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Icarus -
Spacecraft on the science fiction series PLANET OF THE
APES/CBS/1974.
The Icarus was a triangular NASA spaceship
launched into space to explore Alpha Centauri in
the year 1980. Unfortunately, the spaceship accidentally traveled through time to a
post-nuclear holocaust future where
talking apes had become Earth's rulers and
man was relegated to a slave class.
The ship's crew included astronauts Alan Virdon
(Ron Harper), Pete Burke (James Naughton) and
Jones (who died when the spacecraft crash landed
on Earth in the year AD 3085).
TRIVIA NOTE:
The series was based on the novel "Planet of the
Apes" written by Pierre Boulle. In the movie version of THE PLANET
OF THE APES, the Icarus spacecraft crash
landed in an inland sea (actually Lake Powell) in the year A.D.
3978.
In the original film, the Icarus sank but not
before the surviving astronauts escaped to a
raft and paddled to the main land.
Although unnamed in the film, the spacecraft was
dubbed "Icarus" by a fan named
Larry Evans in 1972. That moniker is now the
accepted non-canonical term for the downed
spacecraft.
In the TV series, the spacecraft was vandalized
by the futuristic apes and then destroyed by
Alan Virdon, one of the surviving astronauts
when he set the ship to self-destruct. The name
of the TV series spacecraft was initially to be
called Probe Six.
In the animated sequel RETURN TO THE PLANET OF
THE APES, the spacecraft was called Venture
(a space capsule) . The crew of the
Venture included Bill Hudson ((Richard
Blackburn), Jeff Carter (Austin Stoker) and Judy
Franklin (Claudette Nevins).
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Bill Hudson: |
This is
astronaut Bill Hudson aboard the space
craft
Venture. Due to the advanced speed
or our craft according to our Earth clock,
we have traveled some 105 years, 8 months,
5 weeks, 4 days and 11 hour into our own future.
Therefore, we conclude that Dr. Stanton's
theory on Time thrust is correct. Man can propel
himself into the future. |
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Jeff Carter: |
What's going
on? [ship malfunctions] |
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Judy Franklin: |
Look at the
Earth Clock. It's gone wild! [Console
meter reads DANGER. Alarm sounds. Earth clock shows
years passing by at incredible rate. Final
display: 3810. The spacecraft plunges
toward earth and
crashes into an inland sea.] |
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-- opening
narration from the first episode of
Return to the Planet of the Apes |
In Greek Mythology, Icarus, the son of Daedalus
the inventor, used a pair of wings
created by his father to sail into the sky. Unfortunately,
Icarus did not heed his father's warning about
flying too near the sun and plunged to his
death when the heat melted the
bond between wax and feathers.
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