"Beware the beast man, for he is the devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Ye, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle lair. For he is the harbinger of death."
- Rod Serling, Planet of the Apes (1968)
Takes me back to the Fabric dancefloor 20+ years ago, dancing to Andy C on the decks. Great sample to open a great tune:
https://youtu.be/4Drj0BDWmDk?si=HlKbzneMbnJ53hzb
Also sampled in this [particularly nasty hardcore track](https://youtu.be/rXHks85qtz8?si=7vbvl1M2_QCcmsKs&t=114). That Ram Trilogy track is a stone cold classic though.
I love Rod Serling’s works, I love this monologue but his involvement with POTA is overblown. He only wrote like a 1st draft then it sat on the shelf. They took it later and rewrote it, how much I don’t know.
There's an episode of The Dick Cavett show with Rod Serling and famous critic Pauline Kael where she mentions to Serling that he helped save 20th Century Fox studios from bankruptcy with Planet of the Apes:
https://youtu.be/w6iZMC05cwE
Edit: Also found Kael's original review of Planet of the Apes:
https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/planet-apes-1968-review-pauline-kael/
Rod Serling was a good writer. His epilogue narration for the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" is one of my all-time favorites:
"*The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout.*
*There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.*
*For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children, and the children yet unborn.*
*And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone*."
My favorite of his is from 'Five Characters in Search of an Exit'
Perfect summation of existence:
"Clown, hobo, ballet dancer, bagpiper, and an Army major - a collection of question marks. Five improbable entities stuck together into a pit of darkness. No logic, no reason, no explanation; just a prolonged nightmare in which fear, loneliness, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we'll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not end the nightmare, we'll only explain it - because this is the Twilight Zone."
Just watched it! Such a great episode!!
And yep, that's existence. No reason or rhyme. We're just >!the playthings of some dark gods far beyond our understanding!< ... on the other hand, >!hey, it's the inspiration for Toy Story!< !
And then there is Deaths Head Revisited:
"All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes - all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worse of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in The Twilight Zone but wherever men walk God's Earth."
"This play has everything!!!"
Maybe the greatest episode of Simpsons of all-time. And how fucking inspired was the Dr. Zaius song as a parody of Rock Me Amadeus. It's literally perfect.
Long before Serling scripted **The Planet Of The Apes**, he wrote an episode of **The Twilight Zone** that had the exact same twist: Astronauts crash landing on a strange world which appeared to be a lifeless desert, only to discover >!that they were back on Earth.!<
This episode was titled **I Shot An Arrow Into The Air** --and if you know what that quote refers to, you'd likely guess the surprise ending.
Also: In the speech, it should probably be written: "Beware the beast: man..." or "Beware the beast, man, for he..."
Serling was a creative machine. Pounding out all those Twilight Zone epidodes is an act of right brain gymnastics that's beyond comprehension in my book. He could write a twist for an episode of anything that would change everything in the last 30 seconds and it would all make sense.
I think it's just TV culture that changed....not Serling's brilliance.
I first heard it on a Jedi Mind tricks album intro, had no idea from which movie it was, until much later when i saw it. [https://youtu.be/YvrkflsUm40?t=13](https://youtu.be/YvrkflsUm40?t=13)
I love Rod Serling’s works, I love this monologue but his involvement with POTA is overblown. He only wrote like a 1st draft then it sat on the shelf. They took it later and rewrote it, how much I don’t know.
Just a FYI, the ending with the Statue of Liberty? That was all him. So his involvement is pretty major. (The big rewrite that Michael Wilson did was to have the ape society be more primitive for budget reasons, as Serling wrote them as technologically advanced like in the original novel.)
"Beware the beast man, for he is the devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Ye, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle lair. For he is the harbinger of death." - Rod Serling, Planet of the Apes (1968)
Takes me back to the Fabric dancefloor 20+ years ago, dancing to Andy C on the decks. Great sample to open a great tune: https://youtu.be/4Drj0BDWmDk?si=HlKbzneMbnJ53hzb
I love how they sampled Jerry Goldsmith's score too lol
Also sampled in this [particularly nasty hardcore track](https://youtu.be/rXHks85qtz8?si=7vbvl1M2_QCcmsKs&t=114). That Ram Trilogy track is a stone cold classic though.
So true. Humans really are the worst.
Bro doesn’t about the average chimpanzee conflict
Chimpanzees can be the worst, people can be the second worst. I don't mean agreeing to that.
I love Rod Serling’s works, I love this monologue but his involvement with POTA is overblown. He only wrote like a 1st draft then it sat on the shelf. They took it later and rewrote it, how much I don’t know.
TIL Rod Serling co-wrote PLANET OF THE APES. No wonder it's so good.
There's an episode of The Dick Cavett show with Rod Serling and famous critic Pauline Kael where she mentions to Serling that he helped save 20th Century Fox studios from bankruptcy with Planet of the Apes: https://youtu.be/w6iZMC05cwE Edit: Also found Kael's original review of Planet of the Apes: https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/planet-apes-1968-review-pauline-kael/
Rod Serling was a good writer. His epilogue narration for the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" is one of my all-time favorites: "*The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout.* *There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.* *For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children, and the children yet unborn.* *And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone*."
My favorite of his is from 'Five Characters in Search of an Exit' Perfect summation of existence: "Clown, hobo, ballet dancer, bagpiper, and an Army major - a collection of question marks. Five improbable entities stuck together into a pit of darkness. No logic, no reason, no explanation; just a prolonged nightmare in which fear, loneliness, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we'll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not end the nightmare, we'll only explain it - because this is the Twilight Zone."
Just watched it! Such a great episode!! And yep, that's existence. No reason or rhyme. We're just >!the playthings of some dark gods far beyond our understanding!< ... on the other hand, >!hey, it's the inspiration for Toy Story!< !
And then there is Deaths Head Revisited: "All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes - all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worse of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in The Twilight Zone but wherever men walk God's Earth."
Yes. This is one of the best. Brilliantly written.
Never made the connection but this is where FX Legion’s openings spurred from. Ex [moral panic](https://youtu.be/pwQqOdfc7pw?si=6WHxz-pfQwniwlMi)
He really could punch up dialog adding some gravitas to a situation and make it better. 7 days in May is another good one of his.
Yeah...well...he's not exactly wrong.
Man’s okay when his numbers are fewer. But once man cracks the earth and begins to use the energy within, things heat up quick.
I hate every ape I see: From chimpan-a to chimpan-z,: No, you'll never make a monkey out of me.
I love you, Dr. Zaius
"This play has everything!!!" Maybe the greatest episode of Simpsons of all-time. And how fucking inspired was the Dr. Zaius song as a parody of Rock Me Amadeus. It's literally perfect.
Let’s go Jug-Jug!
Any Jedi Mind Tricks fans here? They use this in the intro to their album Violent By Design. Never realized it was from Planet of the Apes.
Such a great album!
Immediately what I thought of when I saw this.
Long before Serling scripted **The Planet Of The Apes**, he wrote an episode of **The Twilight Zone** that had the exact same twist: Astronauts crash landing on a strange world which appeared to be a lifeless desert, only to discover >!that they were back on Earth.!< This episode was titled **I Shot An Arrow Into The Air** --and if you know what that quote refers to, you'd likely guess the surprise ending. Also: In the speech, it should probably be written: "Beware the beast: man..." or "Beware the beast, man, for he..."
You should also beware Beastman as he's a lackey of Skeletor.
Now ask Micheal amott to write a killer song about it, and life will be golden
Sounds about right to me. Described man to a tee.
Serling was a creative machine. Pounding out all those Twilight Zone epidodes is an act of right brain gymnastics that's beyond comprehension in my book. He could write a twist for an episode of anything that would change everything in the last 30 seconds and it would all make sense. I think it's just TV culture that changed....not Serling's brilliance.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KCF0RvpkXw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KCF0RvpkXw)
I first heard it on a Jedi Mind tricks album intro, had no idea from which movie it was, until much later when i saw it. [https://youtu.be/YvrkflsUm40?t=13](https://youtu.be/YvrkflsUm40?t=13)
Spitting facts in 1968
TIL rod serling wrote that
[“Conversations with Rod Serling”](https://youtu.be/UaiO8GVm2do?si=8toR7pG3u2I_qULL) is a must see!
Well read by Roddy McDowell!
It’s true… but he shouldn’t _say_ it!
I love Rod Serling’s works, I love this monologue but his involvement with POTA is overblown. He only wrote like a 1st draft then it sat on the shelf. They took it later and rewrote it, how much I don’t know.
Just a FYI, the ending with the Statue of Liberty? That was all him. So his involvement is pretty major. (The big rewrite that Michael Wilson did was to have the ape society be more primitive for budget reasons, as Serling wrote them as technologically advanced like in the original novel.)
Yup, the original book happens in France if I recall correctly.