John Landon (APJ)

John Landon was a human astronaut who joined the ANSA program some time in the 1960s. According to his colleague, George Taylor, Landon was an amibtious scientist who "wanted to live forever". Along with Taylor and fellow astronaut Dodge, Landon participated in a mission to test the scientific theories of Otto Hasslein regarding an object moving faster than the speed of light.

The crew of the Icarus launched out of Cape Kennedy in 1971 and spent over six months in outer space. Taylor, commander of the mission, placed the crew into a state of suspended animation, in preparation for the second leg of their journey. While they slept, the Icarus passed through a Hasslein Curve, a twist in space, that propelled the ship several centuries into the future. The ship crash-landed back on Earth in the year 3978. Spashing down into a stagnant salt lake, the crew revived and scurried to freedom.

Landon was an adventurer and a patriot. As such, he found it hardest of the three to come to terms with their fate and argued strongly with Taylor after their crash-landing. Taylor maintained a rigid attitude, while Dodge committed himself towards finding a means to survive on this new world. Landon meanwhile, found himself the target of Taylor's acerbic wit. Taylor even chided Landon for placing a small American flag in the sand near the lake where they crashed.

Landon's most startling surprise however, came when he discovered that this world was populated by horseback-riding, talking apes. A troupe of gorilla hunters attacked a grove of trees where several mute humans had been dwelling. Landon and the others were swept up into the hunt and Landon was captured. The gorillas brought him back to Ape City, where he was examined and later lobotomized. During Taylor's subsequent trial, he was shown Landon and became furious at what Dr Zaius had done to him. Landon is taken back to his cage, while Zaius later admits he knew Landon could talk, and had him operated on.

When Brent visited Zira and Cornelius in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius told him that Taylor nearly ended up a museum specimen "like his two friends", which suggests that Landon was also dead and displayed alongside Dodge by that point. It's possible that during a skirmish involving gorilla soldiers, Landon was shot and killed.

Notes

The role of John Landon was played by actor Robert Gunner.

Landon's first name is never provided in the actual movies. He is referenced by the name "John" in the Planet of the Apes book-n-record set by Power Records and in the Marvel Comics movie adaptation.

A fan-produced reproduction of the Presidential Commission's Briefing Dossier gave Landon the name 'Captain John Landon'.^[2]

The 'ANSA Public Service Announcement' bonus feature from the Blu-Ray Planet of the Apes Box-Set (released November 2008) included this biography: "Lieutenant John Landon serves as navigator on board the Liberty 1. Distinguishing himself as navigator on ANSA's Juno Mars mission, Lieutenant Landon automatically became the prime choice for the Liberty Project. After searching their souls and weighing the sacrifice, John and his wife proudly chose to add the Lieutenant's talents to the mission. His infant son Mike will grow to manhood knowing that his father bravely conquered nothing less than time and space."

Trivia

Landon's personality is closest to that of Arthur Levain in Pierre Boulle's original novel, La Planète des singes, but like Levain's colleague, Professor Antelle, Landon is discovered by Taylor alive but incapable of speech. Antelle merely reverted to a primitive state in the company of the native humans while Landon was knocked out in the ape's hunt and had brain surgery before his intelligence could be revealed.

The name 'Paul LaFever' is used in the earliest scripts (1964) written by Rod Serling. 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 a 28 to 30-year-old man (possibly called 'LaFever') who is found to have died from a gunshot.^[3]