Depending on who you are, the person who pointed out the “plot hole” in Planet of the Apes in the tweet below either seems like a complete idiot or a comedic genius. (Or possibly you never saw the original 1968 Planet of the Apes movie, which is a damn shame).
“It is never explained how or why the Statue of Liberty was transported from Earth to the planet of the apes,” the tweet reads.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Plot holeIt is never explained how or why the Statue of Liberty was transported from Earth to the planet of the apes.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 31, 2018
The person behind the tweet is a computer programmer named Sean, and we assure you he is very much kidding, despite what a few people may think. On July 24, he started the Twitter account @Movie_goofs, which posts fake “goofs” about films. Although the account has been active less than two weeks, it’s already amassed nearly 19,000 followers based on tweets like these:
The Terminator (1984)
Audio/visual unsynchronizedDuring a phone conversation, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is seen moving his mouth, but the voice of Sarah Connor's mother is heard instead.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 31, 2018
Spartacus (1960)
Plot holeIn the scene where the Romans try to locate the rebel leader Spartacus in the captured slave army, most of the other slaves also identify themselves as being named "Spartacus". The movie never explains this coincidence.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 30, 2018
Star Wars (1977)
Factual errorAfter Luke (Mark Hamill) wears a helmet with a blast shield, he's able to defend against a remote with his laser sword. In reality, once his eyes were covered, Luke would not have been able to see as well as before and would have done worse. pic.twitter.com/Noq06bQVRf
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) August 2, 2018
Under the Skin (2013)
Revealing mistakesWhen Scarlett Johansson asks multiple Scottish men for directions, none of them notice or react to the fact that they're talking to famous American actress Scarlett Johansson, revealing that they are actually actors following a script.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 27, 2018
Sean said he was inspired to create the account after reading the IMDb webpage for Hot Fuzz. In the “goofs” section, one critic appears to either be trolling readers or totally missing the joke.
“It struck me that it would be pretty easy to write a lot of goofs where the ‘critic’ just didn’t get the joke,” Sean told the Daily Dot via email, “Once I sat down and wrote a couple, and none of them were from comedies, I realized the idea had a lot more potential and I set up the Twitter account.”
Although it might seem painfully obvious to most people, much like the inspirational IMDb critic, not everyone gets what Sean is doing. Take a look at just a few of these responses to the Planet of the Apes tweet.
https://twitter.com/wislanscraft/status/1024682943019712513
Seriously? The shock ending lays out the entire film. 😏
— Boyd 👋😎 (@BoydADavis1) August 1, 2018
I was eight when I read the book and watched the film and I got the end message. Why didn’t you??? LMAO
— Alex A. (@4_AlexA_) August 1, 2018
Sean’s response to these replies? Posting another more absurd joke.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
ContinuityDespite his character having a throat injury that renders him unable to speak, actor Charlton Heston insisted on speaking in many scenes.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) August 1, 2018
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Character errorJulius (Buck Kartalian) says, "You know what they say, 'human see, human do'". The actual cliché is "monkey see, monkey do".
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) August 1, 2018
The New Yorker (1993)
Factual errorThe cartoon caption "on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" is incorrect. If you are a dog on the Internet it will be very obvious. Dogs can't even cut and paste the same reply to people making the same mistake like a human can.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) August 2, 2018
“I decided right from the beginning not to break character in the public posts, so that meant I couldn’t just tell them ‘that’s the joke,’” Sean explained. “So I decided instead I would reply to them with a new, written-on-the-spot goof from the same movie, in the hopes they would realize it was a joke.”
“I’m not a fan of trolling,” he added, “and I would prefer it if everyone got the joke. But a small fraction of my followers claim to be bigger fans of seeing people not getting the joke than of the jokes.”
Think you have a clever movie goof? Sean is currently taking submissions, and the accounts DM’s are open, although that might change if his follower count keeps up its meteoric rise.
He says he usually reshapes the jokes a bit to fit the account, but he still gives the submitter credit for their idea.
(by @JOHNTULLAR)
Amélie (2001)
Audio/visual unsynchronizedThe characters speak in the French language, but the words which are displayed at the bottom of the screen to show what they are saying are written in English.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 31, 2018
(by @rygorous)
Die Hard (1988)
Error in geographyThe movie is set in Los Angeles (which is in California), yet John McClane is supposed to be an NYPD officer. The NYPD is in New York City, which is in the state of New York, which is on the opposite end of the United States.
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 30, 2018
Back to the Future (1985)
AnachronismMarty McFly drives a DeLorean DMC-12 in 1955, but the DeLorean was first manufactured in 1981. (inspired by @citizen_sane)
— movie_goofs (@movie_goofs) July 28, 2018
“Most of the time the submitter agrees with me that the revised joke is better, but not always!” Sean said. “If you don’t like a joke that I credit to somebody else, blame me, not them.”
But there’s one joke you shouldn’t bother sending.
“At least a dozen people have submitted one particular idea, and it’s just too obvious a joke, so I’m never going to post it,” he said. “So please don’t submit a goof that boils down to ‘The mission is actually possible’.”
This article first appeared on The Daily Dot.