Nova (APJ)
From The Sacred Scrolls
| Nova | |
 | |
| Actor | Linda Harrison |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Human |
| Born | 3956[1] |
| Died | 3979? (Brent's chronometer read 3955) |
| Continuity | Movies |
| Appearances | |
| First Appearance: Planet of the Apes
Last Appearance: Beneath the Planet of the Apes | |
- "TAY-LOR!"
- --Nova
In Planet of the Apes, Nova was a beautiful (and ultimately tragic) primitive and mute human girl, one of the first inhabitants of the new planet that the astronauts encountered, who was captured by the apes as her tribe was raiding their crops. American astronaut George Taylor was also captured. They were taken to Ape City where she was used by Dr Galen for a blood transfusion to Taylor after he had been shot. Dr. Zira noticed the attraction between the two and permited them to share a cell. Taylor, having been shot through the throat by a gorilla, was unable to speak, but when his speech returned he befriended the chimpanzees Zira and Dr. Cornelius. When they and Lucius eventually organised Taylor's escape, he insisted on Nova coming with them to the Forbidden Zone where Taylor learned the truth about the planet. In her contact with rational humans, Nova made tremendous learning progress.
In the sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Nova and Taylor journeyed through the Forbidden Zone where Taylor mysteriously disappeared and was captured by mutants. Nova wandered the Forbidden Zone until she fortuitously found the wreckage of Brent's ship; Brent had arrived on the planet in search of Taylor. Brent was brought by Nova to Zira and Cornelius in Ape City, but they were captured and held prisoner. Escaping, they headed for the Forbidden Zone where they discovered that beneath the surface of the planet was a forgotten city, peopled by mutants who worshiped a massive nuclear bomb. Under the mutant's mind control, Brent attempted to drown Nova. Later, as Brent and Taylor stood in a cell, she watched in horror as the two men, under the mutant's control, tried to kill each other. Fearing for the lives of her friend and the man she loves, she spoke for the first time, crying out Taylor's name. The sound of her voice broke the mutant's mind control and freed Brent and Taylor. As she was reunited with Taylor and the three broke out, a gorilla shot and killed Nova before he could be subdued. The film ended with Taylor detonating the bomb, destroying the planet.
[edit] Notes
- Originally, Nova was to mirror her namesake from the original novel by bearing Taylor's child: "In the penultimate drafts of 'PLANET OF THE APES', Nova (Linda Harrison) was pregnant With Taylor's (Charlton Heston) child. In this version, Taylor was killed by the bullet of an ape sniper just after he sees the Statue of Liberty. But Nova escapes, vanishing into the Forbidden Zone beyond the Statue of Liberty. The meaning is clear: if her unborn child is a male and grows to manhood, the species will survive. If not, modern man becomes extinct. Such an ending left open the possibility of a sequel long before sequels were discussed. Nova's pregnancy was deleted from the film, I'm told, at the insistence of a high-echelon Fox executive who found it distasteful. I suppose that if one defines the mute Nova as merely 'humanoid' and not actually human, it would mean that Taylor had committed sodomy." - Michael Wilson[2] A scene was included when Marvel Comics adapted the movie from the original script, but had the dialogue altered. However, the following year the strips were re-printed in colour in Marvel's Adventures on the Planet of the Apes comics with the original 'pregnancy' dialogue restored, probably by mistake.
[edit] Trivia
- 'Bond girl' Ursula Andress was originally considered for the role of Nova.
[edit] Appearances
- Planet of the Apes
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Comic Book)
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Novelization)
- Planet of the Apes (Power Records)
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Power Records)
- Planet of the Apes Magazine: Planet of the Apes
- Planet of the Apes Magazine: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
- Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Planet of the Apes
- Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
