Talk:Circular vs Linear Timelines

Dehn v Corringtons

This may be a more constructive place to iron out any differences concerning this page.

My concern when first writing this article was to present both sides of the argument without favouring one over the other. Most fans have their own very definite opinions on the matter, but I still think it's important not to lean too heavily towards one side - better to present both arguments and let readers decide for themselves. With hindsight, I've probably allowed my own opinions come through the piece in places, so you're right to call me out on that.

We have disagreed on the roles of Dehn and the Corringtons in the final script of 'Battle', probably the weakest of the films in any case. I have enormous respect for Paul Dehn, but any information I have tried to present is based entirely on having read all the available script versions for the fifth film, which show a clear progression. Paul Dehn wrote the first story outline, which has little relation to the final film. This was followed by the Corringtons writing the outline ('Epic') which closely resembles the film. I must concede that the Caesar statue does not appear in the Corringtons' draft, but - with the exception of Caesar's death onscreen - the scenes and dialogue explicitly written by the Corringtons survive largely intact in the final film. Based on the evidence, it is just not credible to state that Dehn made anything more than cosmetic changes to the Corringtons' draft script, unless the available script revisions are somehow wrong or fake.

I seriously mean no disrespect to you or to the expert authors of Planet of the Apes books, but I would appreciate an explanation of how the Corringtons' draft script ([1]) was significantly altered by Dehn (or anyone else) in any substantial way.

That said, I'm very tired of arguing back-and-forth about this, so I will eventually give up. It would be great if we could come to some agreed wording first though.

MagicManky 20:53, August 20, 2015 (UTC)

I would suggest that you re-read the book 'Planet of the Apes Revisited'. Specifically, page 211 which makes clear that the Corringtons' were released and Dehn brought back to do the final rewrite, that Dehn rewrote all the dialogue and that Dehn came up with the statue for the ending, not the Corringtons. The site you linked to only contains the treatments and the final draft of the screenplay. It doesn't include any previous drafts of the script to compare, so it is impossible to make any judgments between the Corringtons' draft and the final one written by Dehn. Chris Russo who wrote the 'Revisited' book had access to all the drafts and background materials so it is the best source available.