Maddox

Colonel Donovan Maddox
Biographical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Born	1934
Died	3978?
Appearances
Continuity	Movies
Actor	Tod Andrews
First Appearance	Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Last Appearance	Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Donovan Maddox was an ANSA astronaut more familiarly known by the naval colloquialism, "Skipper". He was in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the first sequel and the second movie in the Planet of the Apes Series.

Maddox commanded a rescue ship that has never been named, which was sent to find astronauts Taylor, Dodge, Landon and Stewart, who went missing in the events of the previous film, Planet of the Apes. Colonel Maddox was accompanied on this mission by John Brent. Maddox and Brent's spaceship passed through a "Hasslein Curve", sending them into the future. The ship made a crash-landing, badly injuring and blinding Maddox in the process. Brent helped Maddox out of the ship and reported the current year to him. Maddox was horrified to hear that they had travelled two-thousand years forward in time to the year 3955 A.D. He spoke of his wife and two daughters being long since dead. Maddox himself died shortly afterwards and was buried by Brent.

See Talk page for special notations.

Notes

• Maddox's name is not mentioned in Beneath the Planet of the Apes or it's comic adaptations or it's novelization. As such it has been the subject of much speculation over the years. A close examination of a promotional shot seems to reveal the letters 'addox' on his uniform.

• A fan-produced reproduction of the Presidential Commission's Briefing Dossier gave Skipper the name 'Captain Andrew Maddox'.

• The 'ANSA Public Service Announcement' bonus feature from the Blu-Ray Planet of the Apes Box-Set (released November 2008) included this biography: "Two first alternates round out the crew [of Colonel Taylor's mission] - ... Brent, 34, and Colonel Skipper Donovan, 38." However, a timeline included in the same Box-Set gives his name as the more familiar 'Maddox'.

Trivia

• The name 'Maddox' in fact appears in an early script treatment for the original movie. After several scripts from Rod Serling, Charles Eastman was asked to revise Serling's screenplay. Instead, he completely re-wrote his own screenplay but only completed the opening scenes before he was replaced with Michael Wilson, who returned to Serling's original concept. In Eastman's script, the central character (the 'Taylor' character) was called 'Command 60 Maddox'; "Our hero has a slightly military, over-conscientious, too business-like air"; and is in control of a large crew. It's unknown if this has any connection with the flight suit seen in 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes'.

Appearances

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Comic Book)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Novelization)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Power Records)
• Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes Magazine
• Marvel Comics' Adventures on the Planet of the Apes

External Links

• Maddox on Wikipedia

References

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