From: (No Email available)

Date: 2001-08-07 21:25:44

Comment:

Well, I don't know about all of you... I just got back from the theatre and had hoped that I could find the true "what the hell this damn ending was all about" explanation on the Internet.

Must admit, we as an audience do have some imagination?

What happened as I recall is as follows:  
Monkey goes into storm.
Marky goes into storm after monkey.
Spaceship goes into storm after Marky.
(The first in, last out explanation has no logical flaws, and nobody has disputed it so far, so I?ll incorporated it into my theory)

Spaceship on POTA is thousands of years old as a historical, religious monument.  Also guarded by outposts and "scare crows" intended to frighten and keep Apes away.  We know why... because Thades father (and his fathers, fathers, fathers) knew the origin and the truth of their evolution - and effectively wanted to keep it a secret.  We can adopt any philosophical, historical, or racial reasoning Thades bloodline did not want to embrace this history, or why Apes from the crash would have wanted to overthrow their human counterparts.  The logged video archive initially states the Apes were smarter than they imagined and very helpful? but something went bad.  Who cares what?  Are we looking for another subplot, or did Burton just want to get along with the film?

Anyway ? This was not earth.  Forget comets, meteors, and asteroids.  They would wipe out all life, not systematically kill off humans but allow similar primates to flourish like a weed.  This was another planet in another time in another future.  Parallel universe?  Wormhole?   Distant galaxy far, far away?  Are we really required to know?  All we need to know is that if there were more than one moon ever? than POTA is not Earth.  ?Moons? orbit planets.  ?Planets? orbit stars.  ?Comets? orbit either and have a nice tail like anything that moves through space.  ?Meteors? just move on?.  If POTA had more than one moon, then it would still be there hundreds and even thousands of year?s before/after.  Moons don?t commute to more interesting planets.  The ones in our solar system have been around for millions of years? so lets get over this.  POTA was not Earth.

Sign say?s:  ?Caution Live Animals.?  I?d say that the horses and Apes came from here and who knows what else.  Apes and a few humans survived the crash? how about a horse or two?

Apes overthrow humans, but don?t kill them all.  The Apes were genetically enhanced, and would likely evolve more rapidly over one lifetime than standard evolution would allow people.  This is why they became so smart, and in time smarter than their human counterparts.  The Apes became dominant, and in a twist, humans had to recede into the rainforest and other wild habitats.  Life went on.  History was sealed.  Humans became slaves.

Suddenly Marky lands and can?t comprehend this new ?present day? world.  Fights to save his hide and captures the interest and help of a few influential Apes.  He requires directions back to the crash site, so he further employs the help of fellow slaves ? in turn freeing them and the chase begins?

Thades receives a brief history lesson from his father and receives an artefact (gun) as proof.  Now we have motive, and the chase becomes a race against time.  The next half hour is a decent chase scene until Marky gets to his old spaceship and finds no hope for himself, but finds he is the hope of those other humans.  In a dramatic rise against the evil oppression (Apes) we get a fight scene similar in content to ?The Patriot? or ?Braveheart.?  (Maybe Mel Gibson should have played the part of the space hero).

In the thick of the fight, just before Marky gets it, his faithful monkey lands and confuses and awes everyone.  Monkey runs to ship and so does Marky and Thades close behind.

Now here is where I think Burton struggled...  We know he deviated from his Arnold ending with the Statue of Liberty in the image of an Ape, so something wasn?t adding up for a clean wrap-up.  Marky didn?t care much of his Monkey.  He never ran to his rescue and I don?t blame him.  I?d have gone for the gun too, then tend to the Monkey after I killed Thades.  Either way, he never got it ? Thades did, but Marky managed to enclose him in an enclosed area of the ship.  Marky leaves the monkey, the blonde bombshell, and the babe Ape behind.  For all those who debate ?why? and have paid such painful attention to detail, did nobody notice the cramped space, and barely enough seating for one that fit a 60 lbs pound monkey rather comfortably?  There was no room!!!  

Why did he leave?  Why ask why?  We all make dumb mistakes, and he realized that in the last 60 seconds of the flick.  Thought it was not his time or his place or ? just had to tell someone this crazy tale!!!

Gets to Earth (no multiple moons here) only to find out its run by Apes and a statue of ?Thades Lincoln? ? Hero of the Day steps from the Whitehouse.

Thing is this.  All those vehicles? the style of clothing? even the camera the photographer had?they were all dated to the late 1980?s (look again).  No cool new futuristic cars or ?Star Trek? type clothing.  Typical DC pop culture from 10 years ago.  So, IF Thades landed a few years before Marky did ? then how could so many Apes exist, and how could they just move into our physical culture, assuming our identities without even changing a thing ? like say the colour of a uniform?

IF Thades landed hundreds of years before Marky ? then history would not have evolved in parallel with present day Earth.  I?d like to think that huge Apes would design a police cruiser a bit more ergonomic to their massive size.

So when then?  Neither makes sense (go figure).  Neither would a parallel universe since nothing on this new Earth, not even the technology was designed with the Ape in mind.  Even a parallel universe, while amazingly similar to Earth, would have its technology fit its dominant inhabitants.

I?m not going to propose a theory.  I think Burton intends to clear this up in the sequel. But did anyone notice the amazing similarity some Apes had to those disgusting humans?

Great movie with a disappointing ending.  Burton got his controversy and his controversy got us to watch the movie in droves.  I even want to see it again to see if I got all this right!!  But as moviegoers all should know, unwrapped plot-twisted endings will leave us all to our imaginations.  (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, etc?  Need anyone say more?).