Answer: Cornelius, Caesar, and Galen respectively. It can be a little difficult to tell these characters apart as each was played by the richly talented Roddy McDowall, and to confuse things further, two were supposed to be related. But here are some hints on how to make the distinction in still shots:

• Cornelius -- Eyes are shadowed to appear deepset; face is broad through the mouth area; slight 'forehead' above the brow ridges; hair/beard is either short and almost prickly looking or smoothed with longish sides and is brownish-black.
• Caesar -- Like his father, Cornelius, but with more 'forehead' above the brow ridges, a darker complexion, and his beard is fanned and long.
• Galen -- No shadowing around the eyes; little or no 'forehead' above the brow ridges; a deeper cheek dart slims the mouth area; hair/beard is nearly black and usually forms a tidy oval around the face.
  
  All three appear in similar chimpanzee clothing, the only real difference being the wearing of glyph patches. If there are no glyphs on the sleeves or collar, it's Galen.

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Roddy McDowall and Ron Harper were already on board for the TV series when James Naughton tested for the part of Pete Burke. It's said that he and Roddy became fast friends within the first few days on the set.

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The opening titles to the TV series show the onboard chronometer in Virdon and Burke's spaceship counting up to June 14, 3085 as their landing date. In the first episode, however, Virdon checks the chronometer and it reads 03.21.3085 – March 21, 3085.

In a special 1999 edition of Apesfan, Patrick M. Tilton presents an interesting explanation for this date discrepancy (and others), involving black holes and wormholes. Having no affinity for numbers myself, I can only say it's a good thing there are people like Patrick out there to keep screenwriters honest!

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Ron Harper's natural brown hair was dyed blond for his role as Alan Virdon.

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There were in fact 14 episodes filmed for the TV series before it was cancelled, but # 1.13, "The Liberator", never aired in the U.S. It did air in the United Kingdom, however, and can still be caught in rerun on the UK Sci-Fi Channel. All 14 complete episodes are also available on DVD (Region 1 only) at the following online shops:

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Like Taylor and his shipmates, Virdon and Burke wore ANSA patches on their spacesuits, not NASA. GOAPEBILLY explains, "Apparently when the original [film] was being made they asked NASA for permission to use the logo and were denied, because NASA felt that a movie with apes was gonna be a joke as many were in the past and felt it would hurt their image." Hindsight is 20/20, eh?

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Recognize this face? It's Canadian actor Marc Singer, perhaps most widely known for his role as freedom-fighter Mike Donovan in the 80s TV series "V". Marc began his fight for humankind long before that, appearing as Dalton in the "Planet of the Apes" TV series episode "The Gladiators" (# 1.2) (pictured).

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Roddy McDowall had two roles in the Ape films. He appeared as Cornelius in "Planet of the Apes" and "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", and as Caesar in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" and "Battle for the Planet of the Apes". (Actor David Watson played Cornelius in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" because Roddy was directing a film in London at the time.) The third chimp Roddy portrayed was Galen, an entirely new character created for the TV series, who lived some 870 years prior to Cornelius and the events of the first film.

So was Galen distantly related to Cornelius and Caesar? That wasn't the intention. But with the timeline being what it is, anything is possible.

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Here's another face worth remembering: Zina Bethune, who appeared as Arn in the episode "The Legacy" (# 1.5) (pictured). A versatile performer, Ms. Bethune is actually most celebrated as a ballet dancer and choreographer. She runs her own ballet company, Theatredanse, and also created and oversees Dance Outreach, a program for disabled children. You can find out more on the Theatredanse Website.

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If we had known in the 60s what we know now about our primate cousins, the entire look of the Apes saga might have been different. Remember Zira's words from "Escape"?

Over the intervening years, the late Dian Fossey's research found that gorillas aren't the brutal beasts they were once believed to be. Gorillas tend to be shy and gentle creatures with a surprising intellect (witness Koko, the signing gorilla), and a diet almost completely comprised of leaves and roots.

Meanwhile, Jane Goodall's research into chimpanzees has revealed a stunningly aggressive side to their nature: chimps are now known to hunt for and eat small baboons and antelope as part of their diet in the wild (so much for chimps being vegetarians); and for reasons that aren't yet clear, males will occasionally go on raiding parties into the territories of other chimpanzee troops and violently assault any solitary members they find, sometimes killing them.

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Like man's ancestors, chimps make and use simple tools and display many human gestures such as hugging, kissing, and hand-holding. Then there are the bonobos, a subspecies of chimpanzee whose facial expressions, upright walk and sexual escapades are astonishingly human-like.

But maybe these similarities shouldn't surprise us. DNA research has determined that chimpanzees and bonobos are man's closest living genetic relatives, and vice versa: our genomes are 98.4⁺% the same. Chimps and bonobos actually share more DNA material in common with humans than with gorillas and orangutans!

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Due to poaching, illegal trade, and the destruction of natural habitats, chimpanzees and bonobos have joined orangutans and gorillas on the list of endangered species.