George Taylor

"Seen from out here... everything seems different. Time bends. Space is boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely. That's about it. Tell me, though...

Does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbor's children starving?"

- Taylor

George Taylor was an astronaut from twentieth century Earth. A cynical misfit who was happy to leave his life behind forever in the belief that he could find something more humane and civilized in another place or another time, yet even he seemed shocked to discover what mankind had done to itself. He was captured and treated as an animal, first by talking apes, and then by mutated humans. He was ultimately shot by ape soldiers, and with his final breath set off the Alpha-Omega Bomb, destroying the world.

Growing Up
Taylor was born some time in the late 1920s or early 30s. Very little is known of Taylor's youth aside from the fact that he attended Jefferson Public School in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Adulthood
Taylor was a graduate of West Point in 1941. he then went to be an "Ace fighter pilot" in World War II and the Korean War. He eventually became the first candidate of ANSA's astronaut corps. As an adult, Taylor grew embittered with the world around him. He despised his fellow man and felt that they were capable of little more than waging war against one another. This inborn cynicism may have influenced his decision to join the ANSA program.

Space Voyage
As a scientist and astronaut, Taylor achieved the rank of Colonel and was placed in charge of a special mission aboard the exploratory vessel, the Liberty 1. It was his hope that the universe contained life on other planets – life that was superior to that found on Earth.

Launching from Cape Kennedy in January 1972, Taylor's crew, which consisted of fellow astronauts, Dodge, Stewart and Landon, travelled into the reaches of deep space. Their mission was the first to explore another star. Six months into their mission, the crew placed themselves into a state of suspended animation. Taylor administered a special drug to keep them sedated and then confined them all to special stasis pods aboard the ship.

Stranded
While the crew slept, the vessel was propelled two-thousand years into the future, confirming Dr. Hasslein's theory of time in a vehicle travelling near the speed of light. The vessel crash-landed in a lake back on Earth, somewhere near the ruins of old New York City. An emergency alert klaxon activated, and Taylor, Dodge and Landon revived. Stewart however, had died during the journey due to an unforeseen air leak. While Dodge and Landon grabbed emergency supplies and evacuated the sinking ship, Taylor looked at the time readout on the ship's log. The year was 3978.

The three men leapt into an inflatable raft and paddled to the shoreline. All of them believed that they had actually landed on some far away world. Even Taylor hadn't begun to guess that they had really returned to Earth. Landon and Taylor exchanged a few terse words with one another while Dodge tested the soil. Taylor felt that Landon was an ambitious idealist, and laughed heartily as he watched his fellow astronaut place a small American flag into the arid soil.

Capture
Before long, all three of them found vegetation and a tribe of primitive savage humans. Taylor was the first to notice that the furtive natives were mute. They attempted to mingle with the humans and managed to forage some fruit and corn, Taylor remarked "Look on the bright side, if this is the best they've got we'll be running this planet in six months". However, within minutes a shrill horn bleated across the field.

To his horror, Taylor noticed a squad of armed horseback riding gorillas thundering across the plane. Everyone ran for cover, but the gorilla hunters quickly overtook them. Dodge was shot and killed while Landon was rendered unconscious and captured. Taylor tried to flee the hunter's nets, but a gorilla soldier fired a rifle shot at him, which tore across his throat. Taylor fell backwards off of a small cliff into a pool of water.

As the hunt concluded, the gorillas gathered up the surviving humans and brought them back to their settlement at Ape City. Taylor was brought to the Animal Hospital run by the Ministry of Science for his wounds to be treated.

Ape's Guinea Pig
"Taylor: How did this upside down civilization get started any how? Dr. Zaius: You may as well call it upside down because you occupy its lowest level and deservedly so."

- Taylor and Zaius

Animal psychologist Doctor Zira and veterinarian Doctor Galen dressed his wound, but as a result of his wound it would be some time before Taylor would be able to speak again. This came as no great surprise to his captors, as humans were incapable of articulating in this future time era. Zira placed Taylor in a cage under the watchful eye of a gorilla keeper named Julius. At this time, Taylor met another surviving captive of the hunt – an attractive dark-haired female whom he named Nova.

Zira took particular interest in Taylor and even provided him with the nickname "Bright Eyes". Later on, Zira fascinated with her test subject addressed her findings to the Science Minister Doctor Zaius. Zaius dismissed her claims that Taylor was a human gifted with an ape's intelligence, and had both Nova and he relocated to the stockade. Once there, Taylor attempted to prove his identity. He scrawled his name on the dirt floor of the stockade, but Nova tried to erase his writing and another mute prisoner disrupted him, resulting in a small scuffle. The fight was broken up by an ape soldier who used a torch to scare the mute human away however, Taylor was unafraid and tried to attack the soldier but suffered a burn to the shoulder. Zira then had Taylor taken back to his cell while Zaius took note of Taylor's writing and quickly erased the words before anyone else could see them.

Once in his cage, Zira apologized to Taylor for his injury while still calling him "Bright Eyes", Taylor tried to communicate with her, but his throat injury prevented him from articulating. Frustrated, he reached through the bars of his cage, grabbing Zira while taking her notebook and pencil. Julius repelled him with his truncheon, but when Zira recovered the notepad, she found the words "My name is Taylor" written across it.

After sending Julius away, Zira dropped her nickname and referred to Taylor by his name. She brought the human to her private study. She contacted her fiancée, the archaeologist Cornelius and told him what had occurred. Initially, Cornelius felt that Taylor merely had a knack for mimicry, but within moments he proved his intellect beyond a shadow of a doubt. During their little session he told them of his origins and his journey to their "planet." He eventually told them of his comrades Dodge and Landon, he stated that while Dodge was dead because of the hunt, he asked them what happened to Landon only for the apes to say they didn't know.

Escape
Before long however, Taylor escaped from his prison confinement due to learning the apes plan to have him gelded. He attacked Julius and raced through the Ape City, desperate to evade capture from the gorilla militia. Taking a short-cut through a natural science museum, he found to his horror the remains of his colleague, Dodge, stuffed and encased in a display case. A posse of soldiers waylaid him at a bridge, scooping Taylor up into one of their hunting nets. By this point, Taylor's throat had healed enough for him to finally speak again and he violently voiced his admonition saying "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" which greatly shocked the apes.

The revelation of a talking human sent shock-waves throughout the ape settlement. Officials brought him back to the Animal Hospital where he was caged and looked upon as a biological oddity. Doctor Zira, thrilled with the idea of a talking human, did her best to shield Taylor from further abuse, but she was unable to prevent the jailer, Julius, from punishing the Earth man at every given turn. Julius took great delight in pummelling Taylor with water from a fire hose, declaring him a "Freak". These events prompted Taylor to shout "It's a Madhouse! A Madhouse!"

Doctor Zaius decided to hold an official inquest in order to determine Taylor's future. The science ministry, consisting of the President of the Assembly, Doctor Maximus, and the prosecutor, Doctor Honorius interrogated Taylor at length, pressing him for the truth behind his origins. Doctor Zira and Cornelius were permitted to speak on Taylor's behalf, but were unable to satisfy the prejudicial orangutan panel. The assembly listened to what they said before mentioning that Taylor spoke of having other talking humans as comrades and while one was dead, the other was in the city. They gathered all the surviving humans and among them, Taylor spotted his lost comrade Landon. Taylor went up to embrace his friend only to discover to his great horror that the apes have lobotomised him. Asking Zira if she had anything to do with this, he was told she had no part in it causing him to determine that Zaius was responsible and prepared to attack the doctor but was held back. Brought back to the courthouse, the assembly concluded that Taylor was a mutant, and that he was to be gelded, experimented upon and ultimately executed. Moments after the tribunal commenced, Doctor Zaius brought Taylor into his private office. He confessed to the truth of ordering Landon's lobotomy and an awareness of mankind’s origins and dreaded the day that he might one day return. The doctor asked Taylor to tell him where he really hails from and where is his tribe located so they won't affect the peace and stability of the ape culture only for Taylor to rebuke the doctor was afraid of him and his ways.

Meanwhile, Doctor Zira, aware of what was to become of Taylor contacted her young nephew, Lucius. Lucius went to the Animal Hospital late at night and assisted Taylor in disabling the keeper, Julius. Free from his cell once again, Taylor insisted that Nova was to come with them. Lucius was apprehensive, but ultimately acquiesced.

The three fled the city and traveled East towards an area known as the Forbidden Zone. There, they met up with Cornelius and Zira who supplied him with a fresh horse, a gun and supplies. They took momentary shelter in a cave at Cornelius' archaeological dig.

Doctor Zaius and a gorilla cavalry quickly tracked them down with orders to kill Taylor on sight. He also declared that Cornelius and Zira were to be charged with scientific heresy. Zaius entered the cavern where Cornelius showed him evidence that human beings once ruled this world – a fact that repudiated nearly every religious tenet set forth within the Sacred Scrolls (the ape equivalent to a Christian Bible).

Taylor decided that it was now time to put this topsy-turvy society behind him. He tied Doctor Zaius to a rock, while Lucius kept the gorilla soldiers at bay with a rifle. Saying goodbye to Zira,Cornelius and Lucius, he rode off with Nova in search of his destiny.

Taylor and Nova rode along the shoreline for several miles, trekking deeper into the regions along the perimeter of the Forbidden Zone. Taylor found the half-buried ruins of the Statue of Liberty and realized that he had been on Earth this entire time. Overwhelmed with shock and anger, he theorized that the people of his own time must have destroyed the world through nuclear Armageddon. With no hope of ever returning to the world he knew, George Taylor, who once despised his fellow human beings, was now the custodian of the human race.

It was his intention to establish a new life for himself with Nova. Taylor even tried to teach Nova how to speak. During this time, Nova became pregnant with Taylor’s child (see also 'Notes' below).

Beneath the Planet of the Apes
As time passed, Taylor and Nova journeyed deeper into the Forbidden Zone. The Forbidden Zone was a grey wasteland of ash and debris – the skeletal remains of what was once New York City. Little did Taylor realize however, was that the Zone was also occupied by a subspecies of telepathic human mutants. Using their mental powers of illusion, they captured Taylor and held him prisoner. Nova managed to escape and rode Taylor’s horse back towards Ape City.

She eventually encountered another time-lost astronaut from Taylor's era – John Brent. Brent learned that Nova knew of Taylor and eventually found his way into the Forbidden Zone. The commune of mutants captured Brent and placed him within the same prison cell as Taylor. A mutant jailer used his telepathic powers to force Taylor and Brent to fight one another. Nova managed to inadvertently distract the guard, and Taylor and Brent escaped.

At this time, ape military leader General Ursus learned of the existence of the mutants, and convinced Doctor Zaius to invade the Forbidden Zone. The gorilla soldiers raided the mutants' church (in the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral), killing scores of mutants, as well as Nova.

Taylor and Brent found the worship hall where the mutants possessed a Doomsday device called the Alpha-Omega Bomb. They engaged in a gun battle with the gorilla soldiers, but were both struck down by return fire. Bleeding from a mortal gunshot wound, Taylor stumbled towards the altar where he encountered Zaius. He pleaded with Zaius to help him, who in turn merely scoffed, declaring that mankind was capable of nothing but destruction. Taylor's last words were "It's doomsday, doomsday!" With that Taylor died, his body slumped upon the launch controls of the Alpha-Omega Bomb, detonating the weapon and destroying the entire planet.

Taylor reappeared in the comic and novel adaptations of the first two movies and he was referenced in the Planet of the Apes GameBoy, where the introduction tells us that astronaut "Ben" has been sent to rescue him.

In the Comics
Taylor made his BOOM! Studios comic début in the inter-franchise crossover Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive. Taylor and Nova are still near the wrecked Statue of Liberty when Kirk and a few members of his crew encounter them. At first, Taylor believed Kirk to be another one of Zaius' apes, but he quickly realizes that Kirk is human. He was beyond relieved that he has found more humans that can speak like him. In fact, Taylor wondered if they came from the past just like him to find him. Taylor was adamant in wanting Kirk to help him overthrow the apes people and make humans the dominant species again. Kirk's constant reluctance to do so made Taylor angry, because Kirk would not help the humans on his Earth. Taylor went on to tell Kirk that human beings are nothing more than wild beasts to the apes.

Taylor tells Kirk about his two friends Cornelius and Zira, who helped him escape the Ape City. They were in fact still at the same excavation sight where Cornelius learned that humans were once the dominant species instead of apes. Taylor told Kirk to follow them there but by horseback it would take close to a day. So, Kirk simply told his engineer Mr. Scott to beam them there. While there, Taylor points out his two friends for Kirk, yet they are not alone. Surrounded by gorilla soldiers, Kirk tells Scotty to use the Enterprise's phasers to emit a low level stun setting on the surface of the planet. Taylor and Kirk's crew gather up Zira and Cornelius, then head for a clearing. Taylor once again demands that Kirk help him overthrow the apes' rule, but Kirk refuses. He explains that they are forbidden to interfere in the development of any culture due to the Prime Directive.

So while no one watched, Taylor used a choke hold on Chekov and stole his communicator. While impersonating Kirk, Taylor beamed himself to the Enterprise where the transporter technician Mr. Kyle was waiting. Taylor knocked out Kyle, then stole his clothes so he could freely move about the ship. Kirk and Spock find Chekov and deduce that Taylor has beamed himself on board the Enterprise. Kirk and Spock beam themselves back too and Kirk and Spock find Taylor in a shuttle bay. Taylor wanted to steal one of the Enterprise's shuttles so he could use its weapons to kill all the apes. Kirk tried to be diplomatic, but Taylor would not listen and they end up in a physical confrontation. Kirk finally manages to stop Taylor by telling him that simply killing the apes would lower himself to their level.

Kirk even wanted to know the reason for Taylor's expedition and it was for him to find a new life on another world, to find something better than man. Kirk got through to Taylor and they decide to ally themselves against the combined might of Kor and Marius. With some advice from Taylor, Kirk along with Spock, Scotty and some red shirts, they beam back down in new clothes to not arouse suspicion. The combined team find a gorilla base that has housed several Klingon weapons for the gorillas. In fact some gorilla soldiers do appear and a severe fight breaks out but Taylor and Kirk prevail. It's learned that the gorilla forces led by Marius make way to Ape City, so they have to move quick to prevent a war between ape kind. The combined might of Taylor, Kirk's crew and even Cornelius is just enough to stop Kor's mad plan.

With their defeat, Kirk offered for Taylor to come with them back to their universe, but Taylor declines. He wants to find a new life for him on the Planet of the Apes with Nova at his side. So then Taylor and Nova are beamed back to where Kirk first found him and then Kirk and Taylor go their separate ways.

Trivia

 * The character of George Taylor was played by actor Charlton Heston. Marlon Brando was originally considered as a possibility for the role. Before Heston signed to play the astronaut hero, John Wayne was among those considered by the producers, who ultimately decided he was too much identified with Westerns.


 * Heston, Oscar-winning star of Ben-Hur and El Cid, committed to the film within an hour of hearing the pitch, on 5 June 1965. He identified with the role of Taylor: "As much as any character I have ever played, Taylor reflects my own views about mankind. I have infinite faith and admiration for the extraordinary individual man - the Gandhi, the Christ, the Caesar, the Michelangelo, the Shakespeare - but very limited expectations for man as a species. And that, of course, was Taylor's view. And the irony of a man so misanthropic that he almost welcomes the chance to escape entirely from the world finding himself then cast in a situation where he is spokesman for his whole species and forced to defend their qualities and abilities - it was a very appealing thing to act."


 * In pre-production, Taylor's original name was going to be John (or Johnny) Thomas. Charlton Heston appeared as this character in the 1966 Screen Test, alongside Edward G. Robinson as Zaius, and with James Brolin as Cornelius and Linda Harrison as Zira. The name was only changed as filming approached - a Michael Wilson script dated 5 May 1967 contained the name 'Thomas', with only revisions made in June changing the name to 'Taylor'. Indeed, the 'Production Information Guide' published on 29 January 1968 to promote the upcoming movie mistakenly used the name 'Thomas' in it's synopsis. 'John Thomas' is a British euphemism for a penis, which may have contributed to the name-change.


 * Thomas in turn was based on/inspired by Ulysse Mérou, the protagonist of Pierre Boulle's original novel, La Planète des singes. Taylor's fate remained largely unchanged, except that in the original book he is a journalist accompanying the mission, rather than its leader, and he ultimately escapes back to Earth from an alien ape planet. He discovers that Earth has meantime been taken over by apes too. Like Professor Antelle, he's cynical towards mankind.


 * Johnny Thomas' crew in the earliest scripts (1964) written by Rod Serling were 'Paul LaFever', 'Dodge' and the deceased 'Blake'. Serling's script treatment for an 'Apes' TV show followed on somewhat from these scripts, with two astronauts sent to rescue Taylor's crew which included (another) 'Thomas', 'LaFever' and 'Bengsten', who are all found to have died and been buried, along with 'Zira'.


 * Taylor is not to be confused with George Taylor, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.


 * Associate producer Mort Abrahams felt Charlton Heston's self-invented "God damn you all to hell", as opposed to the script's "My God" might result in the film being classified as unsuitable for children, but was overruled.


 * Originally, the studio heads at 20th Century Fox wanted actor Charlton Heston to return as the starring role in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Heston didn't want to commit to a sequel, but agreed to make a brief appearance so long as his character was killed off early in the film. After several script drafts, it was decided that Taylor's character would function as a framing sequence for the second film. He appeared briefly in the beginning of the movie, where he falls into the Mutant trap, and returns towards the end of the film for the movie's climax. Heston: "Fox is now willing to accept my proposal to do a brief transition bit for them in their new version of APES. I don't think it's a good idea, but of course I'll carry out my promise to them. I pointed out to Dick Zanuck that, while I sympathized with him from a corporate point of view, as an actor there was really no sequel possible. The only story you could tell had been told; anything further would just be adventures among the monkeys. While this might well be profitable, there was nothing new to act in it. Still, as Dick said, they couldn't really undertake a sequel if I weren't in it at all. Moved by this wistful observation, I offered to appear in the opening sequence, if they'd then kill me off." Heston donated his salary from Beneath the Planet of the Apes to charity. The original storyline for Taylor was later adapted for the character of John Brent.


 * It was Heston's idea for his character to destroy the Earth at the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes. He believed that by destroying the entire planet, it would stave off future sequels. Heston: "They asked me to simply disappear in the opening sequence, and be killed off in the end. I agreed, thinking I could end the whole thing with a death that included the end of the world. I sold them on this, but they were cleverer than I; they still made several sequels, though without me." Originally, the Taylor character was to intentionally detonate the Alpha-Omega Bomb, but the script was slightly altered so that Taylor instead sets the bomb off accidentally.


 * DC Comics also created a character named George Taylor, but this earlier version has nothing in common with the character from Planet of the Apes. The DC Taylor was the editor of a metropolitan newspaper called The Daily Star (later renamed The Daily Planet). In the Golden Age continuity commonly referred to as Earth-Two, Taylor was the employer of reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane. He was eventually removed from continuity and replaced by Perry White.


 * Taylor is an analog to Bill Hudson, the blonde-haired, lead astronaut from the Return to the Planet of the Apes animated series. Whereas the movie version of Dr. Zira referred to Taylor as "Bright-Eyes", the animated Zira took to calling Bill Hudson, "Blue-Eyes".


 * The March, 1973 edition of Mad Magazine lampooned the Planet of the Apes franchise in issue #157. The character Taylor was re-named Tyler.

Appearances

 * Beneath the Planet of the Apes (comic book)
 * Beneath the Planet of the Apes (novel)
 * Planet of the Apes (Power Records)
 * Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Power Records)
 * (archival footage only)
 * Planet of the Apes Magazine: Planet of the Apes (issues #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & #6)
 * Planet of the Apes Magazine: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
 * Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Planet of the Apes (issues #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & #6)
 * Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
 * Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes
 * Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive (comic book)
 * Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes
 * Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive (comic book)



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