<P> In the opening minutes of the movie, Taylor is watching his crewmates enter a state of hibernation aboard their ship (known noncanonically as the Icarus or the Liberty 1), which is accelerating to nearly the speed of light, as he records his final report before joining them . Taylor muses about the fact that hundreds of years have already passed on Earth, in the six months the ship's clock has recorded, and hopes that whoever is receiving his report on Earth belongs to a better breed than they left behind, when their ship launched in 1972 . He then climbs into his bunk, passing into hibernation, as the ship continues on auto - pilot to a faraway star . </P> <P> When Taylor and two of his crewmates awake (discovering that a fourth, a woman named Stewart, died from an air leak while they were hibernating) the ship has crash - landed in a lake, on what they take to be an Earth - like, but largely barren, planet orbiting a Sun - like star in the constellation Orion . The ship begins to take on water, then sinks rapidly, barely leaving the three astronauts time to break out survival kits and a life raft, and take an Earth - time reading; the year is 3978, leaving them just over two thousand years away from their starting point . </P> <P> Rowing the raft to dry land, Taylor assumes command of what they now know will be a no - return mission, but it pulls him and his companions, Dodge and Landon, together and they begin a search for life on this new planet . They also discuss their motivations for joining the mission; Taylor's is his quest to find someone or something wiser than humanity . As they leave their crash site behind, the astronauts first find a flowering plant, then a row of what appear to be scarecrows or a boundary line, then finally a lush valley with a waterfall and pool, where they peel off their uniforms and go swimming . </P> <P> Their equipment and clothing vanishes . The astronauts follow footprints leading away from the pool and discover primitive mute humans destroying everything the astronauts brought with them . The astronauts assess the possibility of taking command of these humans, but they are interrupted by the sound of gunfire . This planet has another dominant species: evolved apes . The apes hunt the humans, capturing many in nets . Dodge is killed outright, Landon suffers a head wound, and Taylor receives a bullet wound in his throat, preventing him from speaking . </P>

Who played zira in the planet of the apes