Doc

27th Dec 2018

M*A*S*H (1972)

Dear Dad - S1-E12

Question: Is Margaret not wearing underwear when she falls on the bed with Frank in her tent?

Answer: Loretta Swit usually wore flesh-colored pantyhose in scenes where she was supposedly 'nude'. You can see it e.g. in the scene where she runs out of the shower.

Doc

Question: How could the Erumpent the size of a whale escape out of Newt's case without Newt around, without his help (magic)? Can Erumpents shrink themselves like Occamies?

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: Erumpents cannot change their size, however the suitcase is itself enchanted to allow objects of any size to enter and exit its magically expanded interior. Newt's presence is not required for this.

Phixius

Answer: This might actually be a valid mistake. The exit of the suitcase is depicted as being inside a hut, at the ceiling. A savanna creature like that would not even consider that to be a route it might be able to take, because that requires (sorry for the pun) out-of-the-box thinking.

Doc

Perhaps that would be true for a non-magical creature; however, there are numerous references in the Wizarding World canon to magical creatures have human-like cognitive abilities (Kneazles are one prominent example), so perhaps Erumpents fall into the same category.

"Perhaps" or "Maybe" generally don't cut it. They usually denote attempts to justify a mistake. In the movie Erumpets aren't displaying any intelligence beyond that of a bull or rhinoceros.

Doc

I agree under normal circumstances the creature wouldn't try to escape. However, as Newt pointed out, this creature was in mating season and was looking for a partner; which is why she went to the zoo as there were the closest creatures she sensed to herself. Animals going out of their natural habitat when they sense a potential mating partner is a natural survival instinct real animals do. As real animals do this, it makes sense this creature would do the same thing as a real animal.

As said elsewhere, the exit is depicted as in the ceiling. Erumpets aren't displaying any intelligence beyond that of a bull or rhinoceros. Climbing out through a roof hatch is not in their behavioral patterns, mating season or not. A bull won't climb a ladder, no matter how many cows are on the roof.

Doc

17th Mar 2007

M*A*S*H (1972)

Life Time - S8-E11

Question: There are several close-up shots of the wounded soldier throughout the episode and I've wondered for some time what the surgeons (i.e. Hawkeye, B.J., etc) are really working on during their parts in surgery.

Answer: Throughout the show, you never actually see a wound, but some things about how they did it can be deduced from the shots: Hawkeye first simply sticks his hand under the rather thick, blood soaked pressure bandage. In the OR, they put the wounded soldier into a canvas bathtub, which of course is very handy for hiding prop tricks as well. We can see Hawkeye juggling bandages and fiddling with sutures, but we can't really see where he puts them. Most probably, he put them into the bandages that he threw in, which probably the wounded soldier actor held in place for him. That guy probably also operated the squirting blood effect. Another possibility we know was used (because it's visible in one episode of Season 11) is prop-blood soaked polyurethane foam, which they either mounted onto the operating table or strapped onto an actor's body and could cut, sew and clamp it for real.

Doc

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.