Lawgiver tells us
that never, never will the human have the ape's divine faculty
for being able to distinguish between evil and good.
Because the only good human is a dead human!
It's a bloody nightmare.
But those fortunate enough to remain alive
will have the privilege of being used by our revered minister of science,
the good Dr Zaius.
-Zira, stop. You're in danger. -So is the future of science,
with that rabble-rouser fomenting a senseless military adventure.
The forbidden zone has been closed for centuries, and rightly so.
However, we now have evidence that that vast barren area is inhabited.
By what or by whom, we don't know.
But if they live, and live they do, then they must eat.
Now we must replenish the lands that were ravaged by the humans
with new, improved feeding grounds.
And these grounds we can obtain in the once forbidden zone.
It is therefore our holy duty to put our feet upon it,
to enter it, to put the marks of our guns and our wheels and our flags upon it!
To expand the boundaries of our ineluctable power!
And to invade! lnvade!
lnvade! lnvade!
-Zira, as your husband, I beg you to stand. -Only for my principles.
All right. For your principles and mine. Only please stand.
I gotta get out. Yeah, I gotta get back up there.
I don't know how, or what with, but I'm not staying here.
Well, General, I only pray you know what you're doing.
How can you have any doubt, Dr Zaius?
You're aware of the reports we've received
of strange manifestations in the forbidden zone.
Manifestations which you, if I might add,
as minister of science have been unable to fathom.
Twelve.
Twelve of my finest scouts just disappeared. Vanished into thin air.
Eleven.
Very well, eleven. Eleven.
And the twelfth returned with incredible stories of huge walls of fire,
strange, violent earthquakes,
his mind gone, shattered no doubt by some un-simian torture.
Well, General, I still think you're being hasty.
No, Doctor. Decisive. So we invade, or we stop.
-It's as simple as that. -And as dangerous.
What is more dangerous than famine, Doctor?
The unknown.
If I had any proper sense of scientific purpose, Cornelius,
I shouldn't cut up the healthy heads of humans.
I should dissect the diseased brains of gorillas to find out what went wrong.
And how would you put it right?
I'd wet-nurse their babies on the milk of chimpanzees.
The milk of kindness.
At least our child when it's born won't be breast-fed on bile.
You know, my dear, the trouble with us intellectuals
is that we have responsibilities and no power.
I think I'll make a chocolate icing. Do you like chocolate?
-What, dear? -No, no, no. Of course you don't.
-But I do. -If we had that power here in our hands,
we'd be worse than them.
I don't agree. Gorillas are cruel because they're stupid.
-All bone and no brain. -Zira, my dear,
I wish you would not talk like that. Somebody is liable to hear you.
-Nova! -What are you doing here?
Taylor?
No, not Taylor. My name's Brent.
-You talked. -That's impossible.
ln a whole lifetime devoted to the scientific study of humans,
I've only found one other who could talk.
-Yes. Taylor. -Taylor. Is he alive? Have you seen him?
-Where? Where? Tell us. -Where? Where? I don't know where.
I'm trying to find him.
The longer I stay around here, the less I'm beginning to care.
We loved Taylor. He was a fine, a unique, specimen.
Why, if it had not been for Zira here, he would still be here,
a stuffed specimen in the great hall of the Zaius Museum with his two friends.
With his two friends?
I don't plan to stay here quite that long. Can you get me some food, some water?
A map, so at least I'll have some idea where I'm heading?
-You want that taken care of, too. -I'll get the map.
Now, if you will look up here...
Yes, towards the north.
This was the last place that we saw Taylor and Nova.
-What is that damn stuff? -You wouldn't know if I told you.
Just relax. Among other things, I'm a trained vet.
-Great. Go on. -Taylor was riding with Nova here,
between the lake and the sea.
They were heading into the territory we call...
Yes, I know, the forbidden zone.
-Who told you that? -Your glorious leader back there.
-Zira! -Quick. Quick.
-Cornelius, open the door. -Put the things away.
Open it!
Dr Zaius. How nice.
We were just about to have something to eat.
Not until I've talked some sense to that headstrong wife of yours.
-Where is she? -Good day, Dr Zaius.
Good heavens. Has there been an accident?
Cornelius hit me.
For my bad behavior at the meeting.
-I don't blame him. -I don't resent it.
But his nails need clipping.
Enough of this nonsense. Are you so blind, you two psychologists,
that you're unaware that we're on the verge of a grave crisis?
-You heard the Ursus' speech. -Militaristic tripe!
-Zira! -Perhaps.
But now he has the incident he requires to go on a rampage of conquest.
-But that is appalling! -To remain silent while this bully Ursus
is permitted to destroy everything in his path is no longer possible.
As minister of science,
it is my duty to find out whether some other form of life exists.
-Where are you going? -lnto the forbidden zone, with Ursus.
Another manhunt, Doctor?
Someone, or something, has outwitted the intelligence of the gorillas.
-That shouldn't be difficult. -Zira.
We apes have learned to live in innocence.
Let no one, be it man or some other creature,
dare to contaminate that innocence.
Why, is innocence so evil?
-lgnorance is. -There is a time for truth.
And the time is always now.
Are you asking me to surrender my principles?
I am asking you to be the guardians
of the principles of science during my absence.
I am asking for a truce with your personal convictions in an hour of public danger.
And you shall have it, Dr Zaius, or I shall hit her again.
Let us have no violence, Cornelius.
-Now, I'm relying on you both. -And we are counting on you too, Doctor.
If I should fail to return from the unknown,
the whole future of our civilization may be yours to preserve or destroy.
So think well before you act.
Well, goodbye, Dr Zaius, and good luck.
Now we can finish this up and get you out of here!
Yeah, get me outta here, please!
I've seen the humane way they treat humans here. I don't much care for it.
-Have you a horse? -Yeah, out in the scrub.
I'd better get you another set of clothes. The kind fit for humans like yourself.
You'll pass. Get rid of this.
And this too.
If you are caught by the gorillas, you must remember one thing.
-What's that? -Never to speak.
What the hell would I have to say to a gorilla?
But you don't understand. Only apes can speak. Not her, and not you.
If they catch you speaking, they will dissect you,
and they will kill you, in that order.
Cornelius is right. Be very careful.
And get out of those things that you're wearing as soon as you can.
Thanks.
-Thank us by finding Taylor. -Yeah, if he's still alive.
Four.
Seven inches.
Sergeant, wait!
This is a type E cranium. Very unusual.
Weak occipital development, and substandard lobe...
Female. It's been a long time since we've been able to study specimens
of such extraordinary clinical interest.
-Bring them inside. -No!
No, you can't have them. They are marked for target practice.
Take them away.
-I'll take the key. -To the target range!
Wait! Wait! I'd better double-lock the door.
Good luck. All right!
God Almighty!
This used to be my home.
I lived here, worked here.
What happened? What could have happened?
My God, did we finally do it?
Did we finally really do it?
O God, bless, we pray You,
our great army and its supreme commander
on the eve of a holy war, undertaken for Your sake.
And grant, in the name of Your prophet, our great Lawgiver,
that we, Your chosen servants, created and born in Your divine image,
may aspire the more perfectly
to that spiritual godliness and bodily beauty
which You in Your infinite mercy
have thought fit to deny to our brutish enemies!
So be it.
There they go, Dr Zaius trotting along beside them.
Don't be too hard on the old boy, Zira. His motives are honest.
He has only one motive, to keep things exactly as they have always been.
I say that it's time for a change.
But Zira, we chimpanzees are too few.
How can we take initiative when they are in control?
Love yes, war no!
-No more lies, no more crud! -No more guns, no more blood!
Stop! Stop! Stop the war!
-Freedom! Freedom! -Whoa!
-Freedom! -Peace!
Peace and freedom!
-Get off the road, young people. -Freedom!
-We want freedom! -Get 'em out of the way.
-Wait. -We want freedom! We want peace!
We don't want martyrs, do we?
We want peace! We want freedom!
-Sergeant? Do it quietly. -No clubs, no clubs.
We want peace! We want freedom!
Gorilla brutality!
Sergeant!
Are you what we were,
before we learned to talk and made a mess of everything?
Did any good ever come from all that talk around all those tables?
-I don't know where they are. -I wonder where the hell we are.
-We're near the forbidden zone. -Hell, that's where the army is headed.
-They'll roll over us, blow us to bits. -Why can't we go back to our outfits?
Because the sarge says to keep lookin' until we find them.
Nova! Nova, Nova, wake up. We gotta get goin'. Come on.
That hum.
You hear it too?
All right, come on. We're gonna follow it.
Well, whoever, or whatever, something's guiding us.
Whatever they are, they breathe air.
There's an intelligence working here.
That sound is either a warning or a directional device, I don't know which.
It doesn't much matter. They know we're here.
Put my hands
round her throat!
Off!
Hold her throat down
until she dies!
No!
Get out!
Get out of my head!
I reveal my inmost self unto my God.
What did you say?
What do you mean, "there's no point"?
Will they hurt her?
No, maybe not physically, but here. Here. You can hurt here, I know.
Your lips don't move.
But I can hear.
I know. I mean...
I know what you're thinking.
Nothing. I saw nothing.
Who are you?
Brent. Who are you?
I see. "The only reality in the universe." Well, that's nice to know.
I got here by accident. How did you get here?
You're wrong. Why would I want to spy on you?
I'm not even sure you exist.
Of course I know who I am. I'm an astronaut.
I was sent here on a rescue mission.
To find a fellow astronaut. Taylor.
Well, from this planet, but
from another time, 2,000 years ago.
I know. I know it sounds insane.
And it's my insanity.
No. No, I don't know how to get back.
We came through a defect.
A slippage in time.
That's what must have happened to Taylor.
I'm sure he tried to get back.
Yes, my skipper's dead. I'm alone.
Who?
"Nova"? What's that? Some star or galaxy? What's "Nova"?
All right, all right! Yes, I know her. I know her!
No, no. She's harmless. Let her alone.
All right. Just tell me what you want to know.
She helped me. To break out ofApe City.
No, wait. Wait a minute!
Stop it!
I can't understand you if you're all screaming at me at the same time.
I can't separate it!
He's right. He has only limited intelligence.
We should speak aloud, and one at a time.
Are we to understand that you were in the city of the apes?
-Yes. Yes, two days ago. -What sights did you see?
-You're talking. -Certainly we can talk.
It's a primitive accomplishment. We use it when we must.
-When we pray. -When we sing to our God.
You mean that thing out there? An atomic bomb?
-Your God? -You don't understand, Mr Brent.
The Bomb is a holy weapon of peace.
Holy weapon of peace!
Mr Brent, we are a patient people.
But we are determined to know what the apes want. War or peace?
Try to understand.
The only weapons we have are purely illusion.
You just imagine that he hurt you. Traumatic hypnosis is a weapon of peace.
Like the visual deterrent.
Or the sonic deterrent.
Let me make a last appeal to your reason, before we inflict more of this on you.
These are weapons of peace, Mr Brent.
-Like all our weapons. -Mere illusions.
lllusions. Damn your hypocrisy!
Is that bomb out there... is that an illusion?
It's operational, isn't it?
The firing mechanism. It's intact, isn't it?
We very much need your help, Mr Brent.
-Why? -We are the Keepers of the Divine Bomb.
-It is our only reason for survival. -And yet as you see we are defenseless.
Defenseless against the slobbering, monstrous, materialistic apes.
I'll help nobody.
-Go ahead, annihilate each other. -I forgive you your language.
There are times, I know, when your sanity is about to give way.
I hope that does not happen.
-I hope you can tell us... -Exactly what the apes are planning.
We've caught some of their scouts. They're hideous creatures.
And we've had them here, standing precisely where you are now.
Either their skulls were too thick, or they really knew nothing at all.
Neither do I. Can't you understand that? I don't know anything.
You make us very sad, Mr Brent.
She can't help you. She can't even talk.
-Don't harm her. -We never harm anyone, Mr Brent.
You're going to harm her.
-The apes are semiarticulate... -You're lying.
How do you know?
How do you always know?
Nova.
-Now... -Tell us of the apes.
The apes
are marching on your city.
Bugler, sound the advance.
Ursus!
Ursus, I warned you. Look what we are faced with!
-I told you you should wait. -Brutal butchery!
I swear those responsible shall pay with torture and with death!
If you have any pity, get your soldiers to shoot our poor people.
I can't order them to do what the Lawgiver has forbidden.
"Ape shall not kill ape."
Hold your positions!
He bleeds!
The Lawgiver bleeds!
The spirit of the Lawgiver lives. We are still God's chosen ones.
This is a vision, and it is a lie!
The vision was false!
Bugler, sound the advance.
Advance!
Stupid animals! They don't have the brain to hold our illusions.
-We have no defense. -Except our Bomb.
-Call our people to High Sanctuary. -Do you know the range of their city?
-Yes. -Set in the mechanism and wait for me.
I want a public thought projection, at adult and infant level.
Adults to the cathedral, infants indoors.
Is now and ever shall be
World without end, Amen
The heavens declare the glory of the Bomb
and the firmament showeth His handiwork.
His sound has gone out unto all the lands
and His light unto the end of the world.
He descendeth from the outermost part of heaven.
Nothing is hid from the heat thereof.
There is neither speech nor language, yet His voice is heard among them.
Praise Him! Praise Him! My strength, and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Bomb and to the Holy Fallout,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen.
O mighty and everlasting Bomb, who came down among us
to make heaven under earth, lighten our darkness.
O instrument of God, grant us thy peace.
Almighty Bomb
Who destroyed all devils
And created angels
Behold this moment
Behold the truth that abides in us. Reveal that truth unto that Maker.
-I reveal my inmost self unto my God. -Unto my God.
All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The good Bomb made us all
He gave us eyes to see with
And lips that we might tell
How great the Bomb Almighty
Who made all things well
Let everyone go to his private shelter.
Empty the streets. They are to find the City of the Dead.
May the blessing of the Bomb Almighty and the fellowship of the Holy Fallout
descend on us all this day, and forevermore.
I trust this simple ceremony convinced you of our peaceable intentions.
-I'd like to thank you for your cooperation. -When may we hope to be set free?
You may hope whenever you please, Mr Brent.
How could we hope to let you go on the eve of war, Mr Brent?
You know too many of our secrets. Like your friend.
-Taylor! -You're... Brent!
-My God! Taylor! -Brent, how in the hell did you get here?
The same way you did. Spaceship, Ape City, subway...
-By yourself? -No. No, Nova found me.
-Is she with you? Where? -I don't know.
They separated us. They were trying to make me kill her.
Mr Taylor, Mr Brent. We are a peaceful people.
We don't kill our enemies, we get our enemies to kill each other.
I'm fighting.
I'm fighting. I don't wanna...
Taylor. Taylor!
Taylor!
Unto God
I reveal my inmost self.
He's hurt bad.
This isn't exactly sterile.
We'll do the best we can.
Taylor. Taylor, they got a bomb.
Atomic bomb.
It's operational. They intend to use it.
-What type is it? -I don't know.
I don't know what type. I've never seen it before.
-Well, didn't you see a series number? -No numbers.
Just some letters on one of the fins.
Greek letters.
Alpha and...
-And omega. -What?
The Doomsday Bomb.
My God!
What a lovely souvenir from the 20th century.
They weren't satisfied with a bomb that could knock out a city.
They finally built one with a cobalt casing.
All in the sweet name of peace.
Those bloody fools. They don't know what they've got.
I mean, they pray to the damn thing.
If they shoot it off at some of those apes,
it could set off a chain reaction in the whole atmosphere.
Burn the planet to a cinder. How's that for your ultimate weapon?
This must be what your scout reported. A subterranean passage.
I think it's worth exploring.
What will you do, Holiness?
Everything necessary.
-You thinking what I'm thinking? -I'm thinking just that.
Nova? Nova, you...
Oh God!
We should let 'em all die. The gorillas, every damned...
Look what it comes to.
It's time it was finished. Finished.
Taylor.
Come on, come on. The bomb.
Yeah.
Why not?
They're obscene!
Follow me!
Sergeant!
Arrest that creature!
-This is the instrument of my God. -He can speak!
Your God, eh?
Sergeant.
Your God didn't save you, did he?
Ursus! Ursus, are you mad? That weapon is built by man.
You can't shoot it down with only a clip of bullets.
If we can't shoot it down, we'll pull it down. Rope!
Block and tackle! Get on it!
But you don't know what you're doing!
It'll kill us all!
I'll find a way to stop it.
Get him! Over there!
Ursus! Someone at the pillar.
Zaius...
-Taylor! -It's Doomsday.
The end of the world.
-Help me. -You ask me to help you?
Man is evil, capable of nothing but destruction!
You bloody bastard!
ln one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe lies a medium-size star.