Best TV deliberate mistakes of all time

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Star Trek: Voyager picture

Drone - S5-E2

Deliberate mistake: When the Doctor begins to "fade" in the transporter room his mobile emitter fades with him. Since it's made of solid matter and is not a hologram, this shouldn't be possible.

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Fawlty Towers picture

The Builders - S1-E2

Deliberate mistake: When Basil is arguing with Polly and eventually decides to call O'Reilly, he trips over the gnome. However when we see Basil come out from behind the desk, he takes the gnome out of a side gap in the desk, perfectly out of reach of Basil tripping over it. (00:14:30)

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Lost picture

Tabula Rasa - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: As Ray drives the pickup truck, an oncoming vehicle beeps and the marshal heads behind Ray's pickup. In the shot through the cab's rear window facing the bed, as the marshal pulls behind, the bed's side wall interior is seen (note the metal loop tie down on top) and the entire tailgate is gone; yet the tailgate is intact later, when the pickup flips over. The tailgate was removed for the shot to allow visibility of the marshal's vehicle.

Super Grover

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Step by Step picture

Season 6 generally

Deliberate mistake: Lily was an infant for all of season 5, but beginning with this season, she is around 5 years old. The show didn't jump forward in time, because JT states in a season 5 episode that he is 19, and in the episode this season where he and Rich go to Mexico, he states that he is almost 20, as well as Al and Mark are both still in high school.

Phaneron

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Monk picture

Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9

Deliberate mistake: In the opening scene, Wood's tie is grabbed by an exposed fan belt located above the side of the engine. However, this belt/pulley assembly doesn't exist in a real truck's engine compartment - the fan belts are all in front of the engine, where the camera can't see them easily. The prop master must have added this dangerous device to the truck to allow the camera to see the strangulation.

nixiebunny

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Doctor Who picture

Rose - S1-E1

Deliberate mistake: The final Auton attack in this episode is supposed to take place in a busy London street, but it is a pedestrianised area, and several shots reveal this. For example, there are no road markings visible, no apparent distinction between pavement and road, and a bus stop appears to sit in the middle of the 'road'.

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Star Trek picture

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: Special effects of the ship in space were very expensive in the 60s and couldn't be wasted. So when a larger model was built with slightly different nacelles, shots of both versions became common, even within the same episode. This is why the Enterprise sometimes had red needle-tipped nacelles and sometimes lighted "spinning" ones, and in aft views she had either round white spheres or perforated vents at the nacelles' ends.

Jean G

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King of the Hill picture

Be True to Your Fool - S7-E19

Deliberate mistake: Hank only discovers the tattoo on the back of his head after having his hair shaved off. There is no way, however, he wouldn't have noticed it before this. The tattoo artist had to shave hair off the back of his head before putting on the tattoo. While he might have not realised right away, the pain the following day and the fact that he would have noticed a large part of his hair missing would make it unavoidable.

Lummie

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The Andy Griffith Show picture The Andy Griffith Show mistake picture

Barney's First Car - S3-E27

Deliberate mistake: After Barney buys the car from Mrs. Lesh, he and Andy are standing at the steps as he tells her not to look back at the car, and the next shot of Andy and Barney at the front door is the same shot from a few moments prior, but it's been flipped so they would be looking in the opposite direction. (00:09:30)

Super Grover

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Brimstone picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Deliberate mistake: Coming back to Earth in 1998, Stone is amazed to see the Cincinnati Reds and the NY Yankees on TV in an interleague game. This wasn't yet possible in '98, as an American League East team could then play only a National League East team (and the Reds are NL Central). But the producers put it in anyway as their own little "fantasy baseball game," because these were their favorite teams.

Jean G

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine picture

The Passenger - S1-E9

Deliberate mistake: The dying Vantika hides his consciousness away in a portion of Dr. Bashir's mind. At one point, "Bashir" (heavily cloaked in clothing and shadows) comes up behind Quark and makes sure his demands are clear. At this point, it should still be unclear just how Vantika is still "alive", and whose body he is using. However, when he shoves Quark away, for a fraction of a second, Bashir's face can be seen under his hood. They were true to plot in using the right actor (though he shouldn't have been seen), it is possible some might have spied the secret earlier than the show meant to reveal it.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars picture Star Wars: The Clone Wars mistake picture

Nightsisters - S3-E12

Deliberate mistake: At the beginning, Asajj Ventress is wearing an outfit with a long skirt. When she is rescued from her damaged starfighter by the scavengers, the skirt has vanished. This was done because the animators found the skirt too difficult to animate. This is also why she receives a brand new outfit that never had a long skirt later in the episode. (00:08:20)

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The Funeral - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: Though it serves the drama and black comedy of the scene, it's highly unlikely a modern, let alone future broadcasting network would neglect the importance of delay (usually around 30 seconds) between recording and "live" broadcast. Specifically, to prevent unexpected gruesome incidents like the exploding head seen in this episode from making it to air.

Anson Gordon-Creed

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