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.
