Tuesday 15 June 2021

Planet


“And The Apes went into The Forbidden Zone,
Abiding not by The Law, 
But by vain Curiosity for That Which Should Remain Unseen.

And The Prophecy of The Wise Ones was fulfilled,
When A Talking Man fell from The Skies,
To bring The End of Days.”

— Lawgiver, 68th. Scroll, Chapter I




"I was made merely in The Image of God, but not otherwise resembling Him enough to be mistaken for Him by anybody but a very near-sighted person. 

I believe that our Heavenly Father invented Man because he was disappointed in The Monkey."

— Mark Twain




Taylor has just taken his first shave since entering Interstellar Hibernation on his spaceship -- he now no longer resembles a caveman.


TAYLOR :
Do you like it?


LUCIUS :
Why did you do that?
Scrape off your hair?


TAYLOR :
In My World, when I left it,
only kids your age wore beards.


LUCIUS :
Beards? I don't go in for fads.


CORNELIUS :
Somehow... It makes you look less intelligent.






Well, you know What They Say :
"Human See, Human Do."



Dr. Zaius :

Have you forgotten your Scripture? 

The Thirteenth Scroll?

(quoting from memory)

'And Proteus brought the upright beast

into The Garden, and chained him to a tree,

and the children made sport of him.'


CORNELIUS

(impatiently)

No sir, I haven't forgotten.


ZAIUS

Well? For a time the ancients kept humans as household pets.

Until The Lawgiver proved that man could not be tamed. 

Keep digging Cornelius. 

You'll find evidence of The Master of This House: an ape.











326EXT. ARCHEOLOGICAL CAMP - ESTABLISHING SHOT - DAY


Sand bars and two narrow beaches are in evidence here. The camp itself

consists of several lean-tos against the cliff wall. Above the camp,

reached by ladders connected to scaffolding, is the mouth of a cave.

Zira is cleaning up the breakfast things; Zaius and Lucius are sorting

out equipment.


A-326CLOSER ANGLE - TAYLOR AND ZIRA


A small bowl of water rests on the ground in front of Taylor He has

nearly finished shaving himself with a sharp hunting knife. Nova

watches, a look of fascinated approval on her face. Taylor rinses off

his knife, starts to dry it. Nova reaches out, gently strokes his

smooth -- if nicked -- chin.


TAYLOR

(smiling)

You like it?


Lucius and Cornelius come up, Zira with them.


LUCIUS

(disapprovingly)

Why did you do that? Scrape off your

hair?


TAYLOR

In my world -- before I left it -

only youngsters of your age wore un-

scraped hair.


CORNELIUS

(to Taylor, quizzically)

It makes you look somehow ... less

intelligent.


Taylor grins wryly at Cornelius, picks up his rifle.


TAYLOR

When are you going to show me what's

in the cave?


CORNELIUS

Right now, if you like.


They cross the beach to the ladders, when suddenly they hear the sound

of horses. They look o.s.


B-326WHAT THEY SEE:


Dr. Zaius and five armed and mounted apes have come around the corner

of the beach and ride toward them through the rocks.


C-326MEDIUM - THE GROUP


Taylor scrambles up onto the lower scaffold. Lucius runs to a lean-to,

scoops up his rifle.


CORNELIUS

Lucius -- don't fire at them.


The party rides up.


ZAIUS

You're all under arrest!

(to Lucius)

You seditious scoundrel. Drop that

rifle.


327-OUT

348


349FLASH SHOT - LUCIUS


He wavers, lowering his piece.


350WIDER ANGLE - TO INCLUDE BOTH GROUPS


Zaius' gorillas ride forward a few paces, but halt again as Taylor

shouts:


TAYLOR

Stop right there.


ZAIUS

Don't be a fool. You're outnumbered

and outgunned.


Taylor aims at Zaius and calls out:


TAYLOR

If there's any shooting, Dr. Zaius,

you'll be the first to die. Depend

on it.


CORNELIUS

(protesting)

Taylor, you're not in command here.

Put down that gun.


TAYLOR

Shut up.


Silence.Zaius knows Taylor isn't bluffing.


ZAIUS

Very well.

(to his followers)

Lower your weapons.


They obey. Taylor calls again:


TAYLOR

(pointing)

Tell them to move around the point.

Out of range.


Zaius turns and whispers to his apes. They rein about and ride away

through the rocks. Zaius dismounts and approaches the fugitives alone.

He is unarmed.


351CLOSER ANGLE - THE GROUP


As Zaius draws nearer) Lucius lowers his rifle. But Taylor keeps his at

the ready.


CORNELIUS

(uncertainly)

How did you know we'd come here?


ZAIUS

It wasn't difficult. Only an apostate

or a lunatic would flee to the Forbidden

Zone.

(a glance at Taylor)

I see you brought along the female of

your species.

(Taylor nods)

I didn't realize a man could be monogamous.


TAYLOR

On this planet -- it's easy.


Zaius laughs derisively, then turns to the apes.


ZAIUS

(evenly)

I ask you to reconsider the rash course

you've taken. If you're convicted of heresy,

the most you'll get is two years. But if

you persist in pointing guns in my direction,

you'll hang for high treason.


CORNELIUS

(respectfully)

We've never meant to be treasonable, sir.

(pointing off)

But up there, in the face of that Cliff,

is a vast cave -- and in that cave a

fabulous treasure of fossils and artifacts.


ZAIUS

I've seen some of your fossils and artifacts.

They're worthless.


TAYLOR

(derisively)

And that's your Minister of Science. Honor-

bound to expand the frontiers of knowledge.


ZIRA

(worried)

Taylor, please --


TAYLOR

Except that he's also the Chief Defender

of the Faith.


ZAIUS

(loftily)

There is no contradiction between faith

and science. True science.


TAYLOR

(suddenly angered)

All right, let's see if you're willing

to put that statement to a test.


CORNELIUS

Taylor, I'd rather you -


TAYLOR

No. You saved me from this fanatic. Maybe

I can pay you back.


ZAIUS

(calmly)

What is your proposal?


TAYLOR

When were the Sacred Scrolls written?


ZAIUS

Twelve hundred years ago.


TAYLOR

Very well. If Zira and Cornelius can prove

that those scrolls don't tell the whole

truth of your history; if they can show you

definite evidence of another culture from an

unrecorded past -- will you exonerate them?


ZAIUS

Of course.


TAYLOR

Okay.Up to the cave.


He gestures toward the path leading to it. Zaius, Zira, and Cornelius

start upward. Lucius starts to follow them.


TAYLOR

Sorry, Lucius. You'll have to stay here

and guard the horses.


LUCIUS

Always giving orders. Just like every

other adult.


TAYLOR

Relax. You'll see it all later.


He pats the barrel of Lucius' gun, in the manner of a stern but

benevolent non-com, then starts up the trail with Nova at his heels.

Lucius, unused to taking commands from an animal, scowls after him,

then shrugs, adjusting to the Idea.


352-

355OUT


356 EXT. WESTERN WALL OF GORGE - LONG SHOT - ANGLING UP

AFTERNOON


The sun hovers over the lofty rim of the lake like a great red balloon.

The wall of the gorge, in shadow, is a darker hue.


357EXT. EASTERN WALL OF GORGE - LONG SHOT - ANGLING UP


The crenelated east wall, looking like a red cathedral, is aglow with

sunlight. So is the mouth of the cave as the three apes, Taylor and

Nova pass through it and o.s.


358INT. CAVERN - BOOM SHOT - DAY


Nature has formed a vaulted room here. It need not be enormous, but

should be as weird and fantastic as production capabilities permit.

There is an ape-made excavation in the floor of the cave, some ten feet

square and eight feet deep. Some small objects lie on the rim of the

excavation. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, Taylor and Nova enter from the

outside.


(AUTHOR'S NOTE: The effect should be an eyeful. I wish to create an

illusion of sunlight penetrating this cave, flooding it with direct,

refracted illumination, transforming it into a kaleidoscopic cavern.)


ZAIUS

Present your evidence, Cornelius.


Cornelius clambers down into the pit, followed by Zira. Taylor bends

down, examines some of the artifacts lined along the edge of the

excavation. Nova sits beside him.


CORNELIUS

(pointing)

It was at this level I discovered traces

of an early ape creature -- stage of

primitive barbarism, really -- dating back

roughly thirteen hundred years. It was here

I found cutting tools and arrowheads of

quartz and the fossilized bones of

carnivorous gorillas.


CAMERA (ON BOOM) MOVES IN SLOWLY as Cornelius continues:


CORNELIUS

But the artifacts lying at your feet

were found here, at this level. And

that's the paradox. The more ancient

culture is the more advanced. Admittedly,

many of these objects are unidentified,

but clearly they were fashioned by beings

with a knowledge of metallurgy.


CAMERA KEEPS MOVING IN on the group in and around the excavation as

Cornelius continues:


CORNELIUS

Indeed, the very fact that these tools

are unknown to us could suggest a culture

in certain ways almost equal to our own.

Some of the evidence is uncontestable ...


ZAIUS

(interrupting)

Don't speak to me in absolutes. The

evidence is contestable.


CORNELIUS

I apologize.


ZAIUS

To begin with, your methods of dating

the past are crude, to say the least. There

are geologists on my staff who would laugh at

your speculations.


TAYLOR

Perhaps that's why they're on your staff.


Zaius flicks a hostile glance at Taylor, then looks down at the

artifacts. He nudges them with his foot.


ZAIUS

Secondly, if these 'tools' as you call

them, are unidentified, why are they

introduced as 'evidence' of anything?


ZIRA

(promptly)

But there's the doll, sir.


ZAIUS

What?


CORNELIUS

(pointing)

Right there. The human doll.


Zaius deigns to stoop and pick it up.


359CLOSE ON DOLL - IN ZAIUS' HAND


It is only a porcelain fragment, but the head is intact, and it is

unmistakably the form of a human child.


ZAIUS

What does this prove? My grand-

daughter plays with human dolls.


360FULL SHOT - THE EXCAVATION - INCLUDING TAYLOR


Exasperated, Zira turns to the man for confirmation.


ZIRA

Taylor! Tell him.


TAYLOR

He has a point. On my planet children

often play with ape dolls.


Zaius idly tosses the doll to the ground near Nova. She picks it up,

studies it.


361GROUP SHOT - THE THREE APES


Cornelius tries again.


CORNELIUS

A doll alone proves nothing. True. But

the doll was found beside the jawbone

of a man -- and no trace of simian fossils

has turned up in this deposit.


ZAIUS

Your conclusion is premature. Have you

forgotten your Scripture? The Thirteenth

Scroll?

(quoting from memory)

'And Proteus brought the upright beast

into the garden, and chained him to a tree,

and the children made sport of him.'


CORNELIUS

(impatiently)

No sir, I haven't forgotten.


ZAIUS

Well? For a time the ancients kept humans

as household pets.Until the Lawgiver

proved that man could not be tamed. Keep

digging Cornelius. You'll find evidence of

the master of this house: an ape.


A-361ANOTHER ANGLE - TO INCLUDE TAYLOR AND NOVA


As Zira again appeals to the man.


ZIRA

Are you going to let that pass without

an answer?


Taylor, who has been toying with objects in the dirt, looks up.


TAYLOR

Yes. I have to agree. From all you've

found so far, his position's as good as

yours.


CORNELIUS

(annoyed)

What are you doing there?


TAYLOR

Reconstructing a life. Care to have a

look?


Cornelius and Zira cross the pit and Zaius walks around the rim of the

excavation.


B-361MED. CLOSE SHOT - FAVORING TAYLOR AND NOVA


As the apes come close. A number of artifacts have been arranged in

front of Taylor.


TAYLOR

(to Cornelius)

These were found near the human doll,

right?

(Cornelius nods)

Well, whoever owned them was in pretty

bad shape.


He picks up the twisted fragment of a pair of spectacles.


TAYLOR

Defective eyesight..


As Taylor continues his monologue, he picks up the other objects one by

one.


TAYLOR

He wore false teeth.

(pause)

He suffered from a hernia and used

this truss to hold up his insides ...

(pause)

And toward the end, these little rings

of stainless steel enclosed a prefab-

ricated valve in his failing heart.


Taylor pauses. Zaius picks up two of the steel rings, studies them.


TAYLOR

I don't say he was a man like an Earthman,

but I'd call him a close relative, for

he was plagued by most of man's ills.

(to Zaius pointedly)

Yet, fragile as he was, he came before you

-- and was superior to you.


ZAIUS

(a calm smile)

That's lunacy. I can give an alternate

description for everyone of those objects

that's equally as inventive as yours. But

it would be conjecture, not proof.


362WIDER ANGLE - TO INCLUDE TAYLOR AND NOVA


She is poking her finger inside the decapitated head of the doll. From

it comes a distorted SOUND.


DOLL'S HEAD

Mamma! Mamma! Mamma!.


The apes stare at the doll in astonishment. Taylor snatches the doll

from Nova, brandishes it at the astonished Zaius.


TAYLOR

Dr. Zaius! Would an ape make a human

doll that talks?


Zaius looks at him, speechless. At that moment the CRACK of a distant

rifle shot reverberates through the cavern. All present freeze,

listening.


ZIRA

Lucius....


363-

364OUT


365FULL SHOT - THE CAVERN - REVERSE ANGLE


Taylor alone is armed. Raising his rifle, he glowers at Zaius.


TAYLOR

You louse!


Cornelius is already crossing the pit. He climbs out arid races toward

the mouth of the cave. Taylor runs after him. Zira and Nova hurry after

Taylor.


366MED. SHOT - ZAIUS


Expressionless, he looks down at the doll, then moves toward the mouth

of the cave.


367EXT. TRAIL FROM CAVE TO CAMP - ANGLING UP


Cornelius emerges from mouth of the cave and runs down the trail toward

CAMERA. He halts in f.g., looking down at:


368THE CAMP SITE - AS SEEN FROM THE TRAIL


Two of Zaius' gorillas have disarmed Lucius and are clubbing him with

their rifle butts. Two other mounted apes are driving the scientists'

horses back beyond the trees.


369EXT. THE TRAIL - AS SEEN FROM THE BEACH


Cornelius, Taylor, Nova and Zira (in that order) can be seen high

above, descending the trail. CAMERA PULLS BACK TO DISCLOSE A GORILLA

SNIPER in immediate f.g., crouching behind a boulder near the water. He

sights his rifle at the man on the trail. Taylor is still too distant

to make a sure target, and so the sniper waits.


370CLOSER ANGLE - TAYLOR ON THE TRAIL


This portion of the trail has no cover or concealment. Unaware of the

sniper, Taylor looks down at the camp as he makes his descent.


371LONG SHOT - TAYLOR - AS SEEN IN THE SNIPER'S SIGHTS


The gorilla fires.


372CLOSE SHOT - TAYLOR


The bullet ricochets off the rock wall a foot above his head. Taylor

scans the terrain bewlow, looking for the sniper. Nova comes to his

side, pointing at:


373THE SNIPER - FROM THEIR P.O.V.


His head is visible behind the boulder as he reloads his piece.


374FLASH SHOT


He aims and fires.


375FLASH SHOT - THE SNIPER


Taylor has missed him, but the sniper ducks behind the boulder.


376THE TRAIL - PANNING WITH TAYLOR AND NOVA


Taylor takes her hand and they race back up the trail to where Zira is

standing. Outcroppings of rock offer some cover here. Taylor pushes

Nova down behind a rock and signals for Zira to follow suit.


377CLOSE GROUP SHOT - TAYLOR, NOVA AND ZIRA


The sniper's SECOND SHOT rings out. Instead of returning the fire,

Taylor looks up the rail at:


378ZAIUS - FRO14 TAYLOR'S P.O.V.


He is standing impassively on the trail a short distance below the

mouth of the cave.


379FLASH SHOT - TAYLOR


Bent low, he comes charging up the trail toward Zaius. The sniper's

THIRD SHOT splatters rock fragments around him.


380REVERSE ANGLE - THE TRAIL - ANGLING UP


Zaius starts to retreat to the cave, but stumbles and falls on some

loose shale. No sooner has Zaius regained his feet than Taylor

overtakes him. Seizing the ape around the neck with his left arm.

Taylor drives the muzzle of his pistol into Zaius' kidney. He spins

Zaius around, using him as a shield.


381CLOSE TWO SHOT - ZAIUS AND TAYLOR


Taylor releases the pressure on Zaius' throat but keeps the gun pointed

at his back.


TAYLOR

Tell him to pull back!


ZAIUS

(a hoarse cry)

Cease fire! Withdraw!


His command echoes from the west wall of the canyon.


382LONG SHOT - THE FLOOR OF THE GORGE - FROM THEIR P.O.V.


The sniper emerges from behind a boulder near the shore, and walks off

along the beach.


383. BACK TO TAYLOR AND ZAIUS


Taylor lift's the muzzle of his rifle and presses it against the back

of Zaius' head.


TAYLOR

I ought to kill you right now.

(nudging him)

Let's go.


They move off down the trail.



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