Line #53 Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beneath_the_planet_of_the_apes_7626.jpg]]
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3	The first sequel to ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'' and second installment of the ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' franchise, released in 1970.
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5	A fellow astronaut, Major Brent, is sent to find Taylor and rescue him... and also crashes on the Planet of the Apes. He first finds Taylor's girl Nova. After they discover a former New York City subway station in a cave, he realizes where-as well as when-he is. The station leads to an underground base inhabited by mutant humans with psychic powers, who have already imprisoned Taylor, and cultivate a "[[PointlessDoomsdayDevice Divine Bomb]]". When the apes decide to invade the ForbiddenZone and then find the mutants' lair... well, the trope examples below show it's catastrophic.
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7	The sequel to this movie, ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'', was released in 1971.
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9	----
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11	!!This movie contains examples of:
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13	* AndStarring: Creator/CharltonHeston (Taylor) is billed this way.
14	* ApeShallNeverKillApe: Ends up being {{Trope Namer\|s}} three movies earlier than the most famous instance, although slightly different. When the advancing army of Apes is confronted by a vision of apparently butchered scouts, Zaius suggests giving the "scouts" a MercyKill, but Ursus replies that "I can't order them to do what the Lawgiver has forbidden. ''Ape shall not kill ape.''"
15	* ApocalypseHow: Class 6. Possibly even worse.
16	* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Okay, a cobalt bomb would be a pretty nasty weapon, in the [[SaltTheEarth "create lots of long-lasting fallout"]] sense. ''Not'', however, in the "turn the planet's whole atmosphere into a gigantic nitrous-oxide fireball that incinerates the whole surface" sense. Though the original intention was for it to be just an ordinary nuke that would just wipe out the two warring factions, but Charlton Heston suggested an expansion to EarthShatteringKaboom.
17	* AtmosphereAbuse: An example of the "nukes ignite the atmosphere" idea: at the end of movie, the astronauts note that the detonation of a cobalt bomb could "set off a chain reaction in the whole atmosphere. Burn the planet to a cinder." After the bomb detonates:
18	-->In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe lies a medium-size star. And one of its satellites, a green and insignificant planet, is now dead.
19	* BackForTheDead: Enforced by Charlton Heston, who only accepted to return if Taylor's part was smaller and the character died.
20	* BeneathTheEarth: Has one that combines both urban and caverns. The humans who are the descendants of survivors of the fall of civilization almost 2,000 years earlier retreated to buried New York City and due to living next to a giant nuclear warhead, they became mutant, telepathic humans by the time Taylor and the rest arrived.
21	* BigBadEnsemble: The Mutants and General Ursus.
22	* BigBulkyBomb: The Alpha-Omega bomb.
23	* BodyHorror: In one memorable scene, the lead mutants reveal themselves (and, by implication, all their people) to have repulsively translucent skin, with all their veins visible. It's surprisingly effective at being disgusting.
24	* CargoCult: The mutants' god is a nuclear bomb. For some amazing LyricalDissonance, the mutants' mantras are quite obviously Christian hymns with all references to "God" changed to "Bomb".
25	* CollapsingLair: The underground mutant lair.
26	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Mutant Inquisitors wear robes that are color coordinated to match the visual effects of their thought projection abilities.
27	* ConvenientDecoyCat: While Brent and Nova are outside the ape city, a gorilla guard hears them but doesn't realize who (or what) they are. The guard fires several shots into the trees in which they're hiding and a bird flies out of the trees. The guard thinks that the bird was what he heard and walks away, allowing Brent and Nova to escape.
28	* DoomsdayDevice: Again, the Alpha-Omega bomb.
29	* DownerEnding: "''In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe, lies a medium-sized star, and one of its satellites, a [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet green and insignificant planet]], [[EarthShatteringKaboom is now dead]].''"
30	* DragonInChief: While General Ursus is the main ape antagonist in this film, he still works for Dr. Zaius.
31	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: While many characters die, [[spoiler:Nova]] is the most anticlimatic one.
32	* EarthShatteringKaboom: What the cobalt bomb ends up doing.
33	* EndIsNighEnding: The film fades to white just as a dying Taylor presses a lever on a DoomsdayDevice that will completely destroy the planet.
34	* EverybodyDiesEnding: Literally everybody. [[spoiler: Except Cornelius, Zira and Dr. Milo, as it turns out in the next movie.]]
35	* EvilSoundsDeep: Ursus, taking full advantage of the gorillas' deeper vocal chords.
36	* FanDisservice: The kiss would have been nice to watch [[spoiler:if Brent hadn't tried to strangle Nova]].
37	* GeneralRipper: Ursus.
38	* IdiotBall: After being generally being sensible throughout the film, Dr. Zaius grabs it with both hands in the last scene.
39	* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Directly referenced in the ending voice-over.
40	* InThatOrder: "If they catch you talking, they will dissect you. And kill you. In that order."
41	* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll: In ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'', Taylor's ship took a several thousand year trip through time to a future Earth. Brent's ship, sent out to find Taylor's ship, follows the same path and coincidentally crash lands not very far away from where Taylor's ship did. The odds against this happening in real life would be literally astronomical.
42	* JustBeforeTheEnd: Officially, this is the last movie before the entire planet is wiped out.
43	* KissOfDeath: A mind-controlled Brent tries to suffocate Nova by forcefully kissing her.
44	* LatexPerfection: The mutants wear incredibly life-like masks to cover up the fact that their skin is so pale their veins are visible all over their body.
45	* MaskingTheDeformity: The mutant humans who survived underground appear to have normal features. Near the end of the movie, it's revealed that they're all wearing latex masks to make them look normal because their faces are horribly disfigured. Alternatively it is their actual skin that now can be removed, as they have mutated that way.
46	* {{Mutants}}: A whole civilization is introduced towards the end.
47	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Zaius again, but this time, General Ursus takes it even further complete with militaristic rhetoric to Exterminate All Humans.
48	* NubileSavage: Nova, once again.
49	* OminousPipeOrgan: While the mutants are singing hymns praising their god - a cobalt bomb.
50	* PlotHole:
51	** Famously, the year of the "present" in ''Beneath'' is given as roughly 20 years earlier than the year that was declared the "present" when Taylor landed in the original movie. ''Escape'' uses the same date for Taylor & Brent's doomed expeditions given in ''Beneath'', arguably making it a full-on {{Retcon}}.
52	** In the first movie Taylor’s narration makes it clear they will never return to Earth by design, so why is Brent on a rescue mission?
53	* RidiculouslyPotentExplosive: The Alpha-Omega Bomb is a cobalt bomb that is the size of a regular Minuteman missile (and maybe launch-capable like one (which had warheads the size of a fridge) although the plot tries to imply the whole missile-like shell ''is'' the bomb) and yet it is capable of killing the entire planet.
54	* SayMyName: Nova's first ([[SuddenlySpeaking and only]]) word is "TAYLOR!"
55	* ScaryDogmaticAliens:
56	** General Ursus was meant to be an fairly obvious Hitler {{Expy}}, but by the finished film, he'd become a more generic GeneralRipper type with a lot of muddled Vietnam symbolism thrown in.
57	** The mutant humans worshiping A NUCLEAR BOMB are just as scary and dogmatic, but are equally confusing; their primary influence seems to be a mashup of general "cultist" behavior and American hypocrisy.
58	* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Semi-averted. Taylor disappears during the opening scene, before returning toward the end of the film (and getting killed in the ''final'' scene thereof).
59	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Brent for Taylor, though in terms of attitude he's far different. [[PoorMansSubstitute James Franciscus]] was even cast as Brent because of his CelebrityResemblance to Charlton Heston.
60	* TearsOfBlood: The Ape Lawgiver statue in an illusion.
61	* TechnicalPacifist: The mutants; they insist they are a peaceful people because they "[[ExactWords only]]" defend themselves by using their PsychicPowers to either MindRape their victims to insanity/suicide or MindControl them into killing each other. Brent outright calls them hypocrites.
62	* {{Telepathy}}: The underground mutants have the ability to communicate by telepathy.
63	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Dr. Zaius decides that it's a good idea to berate the dying man standing next to the controls of a bomb capable of incinerating all life on Earth as belonging to a species that is "evil" and "capable of nothing but destruction." In fairness, Zaius didn't know about the bomb's destructive capabilities, but all life on the planet ends up paying the price for his KickTheDog moment.
64	* WhamLine: From '''Nova''', of all characters. See SayMyName.
65	* YourMindMakesItReal: The Inquisitors' illusions are designed to work this way. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
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Context Film / BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes