ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES -Plot Holes

Filling those plot holes:  

ESCAPE FROM THE 

PLANET OF THE APES 

A Tale of Two Space Crafts. 

Im a big fan of the original Planet of the Apes franchise, particularly part three called 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes', which is one of the best sequels. 

But the rhetoric for how Dr Milo, Zira and Cornelius escaped planet Earths destruction was always a bit fuzzy. 

We get a brief info dump explaining how their pal Dr Milo salvaged Taylors craft (The Icarus) and somehow understood its workings. 

But its still a bit of a stretch. Because up until now, all we've been told about Ape culture is that their technological culture isn't much more advanced than our 16th century Earth with a few nods to the 19th. 

Still, why  let a massive plot hole get in the way of a good franchise? 

So heres my take on all this flaff. 

I guess this is an untold tale about two space crafts, Brents and Taylors, called Liberty 2 and The Icarus. 

Plus Dr. Milo's character is based very much on Leonardo da Vinci and thus a genius.

Just like Cornelius, Milo is a researcher of Apes origins, he's hooked on the idea of an ancient race more advanced than theirs. 

Maybe he's spent years in the Forbidden Zone, studying mans ancient cities and technologies. Maybe some of this stuff still worked and he learned how to use it. Maybe he made human allies there who taught him of mans ingenuity.  

But fearing he would be accused of heresy by the apes, kept quiet about it. 

His biggest find so far however, is Brent's broken space craft, the Liberty 2, laying out in the desert but kept it under wraps in case he got 'disappeared' by Dr Zeus's goon squad. 

Brents ship Liberty 2. 

But then he hears about Cornilius and Zira's 'talking man' and reaches out to them. 

Milo admits he has found a wreck in the desert and shows them photographs. 

They tell him about Brent and Taylor and of Taylors space ship, in the dead lake, that is probably still intact.

And since all three are pursuers of the truth they organise a salvage team, with the idea of putting an end to Dr Zeus's tyranny and clearing their names once and for all.  

The salvage team might have consisted of humans Milo made allies with in the Forbidden Zone and apes of the science caste. 

The time frame for all this suggests this entire operation took place in a matter of weeks.

They raise the Icarus from the lake using inflatables and the desert heat dries it out, which meant it is essentially fully operational again.

And with his notes collected from Brent's ship (and his experiences in the Forbidden Zone), Dr Milo has a basic understanding of how to the Icarus works. 

The only remaining issue was probably the missing hatch, blown off when Taylors crew evacuated the Icarus. Either they found it at the bottom of the lake or used the one off Liberty 2.

Amid its vast array of controls, Milo discovers the "automatic return" button. He has a suspicion this button will do most of the ships thinking for him. 

All he has to do now is strap-in and press it.

Finally the ship is ready to go. All they need now is the courage to test it. 

By this point war has already broken out. All able bodied apes are required to join the troops marching into the Forbidden Zone. 

Taylors ship The Icarus 

Maybe some soldier apes discover Milos group and in the ensuing shoot out, Milo, Zira and Cornelius clamber aboard the Icarus. Dr Milo presses the 

"automatic return" button and the ship takes off into orbit. 

A few moments of brief awe behold them, as they see the Earth from space. Then horror as the planet suddenly lights up in a blaze of light and is destroyed.

Meanwhile the Icarus flight plan sends it back into the time eddies (which I guess surround the solar system in these movies) that sent Taylor and Brent's ships into the future in the first place. 

A few moments later, they see the Earth again intact, by which point the automatic guidance system lands the ship in the pacific coast 1973.  

The rest is history.   

Take it or leave it. Thats my take on how to fill a massive plot hole. 

Or just read “Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes” by Andrew Gaska.

Which I only found out about five minutes after writing all this. 

DR WHOS GOLDEN GOOSE: THE DALEKS

DR WHO'S GOLDEN GOOSE: 

THE DALEKS 

Isn’t there some saying about killing gooses laying golden eggs? Take the Daleks of Dr Who, for instance.

Dr Who’s bread and butter was the Daleks. It’s a fact. Without them, there would be no Dr Who. But a combination of red-tape, apathy and Spike Milligan, had reduced them to a laughing stock, that caused the series to be cancelled for 15 years. And here’s why.

PAKISTANI DALEKS

The problem stemmed from Spike Milligan making the Daleks the butt of all jokes. Something Dalek creator Terry Nation tried very hard to avoid but was hampered by BBC interference.

Milligan used a genesis Dalek for his Pakistani Dalek sketch in 1975 and likely without Nations consent. But since the BBC owned half the Dalek rights, there was little he could do about it. 

This seemed to have a knock-on effect on future Dalek appearances. By 1979 they were no longer taken seriously.

Several years before Terry Nation had attempted to make the Daleks super-international commodities across the pond, with the idea of launching the Daleks into their own Tv series and get the Americans on board.

But again he was hampered by archaic BBC rules and regulations. Convoluted red-tape meant that the BBC wouldn't release the Daleks from contract.

Yet Spike Milligan could do with them as he pleased.

DOUGLAS ADAMS

Throughout the 1970s, the Daleks were already being reduced to mere dustbins on wheels. And nobody seemed to give a shit.

Destiny of the Daleks is a notable turning point, which gave way to sloppy Daleks throughout the 1980s. Watch any 80s Dalek story and they just looked terrible. Lit badly, shot badly and generally shoddy in appearance due to disrepair. Plus the operators seemed half-asleep.

Gone were the heady days of Dalek Operators such as Robert Jewell, a veteran of the Dalek movies, when Dalekmania was at its zenith.

By the time Destiny Of the Daleks rolled along, Nation was pre-occupied with other projects and showed little interest in Dr Who. 

He submitted a rough unfinished script to the BBC and washed his hands of the affair, leaving it all up to Douglas Adams, who used the opportunity to ‘re-invent’ the Daleks as comical robots. However this idea backfired.

Subsequently, a whole new generation thought Daleks were just machines, only adding to the parody they had become. Overall, the Daleks became stereotypes of themselves.

Not dissing Douglas Adams. He did a great job of Terry Nations story but his comical approach to the Daleks was the shows biggest blunder.

UNPOPULAR WITH ACTORS

Most actors hated working with them, in particular John Pertwee and Peter Davidson. I once trundled up to a red-faced Colin Baker in a Dalek at a Comic Con, where he told me to Bog Off! Peter Davidson was even worse.

Ironic since their entire success was purely because of the Daleks. Without them, there would be no autographs for them to sign.

STEADY DECLINE

Without serious attention paid to the Daleks, Dr Who took a steady decline in the 1980s. Yet nobody considered fixing the problem. Instead, the producers and stars of the show figured celebrity status over Daleks was more important.

In their final screen outing, Remembrance of the Daleks, the Daleks were so so utterly banal, that it made Destiny seem like a blockbuster by comparison.

By now Dr Who was sinking into the abyss and nothing could save it. Not even the Daleks.

By 1989, the decision was finally made to pull the plug. Dr Who was finished.

SHORT SIGHTEDNESS

Being a children's program, there wasn't much call for attention for detail, (at least as far as Daleks were concerned) as these stories were never intended to be televised again.

Typical BBC policy meant a large bulk of early Dr Who stories were actually taped over with Gardeners World. 

Nobody felt that these stories had artistuc value or should be preserved. 

Nor did they think anyone might want to buy a copy of Dr Who episodes on VHS or DVD. 

And no one would have imagined that by the 21st Century, the Daleks would regain stardom after Russell T Davis’s reboot or that Daleks would appear at the Royal Albert Hall.

CONCLUSION

Always look after them geese laying golden eggs.