‘Simpsons’ Fan Spent 32 Years Thinking the ‘Planet of the Apes’ Movie Was Also A Musical

Contrary to popular belief, Charlton Heston never had pipes like Troy McClure. He probably couldn’t even play the piano, before or after the crash.

Given the sheer density of pop culture references contained in each Simpsons episode, it’s inevitable that some Simpsons fans’ first experience with an historically significant work of art will be a parody project from the minds of Matt Groening’s writers. For instance , a bunch of Simpsons fans skipped out on reading Little Women because they thought Moe’s recitation of the ending was the real deal. From The Shining to Mary Poppins to 101 Dalmatians, the definitive version of so many classic stories to so many comedy fans isn’t the original work at all — it’s the homage made by among the most talented satire writers of the 1990s. As such, sometimes it’s easy to get confused between The Simpsons’ version of famous fictional events and that of the actual parody subject.

Over in the Simpsons subreddit, one mixed-up movie buff recently revealed that, for the last three decades, he’s been under the impression that the 1968 sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes featured singing, dancing and a themed cover of the synth-pop single “Rock Me Amadeus” seventeen years before it hit the airwaves.

“My wife told how much she loved planet of the Apes to which I told her I never saw it because I don’t like musicals, and I already hate every ape I see, from Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z,” user Top_Possession_8099 admitted, “She then told me it is very much not a musical. Took me 32 years to find this out.” They added, “I guess the really made a monkey out of me.”

The rest of the subreddit teased the poster for thinking that the theatrics of “Stop This Planet Of The Apes, I Want To Get Off!” were the same ones that launched a billion dollar film franchise that’s still kicking over 50 years later, with one commenter chiding, “You may be interested to learn that A Streetcar Named Desire is also very much not a musical.”

To be fair, given the spectacular entertainment value of the play that “has everything,” it’s not a stretch to think that this “legitimate the-ate-r” would put butts in seats if it were ever adapted back into a film, à la Mean Girls the musical the movie. If only Phil Hartman were still around to reprise his role as Troy McClure playing George Taylor — we may finally find that the Simpsons version was the definitive one all along.