Episode #07 - The Surgeon

Air Date: 10/25/74 / Production #B-509 written by Barry Oringer Directed by Arnold Laven

Virdon is shot by a gorilla soldier and requires surgery. For surgery, one requires a surgeon. Of course, there are no human surgeons, but Galen happens to know a female chimpanzee surgeon (Jacqueline Scott), an old flame of his. It's dicey - she regards Galen as an outlaw fugitive like all law-abiding apes do, but either her medical ethics or personal relationship with Galen compels her to give aid (maybe a bit of both). The plan is for Galen to act out the part of a visiting doctor friend, with Burke & Virdon as his trained orderlies; Virdon, of course, has been injured somehow. There are potential problems with not only another chimp surgeon (Martin Brooks), but also with one of the human servants (Michael Strong), who seems suspicious of the newcomers. Humans have strange, primitive customs in this time; the human's daughter (Jamie Smith Jackson) is some kind of a pariah, mistreated by the other humans. The biggest problem, however, may be that there are no instructions for operating on a human, even with the top ape surgeons. Or, are there..?

This episode finally made use of one of Galen's many acquaintances, mentioned in the first episode. It gives Galen a little backstory, small as it is. The big theme, as with most POTA episodes, is the confrontation with superstition, with the unknown. It works on two levels here: the obvious one is with the humans in this episode, in regard to their attitude about scientific principles such as compatible blood. Having no knowledge of even these basics, their attitudes are primitive, severe, a belief system based on fear and blame. However, even the apes lack certain knowledge that we take for granted, in regard to a blood transfusion. Their attitude is more about skepticism, but there is fear there, as well, especially in regard to an old book and how it may represent the downfall of their society (btw, this book is in very good shape for a book at least several hundred years old). The trio of fugitives leave behind them a small group of apes and humans who are suddenly much more enlightened. But, will this spread to other sections of the society or remain localized? This episode is a notch above most others, mostly for the unexpected behavior in some key guest characters. BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

Trivia of the Apes: Martin Brooks would soon start playing another physician in The Six Million Dollar Man series.
Star Trek TOS actor alert: Michael Strong appeared in the episode What Are Little Girls Made of? as Dr. Korby