I took the ending as....


It looks like Captain Leo Davidson would have had to travel through the time storm and go into the past BEFORE the Space Station crashed on Earth and prevented the uprising but, instead, he traveled to the current time's future where Thade got control back and became the hero. The only thing that throws me is that the ships time clock shows him going back in time, not ahead. Any thoughts?

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One thought: it wasn't Earth that the space station crashed on. Notice that the planet has more than one moon and it revolves around a binary star system.

Basically, the time hole that Leo went through went between our Solar System in 2029 and to the planet that he landed on (named Ashlar in official publications that spun off from the film) in 5021. Pericles goes through the hole first, Leo follows, then the Oberon (the space station) follows Leo to rescue him. When they arrive on the other side of the hole onto the new planet, things are reversed: first it's the Oberon and its human and ape occupants who crash on the new planet's surface, then Leo arrives some thousands of years later, then Pericles follows a couple of days afterwards. The hole allows for travel between our Solar System and "Ashlar" or vice versa, but not from Earth to Earth or "Ashlar" to "Ashlar", so what you propose wouldn't have worked with the film's *ahem* logic.

Thing is, Leo thought that by going in the hole he'd get back to Earth during the time that he left, he didn't think that the apes would be running the show there when he arrived. He didn't know that Thade managed to overcome his situation back on "Ashlar" and followed him, and even then he wouldn't have worked out that he'd have changed things on Earth to the extent that they changed. See, he goes back first, but Thade follows him later on and arrives on Earth way before Leo does, causing changes (forget the arguments about how the hell he managed that or that he managed to fix a pod and fly it ;) ).

Another thing, your suggestion that he went forwards in time (despite the ship's clock showing otherwise) and was always on Earth, doesn't tie in with the official explanation of the film, which says that Leo came back to Earth in his original time after his visit to that other planet. There was an officially produced card in the DVDs that explained this: http://media.photobucket.com/user/maxflier/media/Document.jpg.html?fil ters[term]=planet%20of%20the%20apes%20dvd%20insert&filters[primary ]=images

More about the plot here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%282001_film%29#Plot

Hmm... you're still reading this, right? I do tend to waffle on and on now and then. ;)

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Yep, read all of your post. I forgot that Leo wasn't on Earth. I thought that the space station went back in OUR time, taught chimps in our past resulting in them overthrowing us in our primitive times.

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It's not too hard to believe Thade fixed the pod and followed, that's what happened in the old series with Escape, they just happened to fix the old space ship and escape before the bomb when off. lol We accepted it then, we can accept it now I guess.

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It's not too hard to believe Thade fixed the pod and followed, that's what happened in the old series with Escape, they just happened to fix the old space ship and escape before the bomb when off. lol We accepted it then, we can accept it now I guess.


Well, I have argued that sort of thing myself in the past elsewhere in IMDb's PotA threads. If you're willing to believe that Milo fixed the ship and flew it back to 1970s Earth in Escape, then it's not too hard a stretch that Thade could do it in Burton's film. Now, personally, both what happened in Escape and this film in relation to fixing ships and flying them, as well as going back in time, is way beyond stretching point, but then one can choose to just go along with it and give the story a chance (suspension of disbelief, etc). Then again, I really liked Escape and can easily forgive it, while although I enjoyed this film to some extent, such issues tend to stick out a bit more. Still, yeah, you're right: what's good for Escape can be just as good in this film.

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I'm not a huge fan of Escape, (I like conquest) but things like this I can just accept.. I can from the nation that created Doctor Who, so we kinda grew up on impossible things happening because it just needs to happen to keep the story going. lol

It's more plausible in this remake because Thade and others could have years to fix it, understand it while in Escape they don't because the planet is about to blow up, Even if it took Thade 10 years it wouldn't matter too much.

But on both occasions, the remake and Escape it was pretty much written on the spot, as a last minute fix.

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I can from the nation that created Doctor Who, so we kinda grew up on impossible things happening because it just needs to happen to keep the story going. lol


Hi, fellow Brit. Yeah, just to make it clear, in case I haven't already, but I'm fine with the impossible, as long as the story can justify it and is good enough to warrant it. In the case of PotA, the power of the story overwhelms any need to nitpick it. That's not to say that I don't enjoy picking PotA apart, for that's just for fun rather than to damn the films, which I think are, mostly, great.

It's more plausible in this remake because Thade and others could have years to fix it, understand it while in Escape they don't because the planet is about to blow up, Even if it took Thade 10 years it wouldn't matter too much.


Actually, I didn't consider that, and you make a good point. It's still in the realm of impossible, but less over the line when you think about it that way.

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picking apart anything is good fun, even films you like. I always like to put what happens on screen into some kind of context. I can believe Thade repaired the pod and escaped, or there was another, nobody really inspect the ruins too closely, the apes kept away from it until Leo turned up, and he didn't search the place.


Maybe the ship in escape wasn't as badly damaged, and the crew jumped the gun. I don't recall them having the time to inspect the ship to closely, so I guess there was always wriggle room with that idea.

But Rise was a great, and Dawn looks awesome and it's exciting seeing a new proper ape saga under way.

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with Escape, they just happened to fix the old space ship and escape before the bomb when off. lol We accepted it then,

Well...I only accepted it in Escape because I was a kid watching it. You could have sold me the entire country of Panama for a snickers bar at that age. :) But as soon as I acquired some reason...I kinda picked apart the whole Milo finding, salvaging and fixing the Icarus capsule in the film time frame from the 3 astronauts crashing (in 1st film) to Taylor activating the Alpha/Omega missile in Beneath. looks like a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months if you really want to be conservative. Even so, the time frame would have to actually start after Taylor was caught and on trial, cause that is the first time the apes (other than Zira and Cornelius) find out how Taylor came to be amongst them.
I realize each of us has their own line in the sand where we will and will not suspend our disbelief.
I don't quite buy either version of an ape fixing said capsule, although in the 2001 version it seems more realistic as far as the salvage part goes since the capsule sunk in a really deep (more than is actually believable, on screen it looks like it is only 30 feet across but is like 25 feet deep) pond than the lake in the 68' film.
I won't even get into what water does to computer circuits.
Plus the lake was located in the Forbidden Zone, which Cornelius states in the film on another matter, needs a permit from the Ape council to even enter. Assuming rightly, Milo didn't get official approval, he entered the Forbidden Zone, traversed the vast rocky terrain, with a salvage barge OR built one on site (either way a herculean task for anyone), and talked some buddies into helping him disobey the ape council and help him salvage a (I'm not good with the weight of objects) space craft that weighs several tons, give or take.
Little bit more of a stretch than I am willing to give, even a series of films that I love. Just sayin... :)

A GOOD MAN ALWAYS KNOWS HIS LIMITATIONS!

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