Ape Chronology:
A Timeline of Events on the Planet
1972
February:
ANSA Astronauts Taylor, Dodge, Landon and Stewart launch
from Cape Kennedy on the first manned interstellar
exploration flight to the Betelgeuse star system.
During the course of their flight, the craft passes through
a Hasslein Curve propelling them through time.
[Planet of the Apes]
November:
ANSA Astronauts Brent and Andrews launch on a search and rescue
mission for following the trajectory of the first craft.
Like Taylor's craft before them, they slip through a
Hasslein Curve, and travels 1983 years through time.
[Beneath the Planet of the Apes]
1973
April:
The first vessel emerges from the Hasslein curve
reappearing within low orbit of Earth.
The autopiolit lands off the California coast, slightly
north of San Clemente and is met my mobilized United
States Navy spaceflight recovery crews. The recovery crews
discover that instead of it's original occupants, the capsule
now harbors three space-suited chimpanzees.
The apes are taken to the Los Angeles Zoo,
where one is killed by a gorilla. During a battery of
cognition and refex excercises, the apes reveal that they
are intelligent and posess the ability of speech. Identifying
themselves as Doctors Cornelius and Zira, they are brought
before a scientific inquiry and subsequently become celebrities.
It's during this time that Zira discovers that she's pregnant.
[Escape From the Planet of the Apes]
June:
Through underhanded interrogation of the ape scientists
and analysis of the spacecraft, Doctor Victor Hasslein
uncovers the ultimate fate of the human race and the
planet. He convinces the President of the United States
that Cornelius and Zira pose a threat to mankind.
Cornelius and Zira are taken to a military base for
further interrogation. Well aware of the peril they're
in, Zira and Cornelius attempt an escape from the
facility. During the escape, Cornelius accidentally
kills a guard. With the help of Dr. Stephanie Branton
and Dr. Lewis Dixon they flee to a circus where Zira
gives birth to the baby. Leaving Milo in the care of
Armando the circus owner, while taking a circus chimp's
child they set off to evade their pursuers. Hiding in
an abandoned shipyard, the two fugitive apes are
eventually confronted by Dr. Hasslein. Believing that
the child is a threat to humanity, he kills all three
apes, before being killed himself.
[Escape From the Planet of the Apes]
1973 through
1979
Eight years marked by contradictory developments
in two key aspects of society. Deep space exploration
expands with unmanned space probes travelling to distant
stars and back. Manned flights over greater distances
in space are likewise becoming a common reality.
At the same this is happening however, the few remaining
superpowers of Earth are becoming more totalitarian in
order to better cope with increasing economic, political
and energy pressures. All information concerning the two lost
spaceships and the secrets of the possible future as revealed
by Cornelius and Zira are locked away under heavy security
clearance. Few are aware of its existance, and are allowed
access to it. Publicly, it is spread that the two talking
chimps were merely an elaborate hoax, and nothing more.
Armando still raising Milo, the sone of Zira and Cornelius
keeps his identity and existance a total secret.
1979
August:
Astronauts Allen, Hudson and Franklin are launched from
Earth. Their vessel enters a strange energy distortion
and disappears, propelled through time.
[Animated Planet of the Apes]
1981
March:
Astronauts Virdon, Burke and Jones are launched from
Earth. Their ship encounters a strange electrical storm
near Alpha Centauri and disappears. Caesar, aged 8
1/2, begins his bareback riding acrobatics with Armando's
circus. With political repression, the smaller circuses
are forced to play to dwindling country audiences,
thus helping Caesar avoid dangerous publicity.
[Planet of the Apes TV Series]
1984
The year of the Plague from space. Possibly brought
back to Earth by an unmanned space probe (many records
were lost in the War), and apparently harmless to humans
and other animal species,the Plague spreads over the
planet in weeks, killing all cats and dogs.
1985 to
1990
It is during this period of time that the repercussions
of the Plague begin to be felt. Humans, to replace
their lost pets, turn to keeping small primates, birds,
lizards, etc. The primates are found to be the most
useful and gradually become the most common household
animal. Gradually, larger and larger ones are taken
in. It is in this generation of primates that the Plague's
genetic effects show themselves: stature increases
and so does intelligence in the larger orders. The
Government increases to be more and more authoritarian.
A reverse migration of people from suburbs into cities
results in large towns becoming mostly feudal ports
surrounded by farmland; the "provinces."
Pollution in many areas is brought under control. A
massive air purification plant in the Rockies keeps
California air perfectly clean. However, with this
increase in governmental structure a slave class develops:
the apes. Ape Management, Incorporated becomes a semi-public
branch of the Government in late 1989. By 1991 they
are a monolith, now fully government operated, with
a huge range of responsibilities.
The apes' training and day-to-day life with humans brings
on an acceleration in the mental development of the
apes.
1991
April:
Armando decides that Caesar, now nearly eighteen and
an accomplished performer, is old enough to see the
truth of the "ape condition." He brings the
circus to play at an unnamed city on the west coast
(very likely San Francisco). There, Caesar unwittingly
reveals his intelligence to police officers engaged
in subduing a rebellious gorilla. Caesar runs and Armando
goes to the Governor, attempting to bluff their way
out of the situation. He is arrested. The Governor,
fully believing that the runaway chimpanzee possesses
human intelligence, is almost panic-stricken at the
thought of ape rebellion. Caesar, in an attempt to
blend in with the other apes, hides with a shipment
of apes going to Ape Management. There, he is conditioned,
though he understands the process and avoids the harsher
punishments. He is purchased by Governor Breck, who
is unaware of his prize. After learning of Armando's
death as a result of interrogation about him, Caesar
begins to plant the seeds of rebellion in the clouded
minds of the apes.
[Conquest of the Planet of the Apes]
June:
Eighteen years after his birth, Caesar comes of age
at the head of the Ape Rebellion. The fall of Humankind
begins.
[Conquest of the Planet of the Apes]
June 1991 to
mid 1992
Caesar leads his people from the city into the provinces.
In this case, the San Francisco peninsula. Here, Caesar
attempts to build a new home for his people with the
aid of a few human advisors. Massive educational programs
within the community are developed. They face little
harassment because elsewhere in the country and perhaps
the world, the Ape Rebellion is spreading. The Government's
breakdown has begun and it cannot police itself as
in the past. Tension grows, until...
December 1992
NUCLEAR WAR.
The work of a single madman? International political
pressure? Some country taking advantage of a U.S. governmental
paralysis? Unknown. It is swift and effective. Laser
defensive systems prevent the war from utterly destroying
all life. Major cities are destroyed, but surrounding
areas remain livable... to a certain degree.
1993 to
2001
The human population that remains is in a state of shock.
There is little or no communication over great distances,
so Caesar's community, now completely isolated, accepts
the survivors in its area and a new ape/human society
begins to grow. Despite Caesar's wishes, humans become
effectively second-class citizens, and cultural divisions
among the apes begin to develop. A gorilla named Aldo
declares himself General and begins to train an "army"
of gorilla soldiers. In 1995, Caesar's son is born
by his wife, Lisa, and named Cornelius.
During this time residual radiation is having its effect
on both humans and apes. The Plague-altered genes of
the apes increase their already rapid intellectual
development, in some cases (i.e., Virgil and Mandemus)
incredibly so. Humans tend to become more docile, less
given to action when angered. It is not clear at this
time whether that is a radiation effect, Plague effect
or just living with the evolved apes, the weakest of
whom could kill the average human easily.
Meanwhile, another branch of Humanity is developing:
the ones that survived the War but stayed in the cities,
the Mutants. Inspector Kolp, a former aide to Governor
Breck, has taken over in the remains of San Francisco
and runs a scavenger city full of repressed hate.
2000
December:
Caesar, along with Virgil and a human, MacDonald, venture
to the remains of San Francisco in search of the tapes
made of Cornelius and Zira, thereby unlocking the secrets
of the future. They are discovered by Mutants and just
barely escape. However, they are followed back to Ape
City. Kolp launches an attack on Caesar's community
in a last-ditch effort to destroy the Ape Rebellion.
The attack is repelled by the apes. The humans living
in the Ape City win a slightly ideological victory
and temporary equal status with the apes. Kolp, Aldo
and young Cornelius die.
[Battle for the Planet of the Apes]
2001 to
2037
This, the first Ape City, grows. Caesar rules benevolently
and well but human position in the community continues
to erode, seemingly without solution. The Forbidden
Zone begins to become a real danger as animal and plant
mutations get out of hand. In the city of San Francisco,
the Mutants are splitting into factions under the leadership
of Mendez and the being destined to become One with
the Gesalt Mind.
2038
August:
Lisa dies.
2040
May:
Caesar dies, at 67. Not survived by children, his rule
is turned over to a council of apes and humans under
the leadership of a particularly well-respected orangutan.
He and the office are christened "Lawgiver."
2041 to
2051
Conditions between apes and humans get worse. While
educational programs maintain that there is no difference,
humans labor under an aura of inferiority. Voluntarily,
they tend to withdraw from active participation in
the council and draw themselves into a community-within-the-community,
separated by a river from the apes. It is only partially
a ghetto. The level of culture is falling.
In the city, the Mutant factions have gone to war with
one another, the followers of the Gesalt Mind winning
out. Mendez and his loyal followers manage to escape
into transnational transport tubes and work their way
towards an unknown new home. They take with them the
Alpha-Omega device, which has begun to carry an almost
religious significance with it.
2052
Jason the human and Alexander the chimpanzee are born.
[Marvel Comics Planet of the Apes]
2053 to
2068
A gorilla named Brutus rises to a position of power
in the Ape City hierarchy. He is appointed Peace Officer
under the second Lawgiver. Jason and Alexander become
friends. Human position grows slowly but steadily worse.
[Marvel Comics Planet of the Apes]
2069
July:
General Brutus' scouts encounter the Inheritors in caves
near the Forbidden City. Brutus investigates and becomes
ally/underling of the Gesalt Mind in a power ploy aimed
at taking control of Ape City. The original scouts
are "persuaded" to forget what they saw.
[Marvel Comics Planet of the Apes]
2070
Jason, Alexander and the Lawgiver are embroiled in a
conflict with the Inheritors. At the same time they
begin to get a hint of what is happening in the world
outside Ape City's tiny boundaries. A man/ape mute
mutation has begun to live in the Forbidden Zone, some
serving as slaves of the Mutants. Gigantic animals
roam everywhere. Many small, semi-nomadic communities
of apes and humans also exist, each as isolated as
the others. In certain of these, a startling equity
of apes and humans has developed. But, can it last?
[Marvel Comics Planet of the Apes]
2071 to
2119
A large leap of time that can only roughly be filled
in. Both ape and human cultures expand into the Forbidden
Zones, taming them as population needs demand. However,
these cultures tend to isolate and grow bitter towards
one another. Humans, devolving due to the radiation,
are becoming more barbaric. A sudden, fierce strain
develops out of the docility in evidence just after
the War. Clearly, the human and gorilla armies are
in their way to war.
n this period, Mendez's mutant groups have reached what
was once New York City and have established themselves
there. Mixture of their bloodline with the local mutants
begins to produce rudimentary telepathic powers.
2220
October:
Gorilla and human armies slaughter one another in battle
thirty or forty miles north of San Francisco. Two survivors,
Solomon the gorilla and Jovan the human, form an uneasy
but necessary truce. They are healed and taught by
the hermit man/ape Mordecai and meet their death in
San Francisco at the hands of the animalistic ape and
human mutants.
This is the balancing point in the history. It is where
the human devolvement coincides with the ape evolution
most clearly. It is also the last gasp of human aggressiveness.
2221 to
2749
Humans are defeated and become, primarily, a slave culture
tolerated but completely unrespected by the apes. Gorillas
dominate the apes now, and it is an age of exploration.
Populations push out in all directions. Land is tamed
and with slave help, cultivated. New outposts are set
up and contact is made with other surviving groups
from the War. Not a few minor wars are caused by gorilla
aggressiveness. On the whole, however, a peaceful time
as energies are channeled into retaking a world.
The cultural heritage of Caesar's Ape City gains a widespread
usage and regional governments are often designed after
the Lawgiver/Council mold.
Some bands of renegade humans do exist and continually
harass ape outposts.
2750
One particularly daring raid into a fairly large ape
population causes an outraged public cry from the apes.
Systematic destruction of the outlaw bands is instituted.
The Lawgiver of the day (whether only a regional level
Lawgiver or more is unknown) writes the Sacred Scrolls
and their rather unflattering portrait of Humanity.
2751 to
3085
The general spread of the Sacred Scrolls proves to be
a reactionary move, and their influence reinstates
the earlier days of isolation. When growth has slowed
in the previous century, orangutans take more and more
of the power formerly in the hands of the gorillas.
Now they rule completely.
The loss of communication between population centers
is slow at first but speeds up when Forbidden Zones
start to become unlivable again.
This time, it is largely the result of poor conservation
techniques. The radiation-blasted soil starts to give
up and the deserts, as deserts, bloom.
Humankind grows completely docile.
Cultural patterns in the isolated areas retain shards
and snippets of others. Thus, one area might continue
to have the Lawgiver officer while another might operate
completely differently. The Ape City near New York
City becomes isolated in this period after its incorporation
into the Pan American Ape Society in the previous growth
period. It was not a colony of the first Ape City,
but developed independently and therefore does not
have an historical record that accurately chronicles
the west coast developments.
3085
June:
Astronauts Alan Virdon and Peter Burke crash-land but
survive (unlike their fellow astronaut) in the region
of the United States that was once southwestern California.
At this time the ape government which rules over most
of the area is an orangutan faction headed by Doctor
Zaius. General Urko, a gorilla, works cooperatively
with him, with continual "reminding" that
Zaius is in charge. Urko chafes at the situation. To
Zaius and Urko, the constant threat of the renegade
astronauts starting a human rebellion leaves the apes
with the task of apprehending and executing them.
The astronauts gain the chimpanzee Galen as a friend
and traveling companion. Between them they leave a
few traces of twentieth century human culture, like
certain agricultural and farming techniques, that don't
do much good for the humans but eventually serve to
advance ape civilization. Virdon, Burke and Galen
have fates as yet untold.
[TV Planet of the Apes]
3086 to
3478
The fall of Humankind is complete. By approximately
3400, the combination of radiation deterioration and
general demoralization succeeds in wiping the minds
from Humanity. They are forced away from the ape cities
as unproductive and useless animals. They begin to
live in the forests, wild.
3479
February:
Astronauts Bill Allen, Jeff Hudson and Judy Franklin
crash-land in a lagoon southwest of New York. While
traversing the desert, Franklin disappears into a chasm
that mysteriously closes in on itself. Allen and Hudson
continue on to find a forested glade inhabited by savage
humans. In a raid by gorilla soldiers, Allen is captured
along with several of the primitive humans. Shortly
thereafter, he escapes and along with Hudson, returns
to the Forbidden Zone. There, they discover the now
buried ruins of New York City. After finding Franklin,
they escape the mutants of the city. It is unknown
as to what eventually became of the astronauts.
[Animated Planet of the Apes]
3480 to
3954
Continually encroaching Forbidden Zones have brought
on a complete Dark Age. Progress slows to a halt in
some areas, like the New York Ape City. There, all
knowledge that humans once had a major civilization
is lost. It becomes mere legend, and then almost nothing
at all. It is either lost or concealed by conservative
orangutans. Progressive chimpanzee elements are stifled.
Late in this period humans begin to be used as experimental
animals and entertaining hunting diversions for the
gorillas. A certain instinctive survival pattern remains
in the humans but it is less than successful.
3955
March:
ANSA's first interstellar craft, first launched in 1972,
crash-lands in an inland sea somewhere in the area
south of what was once Long Island. Land masses have
shifted so that is no longer oceanic. Stewart's
cryogenic capsule has ruptured during the course of
the flight, and the vaccume conditions during flight
have mumified her corpse. Shortly after reviving the
surviving crew, the ship founders in Long Island sound,
which sports a now canyon-like topography. Reaching shore
in a raft, The astronauts journey across the barren
desert to a forested area, where they find a tribe of
wild humans grazing on planetd crops. As they begin to
intermingle with the group, they are interrupted by a
gorilla raid, Taylor and Landon are subsequently
captured but separated, and Dodge is killed. His throat
injured in the attack, Taylor is unable to speak to his
captors. Taken to Ape City, Dr. Zira discovers Taylor's
intelligence. The council perceives this as a threat
and makes plans to exterminate the human. During a
mock trial, Taylor discovers that Zaius has subjected
Landon to experimental brain surgery, reducing him to
a mental vegetable. Lucius, Zira's nephew, helps
Taylor escape from his imprisonment. Zira and Cornelius
take Taylor and his savage female companion, Nova, into
the Forbidden Zone to the site of an archeological
expedition conducted by Cornelius. It is Cornelius'
contention that a civilization had existed previous to
that of apes, and that the archeological site contained
proof of such. Zaius follows them into the Forbidden Zone,
intent on keeping the truth hidden. Taylor and Nova
escape from Zaius and the gorilla patrols farther into
the Forbidden Zone. Zaius has the cave destroyed, along
with the evidence of the prior civilization. Cornelius and
Zira are arrested, and set to face charges of herecy.
Taylor, travelling along the shore, stumbles upon the
half buried remnants of the Statue of Liberty and finally
realizes that he never had left Earth in the first place.
[Planet of the Apes]
July:
Ape City is awash in political undercurrents. Zaius
has succeeded in quashing the ripples caused by Taylor's
appearance and abilities, but General Ursus, campaigning
for war, is beyond his control. Several of his scouts are
lost in the Forbidden Zone not long after Taylor disappearence
and war is on. There is also a chimpanzee antiwar undercurrent,
and while pretending to go along with Zaius, Cornelius
and Zira have secretly been aiding the genius chimpanzee
Doctor Milo in his studies of the rescued spacecraft
that Taylor had arrived in. Milo is analyzing it and
attempting to ready it for flight. They plan to use
it as the kind of traumatic evidence they feel Ape
City needs to escape the total loss of the light of
Truth.
September:
Brent's ship crashes on what was once Manhattan.
The lone survivor of the wreak, he encounters
Nova, lost after Taylor's strange disappearance in
the ruins of New York City. After an encounter with
Zira, Cornelius, and the gorillas and Ape City, Brent and
Nova flee to the Forbidden City in search of Taylor.
General Ursus leads an army of gorilla soldiers on a
military campaign against the remaining humans.
[Beneath the Planet of the Apes]
Two days after Brent's arrival:
Zira, Milo, and Cornelius launch from outside Ape City
in the repaired interstellar craft in an attempt to show
Ape City's inhabitance that flight (among other scientific
principles) is indeed possible.
Brent and Nova are captured by a race of radiation-mutated
humans posessing superhuman mental abilities. Brent is
reunited with Taylor, who has been held captive of the
mutants. Wishing to keep their existance a secret from
both normal humans and apes, they attempt to force Brent
and Taylor to fight each other to the death. They
inadvertantly kill their manipulator, and begin an escape
attempt, just as an army of gorillas invades New York's
ruins. The Alpha-Omega bomb, originally stored in the vaults
of a San Francisco missile complex and cherished by twenty
generations of the House of Mendez, is detonated within
Saint Patrick's Cathedral by Taylor who is mortally wounded
by Ursus. With the blast, a catalytic reaction
spreads across the globe in minutes. Shockwaves of
tremendous energy from the blast cascade into space and
strike the spacecraft containing Doctors Milo, Cornelius and
Zira. The ship is thrown by the blast into a Hasslein Curve,
and cast back to April of 1973...
[Beneath the Planet of the Apes]
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