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Which one's this? Number nine?"
"Yeah, this is number nine. Bright Eyes, we call her. Are you watching this? This is unbelievable.
Will Rodman and Robert Franklin

Bright Eyes was an evolved female chimpanzee. She was also the mate of Alpha, the biological mother of Caesar, the mother-in-law of Cornelia, and the grandmother of Blue Eyes and Cornelius.

Biography

Early Life

Bright Eyes was a wild chimpanzee who lived in the West African Jungle, along with her mate Alpha and the rest of her troop. While she marched through the undergrowth with the rest of her kind, a flock of birds scattered in the skies above, startling the chimps into a sudden halt, before they were ambushed by attacking poachers. She managed to escape some traps that caught some of her pack, but eventually fell into a trap and was captured. While the poachers were taking her away, she screamed (possibly a scream of help) to a few chimps in her pack that avoided capture and was shipped to Gen-Sys Laboratories in San Francisco for experimental research.

Captivity

Other chimps held at the facility included Lorelei, Chambers, Burke and Verdon. Bright Eyes - officially "Chimp #9" - was given the ALZ-112 drug which increased her mental capabilities. A military-sanctioned "variant" of the drug was administered to Burke and Verdon, the latter of whom was later shot attempting to escape. Bright Eyes soon learned how to escape her lab cell and venture outside before returning undetected.[1]

Final Days & Death

Two months later, Bright Eyes was in an isolated room under the care of chimp handler Robert Franklin, solving the Lucas Tower in twenty moves on camera. After eating a grape from Franklin, Bright Eyes turned the tower around to solve it again. At that moment, scientist Will Rodman walked in to see the progress, which Bright Eyes demonstrated her ability to solve it in twenty moves, which was close to Will's hypothesis of solving it in fifteen moves.

After Franklin sent a copy of the recorded video to Will's file, Bright Eyes was sent back to her cell next to twelve other chimpanzees. In her cage, Bright Eyes laid underneath her bench beside her infant son, who, she'd given birth secretly to the day before and concealed him with a red blanket. Franklin's co-worker Donnie Thompson attempted to prepare Bright Eyes for Will's meeting with the Gen-Sys Board, but she wouldn't budge and hissed at Donnie to leave, which was a response from her maternal instinct to protect her baby. As Donnie unlocked and opened the door, Bright Eyes viciously closed it and grabbed Donnie's arm as he opened the slot to grab her. Bright Eyes kept pulling on Donnie's arm as Franklin grabbed him and told Bright Eyes to let go, which she did and returned to the space under her bench, hissing once more to ward off the humans.

Minutes later, Bright Eyes spotted her favorite drink resting on the tray, a trap set by Franklin and Donnie, who was holding a catch pole and standing close by. Tempted, Bright Eyes moved closer to grab the drink until Franklin opened the door and Donnie attempted to put the leash around her neck. Bright Eyes grabbed the stick and was pulled out of her cell, angering her enough to disarm Donnie and shoved Franklin aside to open the door, but she didn't know the combination to the number pad. As Donnie attempted to place the leash around her neck again, Bright Eyes' anger rose and she tackled Donnie before spotting Franklin loading some kind of makeshift gun. Sensing imminent danger, Bright Eyes ran out of the lab and into the hallway, screeching and bumping into every object in her way.

Bright Eye made her way through to the front lobby, frightening every human she ran into. Jumping from each table, Bright Eyes crashed through a window, which led into the room of Will and Steven Jacobs' meeting with the board. Landing on the center table, Bright Eyes screeched at the retreating board members and turned to Will before she was shot multiple times by a security guard. As Will's protests failed, Bright Eyes fell on her back and died, her lifeless body laying flat on the table as her blood oozed out.

Legacy

In 2016, eight years after Bright Eyes' death, her son Caesar led an Ape Rebellion and founded his own colony of apes, becoming their king in the process. In the ten years after the rebellion, Bright Eyes' grandson Blue Eyes, was possibly partially named in honor of his late biological paternal grandmother, and a second grandson named Cornelius was born some eighteen years later.

Abilities

  • High-Level Intellect: After she was exposed to the ALZ-112 at Gen-Sys Laboratories, Bright Eyes became much more intelligent than a normal ape, a trait that was later passed on to her own son, Caesar. It was unknown how much her advanced intelligence and IQ had increased.
  • Animal Strength: Like all chimpanzees, Bright Eyes was very strong.
  • Animal Speed: Like all chimpanzees, Bright Eyes was amazingly fast.
  • Animal Reflexes: Like all chimpanzees, Bright Eyes had incredible reflexes.

Notes

  • Rodman tells the Gen-Sys Board that Bright Eyes was given her name because of the green flecks that appeared in her irises after exposure to the drug.
  • Bright Eyes was the name initially given to George Taylor by Dr. Zira in the original Planet of the Apes movie, again because of his unusual blue eyes.
  • An earlier version of the script gave Bright Eyes' official Gen-Sys designation as "Female Test Subject #4". The same script named other apes at Gen-Sys Laboratories - Felix, Bam Bam, Monty and Lucky - with Lucky the ape who goes on a rampage and is shot by a guard named Len (or "Guard #1"), and Bright Eyes euthenized with the remaining apes.
  • Bright Eyes' information tag shows the year of birth as 1997.
  • Bright Eyes was the first of two female apes seen and mentioned in Rise. The second being Cornelia, the wife of her son, Caesar.
  • In the international trailer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Bright Eyes is replaced by her son Caesar during Will's lecture.
  • In one deleted scene on the Blu-ray release, Bright Eyes bears witness to the death of Alpha as he is shot by the hunters while chasing after them trying to rescue her. The same footage of her sad howling and tearful glancing is used when watching his death.

Image Gallery

References

Planet of the Apes - Chernin Entertainment Series
Planet of the Apes (CE) Movies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | War for the Planet of the Apes | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Main Evolved Ape Characters
Caesar | Bright Eyes | Koba | Maurice | Rocket | Buck | Cornelia | Blue Eyes | Luca | Ash | Cornelius | Winter | Lake | Bad Ape | Red | Noa | Soona | Anaya | Raka | Koro | Proximus Caesar | Coastal Ape Colony Gorilla
Supporting Ape Characters
Alpha | Burke | Verdon | Tinker | Grey | Stone | Andy | Wolfie | Jeanpierre | Lucky | Koba's Mother | Sparrow | Pope | Fifer | Cora | Rex | Bon | Dallas | Milo | Herman | Spear | Ajax | Oak | Fox | Aghoo | Ursus | Percy | Beardface | Armando
Main Human Characters
Will Rodman | Charles Rodman | Caroline Aranha | Robert Franklin | Steven Jacobs | Dodge Landon | John Landon | Douglas Hunsiker | Malcolm | Ellie | Alexander | Dreyfus | Carver | Foster | Colonel McCullough | Nova | Mae
Supporting Human Characters
Rodney | John Hamil | Rita | Sarah | Maddy | John | Edward | Roger Mason | Werner | Kemp | Clancy Stoppard | Corbin | Daniel Nygun | David Flynn | Finney | Kuo | Malakai Youmans | Max (Firestorm) | McVeigh | Terry | Roger | Rod Wilson | Preacher | Boyle | Lang | Travis
Families
Rodman Family | Caesar's Family | Malcolm's Family | Rocket's Family | Dreyfus' Family
Animals
Horse | Elk | Grizzly Bear | Eagle
Items / Weapons
Simian Flu
Important Events / Battles
Ape Rebellion | Human-Ape War | Simian Flu Pandemic | Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge | Battle in San Francisco | Battle of Muir Woods Park | Attack on Ape Waterfall | Battle of the Border
Organizations / Colonies / Companies
San Francisco Ape Colony | Caesar's Council of Apes | Caesar's Ape Army | Gen-Sys Board | San Francisco's Human Colony | Dreyfus' Human Army | Malcolm's Group | Alpha-Omega | Donkeys | Florida Ape Colony | Rocky Mountains Ape Colony | Eagle Clan | Coastal Ape Colony
Locations
West African Jungle | San Francisco | San Francisco Zoo | Gen-Sys Laboratories | Rodman House | San Bruno Primate Shelter | Golden Gate Bridge | Muir Woods Park | Ape Mountain | Ape Gate | Ape Village | Caesar's Home | Warehouse | Ape Waterfall | The Border | Oasis
Comics
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (webcomic) | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Contagion | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios) | Before the Dawn | War for the Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios) | Planet of the Apes: The Time of Man | Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age | Planet of the Apes: Devolution
Novels
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Official Movie Novelization | War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations | War for the Planet of the Apes - Official Movie Novelization | Caesar’s Story
Other Books
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Art of the Films
Soundtracks
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album) | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album) | War for the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album)
Video Games
Plague Inc: Simian Flu | Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier | Crisis on the Planet of the Apes VR
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