Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975): "Terror on Ice Mountain" (November 22, 1975)

In the Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975) episode “Terror on Ice Mountain,” Cornelius unearths a dangerous book at his latest archaeological dig in the Forbidden Zone.  The book is so dangerous because it was created pre-catastrophe by intelligent humans, and titled A Day at the Zoo.  Inside the book, pictures depict intelligent humans looking at primitive apes in cages…

Zira and Cornelius realize that if Urko should find this book, he would possess just the evidence he needs to wipe out the planet’s humanoids.  

Even as Urko petitions the council to search the chimpanzees’ laboratory for signs they are collaborating with the humanoids, Zira and Cornelius reach out to Jeff and Bill for help disposing of the offending text.

Cornelius tells the human astronauts that he has also discovered the blueprints to a hot air balloon, and needs their help constructing and flying the device.  He plans to take the book A Day at the Zoo to the peak of Mount Gar, where it will be buried and thus hidden until such time as Ape City is wise enough to receive the truth about the planet's history.

Bill and Cornelius launch the hot air balloon, but run afoul of a deadly storm, and the great creature “Kigor,” “God of the Mountain Apes…”

I’m not actually certain why, but “Terror on Ice Mountain” is the episode of Return to the Planet of the Apes that I most clearly remember from my own childhood.  I must have been five-years old when I saw it during its first broadcast, but elements of the episode still stand-out, particularly the hot-air balloon and the giant ape.  In fact, I suspect that the giant ape is what really caught my eye, since at that age I was a crazy King Kong fan, and obsessed with everything Kong-related.

Without the warm-glow of nostalgia shining upon it, however, “Terror on Ice Mountain” isn’t one of the more dynamic episodes of this animated series, at least so far.  The episode starts strong with the discovery of the dangerous book (and the idea that, in some societies, knowledge is dangerous.).  

But then, once the hot-air balloon takes off the audience is treated to endless minutes of the craft being buffeted in the storm.  It’s almost as if the episode ran short, and needed padding to round out the half-hour.  The blizzard seems to go on forever.

At episode’s end, Cornelius and Bill encounter not just a giant ape, but those who worship it...beings who are rather like the Tibetan Monks of the Planet of the Apes.  Thus, a second ape society is introduced to the series, and one less hostile to the idea of intelligent man (and the truth).  This aspect of "Terror on Ice Mountain" makes me wonder if there are other ape cities or cultures throughout this world, and if they are all as paranoid and hostile as the one where Zira and Cornelius dwell.

Next week: “River of Flames.”