| Planet of the Apes | |
| |
| Episode | The Gladiators |
| Season | 1 |
| Production Number | B-502 |
| Air Date | Friday, September 20th, 1974 |
| Network | CBS |
| Director | Don McDougall |
| Writer | Art Wallace |
| Continuity | TV Series |
| Navigation | |
| Previous Episode: "Escape from Tomorrow"
Next Episode: "The Trap" | |
"The Gladiators" is the second episode of Planet of the Apes.
Cast[]
Starring:
Guest Starring:
- Mark Lenard as Urko
- William Smith as Tolar
- Marc Singer as Dalton
- John Hoyt as Barlow
- Pat Renella as Jason
- Andy Albin as man
- Eddie Fontaine as gorilla sergeant
- Nick Dimitri as a gorilla guard
- Ron Stein as first gorilla
- Jim Stader as second gorilla
- Nick Dimitri ... Stunts
- Craig Baxley ... Stunts
- Erik Cord ... Stunts
- Jack Tyree ... Stunts
Production Crew
- Assistant Director ... Gil Mandelik
- Music ... Lalo Schifrin
- Film Editor ... Axel Hubert, A.C.E.
Synopsis[]
Virdon, Burke & Galen stumble into a village led by a chimpanzee prefect, Barlow (John Hoyt), who keeps the human populace calm by gladiatorial combat. When Barlow finds the magnetic disc containing the record of the flight of Pete and Alan, they must get it back in order to have any hope of returning home. Galen goes to the village to attempt to retrieve the disc. While he is speaking with the prefect, Virdon and Burke are captured.
Sensing an opportunity to appease his humans, the prefect decides to pit Burke against the local champion in a fight to the death. Meanwhile, Urko has dispatched one of his lieutenants to spread the word about the three fugitives. In the arena, Burke defeats the champion, but spares his life. A riot ensues, which helps Burke and Galen escape as Urko's man arrives.
The gorilla is upset at the loss of Burke and Galen, but rejoices at having Virdon. When the prefect learns that the gorilla is intent on killing Virdon, the prefect doesn't agree and rues the day he ever set eyes on the two humans.
Burke and Galen make plans to rescue Virdon and go to enlist the help of the champion, the burly Tolar. Disgraced by Burke (Burke let him live), he refuses; but his son Dalton (Marc Singer) agrees to help. But he is arrested by the prefect when he refuses to kill Virdon. The champion helps, but is killed aiding Virdon's escape. In the escape attempt, Urko's lieutenant is also killed. The prefect calls it an accident and allows them to leave.
After rendezvousing with Burke and Virdon, the prefect rides up and gives the magnetic disc to Dalton. The trio watch as the prefect rides off, and then bid farewell to Dalton, who is returning to the village to make sure that the 'games' end forever.
Notes[]
- Barlow was named 'Irnar' in the novelisation of The Gladiators.[1]
- The script for The Gladiators named the town as 'Seelah', and the name 'Cela' was used in the novelisation. 'Kaymak' was used on screen.[1]
- This episode establishes that Central City is located in the Western, United States - in the region formerly known as California. Burke guesses they are North of San Francisco.
- The Gladiators, together with The Tyrant, was adapted as Planet of the Apes #4: Lord of the Apes by George Alec Effinger, and published by Award Books.
- This episode formed the first half of the second TV movie The Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes (paired with The Legacy), originally broadcast in 1981.
- A document on Prefect Barlow's desk is seen to include a reference to 'The Circle of Landon'. It's not explained what this means or if it's related to the astronaut Landon.[2]
Trivia[]
- The second episode to be broadcast (20 September in the USA, 20 October in the UK), this was also the second episode filmed, chronologically, according to the Production Code.[3]
- Actor Marc Singer, who plays the role of Dalton in this episode will go on to play more more famous characters, notably Dartanus in the Beastmaster films, and Mike Donovan in the Sci-Fi mini-series, V.
Behind the Scenes[]
"At the old Fox ranch in Malibu Canyon where the original films were made and the TV series is filmed, I watched four gorillas on horseback starkly etched against the sky—and it gives you pause, it’s frightening. I left the filming and wandered down into a compound where humans of the Planet of the Apes lived in thatch-roofed, floorless mud huts. In the center of the village was a rude amphitheater, a primitive coliseum with a central arena. “Gladiators fight there. Humans, of course, for a human audience. The apes feel it vents their hostilities. They work off their aggressions. Interesting idea, isn’t it?” Roddy McDowall was at my elbow. He smiled. At least, the ape face that is literally molded to his flesh smiled. It can be disconcerting. Roddy was smoking a cigarette through a long holder thrust between his ape lips; he wore a loose sport shirt from which human arms and hands protruded; his tight green pants disappeared into ape feet with long, finger-like toes. Only the brown eyes that gazed at me with some amusement seemed human. And they were distant as if peering from caves. “Actors have difficulty at first with the face,” said Roddy. “They watch the mouth. They must learn to act to the eyes. This—appliance, I suppose you should call it—is an ordeal. I have to get up at 4 a.m. and spend three hours in makeup while they mold it on me before I come to work. It’s unbearably hot. I insist on a day off in every script so my flesh can breathe. “But in it you can fool around with ideas, have some fun with sacred institutions. Not that we go very deep into anything but we can poke little barbs into the complaisance of our society. “The ape society is very primitive. We have fire and the wheel and gunpowder but the astronauts with their machines are frightening. But they’re even more frightening to the humans than they are to the apes…” Roddy feels the series has little relation to the movies, though the chief orangutan Zaius (Booth Colman) cites the visit of other astronauts at other times. And the gorilla general Urko (Mark Lenard) knows the danger in educated humans. “They’ll think they’re as good as we are,” he growled. You could see what he meant."
- TV Times (September 22, 1974), on the set of The Gladiators[4]
External Links[]
- Planet of the Apes (TV Series) at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- Planet of the Apes (TV Series) index at TV.com
References[]
| Planet of the Apes TV Series | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Escape from Tomorrow" | "The Gladiators" | "The Trap" | "The Good Seeds" | "The Legacy" | "Tomorrow's Tide" | "The Surgeon" |
| "The Deception" | "The Horse Race" | "The Interrogation" | "The Tyrant" | "The Cure" | "The Liberator" | "Up Above the World So High" |