Planet of the apes

[Thebestoftherest]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/films/planetoftheapes.php
First part of a Christmas double feature! On a very familiar looking planet, an astronaut is captured by a race of intelligent apes and put in a cage. Later he will be made to put on a tutu and ride a tricyle.

[Kinky Vorlon]

Excellent review, one of Chuck's best this year. Loved all the behind the scenes stuff. I went to french school and we read the novel for grade 10. The book was enjoyable enough.

[Deledrius]

As usual, the behind-the-scenes video is such a fascinating and valuable part of the review that I absolutely love every minute, no matter how long.

[clearspira]

There is a line here that I wish Chuck didn't miss out. Upon discovering the tribal village for the first time, Taylor remarks to his team ''If that's the best there is around here, in six months we'll be running this planet.''

The implication being that even at the beginning of the film the man who considers himself above all of humanity - perfect peaceful rational Taylor - his first thought upon meeting a primitive tribe is to exploit it. Once again proving Dr Zaius right.

[Deledrius]

There is a line here that I wish Chuck didn't miss out. Upon discovering the tribal village for the first time, Taylor remarks to his team ''If that's the best there is around here, in six months we'll be running this planet.''

The implication being that even at the beginning of the film the man who considers himself above all of humanity - perfect peaceful rational Taylor - his first thought upon meeting a primitive tribe is to exploit it. Once again proving Dr Zaius right.

I'm not sure I follow you. "I can organize this" isn't the same as "I can exploit this".

In reality it's often a very fuzzy line and one that unfortunately is easily crossed, but I'm not sure we can make that assumption from his characterization here.

[clearspira]

There is a line here that I wish Chuck didn't miss out. Upon discovering the tribal village for the first time, Taylor remarks to his team ''If that's the best there is around here, in six months we'll be running this planet.''

The implication being that even at the beginning of the film the man who considers himself above all of humanity - perfect peaceful rational Taylor - his first thought upon meeting a primitive tribe is to exploit it. Once again proving Dr Zaius right.

I'm not sure I follow you. "I can organize this" isn't the same as "I can exploit this".

In reality it's often a very fuzzy line and one that unfortunately is easily crossed, but I'm not sure we can make that assumption from his characterization here.

''white man enters foreign land and declares himself king'' is the vibe I was getting.

[Deledrius]

''white man enters foreign land and declares himself king'' is the vibe I was getting.

Fair enough.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I don't think running it really correlates to exploitation. For gangster faire that would be a most definite facet of running an area, so to speak; but from what I know of the man/setting, that saying likely just referred to a lack of competition and not assumed subordination of the natives. He is white though, so he is the perfect candidate for such a despicable vessel.

[Lazerlike42]

It's been a long time since I've seen the film, but reading the line in text format it strikes me as the kind of comment that doesn't necessarily say anything about the speaker's mindset or intentions. I can imagine someone saying that sort of thing purely as a commentary on the primitive state of what they're observing without having even thought through any of his own plans or response to it.

I'd say that this would be a less likely interpretation in normal circumstances where someone is speaking about some establishment or some group of people they have come across in the course of their normal life, because in such a case the comment could amount to pointlessly stating the obvious unless there were some ulterior motive at play. In a situation where you have people in a totally - literally - alien environment with no sense whatsoever of what they're going to encounter or what kind of danger they're in, this kind of comment strikes me very plausibly as someone trying to make an worthwhile observation and trying to also diffuse feelings of fear and uncertainty.

Think about it like this: you're stranded - as far as you know forever - on a planet you know nothing about. You've have no contact with other life in the universe and the only thing you're bringing with you are the products of the collective human imagination on alien life, so you don't know whether you're going to encounter something closer to Mr. Spock or something closer to some aggressive, violent race for which you are not match (it eventually turns out to be closer to the latter) - or even simply some kind of unintelligent species of monsters (e.g., animals), and upon seeing the first evidence of civilization it looks like what Taylor sees. The first reaction is going to be one of enormous relief, and a comment like this is a very reasonable piece of rhetoric aimed at expressing relief without actually expressing any intent whatsoever about the future. It's a verbalized sigh of relief, not a manifesto on human/native relations.

[Aotrs Commander]

Fascinating as usual. That was an impressively long Look At, too, kudos for the effort.



I'm afraid the closest I have personally viewed of Planet of the Apes, though, was the ending of Spaceballs. Yes, I am an uncultured peasant.