Planet of the Apes

Character mistake: A space traveler would not be "going to Orion." The major stars in Orion vary in distance from the earth from 243 to 1,360 light years. Orion is only a constellation as visible from Earth; once you get away that far, the stars would not be in the same alignment as they are from Earth. They would have been going to a specific star, probably Bellatrix at 243 light years, as Taylor mentions being at 320 light years.

apolloguy

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Suggested correction: I'm not sure what scene you're referring to, but I never heard anyone say they went to Orion. Taylor says they're on a "planet in orbit around a star in the constellation of Orion. That could be Bellatrix." To Taylor, who is from Earth, the star is still in the constellation of Orion.

Bishop73

I agree with your take, but I still think it could be interpreted as Orion's stars all being in close proximity. And I would hope they would know about the 320 - 243 light year issue.

apolloguy

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Mistakes

Revealing mistake: Most of the posed, fake displays in the ape's Museum of Natural History contain real people who are slightly moving if one pays careful attention. Especially noticeable are those posing with objects held in - or above - their hands.

Hans Deutsch

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Quotes

George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

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Trivia

Trivia: To help keep Heston from hurting his feet when running, he was fitted with rubber soles molded to look like bare feet.

Nicki

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Questions

Question: What caused the original nuclear devastation depicted in the movie?

Socks1000

Answer: I think that this is meant to be a mystery. Taylor/Charlton Heston, an astronaut, leaves a world set somewhat in the future after 1968 (when the movie was made) but still recognisable to cinema-goers at the time, to travel through a "time vortex" to arrive in a world in a distant future, which has changed beyond recognition. Taylor meets the orangutan Zaius/Maurice Evans, and Zaius hints that he has some idea of what had happened, but Zaius' knowledge is either limited, or else Zaius is not going to tell Taylor (or his fellow apes) the full story. At the end of the movie Taylor discovers that, at some point between his leaving his own time and arriving in the "Planet Of The Apes", the world had been devastated by a nuclear war, but I think that the exact time, causes of, and course of this nuclear war are deliberately left as a mystery. Sometimes I think a bit of unresolved mystery actually improves a story, and I think this is the case here.

Rob Halliday

Chosen answer: World War III.

Grumpy Scot

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