This Apes Chronology was first printed in 1975 in Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes comics magazine (Issue #11). It was provided by NetTrekker, who beefed up the passing references to how they described filmed events. It also features Marvel's Apes stories in the timeline. NetTrekker integrated the animated series, fit into the timeline. The Adventure Comics stories are not included, but hopefully they will in time. Roger Apple has added the film, TV, and comic references where appropriate. ANSANAUT has added more information where I saw fit to, especially with regards to the animated series.
"Now is the time to take longer strides, farther strides, time for a great new American enterprise, time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement and deep space exploration. A role which, in many ways, may hold the key to our future on Earth."
"A role which, in may ways, may hold the key to our future on Earth." More prophetic words are never spoken...
1972
January 8: Astronauts Dodge, Taylor, Stewart, and Landon (l-r) are launched on America's first interstellar exploration flight, the "Big One of '72". (Planet of the Apes) Their ship, the "Icarus", launches from Launch Complex #39 at Cape Kennedy without incident. The crew enters suspended animation for the long voyage to Alpha Centauri (POTA). The mission is launched amid high support from the nation and the world. This is ANSA's most expensive mission yet.
May: The "Icarus" mysteriously drops out of communications under mysterious circumstances. The media has a field day and the government institutes several special investigations into ANSA protocols. Later, it will be discovered that at near FTL velocities, the "Icarus" has created / entered a Hasslein curve in space / time and was thrown several thousand years into the future. ANSA hurriedly readies a rescue team to be dispatched along Taylor's last known trajectory.
November: ANSA Astronauts "Skipper" and Brent are launched along the same flight path as the previous vessel to probe its unexplained disappearance from detection. (Beneath the Planet of the Apes).
1973
January: Astronauts Bill Allen, Jeff Hudson, and Judy Franklin enter the (NASA) space program. (Animated Planet of the Apes)
April: The first vessel, referred to simply as "Taylor's Ship", reappears mysteriously within nearby space. It lands off the California coast, slightly north of San Clemente and is met my mobilized United States Navy space-flight recovery crews. The capsule is found to be piloted by three English speaking chimpanzees who identify themselves as Doctors Cornelius, Zira and Milo. The apes are taken to the Los Angeles Zoo, where Milo is accidentally killed by a primitive gorilla. Cornelius and Zira are brought before a scientific inquiry and are accepted as friends of the planet Earth. (Escape From the Planet of the Apes)
June: Through underhanded interrogation and analysis of the spacecraft, Doctor Otto Hasslein learns of the ultimate fate of the human race and the planet Earth. He convinces the President that the apes are a threat to Humankind. Cornelius and Zira are taken to a military base for further interrogation. After escaping, they flee to a circus where Zira, now pregnant, gives birth to the baby Milo. Shortly thereafter, Cornelius and Zira are killed, and Milo begins his long education under the care of Armando, the owner of the circus. (Escape From the Planet of the Apes)
1973 to 1981
Eight complex years marked by contradictory developments in two aspects of society. Space exploration expands. Unmanned space probes range to the stars and back. Manned flights over greater distances are becoming more common. At the same time however, the governments of Earth are becoming more totalitarian in order to cope with increasing economic, political and energy pressures. All information concerning the two lost spaceships and the secrets of the future as revealed by Cornelius and Zira is locked away under heavy security clearance. Few are allowed access to it. Publicly, it is spread that the two talking chimpanzees were merely a hoax, and nothing more. Armando gives Milo the name of "Caesar." (Escape From the Planet of the Apes) Great advances are made in space-flight technology (Animated Planet of the Apes)
1979
August: Astronauts Allen, Hudson and Franklin are launched from Earth aboard the (NASA) spacecraft "Venturer". The "Venturer" is a very advanced design capsule equipped to fully utilize Dr. Stanton's Theory of Time Thrust. Their vessel enters a strange energy distortion and disappears. (Animated Planet of the Apes)
NASA "Venturer"
(L-R) NASA Astronauts Jeff Hudson, Judy Franklin, and Bill
Allen.
1981
March: Astronauts Virdon, Burke and Jones are launched from Earth. Their ship encounters a strange electrical storm near Alpha Centauri and disappears. (Planet of the Apes TV)
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.
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), the Plague spreads over the planet in weeks, killing all cats and dogs. "Apparently" harmless to humans and other animal species.
1984 to 1991
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. (Conquest of the Planet 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 late 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...
1992
December: 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.
1992 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.
2001
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 2040
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 Gestalt 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."
2040 to 2052
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
Gestalt 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)
2052 to 2069
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 Gestalt 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)
2070 to 2220
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.
In 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.
2079
May 5: Ronald Brent is born.
2109
August 6: Ronald Brent lifts off from Earth. His spacecraft, a new and very advanced design, is soon lost in space. His craft enters a Hasslein time curve and is propelled into the far future.
NASA Astronaut, Colonel Ronald Brent
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.
2220 to 2750
Humans are defeated and become, primarily, a slave culture tolerated but completely disrespected 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.
2750 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
ANSAnauts Jones, Virdon, and Burke
Colonel Virdon's spacecraft arrives back
on Earth,
crash landing in a remote part of California.
Burke and Virdon
March 21: Astronauts Lt. Peter Burker (l) and Colonel Alan Virdon
(r) crash-land but survive (unlike their fellow astronaut, Jones who dies on impact) 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" from Dr. Zaius that it is Zaius who in fact is in charge and not
Urko. 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)
3085 to 3479
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 and resort to primitives.
3459 or 3464 ?
Colonel Ronald "Ron" Brent's advanced spacecraft crashes in a desert leaving very little in the way of useable equipment or supplies. His leg is broken on impact and he is hurt badly. Fortunately, he is discovered shortly thereafter by a wandering tribe of primitive nomads who take him in and nurse him back to health. One of the young nomad children befriends Brent. Brent gives her the name of "Nova" and teaches her to say her name. He gives her his dog tags and travels with the tribe for a while until he becomes separated from the tribe during a severe sand storm. Lost from the tribe, he finds his way back to his crashed ship where he will live as a hermit for the next decade and a half with no contact with any other human beings.
3479
February to June: 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. They meet "Nova", a primitive woman who can speak her name and has a set of dogtags around her neck. The dogtags are an enigma, belonging to a "Colonel Ronald Brent, USAF" who was born nearly a hundred years after Allen, Hudson, and Franklin left for space, and who himself left for space nearly a hundred and fifty years after they did. 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, whom the mysterious Underdwellers worship as a prophetess "Usa" (taken from a relic they have, a marble bust of a female astronaut bearing Judy's likeness with the sole word "USA" on the bottom...). Together, the three eventually elude the apes while helping both the mutants of the dead city and the humans.
While helping the humans escape from the caves that they were living in, Allen, Hudson and Franklin are forced to cross a vast desert on their way to New Hope Valley. In the middle of the desert, they chance upon the wreckage of a American spacecraft of unknown type and design. Here they encounter Colonel Ronald Brent who explains his history but isn't sure of when he crashed on the Planet of the Apes, it could have been 15 or 20 years ago. It is hard to tell time in the desert. Brent joins the other three astronauts and their human party and leads them to New Hope Valley. Once in the valley, they begin to herd wild buffalo type creatures and the astronauts use a laser drill salvaged from the "Venturer" to cut rock into squares in order to build an adobe style Indian fortress that is defense against not only the apes, but against a giant monster dragon bird! It is unknown as to what eventually became of the four astronauts or Nova and her people. (Animated Planet of the Apes)
3479 to 3955
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.
November: (11-25) The ANSA spacecraft containing three surviving male astronauts (Dodge, Taylor, and Landon), along with one dead female astronaut (Stewart), crash-lands in an inland sea somewhere in the area south of what was once Long Island. Land masses have shifted so that where they land is no longer ocean but a land locked inland sea ...
The astronauts journey across the barren desert to a forested area, where they find representatives of what was once the human race. In a gorilla raid, Taylor and Landon are captured but are separated, and Dodge is killed. Taken to Ape City, Doctors Zira and Cornelius discover Taylor's intelligence. The council perceives this as a threat and makes plans to exterminate the human. Taylor tries to escape but is captured. During his escape attempt, he finds the body of Dodge has been stuffed and put on display in a human history museum. Taylor is quickly recaptured in the center of the city. During a mock trial, Taylor discovers that Landon has undergone brain surgery, leaving him a mental vegetable. Zira and Cornelius take Taylor and his female companion, Nova, into the Forbidden Zone to the site of an archeological expedition conducted by Cornelius. Taylor and Nova escape from Zaius and the gorilla patrols farther into the Forbidden Zone. There, Taylor discovers that he has in fact returned to Earth when he comes upon the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. (Planet of the Apes)
3956
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 scouts are lost in the Forbidden Zone not long after Taylor disappears and war is on. There is also a chimpanzee undercurrent.
July (late): Taylor and Nova investigate the ruins of New York City. Taylor disappears without a trace into a strange, fiery illusion. Nova wanders the Forbidden Zone aimlessly without her mate.
August (early): Nova witnesses a pair of fireballs in the early afternoon sky, fireballs which are actually a pair of ANSA spacecraft making reentry. Commander "Skipper" Maddox and Brent have been sent along Taylor's original trajectory on a rescue mission to find Taylor and his crew. Atmospheric disturbances damage Skipper's ship which crash lands in the Forbidden Zone. Skipper's craft suffers very heavy damage on touch-down, catches fire, and is totally destroyed when it falls over and explodes. Brent manages to land the second rescue ship nearby and rushes on foot to his commander's aid. Brent's commander, "Skipper", is rendered blind from the fires and damage to his ship and soon after succumbs to his internal injuries. Brent buries his commander with the slow understanding that now he is the only survivor of an already failed rescue mission. Brent's flight is down one ship and three seats meaning that when Brent lifts off he can only carry half of Taylor's crew with him, that is, if Taylor and his crew are still alive and if Brent can find them.
Nova sits astride Taylor's
horse and carefully watches the stranger, noticing
that he is like Taylor. She rides to the wreckage site, wary, but Brent befriends
her. After reading Taylor's dog tags around her neck,
Brent's mission and purpose are instantly renewed.
After an encounter with Zira, Cornelius, the gorillas and Ape City, Brent and Nova travel
to the Forbidden City in search of Taylor. (Beneath the Planet of the Apes)
Brent's arrival plus one day: Cornelius, Zira, and Milo go in search of Taylor's ship, but instead they find Brent's ship. They will spend the next day studying it and eventually accidentally launching it with all three chimpanzees aboard.
Brent's arrival plus two days: Cornelius, Zira, and Milo accidentally start the automated launch and return sequence for Brent's ANSA rescue spacecraft. As they lift off, the fighting in the ruins of New York City intensifies, leading to... THE END. 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 while in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the ruins of New York City.
The end of everything and all life.
A cataclysmic reaction spreads across the globe in minutes, destroying the entire planet and every living thing, reducing the Earth to a burnt cinder in space. Zira describes the cataclysm by telling others that she saw "the rim of the Earth melt."
Shockwaves of the blast are sent into space and strike the spacecraft containing the Simian Doctors Milo, Cornelius and Zira. Zira comments that she witnessed "the rim of the planet melting...". The ship is thrown into a Hasslein Curve, a 'bend in time', and cast back to 1973 to .... (Escape from the Planet of the Apes).
3978
November: (11-25-3978 SHIPS CHRONOMETER READING) The ANSA spacecraft containing three surviving male astronauts (Dodge, Taylor, and Landon), along with one dead female astronaut (Stewart), crash-lands in an inland sea somewhere in the area south of what was once Long Island. Land masses have shifted so that where they land is no longer ocean but a land locked inland sea ... (this is the reading displayed on the chronometer in Taylor's spacecraft in the first movie. However, in the second movie, Brent, who arrives later than Taylor, says that the year is 3955. In the third movie, Zira tells a congressional panel that the Earth was destroyed in the future, and the reading on the chronometer in the spacecraft read 3955. The discrepancy cannot be logically explained other than Taylor's chronometer was off, which would account for his statement of:
Landon: That means we've been away from Earth for 18 months.
Taylor: Our time...you've gone gray. Apart from that, you look pretty chipper for a man who's 2,031 years old. I read the clocks. They bear out Hasslein's hypothesis. We have been away from Earth for 2,000 years...give or take a decade. Still can't accept it, huh? Time's wiped out everything you ever knew. It's all dust.
"... Give or take a decade." Taylor says.
Maybe two decades and some years, especially if the vehicle is not functioning correctly. Taylor's chronometer could very well be damaged or 'off' due to problems with the spacecraft itself. The subject is open to speculation. Despite what Taylor's chronometer shows, and what we, as the audience see with our own eyes as the readout for the date that Taylor returns to Earth, the 'official' date used for Taylor's arrival is 3955, not 3978.
23 years before his ships chronometer said that he actually arrived.
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For a comprehensive
published timeline of the POTA universe,
check out http://www.hasleinbooks.com