Planet of the Apes

FADE IN:

1EXT. CONSTELLATION OF ORION - NIGHT

Stars glitter like diamonds on the black velvet backdrop of space.

The Belt of Orion is center screen, but much nearer and larger

than ever seen by an Earth-bound astronomer.

A speck of light appears in the lower left corner of the screen.

No spaceship can be seen, but only a glowworm, a solitary sperma-

tosoan gliding through the womb of the universe. Over this we HEAR

the voice of an astronaut. He is concluding a report.

ASTRONAUT'S VOICE

(o.s.)

So ends my last signal until we reach

our destination. We are now on automatic,

a mere hundred and five light years from

our base ... and at the mercy of com-

puters. I've tucked in my crew for the

long sleep. I'll join them presently.

2INT. CABIN OF SPACESHIP - ESTABLISHING SHOT - NIGHT

The cabin is neither cramped nor spacious, but about the size of the

President's cabin in Air Force One. In the immediate f.g. is a console

of dials and switches flanked by four chairs. Only one of the chairs

is occupied. The astronaut's back is to CAMERA. There is a ladder

amidships which leads to an escape hatch. The after Dart of the cabin

is obscured in darkness. We hear the MUSIC of a Mozart sonata emanating

from a phonograph of stereotape. The astronaut is speaking into a

microphone.

ASTRONAUT:

Within the hour we shall complete

the sixth month of our flight from

Cape Kennedy. By our time, that is ...

He pauses, looking up at:

3TWO LARGE CLOCKS - ON CABIN WALL

One clock is marked SELF TIME, but instead of twelve numerals it has

twenty-four. One of the needles is moving very slowly.

The other clock is labeled EARTH TIME, and its units, like those of a

tachometer, are given by hundreds and thousands.

The largest needle of this clock makes one revolution every second.

Over this we hear:

ASTRONAUT'S VOICE

(o.s.)

But according to Dr. Hasslein theory of

time in a vehicle traveling at close to

the speed of light, old Mother Earth has

aged a few thousand years since our de-

parture -- while we have scarcely aged

at all.

4CLOSE ON ASTRONAUT

This is TAYLOR. He wears simple dungarees (or Churchill suit) and

comfortable boots. He seems calm and pensive. Extracting the butt of

a cigar from the breast pocket of his dungarees, he lights it, then

continues:

TAYLOR:

It may be so. This much is probable: the

men who sent us on this journey have long

since been moldering in forgotten graves;

and those, if any, who read this message

are a different breed. Hopefully, a

better one.

He begins to roll up his left sleeve.

TAYLOR:

I leave the twentieth century without

regret. Who was it? Marshall? ... said

'Modern man is the missin 'a link between

the ape and the human being.'

He removes the cigar from his mouth, turns to look out through one

of the portholes into the astral night.

TAYLOR:

One final thought -- nothing scientific,

purely personal. Seen from up here,

everything looks different ... Time bends

and space is boundless. It squashes a

man's ego. He begins to feel like no more

than a mote in the eye of eternity. And

he is nagged by a question: ahat if any-

thing, will greet us on the end of man's

first journey to a star? Are we to believe

that throughout these thousands of galaxies,

these millions of stars, only one, that

speck of solar dust we call Earth, has

been graced -- or cursed -- by human life?

(pause)

I have to doubt it.

He extracts a hypodermic needle from his breast pocket and injects

it into the vein of his forearm. He continues speaking.

TAYLOR:

(sardonically)

That's about all. I wonder if Man, that

marvel of the universe, that glorious

paradox who has sent me to the unknown...

still makes war against his brother., and

lets his neighbor's children starve.

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