When Does Planet Of The Apes Take Place
Ever watched Planet of the Apes and scratched your head wondering, "Wait, when exactly ARE we?" You're not alone! Figuring out the timeline of this classic franchise is trickier than teaching a chimpanzee to parallel park.
The Original 1968 Film: A Distant... Future?
Let's start with the movie that started it all, the OG Planet of the Apes from 1968. The story kicks off with our astronaut hero, George Taylor, and his crew rocketing through space. Their mission log says they're traveling near the speed of light and that it is the year 3978.
Upon landing on the ape-inhabited planet, Taylor guesses it's maybe a thousand years or so after his time. But hold on to your hats because the film doesn't give us much else to go on when it comes to specifics!
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Timey-Wimey Stuff and the Speed of Light
Here's where things get a bit wonky. The film mentions relativistic time dilation, which is a fancy science term meaning time can pass differently for people traveling at different speeds.
So, while only a few years might have passed for Taylor and his crew, hundreds or even thousands of years could have zipped by back on Earth. Imagine putting a pizza in the oven and coming back... a millennium later!
Beneath the Planet of the Apes: The Doomsday Clock
Okay, so the sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, picks up right where the first one ends. It introduces a new astronaut, Brent, who follows Taylor's path through space and time.
Beneath doesn't give us many new clues about the overall timeline. Instead, it focuses on the underground city of mutants and, let's face it, blowing everything up with a doomsday bomb. A classic ending that clears out the timeline for any potential new adventures.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes: A Trip Back to the '70s!
Now, this is where things get REALLY interesting. Escape from the Planet of the Apes throws a major curveball by sending Cornelius and Zira back in time to... 1973!
Think about it: talking apes suddenly appearing in the middle of the Nixon era? It's like your grandma accidentally walking into a rave. Hilarious and definitely confusing for those involved.
Conquest of and Battle for the Planet of the Apes: Setting Up the Future
The subsequent films, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, show us how Caesar, the son of Cornelius and Zira, leads the ape rebellion. This eventually sets the stage for the ape-dominated world we see in the first movie.
Conquest is set in the then-future year of 1991, and Battle takes place about a decade later. But since the timeline gets altered with time travel, they still happen before the initial movie.
The Tim Burton Remake and the Reboot Trilogy: Fresh Takes on the Ape World
Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes is more of a reimagining, with astronaut Leo Davidson crash-landing on a planet ruled by apes. This one is hard to place, as the rules are different. Let's just say it involves a time-space anomaly and leave it at that!
The reboot trilogy – Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes – offers a modern retelling of Caesar's rise to power. Rise begins in 2011, and the trilogy shows the gradual shift toward ape dominance.
The latest film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, supposedly takes place roughly 300 years after Caesar’s death, setting it much further in the future than the other films in the reboot timeline.
So, When Does Planet of the Apes REALLY Take Place?
The answer? It depends! The Planet of the Apes timeline is like a bowl of spaghetti – tangled, messy, and ultimately delicious.
From the far-flung future of the original film to the altered timelines created by time travel, and finally the modern setting of the reboots, there's no single answer. Instead, embrace the chaos and enjoy the wild ride!
