'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Sequel: The Potentials of Caesar as U.S. President

Those who have the classic "Planet of the Apes" movies back in their DVD players due to the success of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" already know that the fate of America depicted in the original movies isn't pretty. Of course, this realization works much better if you've never seen the first 1968 movie. Without giving everything away, all it took was the haunting emblem of the Statue of Liberty to tell you exactly what happened to America and Earth's future so apes rose to the top of the evolutionary chain.

Then the sequel (1970's slightly inferior "Beneath the Planet of the Apes") gave away even more detail about civilization's fate when Charlton Heston's Col. Taylor accidentally went underground.

Without giving the outcome of that away, all you have to know is that Sci-Fi movies of the 1960's and 70's typically depicted the demise of civilization at the hand of weapons of mass destruction. It was the only logical and accepted conclusion for a Sci-Fi movie made during the age of the Cold War.

But while it's still a logical outcome to the demise of human civilization so a kingdom of apes can freely reign, it wouldn't be listed now as #1.

If you had to conduct a poll at the time these words go to print, the #1 threat to our own demise would probably be listed as economic disparity. A situation where so much class warfare exists, that we end up destroying ourselves through the act of burning everything down out of abject frustration. In a way, it's a slight variation on the battle between apes and humans in 1972's "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes", which was the inspiration behind "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

It's already clear from the current remake that times have changed. The nascent events leading to the dominance of our primate friends in 2011 will have to be the result of mismanagement of pharmaceutical testing on animals as well as rare, unexplained jumps in the evolutionary chain. Once past that point and into the world of an inevitable sequel, the sky should be the limit on what can happen next.

You only need an astute director for the sequel to see that the rise of Caesar the chimp in "Rise" should ascend to nothing less than the U.S. Presidency. There, he'd have to grapple with economic circumstance wrought by the United States.

Mind you, this would diverge from the classic idea of humans being directly opposed to the rise of the ape. In contrast, we'd see the rising tide of change in human beings finding it appealing that an animal has risen to our level. It would reflect much of our real world pop culture that shows anthropomorphism on a high level with animals in movies and TV shows.

We'd also see Caesar prove to the world that human intelligence has waned to the point where we can't lead ourselves. Yet if a new "Apes" sequel shows Caesar winning over the world in politics, how would he fare in a world gone mad?

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Lest you think otherwise, you still have to have a little human opposition against Caesar. A Presidential debate between the last human Presidential candidate and Caesar leaves the human in the dust. Of course, it also leads to attempts to destroy Caesar, quite literally. The volatility of politics may have gone there anyway via human to human, though the prospect of Caesar as President requires the haunting use of the Caesar bubble and Caesarmobile during the campaign.

To keep things within a modicum of reality, Caesar doesn't win in a landslide as some past Presidents have. That's because America is still within the throes of economic depression and the thrill of having anything other than a human being trying to fix it is still quelled by skepticism.

That skepticism becomes even more pronounced when Caesar places his hand on the bible during his swearing-in ceremony. Editorials from evolutionists and creationists doubt that a sense of a higher power registers with an ape. They think Caesar is merely an inferior reflection of the face of God. While this finally brings evolutionists and creationists together for the first time ever, it puts pressure on Caesar to deliver a miracle to the people to stop the intense scrutiny.

Despite having to be pent up within White House walls to protect himself and work toward his reputation, he manages to be the first President in many a moon who finds a workable solution to the economic turmoil for all economic levels. He does it under his own volition and without help from economists or cabinet members. It's this eerie perfection of intellect that sets up the inevitable plot to bring Caesar down as a demonstrable threat to the human race. Unfortunately, those who try to bring him down are D.C. insiders who want to uphold a status quo in how things run in America.

These individuals dip into the pool of apes we already saw liberated by Caesar in "Rise." Most of these apes now work in Secret Service for Caesar. But all of them are recruited by the human insiders to hunt down a female ape that can be sent to the White House as a distraction. Because Caesar is still the only single President in history since James Buchanan, primate experts say the sight of a female chimpanzee within Caesar's premises could potentially drive him wild.

A female ape is located and smuggled into the White House as a faux intern. Nevertheless, as proof that apes have expanded their intellect, Caesar keeps his swinging-from-the-trees libido in check and merely strikes up a normal relationship with the female ape. This leads to the ape royal wedding of the millennium and a massive pile of bananas brought to the White House doors by the adoring public that support Caesar.

Now that America has become a utopia due to the mind of an ape, the status quo insiders strive to bring madness back and have a strong contingent of followers who follow suit. A group of them become a domestic terrorist organization and decide to not set off a bomb, but rather create a device that forwards global warming as retaliation for not getting what they want.

Here you have the real explanation for the famous Statue of Liberty scene at the end of 1968's "The Planet of the Apes."

Of course, Caesar and his wife (Zira as a nod to the original movie) have a child. True to form, he'll be named Milo. The final scene will show him becoming supreme leader of what's left of the world at age 18 after the Presidency itself is dissolved.

A new shocking ending for a new generation of "Ape" movie fans will become a catchphrase:

"The U.S. Presidency: So Troubled, Even an Ape Doesn't Want It."