The Planet of the Apes Timeline, Revisited!

So, you may remember back in June of last year, it was Planet of the Apes month at the Random Acts of Geekery, and one of the posts I wrote for that was discussing the timeline of the movie series, as well as the TV show and animated series. In that post, I mentioned Rich Handley and his Hasslein Curve website, which has since been incorporated into a book (you'll see more about that later in this post).

Anyway, the other day, Rich contacted me via email with some comments about my interpretation of the timeline, and he invited me to share them with you here!

So... the stuff I'll repost from my original post will be in bold, Rich's comments will be in italics, and further comments from me will be just like this text!

Now, on the surface of things, it doesn't make too much sense that Brent was sent to find Taylor, because Taylor's flight was meant to take a long time (hence the suspended animation modules). I don't recall suspended animation mentioned as being part of Brent's ship (it's been too long since seeing "Beneath"), but let's assume that it did, and rather than being sent to find Taylor, Brent and his crew were intended to supplement Taylor's crew in their colonization of a distant world. Never mind the lack of females -- we're talking timelines here!

Excellent observation regarding the illogic of Brent's mission in Beneath. I've always wondered why a rescue mission would be sent out, given that Taylor's mission was always intended to be one-way, and was fully expected to experience time dilation, so when the ship vanished, it shouldn't have alarmed anyone. Sending out a second ship would just have meant losing a second ship—which, of course, is what happened.

So we're in agreement on this point!

In 1976, Hudson, Carter and Franklin (from the animated series) leave Earth, arriving "over a century" in the future (say, 2080, just for the heck of it), but this could well be wrong.

The animated series, Return to the Planet of the Apes, is specifically stated, in the first episode, as taking place in 3979, not 2080. This is long after the Virdon/Burke TV series, and is, in fact, contemporary with the first two films. (I know that makes no sense, given the different technology levels in the cartoon and the films. But that is the date provided in Return.)

In 1980, Burke and Virdon's ship leaves earth, and lands in the future (according to their ship's chronometer) in 3085 (a not-unreasonable year, as I'll explain).

(Note: According to Wikpedia, when the ABC-owned stations reran the Apes live-action show as movies, Roddy McDowall reprised his role as an aged Galen, presenting the series as memories of what had happened... and says that Burke and Virdon found a working computer and returned home. This material has never appeared anywhere else, not even on the DVD, but if it's canon, it's entirely possible that by the time they returned to Earth, it was either too late, or the government moved too slowly to take the proper action).

The aged-Galen footage is available online, over at Kassidy Rae's Planet of the Apes TV Series Website. It's cheesey, but it's fun to watch, and it's a shame the DVDs didn't include it. I recommend checking it out, if you haven't already.

The stuff seems to be here.

Conquest takes place in 1991. I don't recall when the disease struck that killed the dogs and cats was supposed to have happened, but I would not be at all surprised if the disease was originally developed for other purposes, and was accidentally released, as I've written before.

* The plague is stated at having occurred in 1983, and was carried to Earth from space by astronauts. I've always assumed Cornelius and Zira may have inadvertently (and ironically) brought the disease back from the future with them. However, it's entirely possible that the astronaut story was just a cover-up, as there are other accounts of the plague sprinkled throughout the spinoff comics.

Since I wasn't taking into account the comics, I was pretty much figuring that Cornelius and Zira brought it with them somehow... and now that I think of it, I wonder if the same disease, when primates catch it, cause them to evolve more quickly?

Battle takes place at the turn of the 21st century, or about 2000 or 2001, depending on how one looks at things. The joint ape-human colony has eschewed technology, but this may have been altered after their encounter with the mutants, who still are using buses, cars, and other vehicles.

* Although some sources place Battle in circa 2001, it makes more sense to set it around 2018 or 2020, given Mandemus' line that he served as the keeper of Caesar's armory for 27 years. That line would make no sense if Battle only took place a decade after Conquest, as it would mean he'd been Caesar's armorer since Caesar was an infant. Heh heh. (2018, by the way, would be 27 years after Conquest, set in 1991, while 2020 would be 27 years after a Marvel Comics story, set in 1993, in which Mandemus first began serving Caesar in that capacity.) Whether to accept 2018 or 2020 would depend on whether or not you accept the Marvel tale (which I do, making it 2020), or just the films (a recent official timeline, packaged with the Blu-Ray set, places Battle in 2018).

Over 600 years later (say, 2600) is when the epilogue of Battle takes place, with peace between humans and apes.

Now... 2978 is when Taylor arrived (supposedly), almost 400 years after Battle. Yet, the animated series claims to take place at about 2080, but this can't be right. So, some numbers have to be wrong.

* The epilogue of Battle, with the Lawgiver teaching students about Caesar, is said to occur in 2670, which is more than 600 years after the time of Caesar (when the rest of Battle takes place) and 1,300 years (not 400) before Taylor's arrival in 3978 (not 2978).

Now, assuming that all this is correct... why do some characters seem to co-exist in different timelines? There's a Doctor Zaius in the animated series, the live-action tv series, and the first two movies, for example, and there's more than one Urko, and more than one Zira.

Well... it's not unreasonable to assume that some names would occur more than once. "Zaius," "Urko," and "Zira" could be fairly popular ape names among the three species, much like "John" is for us. It's even possible that "Zaius" could even be a title as much as a name. Since none of the movies or tv series delve that much into how ape society works, all we can do is make guesses.

Heck, I'd even think that "Caesar" and "Aldo" would be popular names, given their roles in history, but it's entirely likely that the gorillas revered Aldo so much that nobody even knows of Caesar in the far future.

So far as the presence of a Nova, Brent and Taylor in the animated series... I can't quite explain that.

* No character named Taylor appears in the animated series. Is it possible you're thinking of another story?

I'm not sure what I was thinking here... I hadn't watched the animated series in some time, and it's entirely possible I got that information from a website that was in error!

* The Brent from the animated series is Ronald Brent, a different character from John Brent, who appeared in Beneath. That said, I like your explanation regarding the multiple use of the same names in the various Planet of the Apes tales—it makes perfect sense that some names (Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, Galen, Urko, etc.) would be common, like "John" or "Mary." It is surprising, though, as you mention, that we've only ever seen one Aldo and one Caesar (well, maybe not...there's a chimp Aldo in Conquest and a gorilla Aldo in Battle, so I guess that means we've seen two Aldos--in the same era, no less--and one Caesar).

One thing that did kind of surprise me is that there's no family names in the POTA universe... although I suppose that if needed, the ape in question could rattle off their lineage... i.e. "I am Caesar, son of Cornelius, son of..."

Sorry for being nitpicky with some of those points—I just figured you'd appreciate having accurate dates, in order to revise your timeline if ever the urge struck you.

If I ever decide to rework it, I'll definitely take all these comments to heart!

Speaking of timelines, by the way, thanks very much for mentioning mine in your post. The book you mention, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology (previously the website known as The Hasslein Curve) is now available for purchase at the Hasslein Books site. If you decide to purchase a copy of the book, please feel free to let me know what you think of it. Given your fascination with Planet of the Apes timelining, I'd be very interested in hearing your opinion of the final product.

One of these days, I'll definitely have to get hold of that book and read through it! Thanks, Rich!