The "Planet of the Apes" Quiz

By: Mike Poteet
Estimated Completion Time
5 min
The "Planet of the Apes" Quiz
Image: The Movie DB

About This Quiz

"Get your questions off me, you dirty apes!" Test your knowledge of the classic 1968 film now!
Who wrote the novel on which the famous film was based?
Rod Serling
Kurt Vonnegut
Pierre Boulle
In Boulle’s 1963 philosophical and satirical novel, three humans visit an ape-dominated world orbiting Betelgeuse. Boulle’s other famous novel is “The Bridge over the River Kwai” (1952).
Ray Bradbury

Advertisement

Who played astronaut Taylor?
Paul Newman
Burt Lancaster
Charlton Heston
Heston was already famous for his roles in “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben Hur” and “El Cid.” All the other actors named here were, in fact, either approached for or attached to the project at some point, as were Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson.
Jack Lemmon

Advertisement

Where did Taylor learn to write?
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Taylor attended "Jefferson Public School" in Fort Wayne. In real life, a Jefferson Middle School (mascot: The Patriots) currently serves children in Fort Wayne.
Bloomington, Indiana
Gary, Indiana

Advertisement

How long did Taylor’s ship spend in deep space before its crew entered suspended animation?
Five months
Six months
According to Taylor’s report at the film’s beginning, “In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space…”
Twelve months
Nineteen months

Advertisement

According to the ship’s chronometer, what is the year when Taylor and his crew crash on the planet?
3955
3973
3978
The chronometer clearly displays the year “3978.” Inexplicably, however, the film’s direct sequel, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes," is set in the year 3955.
3993

Advertisement

Which member of Taylor’s crew doesn’t survive suspended animation?
Stewart
Lt. Stewart, the crew’s only female member, dies because of an air leak in her sleeping unit. Stanley was originally a male character; co-writer Michael Wilson switched the gender in the final shooting script.
Brent
Dodge
Landon

Advertisement

Which Earth scientist named the time dilation phenomenon Taylor believes he and his crew experience?
Einstein
Hasslein
The sequel will name the phenomenon a "Hasslein time curve." The third film, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes," brings Dr. Otto Hasslein, scientific adviser to the U.S. President, onscreen as an antagonist for the "ape-a-nauts."
Bibfeldt
Floyd

Advertisement

Taylor thinks the planet he and his crew crash land on is in which constellation?
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Orion
"You're 300 light-years from your precious planet,” Taylor mockingly tells Landon. “Your loved ones are dead and forgotten for 20 centuries."

Advertisement

What ultimately happens to astronaut Landon?
He is shot and displayed as an exhibit in an ape museum
He sustains a fatal head wound when he falls
He is lobotomized
"You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!” cries Taylor. “You cut out his memory. You took his identity. And that's what you want to do to me."
He dies alone in the Forbidden Zone

Advertisement

What is astronaut Dodge’s ultimate fate?
He escapes into the Forbidden Zone, never to be seen again
He drowns in the lake after the ship crashes
He is shot in the forest and left for wild animals to eat
He is shot and displayed as an exhibit in an ape museum
Actor Jeff Burton’s role of Dodge, though brief, was physically taxing: He passed out from the heat on the first day of filming, and wore special contact lenses, a custom mouthpiece and body makeup to achieve a “museum display” look.

Advertisement

What ominous sight greets the astronauts as they arrive on the outskirts of the jungle?
crudely painted warning placards
dead human bodies hanging from trees
five "scarecrows"
A line deleted from the final film would have made clear that the scarecrows marked the boundary of the Forbidden Zone.
a chimpanzee's severed arm

Advertisement

What nickname does Zira give Taylor?
Bright Eyes
In "Escape from the Planet of the Apes," Zira and Cornelius confess they came to love Taylor, the human whom Zira called “Bright Eyes”—and “where we come from, apes do not love humans.”
Bright Face
Bright One
Bright Shine

Advertisement

What does Taylor name the woman from whom he receives a blood transfusion?
Eva
Daena
Nola
Nova
In Boulle’s novel, Nova and the human astronaut Ulysse have a son, and she returns to Earth with Ulysse—only to discover that apes have ascended to supremacy on that planet, as on her own.

Advertisement

What does Taylor write on the ground to try and prove his intelligence?
"I can write"
Fearful of the apes, Nova erases part of Taylor’s message. Later, Dr. Zaius erases the rest to conceal Taylor’s intelligence.
"I am Taylor"
"I can talk"
"I can think"

Advertisement

What scientific discipline does Cornelius practice?
Archaeology
Cornelius discovered ancient, human artifacts in the Forbidden Zone.
Psychiatry
Physics
Astronomy

Advertisement

What “heresy” does Cornelius believe, based on his research?
Apes are not native to the planet
Apes evolved from lower primates
Cornelius thinks "the ape evolved from a lower order of primate, possibly man.” Zira thinks Taylor is the missing link that proves Cornelius’ hypothesis.
The planet is millions of years old
Man never had the power of speech

Advertisement

Which kind of ape holds political power on the planet?
Orangutan
In the planet’s society, orangutans hold political as well as religious powers; chimpanzees are scientists and doctors; and gorillas make up the police force and the military.
Chimpanzee
Gorilla
Bonobo

Advertisement

Who played Dr. Zaius in the film?
Edward G. Robinson
John Gielgud
John Houseman
Maurice Evans
While veteran Shakespearean actor Evans played Zaius in the film, Robinson played the part in the screen test that persuaded Twentieth Century Fox executives the movie was a viable project.

Advertisement

Who played Zira in the film?
Linda Harrison
Julie Harris
Kim Hunter
Hunter also played Zira in the next two “Apes” films. Linda Harrison, a former Miss Maryland, played Zira in the screen test but Nova in the first two “Apes” movies.
Natalie Wood

Advertisement

Who played Cornelius in the film?
Malcolm McDowall
James Brolin
Roddy McDowall
McDowall played Cornelius in the first and third “Ape” movies, Cornelius’ son Caesar in the next two, and Galen in the “Planet of the Apes” television series (1974).
David Hemmings

Advertisement

Which of these beliefs is not part of the apes’ first Article of Faith?
The Almighty created the ape in his image
The Almighty made perfect apes after imperfect man
Dr. Honorius, the orangutan prosecutor at Taylor’s “trial,” recites the first Article of Faith.
The Almighty gave the ape a soul and a mind
The Almighty made the ape the lord of the planet

Advertisement

Which of these questions does Dr. Honorius is not one he asks in order to “prove” Taylor can’t reason?
“What is the Second Article of Faith?”
“Why are all apes created equal?”
“Why do men have no soul?”
“Why did the Almighty place a divine spark in the simian brain?”
Dr. Honorius actually asks, “What is proof of the divine spark in the simian brain?”

Advertisement

What does Taylor teach Nova to do?
Smile
In a scene reminiscent of Tarzan and Jane (to whom Taylor alludes), Taylor tries, but fails, to teach Nova to talk. She finally calls out his name in the sequel, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes."
Laugh
Speak
Write

Advertisement

What order does Dr. Zaius give to “the vet” concerning Taylor?
To feed him
To geld him
Although Zira wants Taylor and Nova to breed, Dr. Zaius orders (offscreen) that Taylor be castrated. The order sparks Taylor’s escape attempt, which culminates in his famous outburst, “Get your stinking paws off me, you damn, dirty ape!”
To whip him
To wash him

Advertisement

What does Landon do shortly after the crew crashes that prompts Taylor’s uproarious laughter?
He plants a flower in the soil
He attempts to contact Earth with his transmitter
He plants a U.S. flag in the soil
Although Landon’s action evokes comparisons to the Apollo astronauts’ flagplantings on the Moon, the film came out in 1968, the year before Apollo 11.
He prays the Lord's Prayer

Advertisement

What does Landon first discover in the muddy ground by the waterfall?
Footprints
The astronauts follow the prints to discover the planet’s primitive human population. Taylor remarks—moments before the gorillas attack—”If this is the best they’ve got around here, in six months we’ll be runnin the planet.”
A toy doll that says “Mama”
A small, reddish plant
A simian skull

Advertisement

Who composed the music for “Planet of the Apes”?
Jerry Goldsmith
Goldsmith’s dissonant, avant garde score earned him an Academy Award nomination. He returned to the franchise to score the third film, “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.”
Leonard Rosenman
Bernard Hermann
Marius Constant

Advertisement

What artifact from the Forbidden Zone proves humans once had the power of speech?
A tape recorder
A talking doll
"Would an ape make a human doll that talks?" Taylor asks Dr. Zaius, referring to the doll that calls for its mother.
A dictionary
A phonograph

Advertisement

What familiar proverb in ape society does Julius quote when Taylor is trying to speak?
“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
"Gorilla got your tongue?"
"Human see, human do."
The saying “monkey see, monkey do” emerged in U.S. popular culture during the 1920s, perhaps from an old folktale about a cap-selling peddler. Although the orangutans who preside at Taylor’s tribunal visually mimic the “no evil” saying, it is never spoken in the film.
"The proper study of ape is ape!"

Advertisement

How does Lucius try to trick Julius into releasing Taylor from his cage?
He says Taylor must appear before a second tribunal
He says Taylor is being transferred to the zoo
Julius suspects Lucius’ order is false when he notes that Dr. Zaius has not countersigned it. The actor who played Julius, Buck Kartalian, would return to the franchise in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" (1972) as the gorilla Frank; so would the actor playing Lucius, Lou Wagner, but as a human busboy.
He says Taylor needs another physical examination
He says Dr. Zaius has decided to free Taylor

Advertisement

Taylor tells Luicus never to trust whom?
Anyone who quotes the Sacred Scrolls
Anyone who hides behind law and religion
Anyone over the age of 30
Lucius inclusion in the film allowed it to attempt and connect with the discontent expressed by 1960s youth culture.
Anyone who won’t listen to dissenting views

Advertisement

Complete Dr. Zaius’ claim: “There’s no contradiction between faith and science, ____ science.”
true
Zaius is defending himself against Taylor’s charge that Zaius’ dual role as Minister of Science and Chief Defender of the Faith creates an inherent conflict of interest.
humble
pure
divine

Advertisement

Which of these texts is not from the 29th Scroll of the apes’ scripture?
“Beware the beast man, for he is the devil’s pawn.”
“And Proteus brought the upright beast into the garden…”
The story of Proteus chaining a man to a tree is from the 13th Scroll. Zaius tells Cornelius to read from the 29th Scroll just before Taylor and Nova set off into the Forbidden Zone.
“Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, or lust, or greed.”
“Shun him… for he is the harbinger of death.”

Advertisement

What half-hearted objection does Zira make when Taylor announces he wants to kiss her near the movie’s end?
“I’m not a ‘damn dirty ape’ now, am I?”
“I’ll have to put my ‘stinking paws’ on you, you know.”
“But you’re so damned ugly!”
The line is one of the few remnants of a much more flirtatious relationship between the two in earlier drafts of the screenplay.
“But I’m engaged to Cornelius!”

Advertisement

In the film’s famous final scene, Taylor sees the Statue of Liberty in ruins. What landmark, in an altered form, appears at the end of director Tim Burton’s 2001 remake?
The Statue of Liberty
The Washington Monument
The Lincoln Memorial
At the movie’s end, astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) arrives on a planet where the Memorial celebrates chimpanzee General Thade (Tim Roth) instead of America’s 16th president.
The Eiffel Tower

Advertisement

You Got:
/35
The Movie DB