Planet of the Apes the original movies time discrepancy

Question

In the original series of Planet of the Apes both Brett and Taylor arrive at different times.

Planet of the Apes: Taylor, Dodge and Langdon crash land according to their Earth time chronometer -November 25 3978

Beneath the Planet of the Apes: Brett mentions the reading on the Earth time chronometer was 3955 shortly thereafter he encounters Nova wearing Taylor's dog tags. Logically Taylor should not be arriving for another 23 years.Therefore would not know Zera, Nova or anyone else,

Later under the influence of grape juice plus (wine) Zera mentions that the was destroyed in 3955. 23 years before Taylors arrival. This doesn't bode well for Taylor when he finds no Earth. Kind of weird considering that Taylor actually nuked the planet himself. Gotta love Hollywood.

Was this ever noticed when the movie was being made?

Answer 1

There are known issues with the Apes timelines. At the time there was a distinct attempt to make it chronological, and the first 3 movies make a decent run at it, but since then people have dissected the movies and TV shows further and have discovered some discrepancies.

There's actually a pretty good timeline diagram and dissection of the original and reboot movies, as well as the TV series, here.

Den Of Geek also offers their take on it, although strictly from a chronological perspective.

Answer 2

If Beneath the Planet of the Apes must happen after Planet of the Apes one or both of the chronometer readings must be incorrect, by at least 23 years.

If the two movies happen in different alternate universes, then Planet of the Apes could happen in an alternate universe where Taylor arrives in 3978. Beneath the Planet of the Apes could happen in an alternate universes where Taylor arrived sometime before 3955 and had experiences similar to Planet of the Apes, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes happens afterwards, in 3955. If apes age slowly enough the same apes could have the same positions 23 years or more apart.

And I suppose there are other possible explanations for this and other plot holes and inconsistencies in the Planet of the Apes movies.

I once wrote a story, "Planet of the Japes", in which a character seemed to be on a similar Ape planet, and was told its history based on the plot of the Planet of the Apes movies, and finally realized that this must be an illusion because it was all too illogical and convoluted to be real. Then he returned to reality, having passed the intelligence test of the planet's aliens.