“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”

Apes run the planet and humans are the lower species. Think you are familiar with “The Planet of the Apes?” You only know half of the story.

Pierre Boulle, author of “The Bridge over the River Kwai,” wrote “Planet of the Apes” as a social fantasy.

“La Planete des Singes,” or “Monkey Planet” in English, was considered by Boulle to be one of his lesser works.

When the movie rights to his novel were purchased, Boulle believed that the big screen version was doomed to fail.

As we now know, “Planet of the Apes” did not fail. Six movies, two television series, comic books and merchandising have turned this franchise into a phenomenon.

However, the men who land on this ape-run planet do not find a half-buried Statue of Liberty. Charlton Heston’s famous line, “Damn them all to Hell!” does not appear in the novel.

Boulle’s story follows the exploits of Ulysse Merou, a French journalist, who is taking part in a new type of space travel. The planet Merou and his crew land on resembles Earth, but this planet is not Earth.

Soon after landing, the crew members are separated and Merou is captured and brought to Dr. Zira, a chimpanzee that studies animals.

The novel details many tests and treatments that one would associate with the psychological experiments performed on animals during the ’50s and ’60s.

The apes do not speak English, but neither does Merou. Merou over time is able to learn the Simian language and then is able to teach French to Dr. Zira. This struggle over the language barrier plays out in the novel as an example of cultural boundaries we still face today.

Boulle set out to write a social commentary that would make a person look back at his or her own life. After reading this story one should realize that at times we treat other cultures like unsophisticated animals.

Hollywood’s 1968 movie focused on evolution versus creation. The ape rulers wanted to believe God created them, while other scientists believed they were evolved from humans.

Boulle used his novel for more important commentaries. He focused heavily on the stupidity of some ruling governments. He also made a point about how we treat animals and other natural resources.

“Planet of the Apes” as a novel is a classic. It is a powerfully written narrative that forces the reader to rethink his or her own point of view.

Boulle’s backward society that allows apes to rule over humans still has as much value today as it did when first published in 1963.