Imprisoned By The Apes

Where Charlton Heston, and his fellow humans,
were once caged in Malibu Creek State Park.

In the original film version of "Planet of the Apes," as the astronauts flee with the primitive humans through the cornfield, the apes capture many in their nets, while shooting others.  One of the astronauts, Dodge dies from a bullet wound.  In Taylor’s case, a bullet damages his throat.  After their capture, the survivors are taken to Ape City, where they will be put to a variety of purposes.  Taylor ends up under the scrutiny of Zira, an animal psychologist.  He sometimes shares a cell with Nova, a primitive girl.

Not only do the apes keep the humans indoors, but they also bring them outside into a large cage, presumably so they can exercise.  When Zira visits Taylor there, his injured throat prevents him from speaking, so he tries to communicate with her by writing in the dirt.  Then the community leader, Dr. Zaius, arrives.  Taylor keeps hoping Zira will turn around to see what he’s written, as primitive humans have no language skills.  But by the time she turns around, Taylor realizes that Nova has brushed away his words.

The humans are led up these steps from Ape City
 to get their exercise in the cage.

It seems ironic that the concrete pad upon which the large cage was erected still stands, when no sign of the more impressive Ape City exists.  But perhaps this is fitting, as the mere idea of humans being imprisoned by apes must have seemed threatening to 1960s society.  How else can one explain that the image of the humans’ cage takes up the majority of one of the studio posters? 

The staircase leading to the humans' cage.

A chief concern of the film regards to what extent society should be protected from any knowledge that might harm it.  Living in the Information Age, such an idea may seem inconceivable at present, but in earlier eras, any ideas, thoughts, historic documents, or scientific observations that might weaken a given community’s stability were labeled heresy.  Now, facts and ideas ripple through society faster than anyone can control.  Questions as to what type of information might injure a given community have grown largely irrelevant.  The leadership of every group, organization, and nation therefore dedicates a large portion of its energies to limiting the damage such changes might cause. 

A cage with a view.

The point of the movie was never that the apes were needlessly cruel to the humans.  Zira rejoices when she learns that Taylor is as intelligent as herself.  When Dr. Zaius realizes the danger Taylor represents to his society, his first thought is to geld him (prevent him from reproducing), not to kill him.  In many ways, ape society seems more humane than our own.  After all, when they take their captives out for exercise, at least they give the humans a cage with a terrific view.

Dragon Dave

Searching for Ape City

In the original film adaptation of “Planet of the Apes,” a space capsule crashes into a lake.  The astronauts awaken to realize that their capsule is sinking.  Taylor, played by Charlton Heston, glances at the chronometer.   When they reach the shore, he tells his fellow astronaut Landon, “Two thousand years have passed since we left Earth.  Time has wiped away everything you’ve ever known.”

Still, Landon can’t help but plant a tiny American flag on the shore of this new world. 

In visiting Malibu Creek State Park, I had hoped to discover where Ape City had once stood alongside Century Lake.  Constructed out of steel and Styrofoam, Ape City proved durable enough to use in the sequel, “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.”  Its architectural style, based upon a village carved out of a mountain in Turkey, seemed strikingly modern, yet also naturalistic.  I knew that it no longer stood in the park, but had hoped to find where it once stood.

Where's the waterfall?

As dry grass, picnic tables, and the occasional public restroom have sprung up in the rocky soil beside the upper parking lot, no trace remains of the cornfield through which the apes chase the astronauts and primitive humans.  Sadly, the same can be said for Ape City.  Century Lake is lake in name only.  Aside from the area where we happened upon the small film crew (in “Filmmaking in Malibu Creek State Park”), the “lake” is nothing more than a thin, green snake that serpentines along for a quarter-mile or so.  In the 1968 film, water tumbles down off the cliffs and into the rock pools, which look more clear and full than on our visit.  So perhaps Century Lake was larger back then too.

As we turned off the dirt road toward the lake where the film crew worked, we saw a man standing beside a water truck.  Later, on our way out, he sat inside the cab, evidently waiting in case the crew needed more water than the bottles on their food table would have provided.  After more online research at Omega Planet (see link in previous post), my wife suggested that Ape City might have stood where the man waited inside his water truck.  It’s just a guess, as time has wiped away so much in the subsequent decades, but it seems as good a guess to me as any.

Remembering how Taylor laughs at Landon’s simple act, I can’t help wonder what the park will look like two thousand years from now.   

In researching this post, I got out the Blu-ray edition of “Planet of the Apes” that my wife bought me last year for Christmas.  The player went clunk, and refused to recognize the disk.  My wife, the technical wizard of our family, is researching the issue.  While our older DVD offers an adequate viewing of the movie, the Blu-ray version not only includes a wonderful revamp of the movie, but also a documentary on the production.  Hopefully, she can rectify the problem.  Otherwise, in addition to Ape City, it would seem that time has wiped away the movie, the documentary, and everything else on the Blu-ray disk.

Dragon Dave

Birdwatching Where Charlton Heston Lost His Clothes

In the original “Planet of the Apes” movie, three astronauts trek across a barren desert until they reach an oasis.  There, they discard their clothes and dive into the rock-lined pool, reveling in the cool, refreshing water.  They don’t realize that the mute, native humans of this planet are watching them until they see their clothes being stolen.  They pursue the primitives, and recover their now-shredded clothes.  While his companions are angered by the natives’ actions, Taylor (played by Charlton Heston) announces, “Cheer up, boys.  If this is a sample of the neighborhood, we can take over and live like kings!”  (Dragon Dave Paraphrase)  Unfortunately for Taylor, horns then sound, rifles fire, and the apes ride in, dashing his dream of wielding ultimate power.

After baking in the sun along the dry, dusty trails of Malibu Creek State Park, the rock pools were a nice place to sit down and relax.  We climbed over the rocks until we found a wooden picnic bench that had seen better days.  We sat down carefully, noting how the wood moved and swayed beneath our weight.  Around us, little birds searched among the rocks for food, and flitted among the branches overhead.  

My wife pointed out one particular bird that winged overhead, and I looked up between the two cliff faces that rose up above us.  A predatory bird, such as a hawk or a falcon, soared through the sky, and alighted on the top of the cliff to survey us below.  I raised my camera, extended the range to maximum zoom, and snapped his picture.  Then I magnified the image on the viewfinder so I could study his features.

A hawk or a falcon?

It was then that one of the little birds that flitted through the branches overhead reminded me of his presence.  I didn’t feel the impact, but I heard a plop.  When I looked down at my left knee, I found there proof of his disapproval.  My wife came to my rescue with a piece of tissue, and thereafter I confined my interest to the green water, in which my wife spotted several fish, and even a turtle.  We found no remnant of the astronauts’ clothes.  Perhaps the apes picked them all up.  After all, they always claimed they were more ecologically mindful than the humans.

Sorry, little bird, but the bigger birds are worthy of my interest too. 

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Omega Planet

Filmmaking in Malibu Creek State Park

If you’re a fan of the movies, and you live in Southern California, one place you should visit is Malibu Creek State Park.  This area, once owned by Fox Studios, is where many movies and TV shows were shot.  You won’t find much in the way of existing film sets, so you’ll need to do some Internet research to get a sense of which of your favorite scenes was filmed where.  But knowing exactly where this or that story element took place isn’t necessary to gain an appreciation for this area.  Once you know that your favorite stories were filmed here, the imagination takes over.  The mind starts the projector rolling, and as you walk the trail, Fiction overlays Reality.

This isn’t the lush landscape of England, where constant rainfall converts your surroundings into varying but vivid shades of green.  Yet the landscape offers up its own arid beauty.  Your footsteps may hasten across the sunbaked portions of the trail, then slow beneath the shadows cast from the Oak, Sycamore, Willow, and other trees that somehow survive such dry conditions.  But if you love old movies and TV shows, there is meaning here beyond what physically exists.

The old Fox Ranch may be owned by the State of California now, but movies are still shot here.  We happened upon one production as we approached Century Lake.  We passed an equipment truck humming with generators, and followed the power cables to a large camera.  Twenty to thirty people waited or worked or chatted as key members debated where and how to set up their next shot.  The company allowed us through, and we walked along the shore until we reached the dam.  The water reflected the surrounding hills, trees, and reeds that sprouted up along the shore.  A couple men picked up a big light on a tall stand, and carried it to its next position.  A lifeguard, there in case anyone fell in the lake, sat reading a paperback.  After we took our photographs, we followed the trail (the only way out) back through their “set.”  I asked a woman if she needed two extras.  She smiled and said, “Not today.”

When we discovered that the crew had used the only picnic table by the lake, we walked another mile or so until we finally gave in and climbed onto a concrete cistern.  While it would have been nice to eat our lunch by the lake, the company’s presence served as a pleasant reminder that filmmakers still use this area to weave their transforming magic.  I wonder: if I ever see the finished TV show or movie, will I recognize that particular scene?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Malibu Creek State Park