Escape from the Planet of the Apes Page #5

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I mean, he might kill his brother...

but he could not kill his dog.

So humans took primitive apes as pets.

Primitive and dumb...

but still 20 times more intelligent

than dogs or cats.

Hmm. Correct.

See, they were quartered in cages...

but they lived and moved freely

in human homes.

They became responsive

to human speech...

and, in the course

of less than two centuries...

they progressed

from performing mere tricks...

to performing services.

Nothing more or less than

a well-trained sheepdog could do.

Look, could a sheepdog cook

or clean the house...

or do the marketing for the groceries

with a list from its mistress...

or wait on tables?

Or, after three more centuries,

turn the tables on their owners?

How?

They-They became alert

to the concept of slavery.

Mmm. And as their numbers grew,

to slavery's antidote...

which, of course, is unity.

Well, at first, they began

assembling in small groups.

They learned the art

of corporate and militant action.

They learned to refuse.

Oh, at first, they just, uh,

grunted their refusal.

But then, on an historic day

which is commemorated by my species...

and fully documented

in the sacred scrolls

there came Aldo.

He did not grunt.

He articulated.

He spoke a word

which had been spoken to him...

oh, time without number by humans.

He said...

"No. "

So that's how it all started.

Clip one, please.

Where we come from, apes talk.

Humans are dumb.

You recognize your husband's words

to the commission?

Yes.

So humans were dumb.

Were they happy? Clip two.

As to humans, I've dissect

I- I've examined thousands of them.

And until now, I've only discovered

two who could talk in my life.

Why did you change words

in the middle of the sentence?

Repeat first three seconds of clip two.

As to humans, I've dissect I've examined

- What was the word you didn't finish?

- I-I can't remember.

- Play the loop.

- ... dissect... dissect- ... dissect

- Complete the word, monkey.

- Look, I have told you

- Complete the word!

- ... dissect... dissect... dissect-

...dissect... dissect- ... dissect

Sounds as if I had hiccups.

Call for Dr. Dixon, please.

Dr. Dixon.

Dr. Hasslein calling Dr. Dixon.

Calling Dr. Dixon.

Ah, Dr. Dixon. Come in.

- Be good enough to administer this to the female.

- Why? What is it?

Sodium Pentothal. One-half gram, I.V.

- Dr. Hasslein, I'm an animal psychiatrist.

- And a qualified vet, Dr. Dixon.

You have the commission's authority.

And that of the president. Please.

Zira, I've been asked to give you

an injection that's going to put you

You can't use that!

We only use those things for killing.

- Killing?

- No, this is not for killing, Cornelius.

This is for relaxing.

It won't harm her.

- Will it harm my baby?

- No. No, it won't.

So, Zira, if you would

just come with me, please.

- Lewis, you can't use that on Zira!

- I promise you, Cornelius-

- Please, take him to his quarters!

- Really.

Lewis, you No, you mustn't!

You

Zira. Zira.

Please.

Just lie down on the couch.

And bare your arm, please.

You don't have to tell me.

This has the same effect

as grape juice plus.

Now count backward from 10.

Ten, nine, eight, seven...

six, five, four

What comes after four?

Two.

- Thank you, Dr. Dixon.

- It's customary to stay.

- Zira.

- Mmm.

You worked in a room

like this.

Mmm.

Bigger. Not so pretty.

And there you practiced

Comparative

Comparative what?

- An-An-An

- Anatomy?

Whose anatomies did you compare?

Apes and humans?

Zira, say "yes" if you mean yes.

Yes.

So you dissected other apes?

Ye-Yes.

When-When they died a natural death.

- And humans, too, of course.

- Yes.

- As they were made available.

- Available?

Gorillas hunted them for sport...

with nets and with guns.

The survivors were put in cages.

The army used some of them

for-for target practice.

We could take

our scientific pick of the rest.

And in the interest of science...

you dissected, removed,

and statistically compared

Bones, muscles, tendons.

And veins, arteries,

kidneys, livers, hearts.

Stomachs, reproductive organs.

Nails, tongues, eyes.

Noses, nervous systems,

the various reflexes.

Reflexes? Of Of the dead?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Of the living.

You can't make

a dead man's knee jump...

any more than you can test a corpse's

reaction to a prefrontal lobotomy.

You mean you were advanced enough...

to perform experimental brain surgery

on living humans?

Oh, yes.

We even tried to stimulate

their atrophied speech centers.

Did you try to stimulate

Colonel Taylor's speech centers?

Of course not.

He could talk already.

When you left,

was ColoneI Taylor still alive?

We-We loved Taylor.

We did all we could to help him...

Cornelius and I.

Cornelius?

She should have a nap now.

She'll get it.

Orderly.

- Sir?

- Please take the female ape to its quarters.

Yes, sir.

We have to get this

to the commission immediately.

Gentlemen, gentlemen.

I've just received an official notification

from the president...

ratifying the final recommendations

made by this commission...

in light of the tape recordings

delivered to us by Dr. Hasslein.

Now, if you'll just be seated,

we'll get right down to business.

Now, let me review

our conclusions.

By a majority vote,

the commission finds no solid evidence...

"for hostility by either ape

towards the human race...

as is presently constituted

in this Year of our Lord, 1973."

Mr. Chairman! I disagree

Let me remind you

that this was by a majority vote.

"The male's attitude is that of a deeply

interested and well-disposed academician...

"who studied the alleged future

downfall of the human race...

"with the true objectivity

of a good historian.

"The female's case is different...

"in that she undoubtedly committed

actions against the human race...

"of a sort which,

if they were to be committed today...

"would be called atrocities.

"But would they be so called

in 2,000 years' time...

"when it is alleged that humans

will have become dumb brutes...

"with the restricted intelligence

of animals?

"It has been pointed out that

what apes will do to humans...

"is no more than what humans

are now doing to beasts.

"Nonetheless, the commission

is sympathetic to Dr. Hasslein's conviction...

"that the progeny of these apes

could, in centuries to come...

"prove an increasing threat

to the human race...

"and conceivably end by dominating it.

"This is a risk we dare not ignore.

"Therefore, the commission

unanimously recommends...

"that the birth of the female ape's

unborn child should be prevented.

"And that after its prenatal removaI...

"both the male and the female...

should humanely be rendered

incapable of bearing another. "

I now declare this commission dissolved.

Savages!

They are savages!

Jabbing needles into my pregnant wife.

I've done that, too, dear, and worse.

Taylor thought we were savages at first.

Did they make you tell them

about Taylor too?

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