The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - 261 mistakes

Other: When Sam and Frodo are in the field with the scarecrow, you can plainly see a car cruising past in the distance, from right to left. Further comment - there are two different shots which show the car moving from right to left. One starts at the top right distance, and in a shot a few seconds later the car has traveled down the road a bit and is more easily visible. Complicating matters is that the dust thrown up by the car looks similar to smoke from a chimney in the right distance, making some people think it is just the chimney. But chimneys don't move, and the smoke from the chimney is separate from the moving vehicle. [It is deleted on the DVD, but you can still see an obvious bit of image fakery on the hill just left of the smoking chimney. One can see the hill, tree, and surrounding area move up and down and shimmer slightly where someone has done a cut and paste to cover up the auto. The "car inclusive" scene appears on the National Geographic documentary, "Beyond the Movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Also, watch the music documentary on the Extended DVD - when it shows this scene the car is still in it. Bizarrely, in his commentary Peter Jackson said he never saw a car and doesn't know what people are talking about, but the production/post-production team say in their commentary that despite not thinking anyone would be able to see it, they took it out anyway.]

Continuity: As Boromir and Aragorn talk right before Boromir dies, you can see Boromir's right hand gripping Aragorn's left shoulder in the shot from behind Aragorn's right shoulder, but when the camera view changes to Boromir's perspective, looking up at Aragorn, his hand is not there. The scene goes back and forth between these two views several times.

Visible crew/equipment: Once the secret door to Moria is open, when Gimli says, "Soon Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," as Gandalf leads the way inside, note the glint of the trailing power cord as it moves along the ground behind Gandalf and goes directly under his robe. This is the staff's electrical supply cable.

Continuity: Boromir gets hit by Lurtz's second arrow, drops down to his knees in front of Merry and Pippin, gathers strength, turns around and stabs an Uruk. In the next wide shot and close-up, he stands and is about to stab an Uruk in the back and the two arrows in his chest are there. Yet, in the next wide shot, as his blade is going down into the Uruk, Boromir has only the lower arrow in him, the one near his shoulder is NOT there, for 23 frames. In the next close-up, the upper arrow is back. These arrows are NOT CGI.

Revealing: After the battle with the cave Troll, Aragorn rushes over to injured Frodo and brushes past some big rocks that wobble, showing that they are lightweight and not real.

Continuity: When Boromir attacks him, Frodo frantically slips the Ring onto his middle finger (with the chain). Yet, as Frodo runs up the steps of the ruins, Boromir yells, "Frodo, I'm sorry!" and Frodo wears the Ring on his index finger. He is terrified, so as to remain invisible he does not change fingers.

Continuity: As the cave Troll throws Pippin from its back, he is holding his sword in his right hand. When he hits the ground it is in his left.

Deliberate "mistake": At the beginning of the Fellowship's journey, they are resting on a hilltop (Hollin) with rocky formations. Bill the pony is tethered in the background in one shot. Then come the spying crows from Saruman and they all quickly hide. When the crows swoop in closer we see no-one, but who hid the pony and where?

Revealing: When Frodo stops rolling down the snow covered hill, just before the shot of Boromir picking up the Ring, you can see the edge of the stockings that the actors wore to protect their feet since they were walking in real snow for that scene.

Continuity: At Bilbo's party, when Merry and Pippin set off the dragon firework, they are shown inside a small tent. The tent has dishes and other things in it, and is quite full. When the firework launches, taking the tent with it, you can see that all of the things inside the tent (with the exception of Merry and Pippin) have disappeared.

Continuity: When the hobbits are sitting at the table in the Prancing Pony in Bree, Merry comes back with a pint. Pippin leaves to get one too. Then we see Sam mention to Frodo that a man is looking at them, across the table sits Pippin and no Merry.

Revealing: After Sam dives between the Troll's legs and tries to crawl away, Aragorn and Boromir pull the chain that's around the Troll's neck to get him away from Sam. In the next two shot of Sam, his left wrist has an ace bandage wrapped around it - it's at his white shirt cuff. Notice the bar on his palm between his thumb and index finger. He did not have the bandage in earlier shots, nor does he have it in later shots.

Continuity: When the Nazgul confront Arwen across the river, they draw their swords in their left hands. In the next shot this changes to their right.

Continuity: When Frodo tells Sam about the Wood Elves, they both run up the hill and crouch behind a fallen log. In the shot of their backs and the elves in the background, Frodo is on the right side and Sam on the left. In the previous shot of their faces, Frodo was also on the right and Sam on the left. Extended DVD.

Revealing: When Pippin falls in the Midgewater Marshes, you can see that part of his Hobbit foot is ripped off. Extended DVD.

Revealing: When Arwen enters the water after being chased by the Ringwraiths, as she turns the horse, you can clearly see the fake hobbit (representing an injured Frodo), bounce up and down like a rubber band.

Continuity: When the Fellowship meets in Rivendell, and Gimli tries to break the Ring with his axe, the axe breaks into many pieces on the platform upon which the Ring is laid. At first, the pieces are there in the close-up view. When the camera pans back for a long range view of the Fellowship, the pieces of the axe on the platform are gone. In the following close-up, the pieces magically reappear.

Continuity: At the gap in the stairs in Moria, Boromir ducks as he is nearly hit by an arrow, and sheathes his sword. In the following close up he sheathes it again as he stands behind Gandalf.

Continuity: When Frodo is stabbed by the cave Troll, he falls with his face to the left. It remains in this direction as Aragorn crawls towards him, but when he reaches him and turns him over he is facing to the right.

Revealing: When the hobbits ask Strider where he is taking them, he answers "Into the wild." A split second later as Strider walks past the camera the bow he carries on his back bumps into the camera, nudging the screen a bit.