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.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
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Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
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George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
Trivia: Taylor's first name, George, is never mentioned in the film. He is referred to only as "Taylor."
Question: Since World War 3 was the cause of the nuclear devastation, as evidenced in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, how is it that Dr. Zaius doesn't know the full story of the rise of the apes over the humans? Wouldn't the story be passed down?
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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