Planet of the Apes

1Escape from Tomorrow

Three astronauts crash-land on a strange planet, but only two survive. An old man pulls the two surviving but unconscious men out of the ship and into his secret cave. Later, the two astronauts discover two terrible truths. One is that they are now on a planet run by intelligent apes. Two is that this Planet of the Apes is the same planet they came from: Earth. They are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years into the future. Apes are now the dominant creatures of the planet; humans are inferior. This is the dogma clung to by such eminent apes as the orangutan, Zaius, and the violence-prone gorilla, Urko - but not by the free-thinking chimpanzee, Galen. Those who do cling to the dogma consider the two astronauts extremely dangerous.

2The Gladiators

3The Trap

When they are buried alive, underground, in an ancient San Francisco subway station during an earthquake, Burke and General Urko are forced to work together. Above ground, Galen and Verdon try to figure out a way to help Burke, with the assistance of several gorilla soldiers.

4The Good Seeds

When Galen hurts his leg and can't travel, Virdon and Burke seek refuge in a farm till their friend recovers. The farm is operated by a gruff but decent ape named Polar, his wife Zantes, and their three children: older son Anto, younger son Remus, and daughter Jillia. Polar puts to work the two strangers who teach him about contour farming, windmill building, seed selection, etc. Polar soon accepts these changes but Anto resents the strangers, fearing they will hex a cow about to give birth. (Until the cow delivers a bull calf, Anto can't start a farm of his own.) When Virdon helps deliver not one but two bull calves, Anto is won over and names the calves Virdon and Burke.

5The Legacy

6Tomorrow's Tide

While walking on an ocean beach with Galen, Virdon and Burke see a condemned man lashed to a raft in the water. They rescue him and carry him to a nearby cave but then an ape-on-patrol captures the two astronauts and takes them to his boss, Hurton. Hurton administers a fishing operation and he presses Virdon and Burke into service as fishermen after they pass a test by swimming under a sheet of flames. Trouble arises when Hurton's superior, Bandor, comes on an inspection tour, but the astronauts save the day by demonstrating how a net can catch more fish than spears. They credit this innovation to the once-condemned man, Gahto, who's then re-united with his daughter, Soma.

7The Surgeon

Galen risks his freedom, and life by contacting his old sweetheart, Kira, when Virdon is seriously injured. Kira is now a talented, and forward thinking, surgeon; and Galen shares with her a forbidden book on human anatomy, that he and Burke stole from Dr. Zaius' home, with her.

8The Deception

Galen, Verdon and Burke befriend, Fauna, the blind ape daughter of a human friendly ape who was killed by a murderous band of vigilante apes, calling themselves 'dragoons.' Unaware that Burke is human, Fauna falls in love with him, as Galen and Virdon hunt down the 'dragoons', only to discover that fauna's own uncle is one of them.

9The Horse Race

Virdon agrees to race a chimpanzee Prefect's horse against Urkos best horse, in exchange for a condemned boy's freedom. Urko has never lost a race, but of course, as Virdon finds out, Urko doesn't play fair. Despite Urko's treachery and cheating, Virdon prevails in the end.

10The Interrogation

When Burke is captured by Urko's soldiers, he is forced to face two equally horrifying options: he can either be killed, outright, by Urko or he can be used in a brainwashing experiment, being performed by a prominent ape doctor, using a forbidden (human) text on the subject. The scene in which Urko describes what he believes brainwashing is, is hilarious.

11The Tyrant

In an attempt to foil the plans of a tyrannical gorilla lieutenant, who is using bribery to replace the chimpanzee Prefect, and gain complete control over a human farming district; Galen, Virdon and Burke risk an encounter with Urke, forcing Urko and Burke to work together, once again (previously in The Trap - Air date: 9/27/74).

12The Cure

13The Liberator

Virdon and Burke's only hope for survival is to convince, with Galen's help, their human captors to rebel against the apes, with whom this tribe of humans turns their fellow humans over to as slaves. This episode was not aired during the series original run.

14Up Above the World So High

Unaware that a chimpanzee scientist plans to use the flying machine of an imprisoned man, whose life she spared, for her own deadly purpose; Virdon, Burke and Galen help the man to build a hang glider. This was the final episode of the series.