Planet of the Apes

Other mistake: Taylor believes he is on a planet 300 light-years from earth for most of the movie. However, after spending months there, he would have seen the moon at night a number of times, letting him know where he really was before seeing the Statue of Liberty.

Mike Lynch

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Suggested correction: Not necessarily; any astronaut knows that many, many planets have moons, so Taylor could have easily thought that it was simply an odd coincidence that the "other" planet's moon closely resembled Earth's moon.

zendaddy621

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

Continuity mistake: The first exterior shots of the spacecraft in the desert lake show the spaceship's hatch door already gone... before the astronauts blow it off with an explosive charge minutes later in the movie.

More mistakes in Planet of the Apes

Dr. Zaius: Don't go looking for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.

More quotes from Planet of the Apes

Trivia: During breaks, the ape makeup couldn't be removed. It is interesting to note that the chimps naturally hung out with other chimps during breaks, the gorillas natually hung out with other gorillas, and the orangutans naturally hung out with other orangutans.

More trivia for Planet of the Apes

Chosen answer: Dr. Zaius did know the true history of man and ape, but he deliberately hid the truth from the other apes. For Zaius (and other high-ranking apes who were guarding the secret), it would be shameful and demoralizing to ever admit that humans were far superior to apes in the past and that they could, potentially, conquer the apes. In more than one scene (such as the paper airplane scene in the first film), we see Zaius obviously frustrated that Taylor's very existence threatens to expose the truth.

Charles Austin Miller

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