# Planet of the Apes: Visionaries

Planet of the Apes: Visionaries is a comic book based on the Rod Serling script for the first Planet of the Apes movie.

## Creation

Planet of the Apes: Visionaries was based on Rod Serling's unused movie script of the 1968 Planet of the Apes movie. This is the world you know from the acclaimed Planet of the Apes film series, but with key differences - Taylor is Thomas, and Ape City isn’t a crude, primitive grouping of huts; instead, it’s a bustling and urbane metropolis filled with cars and skyscrapers and a vibrant Ape culture. In a world where Apes wear modern clothes, drive modern cars and rule the late-night talk show scene, the arrival of one man will forever change how Apes – and Humans – view themselves.

## Publishing history

Dark Horse Comics had produced similar comics for Dan O'Bannon's original script for Alien and William Gibson's unproduced script for Alien 3 as part of the 20th Century Fox Uncovered line, which this comic was part of, from 2018 to 2020. Predator: The Original Screenplay was canceled mid-production due to the loss of the license.

## Plot

Human astronauts John Thomas, Paul LaFever and Dodge are in deep hibernation when their spaceship automatically lands on an unknown habitable planet after an interstellar flight. A fourth crew mate, a man named Stewart, has died to a malfunction of his pod. The survivors explore the planet on an all-terrain vehicle, traveling through a wasteland until they discover a jungle, where they find eerie scarecrow-like figures. They're forced to abandon the vehicle when it sinks into quicksand. At a beach, they find a primitive human tribe, then are attacked by a group of gorilla and orangutans in helicopters and jeeps.
Dodge dies and Thomas is injured and separated from Paul. Thomas awakens in a cell where other humans are kept and studied by chimpanzee scientists, including Dr. Zira. Thomas opens a wound and writes "I Can Speak" on the wall with his own blood, but a gorilla guard using a fire hose to punish a human wipes it away by accident.
Zira has a fascination with Thomas, though, and tells her superior, the orangutan Dr. Zaius about this, but he scoffs at the idea of human intelligence. Thomas escapes by hiding in a supply truck and finds himself in a modern ape city much like ones on Earth. He is recaptured.
Thomas steals a notebook and writes messages to Zira. Learning that there were others in his party, Zira takes Thomas to visit Paul, who has become incoherent and primitive after suffering a blow to the head. Zira presents her findings to a scientific assembly, but is met with skepticismm, especially, again from Zaius, who believes Thomas to be a well-trained human. He orders a lobotomy.
Zira rescues Thomas before this can and on the operating table she and Zaius witness Thomas' first spoken word to an ape, the former telling one to leave him alone. Later, as a celebrity, Thomas explains his history and says he wishes to return to Earth. Thomas is appalled to see Dodge being turned into a stuffed museum exhibit,. He learns that the Apes consider themselves evolved from humans. Thomas cracks this belief by befriending a female human, Nova, who he teaches in the manner of the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion.
At an archaeological excavation site near the radioactive zone, Thomas joins Zaius and Zira's fiancée Cornelius, who heads the expedition. They find skeletons, then a talking human doll and finally a fallout shelter.
At the dig site, Thomas wakes to the sound of explosions and finds the site leveled. Cornelius and Thomas plan to go back to the landing site of the spaceship. As they are about to board a helicopter, the pilot attempts to shoot Thomas but the latter escapes. Thomas learns that he has traveled in space for 2000 years and the spaceship can't take off. Zira has arranged for Nova to return to her own people. Thomas sets off on foot towards the jungle to join the wild humans.
Suddenly Zaius and gorilla military personnel catches up to Thomas, who runs his escape before stopping after seeing a gigantic object. Zira and Cornelius plead to Thomas to run, but he says he has nowhere to go. Zaius orders the gorillas to kill Thomas, then leaves. Zira and Cornelius ask why Thomas refused to flee, and as the apes leave the scene, it is revealed to be a destroyed Statue of Liberty.

## Reception

Geek.com praised the book, and so did the website FlickeringMyth.com.