by Pat Ames
Episode Guide
Episode 1
Guest Cast: Royal Dano, Ron Stein, Woodrow Parfrey, Biff Elliot
Written by Art Wallace; Directed by Don Weiss
An adolescent chimpanzee and an aging human witness a spaceship crash in the forest. While the chimp returns to the local village to tell his prefect father, the human hesitantly enters the craft and finds three humans. One is dead, but two are alive, and the man quickly pulls them from the wreckage and hides them in his secret place in the woods.
The two astronauts, Alan Virdon and Peter Burke, awake on what they believe is an alien world in what appears to be an ancient bomb shelter. Their benefactor insists they stay hidden from the apes while he finds appropriate clothes for them, but they go outside and are impressed by how Earth-like this place appears. They are spotted and chased; they hide in the wood to escape but face for the first time the reality that this world is ruled by the great apes. Their friend returns and explains that humans have no status; he also shows them a book he found in the shelter and kept because it has pictures. Examining the book, they realize that they have actually landed back on Earth, but in the far future. This is particularly hard for Virdon, who has left a family back in his own time. They return to the spaceship and are captured by General Urko who needs little excuse to kill them, but Galen, who has been sent by Zaius to ensure that Urko captures the humans alive, intervenes. While taking them to Central City, Galen interviews the astronauts, and they tell him that humans did once have a civilization while apes were considered animals. Galen is not inclined to believe this except he has found the book and secretly studies it.
Once in the City, the humans are tried by the High Council. While it is clear that their intelligence and notions of freedom are considered a threat, Zaius convinces the Council to keep them alive temporarily so that they may learn more about them in case more humans come from the past. Urko does not agree, and he conspires to assassinate the humans. Galen, who has spent some time with the humans and finds them interesting, returns to the jail in the evening and foils the assassination attempt, killing a trooper accidentally. Virdon and Burke escape, but Galen is caught and imprisoned for murder. The book is also found and possession of such a book is punishable by death; Galen does not understand why the truth should be suppressed.
Virdon and Burke go to Zaius and discover that human civilization was destroyed in a terrible man-made catastrophe; the apes feel that humans are innately destructive and would destroy the world again if given a chance. They free Galen and return to their ship just in time to recover a computer disc before the apes destroy the ship.
Escape From Tomorrow
Guest Cast: Pat Renella, William Smith, Marc Singer, John Hoyt
Written by Art Wallace; Directed by Don McDougall
The computer disk from their ship is the only tangible link Virdon and Burke have with the past, and Virdon carries it safely in his pouch despite Burke’s argument that the flight record is useless on a world that has no advanced technology. Urko has reports of the fugitives sighted approaching the sea, and he sends his lieutenant, Jason to advise settlements in the area to organize their capture and return, alive - unless they try to escape.
Traveling in this unfamiliar area, Galen, Virdon, and Burke come upon two humans in the forest who are fighting, and the elder is beating the younger without mercy. Burke interferes to help the younger man, but he is surprised to find both humans turn on him. Virdon rushes in to help in a fight that equals the astronauts’ own skilled hand-to-hand. As an ape approaches the scene, Virdon and Burke escape into the woods. Only then does Virdon realize he has lost the disk during the fight, and the ape, Prefect Barlow, finds it.
In an effort to retrieve the disk, Galen visits Barlow as a scientist who has lost his horse. Interested in artifacts himself, Barlow finds Galen an interesting companion, but he is a sharp ape, keeping Galen on his toes and away from the disk. Unfortunately, Virdon and Burke are captured trying to steal horses and put in a cage.
The next morning, Tolar and Dalton, the two humans fighting in the woods, arrive at the cage and Tolar selects Burke as his next challenger in the games. To Barlow, human’s natural instinct to war on each other needs to be controlled, and his solution is the games where the humans of his village release all their violence. The fight is a public display, and it is a fight to the death. After a grueling fight, Tolar is defeated by Burke, and the crowd screams for blood. But Burke refuses to kill his adversary, sparking a human riot just as Jason arrives.
Using the riot as cover, Galen and Burke escape and ask for help from Tolar and Dalton. Tolar has been shamed by Burke, but Dalton, not so inclined to fight, is thankful that Burke spared his father’s life and agrees to help them free Virdon. Curious, Dalton learns about the past from Burke, and although he doesn’t know for sure, Burke guesses that the civilization he knew was destroyed by war. He explains to Dalton that he had no reason to kill his father, and goes on to explain that some humans are pacifists believing there is no reason to kill another. This agrees with Dalton’s feelings, but Barlow informs the young man that he will have an opportunity to bring honor back to his family by killing Virdon in the games.
While helping free Virdon, Dalton is captured and caged as well, so Tolar is finally convinced to help for the sake of his son. Tolar, Burke, and Galen release Virdon and Dalton from the cage but they are spotted by troopers. Tolar orders them to run just as Barlow and Jason come outside; Jason shoots Tolar, but the human is strong enough to attack the gorilla, and Jason is killed in the fight. Barlow rides out of the village and meets Dalton, telling him his father is dead and the games died with him. He returns the disk and Virdon, Burke and Galen move on, leaving a young man who believes he needs to make people understand that killing is wrong and must stop.
The Gladiators
Guest Cast: Norman Alden, John Milford, Ron Stein, Eldon Burke
Written by Edward Lasko; Directed by Arnold Laven
While running from the apes, Galen, Virdon and Burke take refuge in a friendly human village. Their hosts tell them about an ancient city, and Virdon wants to investigate, believing they might find technology to help them. Burke is concerned about recurring earthquakes in the area, but they decide that they can’t pass up the chance to check the city out.
Urko and three gorilla troopers discover their direction and find them in the city. Trying to evade capture, the trio split up; Urko manages to get a rope on Burke just as an earthquake starts. While Galen watches from his hiding place, the street collapses, Urko and Burke disappear into the hole, and a building wall crumples, completely covering the area. Galen reports to Virdon that Burke is dead, but when he hears Galen describe what happened, he isn’t so sure. With three troopers still searching for them, Galen and Virdon inspect the area.
Burke and Urko have fallen into the remains of a subway. Upon regaining consciousness, Urko’s first priority is to kill Burke, but Burke is aware that they must try to get out before they suffocate. After some fancy talking, Burke finally gets Urko to agree, and they begin building a ladder out of rubbish.
Above, Virdon and Galen face the awesome task of convincing the gorilla troopers that Burke and Urko are alive and obtaining their cooperation in a rescue. Tapping Morse Code on a metal beam, Virdon and Burke are able to communicate, then Virdon cuts a deal with the reluctant trooper: Virdon will help them get their commander out alive if they can go free. Loyal to Urko, the trooper agrees, and Virdon begins preparations to use the horses and a block and tackle to lift the rubbish covering the hole.
Below, unknown to Burke, Urko finds a poster of an ape on exhibit at a zoo. Fearing this truth from the past, Urko rips down the poster and hides it in his glove, then also conceals a sharp piece of metal. When rescue finally comes from above, Urko plans to kill Burke and leave alone, but Burke survives the attack and gets Urko, then himself out with help from Virdon, Galen and the troopers.
The Trap
The Good Seeds
Guest Cast: Geoffrey Deuel, Lonny Chapman, Jacqueline Scott, Bobby Porter
Written by Robert W. Lenski; Directed by Don Weiss
With gorilla troopers following, Galen falls in the woods and breaks his leg. Virdon and Burke carry him to an ape farm and ask for help. Although hesitant, the farmer agrees in exchange for their labor. But a cow is close to calving; and the farmer’s oldest son is in charge of the cow waiting for a calf so he can start his own farm.
Unfortunately, humans are a curse to cows, and he insists that Virdon and Burke leave. Further, local gorillas are searching for escaped, bonded human slaves. Although work by Virdon and Burke improves the farm, they are blamed when the cow becomes sick. Virdon, who was raised on a farm, knows that the cow is suffering because the calf needs to be turned. He tries to assist in the birth, delivering twin calves. Urko arrives, but the thankful farmer’s son convinces him that there are no humans in the area and saves the fugitives’ lives.
The Legacy
Guest Cast: Jon Lormer, Robert Phillips, Wayne Foster, Jackie Earl Haley
Written by Robert Hamner; Directed by Bernard McEveety
Exhausted from traveling, the three fugitives enter the remains of a large city and discover a think tank among the ruins. Behind a well-fortified door, they find a device that projects the image of a scientist. This scientist reveals that, knowing human civilization is on the verge of destruction, they have collected all human knowledge and stored it in secret places around the world. The machine breaks down before the scientist reveals the location of the secret cache in this city, so Virdon, Burke and Galen search the rubble for materials to make a battery.
During their search, gorilla troopers take an interest in the three, so they split up. Virdon makes it clear to the others that the priority is getting the machine to work and finding the vault of human knowledge. The gorillas chase them; Burke and Galen are able to hide, but Virdon injures his leg and must hide under a stairwell where an indigent human woman has made her home. A human boy sees this and, to get food, he tells the troopers, who capture both Virdon and the woman.
Urko and Zaius arrive, and while Urko interrogates Virdon with an unsatisfactory beating, Zaius is devising a plan. Knowing human feelings toward their families and knowing that Virdon had a family in the past, he locks Virdon up with the captured human woman and the boy hoping that he will come to see them as his family and tell the boy the whereabouts of Burke and Galen. Virdon does take on a parental role for the boy and tells him about the place they found, and the boy does tell the apes, but Burke and Galen have already repaired the machine, found out where the vault of information is located, and covered the safe up again with rubbish. The boy admits to Virdon that he told the apes, then with his help they all escape and use the sewer system to arrive at the building just as Zaius, Urko and troopers uncover the machine. They learn that the vault containing some of this human knowledge is located in a train station on the edge of town.
Because they are on foot, Virdon, the boy and the woman arrive just ahead of the apes. Burke and Galen have just entered the vault to find an amazing store of computers and technical information. Although it is wealth beyond measure, they must leave, slipping out just as the apes arrive.
Once inside, Zaius realizes what they have found and orders the whole structure burned to the ground.
Safe from the apes for a moment, the fugitives take the woman and the boy to a family farm where they can live a better life than scavenging in the city. Despite his feelings for the woman, Virdon must say good-bye to them and travel on with his companions.
Tomorrow's Tide
Guest Cast: Roscoe Lee Browne, Jim Storm, Kathleen Bracken, John McLiam
Written by Robert W. Lenski; Directed by Don McDougall
While walking along the beach, the fugitives see someone floating on a raft in the ocean; Virdon and Burke rescue the man and they all take refuge in a cave. They learn that this old man was set adrift according to "the will of the gods" and that he has a permanent bracelet that identifies him as a member of a fishing labor village.
Leaving Galen to watch over the old man, Virdon and Burke investigate the area hoping to find his family. They are discovered by a gorilla trooper and brought before the prefect who would have them killed for stealing fish except that they convince him that they are really excellent fishermen.
Because of increased quotas from the inland fertilizer producers and the inequity of replacing strong humans with discarded older ones, the prefect agrees to test them. The test is to survive swimming under a sheet of flame, and, despite some anxiety, both astronauts perform above expectations.
Galen, worried that his friends have been gone for a whole day, arrives at the village and claims that Virdon and Burke are his property; they have apparently lied to the prefect. Unfortunately, the charge of lying is settled by "the gods" - the sharks that infest the fishing areass on the coast. Virdon and Burke are sent into the sea and, with the help of a knife Galen has smuggled to them, manage to kill a shark, amazing everyone. Now the prefect is motivated to keep these potential new and high producers, and he conspires to keep the humans.
Meanwhile, a young woman approaches them and tells them that she is the old man’s daughter; Galen takes her to her father. In an effort to offer a more productive fishing alternative to spearing, Virdon and Burke build a net which will allow even the old and infirm to participate in the fishing. While demonstrating this new device, Virdon, Burke and Galen escape on a raft.
The Surgeon
Guest Cast: Jacqueline Scott, Martin E. Brooks, Michael Strong
Written by Barry Oringer; Directed by Arnold Laven
Gorillas have found the fugitives in the woods and fire on them, wounding Virdon. They escape to a cave, but the only help for Virdon is an ape hospital just outside Central City.
Luckily, Galen was once engaged to a surgeon there, Dr. Kira, and he knows her to be a compassionate, ethical medical professional. She agrees, grudgingly, to help them and Galen arrives, disguised as a provincial doctor, with Virdon and Burke as his assistants. As Virdon’s condition deteriorates, Dr. Kira can not find any surgical references for surgery. But Galen knows of a book on human anatomy, written by a human, in Zaius’ home.
Galen and Burke steal the book, setting off suspicion in Urko’s mind. Despite the book, which Kira isn’t entirely sure is truthful, she is reluctant to operate because Virdon will certainly suffer massive blood loss and their experiments with blood transfer in the past were unsuccessful. Burke explains that past failures were probably due to incompatibility, and they test the local humans.
Unfortunately, Virdon’s blood type is rare enough that only one human is a possible match - a young woman who has been declared a non-person by her family because her blood "killed" her brother. Burke convinces her to help them and surgery begins. Despite some problems, surgery is successful; just as they finish, Urko arrives but he is convinced to search elsewhere to avoid "the plague."
The Deception
Guest Cast: John Milford, Jane Actman, Baynes Barron, Pat Renella
Written by Anthony Lawrence; Directed by Don McDougall
Fauna’s father has been murdered by humans; in retaliation, hooded apes known as the Dragoons begin killing humans at random despite the disapproval of the local garrison gorilla commander. Virdon, Burke and Galen decide to help stop the Dragoons, and they approach Fauna to see if she can help identify the humans who killed her father. They quickly discover that Fauna is blind, and she vehemently hates humans, so they purposely lead her to believe that Virdon and Burke are apes as well.
Galen infiltrates the Dragoon to locate their leader and, despite his successful initiation into the Dragoons, he learns from Fauna that she has fallen in love with Burke. Even thought it hurts Fauna badly, Burke tells her that there is no future for them and he must leave. They lead the garrison commander to the Dragoons, but Fauna wanders to the coast and falls into the water. Burke and Virdon rescue her, but she realizes that Burke is a human and she immediately hates him despite the fact that he risked his life to save her. During this confrontation, the truth surfaces about the death of her father; he was not killed by humans but was befriending them to the dismay of his friends. He was killed accidentally by the Dragoons’ leader, an ape.
The Horse Race
Guest Cast: John Hoyt, Henry Levin, Wesley Fuller, Richard Devon, Morgan Woodward
Written by David P. Lewid and Booker Bradshaw; Directed by Jack Starrett
Galen, Virdon and Burke have taken refuge with a human blacksmith and his son; they hide in the barn when gorillas bring Urko’s racing horse to be shod. Galen is stung by a tiger scorpion and will die without the antidote. Even though riding is a death sentence for a human, the son uses Urko’s horse to ride to the clinic; he returns in time with the antidote, but he was seen and shot at by gorillas who come and take him away to make an example of him.
It turns out that the local prefect is an old friend of Galen’s, a sympathetic chimpanzee who would much rather return to his pleasant home territory. Unfortunately he can not help them because of the upcoming, mandatory race against Urko’s horse that places everything he owns at risk, and the son will be executed after the race as part of the festivities. He makes a deal with the fugitives - if Virdon breaks his race horse, rides in the race and wins, he will make a case for clemency for the blacksmith’s son. Virdon agrees, hoping to keep his identity secret from Urko, and the prefect receives permission for a human to ride in the race.
Although Urko thinks the idea is absurd, he orders his troopers to fix the track with booby traps to ensure that the human will lose. Despite those obstacles, Virdon wins the race, they free the blacksmith’s son, and disappear into the countryside. The prefect has won the race and keeps his promise, taking the blacksmith and his son with him back to his home.
The Interrogation
Guest Cast: Beverly Garland, Ann Seymour, Normann Burton
Written by Richard Collins; Directed by Alf Kjellin
Burke is captured by the apes and returned to Central City. The timing is ideal; a chimpanzee scientist has discovered a new interrogation technique, brainwashing, in an ancient book and is consulting with Zaius who wants to use Burke in an experiment to test the effectiveness of this process and gain information that might assist apes in the future. Although Urko disagrees with this needless complication, Burke is taken to a secret location and the scientist, Wanda, begins brainwashing measures.
Planning to rescue Burke, Virdon and Galen return to the city, successfully avoiding ape measures to capture them, and take refuge with Galen’s parents. They break into the prison, but Burke is not there.
Exhausted from lack of sleep, hungry and thirsty, Burke still resists the first level of brainwashing, so Wanda steps up her efforts, which he also resists, breaking down in "name, rank and serial number" mode. Frustrated and faced with failure, Wanda turns Burke over to Urko.
Virdon and Galen have discovered Burke’s secret location, but they arrive just as Burke is being transferred to a hospital. They assume correctly that Urko plans to perform a brain operation on Burke that will make him docile if he does not die in the process. Faced with impossible odds, they must rescue him, and it is Galen’s mother, Ann, who offers them the best plan. Using her cart and influence as the wife of a Council member, Ann smuggles Galen and Virdon into the hospital, and they escape with Burke only moments before the operation begins.
The Tyrant
Guest Cast: Percy Rodrigues, Joseph Ruskin, Michael Conrad, Gary Combs
Written by William Black; Directed by Ralph Senensky
The local gorilla District Chief Aboro, has been collecting far more than the required grain tax from local humans and selling the excess in secret for gold which is used to buy political favors in Central City. Virdon, Burke, and Galen are hiding in the barn when gorillas arrive at Janor’s farm. After troopers take the last of Janor’s grain, the three fugitives decide to steal it back. Against everyone’s judgment, Janor’s nephew joins them as they hijack the grain wagon and hide it in a cave.
Unfortunately, the nephew has been recognized, and when gorillas return to the farm they burn it, wound Janor and kill the nephew. When Virdon, Galen and Burke learn of this they decide to expose Aboro with the help of the local prefect who also happens to be Galen’s cousin. However, Aboro has just used his gold to buy the prefect’s position, so Galen poses as Octavio, Zaius’ crippled assistant, in a plan to betray Aboro to Urko, who is visiting his old friend. The plan quickly deteriorates as Aboro elects to assassinate Urko using a human.
In an effort to avoid this, Galen goes to Urko and tries to convince him that Aboro is a traitor. Although he does not believe, Urko does allow Burke to pose as the assassin. The plan backfires, and Virdon rescues Galen and Burke while Urko arrests Aboro for conduct unbecoming of an ape.
The Cure
Guest Cast: David Sheiner, Sondra Locke, George Wallace, Biff Elliot
Written by Edward J. Lasko; Directed by Alf Kjellin
To avoid the apes, the fugitives must move on, but this news is a crushing blow to their host’s daughter, Aimee, who has fallen in love with Virdon. Although Virdon tells her why he can not stay and can not love her in return, she does not understand and remains angry and hurt when they leave; hours later she finds her father sick in bed with a high fever.
That night, when they camp a few miles from the village, Galen scolds Virdon for his recklessness; since they are dependent on each other it is imperative that they do not tell anyone about themselves, a confidence that Virdon broke when he told Aimee about their link to the past.
The next morning, a running human tells them that a plague has broken out and the village is under quarantine, and after some disagreement Virdon convinces Burke and Galen to return to help. Afraid of the loss of property and production, the apes have quarantined the village and sent in an ape doctor to experiment with a cure.
When Burke and Virdon arrive, they realize that the plague is malaria and have just begun to organize efforts to fight the mosquito-born virus when the chimpanzee doctor arrives. Believing that the disease is transmitted by "human contact", he orders procedures that Burke and Virdon know are pointless, but the doctor finds their recommendations ludicrous and orders them shot. Only when a gorilla dies from the disease does the ape doctor take their knowledge seriously. At a loss,, but with his reputation at stake, the ape doctor represents Virdon and Burke’s information and recommendations as his own to the ape council, gaining time to effect a cure.
In the village, Burke and Virdon make preparations to drain the swamp and locate the appropriate tree bark to make medicine. Returning, they discover that Aimee, whose father has died, has taken ill, and another gorilla has contracted the disease as well. The ape doctor is barely able to convince the frightened council and the enraged Urko to give him 24 hours more to show progress before the whole village is burned.
Using their medicine, they treat the ill humans, aware that many factors could conspire against them to prevent a cure. During her delirium, Aimee tells the ape doctor enough for him to realize who Virdon and Burke are. As night falls, Virdon risks his life to treat the ill gorilla with the medicine. At daybreak, gorillas arrive to burn the village; Urko is determined to destroy everything until both the ill humans and his sick trooper recover because of the medicine. Later, the ape doctor allows the fugitives to leave to preserve his reputation and ego, and Virdon leaves despite the bond between him and Aimee.
The Liberator
Guest Cast: John Ireland, Ben Andrews, Peter Skinner, Jennifer Ashley
Written by Howard Dimsdale; Directed by Arnold Laven
Mounted gorilla troopers arrive in a human village and prepare to take custody of several humans. During the exchange, one man bursts free and runs into the forest, chased by troopers who have been ordered to hunt him down. While running, the human, Clim, is helped by Virdon, Burke and Galen, so the troopers return to the village empty-handed.
Another human has been chosen to go with the apes in his place, and when the gorillas leave, the head man orders several of the young hunters to locate and retrieve their escaped fellow. Clim tells the fugitives that the gorillas were hunting him for sport and they must return with him to his village where there will be feasting in their honor. But when Clim’s fellow villagers find them, the men virtually ignore Galen and take Virdon and Burke prisoner,. Despite Galen’s protest, the young man in charge, Miro, insists that he is within the law, and he orders Clim imprisoned as well and taken to "the temple." Galen learns that he must address the leader of the village, Brun, and follows Miro and the men to the temple where Brun is waiting for the captured Clim.
A solemn, respectful gathering of humans has collected outside the temple when they arrive. Clim is tied to a cart. A figure emerges from the temple, covered by a mask and pushes the cart into the temple. Still in full view of the villagers, the figure (Brun) prays over Clim and after a few moments, although no one has touched him, Clim dies.
Galen finds Virdon and Burke imprisoned in a cage just outside the village; he tells them what he witnessed, but all agree that the priority is to get Brun to release them to Galen. When Galen interviews Brun, the human leader tells him that gorillas used to raid the village for slaves to work in the mines. To avoid the resulting devastation, they struck a deal where five humans are provided to the apes twice each summer month. Hunters in the village seek out meadow people and other aliens to fill this quota; any deficiency is filled by villagers chosen at random through a lot system.
Since Galen does not have property papers for "his" humans, Virdon and Burke can be used to fulfill this obligation. Although Burke tries to seduce the young woman who brings them food, it is quickly apparent that she is in love with Miro, Burn’s son. Miro returns from a hunt with only one human; his woman has been chosen by lot to fill the vacancy and Brun will not make an exception.
After Miro is badly cut by one of the captives and Virdon saves his life, Miro agrees to release them if they take his woman with them. They agree and, with Galen, hide in the temple. They discover that Brun has been making and storing poisonous gas that he intends to use on the apes to free his people. Galen, upset by this idea, damages the processor causing an explosion that kills Brun.
Now that he is the leader, Miro decides to fight the apes rather than submit to enforced enslavement of his people.
Up Above the World So High
Guest Cast: Frank Aletter, Martin E. Brooks, Joanna Barnes, Ron Stein
Written by Arthur Browne, Jr.; Directed by John Meredyth Lucas
Galen sees a flying reptile which Virdon and Burke explain is a glider flown by a human. They watch as the glider crashes, then go to help the human, rescuing him just as troopers arrive. The remains of the glider are then taken to Central City where a female chimpanzee scientist, Carsia, convinces Zaius that she should learn all she can from this human about flight.
When she arrives in the local coastal village, gorillas imprison the human, interrupting the building of a new glider with Virdon and Burke’s help. Carsia gives the human materials to build a new flying machine.
To help the human, Galen poses as a sympathetic scientist and quickly becomes involved with Carsia. Aware that the craft Lurik is building won’t fly, Galen "accidentally" destroys the glider he is building, then offers the services of his own servants so that Virdon and Burke can smuggle in a working glider. After all the materials are delivered, Virdon and Burke find fragmentation bombs; Galen learns that Carsia plans to use the glider to drop bombs on the High Council so that chimpanzees can assume power. To sabotage this plan, Galen, Virdon and Burke try to rescue Lurik, but Lurik is injured and Galen caught.
The next day, Galen manages to talk himself into taking the test flight of the glider with Lurik, crashing into the sea. Certain they are dead and believing the flight a failure, Carsia calls an end to the experiment, but Virdon and Burke have fished the downed pilots out of the water and they all sail off in a home-made raft.
