While taking shelter in a village notorious for offering fugitives sanctuary, Virdon notices some of the children playing with circuitry or whatever. Of course, he hopes to follow the wiring to a super-computer, but Burke wants to hit the road. That leaves Galen to break the tie. Being a naturally curious and adventurous chimpanzee, he sagely observes: “an unanswered question is a very difficult thing to live with.”
That is a good line and in general, this is a well written episode (by Edward J. Lakso). Initially, Urko has the jump on the three inter-species fugitives, but an after shock causes a cave-in, trapping Burke and Urko inside a subway station. The apes and humans above and below must work together to rescue them before their air expires, but the gorillas frequently violate the truces they agree to.
The previous two episodes were hard on humans. However, “The Trap” shows apes behaving in ways they like to ascribe to humans. We start to get the idea human nature, in all its ugly manifestations, has nothing to do with the relative hair on your body. Rather, it is all about how those on the top of the food chain conduct themselves.
Frankly, the abandoned San Francisco does not look very much like San Francisco. The fight choreography, especially the astronauts’ dubious flying kicks, have not aged well either. However, this episode explores the fundamental themes of the franchise as well as any of the films.
“The Trap” holds up as well as any episode of some of the most enduring sf series. Yet, Nielsen families were watching Sanford & Son and Chico & the Man instead. It is a shame it isn’t easier to rediscover the series because Disney still isn’t offering it for streaming on any platform. Highly recommended on DVD, “The Trap” first aired fifty years ago, on this very day.
