What do you think?
Rate this book
Planet of the Apes Movies #4
Battle For the Planet of the Apes
It was a quiet, peaceful city.It was a city ruled by apes and served by men.It was a city unaware of an angry band of viscous gorillas anxious to revolt and an insane cadre of mutant humans hungry to kill.It was a city on the brink of an horrendous destruction that had happened once -- and was suddenly, inexorably, happening again ....
Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
4 people are currently reading
470 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 12, 2011
I know. You're looking at those five stars and thinking, "What the #$%@!" And I completely understand. It would appear I have gone mental. So here's the breakdown of why the five stars. Just so we're all clear.
★: The nostalgia factor is overwhelming for me with this one. I was a little too young to watch these movies in the theatre, but they were massive when I was a little kid and the apes were everywhere. We've sort of rewritten film history a bit to believe that Star Wars started the summer blockbuster and merchandising explosion, but I had a Dr. Zaius doll and remember one of my friends having a Planet of the Apes t-shirt. I even played Battle for the Planet of the Apes with my friend Duane (the same one Thomas and I chatted about in the comment thread) after our all day summer tv marathon. So when I saw this at the local used book store and passed over my shekels, it had already earned that first star simply based on my childhood flashbacks.
+★: There are things to be said, positive things, about movie-tie-ins. I know the prevailing wisdom is that they are the trashiest of the trashy, and that may very well be true, but there are two things about them I love. First, as a longtime screenwriter, I appreciate the cinematic quality that can't be avoided. These sorts of books are almost always based on a screenplay for the film (occassionally, though, they'll be based on a treatment), so the pace, the action, the dialogue is driven by the movie, and while I would rather read the actual screenplay, a movie-tie-in is an enjoyable (though diminished) alternative. Second, directors can change the work of screenwriters however they want, so it's nice to see a different take on a screenwriter's work and feel a little closer (even if this is illusory) to what their work was all about.
+★: Sometimes, as in this case where the movie was pretty pathetic, a movie-tie-in can be better than its on-screen counterpart. The film was saddled with poor effects (even the ape costumes had become less impressive, with so many apes needed to fill Ape City only the costumes of the stars were well done), poor performances, and an excruciating pace. But the books has effects imagined by me, performances imagined by me and a pace that was as fast as I wanted to make it. I can see now, having read the book, why this particular script would have been given the greenlight. It could have been good. Really.
-★: That being said, the big battle between the Mutants and the Apes went on way too long, even here in the book.
+★: And since I mentioned them already: nuclear fallout Mutants! Again, much cooler here than on-screen.
+★★: Last but certainly not least is the author David Gerrold (one of the great Hackosaurids). He cracked me up, and this exchange between Mutant leader Mr. Kolp and his "love interest" Mutant Alma contains his best insertion into the story (I know it's long, but I think it is worth repeating in its entirety)
So there you go. Is it crappy? Kind of, but crappy in all the ways I wanted it to be, and it was so much darn fun that I think I am going to start hunting down movie-tie-ins to all the movies I loved as a kid. Come to think of it, I think I have a copy of the original Battlestar Galactica tie-in lying around. That's moving to the top of my pile right now. ... There!
Start raiding your used book stores for trash like this, my friends. You won't regret it.
★+★+★-★+★+★★= 5 ★s
★: The nostalgia factor is overwhelming for me with this one. I was a little too young to watch these movies in the theatre, but they were massive when I was a little kid and the apes were everywhere. We've sort of rewritten film history a bit to believe that Star Wars started the summer blockbuster and merchandising explosion, but I had a Dr. Zaius doll and remember one of my friends having a Planet of the Apes t-shirt. I even played Battle for the Planet of the Apes with my friend Duane (the same one Thomas and I chatted about in the comment thread) after our all day summer tv marathon. So when I saw this at the local used book store and passed over my shekels, it had already earned that first star simply based on my childhood flashbacks.
+★: There are things to be said, positive things, about movie-tie-ins. I know the prevailing wisdom is that they are the trashiest of the trashy, and that may very well be true, but there are two things about them I love. First, as a longtime screenwriter, I appreciate the cinematic quality that can't be avoided. These sorts of books are almost always based on a screenplay for the film (occassionally, though, they'll be based on a treatment), so the pace, the action, the dialogue is driven by the movie, and while I would rather read the actual screenplay, a movie-tie-in is an enjoyable (though diminished) alternative. Second, directors can change the work of screenwriters however they want, so it's nice to see a different take on a screenwriter's work and feel a little closer (even if this is illusory) to what their work was all about.
+★: Sometimes, as in this case where the movie was pretty pathetic, a movie-tie-in can be better than its on-screen counterpart. The film was saddled with poor effects (even the ape costumes had become less impressive, with so many apes needed to fill Ape City only the costumes of the stars were well done), poor performances, and an excruciating pace. But the books has effects imagined by me, performances imagined by me and a pace that was as fast as I wanted to make it. I can see now, having read the book, why this particular script would have been given the greenlight. It could have been good. Really.
-★: That being said, the big battle between the Mutants and the Apes went on way too long, even here in the book.
+★: And since I mentioned them already: nuclear fallout Mutants! Again, much cooler here than on-screen.
+★★: Last but certainly not least is the author David Gerrold (one of the great Hackosaurids). He cracked me up, and this exchange between Mutant leader Mr. Kolp and his "love interest" Mutant Alma contains his best insertion into the story (I know it's long, but I think it is worth repeating in its entirety)
"Do you know what that is?"It seriously called it "his weapon." Not "the weapon" but "his weapon." That has to be one of the silliest uses of a phallic symbol I've ever read. Just awesome!
"Of course, Mr. Kolp. it's our nuclear missile."
Kolp went up to it and stroked its shaft. "It's operational. Did you know that?" He gestured to her, and she approached timidly. He kept stroking the shaft of the missile as he reached out and took her hand. Her heart skipped a beat.
"Come closer, Alma," he whispered. She did so. "Touch it," he commanded. She extended her other hand and pressed her fingertips against the cold metal surface, then her whole palm. She began stroking the weapon in time with Kolp. The smooth steel felt so clean and strong.
"If the impossible should happen, Alma," Kolp said. "If we're defeated by the apes, I will not surrender to animals. He squeezed her hand and held it tighter. "Neither will my soldiers. If retreat seems necessary, I shall send you a coded radio signal. Fifteen minutes after you receive it, you will range this missile on Ape City and activate it."
Alma breathed throatily, "Yes, Mr. Kolp, I will. I can do it from the main control console. What will the signal be?"
Kolp looked at her carefully. "Alpha and Omega," he said slowly.
Alma repeated, "Alpha and Omega."
He nodded. "You're a good girl, Alma."
She looked at him adoringly.
And at last he noticed her. "And a pretty one too."
They were still stroking the missile. Their hands moved together across its steel skin. neither seemed to notice it any more, though. Kolp leaved forward, closer and closer, and kissed her. She kissed him back. Deeply. She stepped closer and slid her arms around his wide frame. "Alpha and Omega," she breathed. "I will be your tool."
Then and only then did Kolp take his slowly moving hand off his weapon. He pulled Alma close against him and kissed her again. And again.
So there you go. Is it crappy? Kind of, but crappy in all the ways I wanted it to be, and it was so much darn fun that I think I am going to start hunting down movie-tie-ins to all the movies I loved as a kid. Come to think of it, I think I have a copy of the original Battlestar Galactica tie-in lying around. That's moving to the top of my pile right now. ... There!
Start raiding your used book stores for trash like this, my friends. You won't regret it.
★+★+★-★+★+★★= 5 ★s
July 6, 2025
This was a great end of the original series of book. I know they restarted the whole franchise but to me these were always the classic stories. Recommended
January 7, 2015
This book was a lot of fun. I have had it sitting on my shelves for years, and just recently picked it up and started reading it. I don't know how this compares to the movie, but I like the world of The Planet of the Apes, so I will seek out more stories in this milieu to read. Sometime I am going to have to sit down with my son and start watching these movies with him from the beginning.
January 7, 2016
Before anyone says anything, I know. I know. Why did I read a novelization of one of the lesser 'Planet of the Apes' films? To be perfectly honest, I found the book for a dollar at a secondhand bookstore. I thought it was kitschy and cool, so I picked it up.
And you know what? For a novelization, it does exactly what it needs to do. It's not the best written piece I've ever read, but it does what it needs to, is fun and expands on some of the themes of the film 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes'. Nothing more, nothing less. It's the very embodiment of a summer read that I happened to pick up and plow through in the middle of winter.
And you know what? For a novelization, it does exactly what it needs to do. It's not the best written piece I've ever read, but it does what it needs to, is fun and expands on some of the themes of the film 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes'. Nothing more, nothing less. It's the very embodiment of a summer read that I happened to pick up and plow through in the middle of winter.
October 9, 2025
Easy read novelization of the movie.
September 24, 2020
Even in book form this is the weakest entry of the series. It tried it's best at showing the beginnings of the mutants and their worship of the bomb and to show how the ape society might become that which we saw in the first film. It wasn't quite successful though even though it did fix the budget limitations the movie had. It was enjoyable enough but kind of thin and dull in places. The story, that is, not the writing which was good with what he had to work with. The novel did hint at the difference of the original novel 'Monkey Planet' in which the apes take over and continue on "aping" being human and use the technology and world the humans left and the movie 'Planet of the Apes' in which the apes keep nothing of mans world no matter how beneficial it might be except for the guns. I wish the story could have focused on this plot as one of the human characters only thinks about this for just a moment. This and the race relations between the humans and the apes. Which, too often, was only given lip service and nothing deeper. I understand that the movie was made after the decision was made to movie the franchise to television and therefore was to be made more "child" friendly and set up a world that would translate to a tv show. I will say I did love the humor and action in this as a child so I guess it was successful.
January 4, 2020
I read this as a kid, living on our farm in PA. The Planet of the Apes series touched the imaginations of my brother Andy and me.
July 13, 2013
Read this as like ten or eleven and thought it was THE GREATEST PIECE OF LITERATURE EVER CREATED! Included here because the memory is so funny to me.
July 20, 2020
Taken on it's own terms, it's a pretty good post-apocalyptic adventure story. The benevolent ape leader Caesar faces the difficulty challenge of maintaining a peaceful and secure village after a nuclear war has destroyed most of the dominant human society. Vengeful mutants boil out of a devastated city, bent on revenge against the idyllic ape/human settlement. Caesar must summon all his strength and leadership abilities to repel their attack. He must also confront his peoples' and his own prejudices against the humans.
However, as a novelization of the movie Battle of the Planet of the Apes, this book shares the same major flaw as the movie. Namely, it's a absolutely terrible sequel to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. At the end of Conquest, Caesar had successfully led an uprising to free domesticated slave apes from their brutal and authoritarian human masters. The pitiless human governor Breck feared Caesar because he was the only ape capable of speech, abstract thought and strategy. Caesar proved his fears correct by striking a blow that destabilized society and eventually lead humanity to destroy itself in a nuclear war. Now, nine years later, Battle shows us a society where all apes speak, are intelligent, and have their own functioning society and culture. How the apes acquired vocal systems capable of speech and how their brains developed in nine short years is left completely unexplained! If the reader can get past this frustrating lack of explanation for a major plot point, the book is enjoyable enough otherwise.
However, as a novelization of the movie Battle of the Planet of the Apes, this book shares the same major flaw as the movie. Namely, it's a absolutely terrible sequel to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. At the end of Conquest, Caesar had successfully led an uprising to free domesticated slave apes from their brutal and authoritarian human masters. The pitiless human governor Breck feared Caesar because he was the only ape capable of speech, abstract thought and strategy. Caesar proved his fears correct by striking a blow that destabilized society and eventually lead humanity to destroy itself in a nuclear war. Now, nine years later, Battle shows us a society where all apes speak, are intelligent, and have their own functioning society and culture. How the apes acquired vocal systems capable of speech and how their brains developed in nine short years is left completely unexplained! If the reader can get past this frustrating lack of explanation for a major plot point, the book is enjoyable enough otherwise.
May 8, 2025
A fairly faithful and well-written novelization of the last of the original Planet of the Apes films. Though many consider it to be perhaps the weakest of the Apes films, I have a nostalgic fondness for it, as its the only one I got to see in a theater when it was originally released.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD: The major differences between the film and the novelization comes during and immediately after the final battle between apes and mutants. I'm guessing that the movie had to cut back on the scale of the battle from what might have been in the script--because the novel has a much more epic fight, with General Aldo (the ape bad guy) actually playing a key role in helping the apes win in the end. Also, Aldo's one-on-one fight with Caesar is longer and more complex than in the movie. My guess is the movie simplified things for budget reasons, but this is just a guess. David Gerrold is an excellent writer and might have added to the story on his own.
There's also some scenes set in the irradiated city that clearly establish the mutants have the Alpha Omega bomb (the bomb that destroys the Earth at the end of the 2nd movie) and are on a path to end up worshipping it. This puts the relatively upbeat ending up for interpretation. I always felt (though not all Ape Fans agree with me) that the movie leaned towards an optimistic ending and that the future had been changed for the better. The movie leaves the more pessimistic ending (in which Apes do as rotten a job running civilization as humans did and the Earth is destroyed) as a stronger possibility.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD: The major differences between the film and the novelization comes during and immediately after the final battle between apes and mutants. I'm guessing that the movie had to cut back on the scale of the battle from what might have been in the script--because the novel has a much more epic fight, with General Aldo (the ape bad guy) actually playing a key role in helping the apes win in the end. Also, Aldo's one-on-one fight with Caesar is longer and more complex than in the movie. My guess is the movie simplified things for budget reasons, but this is just a guess. David Gerrold is an excellent writer and might have added to the story on his own.
There's also some scenes set in the irradiated city that clearly establish the mutants have the Alpha Omega bomb (the bomb that destroys the Earth at the end of the 2nd movie) and are on a path to end up worshipping it. This puts the relatively upbeat ending up for interpretation. I always felt (though not all Ape Fans agree with me) that the movie leaned towards an optimistic ending and that the future had been changed for the better. The movie leaves the more pessimistic ending (in which Apes do as rotten a job running civilization as humans did and the Earth is destroyed) as a stronger possibility.
September 7, 2023
My 8th grade self really enjoyed this paperback; and I can remember bits and pieces of it even now. For example, a scene where some of the characters are hiding in a house with blinds drawn so they could partake in some meat-eating, which is forbidden by the apes. Also we witness the setup for the mutant civilization and their Alpha-Omega nuclear bomb-worship from Beneath The Planet of the Apes. When I originally read this, I had no concept of it having been written as a movie tie-in (I'd assumed the movie was based on an original novel). Still, just seeing the book cover instills such a sense of nostalgia of my being curled up on my bed reading it as a teen that I need to at least award it three stars.
March 25, 2022
Is there ever a good day on the planet of the apes? What would a Planet of the Apes holiday special be like?
Despite the brutal story I couldn’t stop reading this book and it made me think a lot about conflict—who do you side with and why, choices one makes in a crisis and status between people and animals. All from a 150 page movie novelization.
I found this book at Title Wave Books in Anchorage, AK. A lucky fund since someone recommended it to me recently and there it was!
Despite the brutal story I couldn’t stop reading this book and it made me think a lot about conflict—who do you side with and why, choices one makes in a crisis and status between people and animals. All from a 150 page movie novelization.
I found this book at Title Wave Books in Anchorage, AK. A lucky fund since someone recommended it to me recently and there it was!
August 3, 2017
From Award Books comes the thrilling and action-packed novelization of Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the final chapter of Twentieth Century-Fox’s groundbreaking science-fiction series. Years after the ape rebellion and nuclear apocalypse Caesar rules a small city of apes and humans who live together in peace, but he accidentally provokes the mutated inhabitants of a neighboring city to arms when he trespasses on their territory while looking for records of his parents and their prophecies of what the future holds. Unlike the film, which was hindered by budget restraints, the book is able to deliver a lot of riveting action full of intense fight sequences and chases. There’s also more about the caste system that Caesar has built, with humans as second class citizens subservient to apes. Author David Gerrold does an especially good job at writing the characters, and at creating rich visual imagery. A captivating adventure, Battle for the Planet of the Apes provides a fun and exciting conclusion to this epic saga.
July 20, 2025
A product of its time, without a doubt - yet for a film adaptation, this is remarkably well written and strikes me much more than the film did. And alarmingly prescient in its examination of the same black and white thinking and penchant for violence that plagues humankind in 2025...
April 18, 2020
A fairly miserable and again just like 'Beneath' fairly badly written entry into the Planet of the Apes movie novelizations. I never read these when I was younger, probably would've enjoyed them more but trying to enjoy them now as a jaded adult was a little more than I could achieve. I dig the comix and shall be reading more of them from time to time, but I think my deep dive into the POTA universe has come up in the shallow end. Lucky I didn't hit my head on the concrete. Thank you.
May 13, 2023
Movie was better.
August 28, 2023
Good read when I was a kid
March 7, 2024
A quick easy anti-war/discrimination read
July 21, 2025
Better book than I remember. Humans are Downtrodden, Gorillas and Mutants fight, Chimpanzees and Orangutans live; but Caesar rules! General Aldo is the main ape villain in this book.
March 20, 2024
I went thru a huge Planet of the Apes phase when I was a kid in the 70’s. Couldn’t get enough - comic books, board games, TV shows, movies, books, action figures - if there was anything to do with the talking apes universe, I had to have it. I honestly don’t remember if this book was well written, but it was based on the movie and had the apes on the cover so I bought it, I read it, and I still have it. Fun Fact: My favorite week on The 4:30 Movie was Planet of the Apes Week. I’d RUN home from school everyday that week to watch butchered 60 minute versions of all the movies. Could. Not. Get. Enough.
Read
August 23, 2008isbn,original
July 21, 2009
Novelization of the fifth Apes movie. Okay, I bought it just because of the author and to complete the set.
September 12, 2016
Acceptable time-killer for the undiscerning reader.
January 21, 2013
Read it when it was published as a movie tie-in. Liked it, liked the movie.
want-to-get
July 16, 2013Fifth in Series.
April 13, 2022
much like the film, this adaptation is my least favorite. based on the original and not final shooting script, this is just an ok adaptation.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews