Corrected entry: Why doesn't Qui-Gon know the Force doesn't work on Watto's race? The fact that Watto knows that Jedi mental manipulation won't work on his race means that many Jedi must have tried and failed against various Toydarians often enough for it to be a commonly known fact amongst his people. Any such vulnerabilities in the Jedi would be common knowledge among them.
Grumpy Scot
18th Jun 2003
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
3rd Jun 2003
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Corrected entry: When Spock mind melds with Valeris, you hear a heartbeat. Whose heartbeat is this? It is specifically stated in the original series that Vulcan hearts beat almost twice as fast as humans. It is, however, never established that Vulcan metabolic functions slow during a mind meld, due to conscious physical control or otherwise.
Correction: It was "never established that Vulcan metabolic functions slow during a mind meld." Not "it was established that they do not." If something is not established one way or the other, then there is no contradiction and therefore no error.
Correction: The heartbeat is almost certainly not diegetic.
4th Jun 2005
Resident Evil (2002)
Corrected entry: Why does Umbrella know that Red Queen killed everyone, but not that the virus is loose? Is there no way to see into or receive data from the Hive other than Red Queen? Does every communication in or out have to be approved through her? And even if she is the sole conduit for information into and out of the Hive, her primary purpose for existing is to keep the T-virus from escaping. Umbrella THINKS that Red Queen has malfunctioned. BUT, she is working perfectly! So suppressing info that the T-virus is loose in the Hive would contradict her core programming. So why doesn't Umbrella know?
Correction: Umbrella knows the T-virus is loose, they wanted that to happen. They send the team in there to fight their creations, to test their creations. Not to shut the hive down, that was just a ruse. Also, it's possible the Hive Queen was never meant to keep the T-virus from escaping, Umbrella was the one to program her and Umbrella wants a whole lot of things to happen except containing the T-virus as we learn from the future movies. The hive Queen was just a controlling unit for the experiment of the hive, to help the experiment succeed.
Umbrella staging this experiment, is that why the Red Queen didn't just have all staff come to a security room to obtain the cure? Because we know there is a cure, and we find out later from the Red Queen herself that if you administer the cure soon after the virus, the individuals might survive. Yes, I realise my question is based on a movie based on a game.
It's unclear why the Hive Queen acted as it did, either as part of the experiment or because the security measures just happened to help the experiment along. The original staff were never safe with the type of security it activated, the compound was already deemed lost, just containing it within was all the Hive Queen did. The rest is just a ruse.
I don't believe that is true either. It is canon now that Paul W S Anderson changed it but that is a plot hole within another plot hole because Spence didn't work for Umbrella and his motivations were not to spread the virus to start an apocalypse but to cover his tracks and steal the T Virus to sell on the black market. So in reality that is a plot hole even if the writer tried to change it.
It's not about spreading the virus, it's not about saving the people working at the hive. The Red Queen deemed the compound lost instead of trying to contain the virus and save the employees. Spence's actions were just convenient for Umbrella because it gave them the opportunity to test the virus.
I still don't get this. This makes sense for the most part concerning the reason why the Sanitation team was sent down there as a result of the story playing out like RE1, but... It doesn't add up on account of Spence himself, the guy who started all this. That means, somehow Umbrella knew of his plan to sell the T-Virus to black markets? And his backup plan to use it to cover his escape? If this is true why does the Red Queen prevent him from escaping? He gave them exactly what they wanted.
20th Jun 2003
Top Gun (1986)
Corrected entry: At the end Maverick throws Goose's dogtags off the ship. American soldiers wear two dog tags. When killed, one tag goes to administration for paperwork purposes and the other is given to the family (if any). Goose's personal effects should have had only one tag and been mailed home to his wife, NOT given to Maverick. It is not military policy to let a deceased soldier's friends pick through his stuff after he dies, as we see Maverick do.
Correction: Going through a deceased service person's items is often handled by their closest friend or person in their chain of command. They do that to spare the family of embarrassment by accidentally sending things home that would upset them. In the movie, Goose's wife is waiting for the stuff, possibly because it's an all male BOQ.
23rd Jan 2008
Ghostbusters (1984)
Corrected entry: The Ghostbusters cross their proton pack streams which results in a tremendous explosion. The next scene shows the blast pushing Mr. Sta-Puft away from the building. A second later another scene shows the explosion radiating outward from the roof. The only part of him shown over the edge of the building is his head and his right hand. To get all over the Ghostbusters, marshmallow would have to be blown in the opposite direction against the force of the blast. It makes sense that there was marshmallow all over the street, but how did it land on the Ghostbusters?
Correction: That is part of the joke. Just like part of the joke is that all of the Ghostbusters are covered in marshmallow except for Venkman, and that the explosion should have killed all of the Ghostbusters, along with Dana and Lewis in the first place. It doesn't make sense because it is not supposed to.
14th Oct 2010
Jaws (1975)
Corrected entry: Hooper says he can't poison Bruce because his skin is too thick and he'll have to go in the water and poke him in the mouth. However, when Brody stabs him in the head with the gaff, it leaves several bloody holes. It's just a bit too convenient for the plot to be believable that Hooper would choose to go into the water with a creature so powerful and dangerous (as opposed to at least trying to drug him from the surface first). And he had enough of the drug to try more than once: he fills one syringe from a good sized bottle of the stuff.
Correction: "Get this little needle though his skin?" as quint said. Much more delicate and breakable than the "gaff."
15th May 2008
Stargate SG-1 (1997)
Shadow Play - S6-E7
Corrected entry: When the hallucinated Jonas is leading Dr. Kieran upstairs, a red light can be seen glowing on his hip where his Beretta is holstered. It looks as if Corin Nemec is carrying an Intar (a training weapon with a glowing red crystal in the grip) prop instead of a normal pistol. Can't be due to a hallucination - Dr. Kieran couldn't hallucinate a Goa'uld training weapon he'd never seen.
Correction: Maybe the Intar was given to Jonas in the same way that Sam sometimes carries a Zat; so he has a stun weapon. We know the SGC has access to Intars since SG-1 broke up Apophis' old Jaffa training camp. Therefore, Kieran could have hallucinated it, even without knowing what it was if he'd seen Jonas with it beforehand.
I agree. Later when Jonas is talking to the council people at the end (where he says he wishes they could see what he's seen), you can see he is in fact carrying an Intar, so that's the weapon he left the SGC with, which Dr. Kieran would have seen.
1st May 2006
Stargate SG-1 (1997)
Corrected entry: When "Desert Camo" SG-1 returns to their dimension through the Stargate, we hear 5 "slurps" indicating someone passing through the gate, however there are only 4 members on the team.
Correction: The 5th sound effect could have been the rather large carrying case (contains the cure for the Ori plague) that Janet was given by Sam. Objects have been shown to make that same sound when the hit the event horizon.
29th Jun 2009
Stargate: Continuum (2008)
Corrected entry: When Ba'al's symbiote is removed it is shown to be a Goa'uld about 15 inches long with a fin on its back and pincers. This is a mature larva ready to take a host. A mature Goa'uld that has already taken a host is a slug-like creature approximately 6 inches long.
Correction: This is backwards. The larva symbiote is pinkish and quite small. The fully grown one is grey, with red eyes, pincers and fins.
18th Oct 2009
Independence Day (1996)
Corrected entry: When the President is firing his F-18's cannon he pulls the trigger. The trigger operates the radio. The same button that fires missiles fires the cannon, the pilot has to select which one first with the 'hat' switch in the top middle of the joystick.
Correction: The hat switch is for pitch and roll trimming, the castle switch is for sensor control. The upper left switch is weapon release (preps missiles for firing) and the trigger fires either the cannon or missile, depending on what's selected.
28th May 2003
Resident Evil (2002)
Corrected entry: Why didn't Umbrella's higher ups just ask Red Queen what happened before sending in an assault team? She could have told them the T-virus was released and the hive would have stayed sealed. Instead, they just assumed she was nuts and sent in people to shut her down! Had even one of them said, "What happened?", the zombies would have never been released - it's a plot hammer that contradicts the whole point of having an AI run the hive. There should have been a line that said something like "All attempts to communicate with Red Queen so far have failed. The whole point of an AI that has the capability to seal the Hive is to keep the virus from escaping! Her refusal to communcate guarantees that the hive will be breached by a team that is investigating.
Correction: She wasn't meant to keep the hive shut as the virus was meant to get out. Via the final movie.
11th Jul 2005
Resident Evil (2002)
Corrected entry: Red Queen is extremely conveniently programmed for the plot of the movie. 1. Rather than seal off rooms in a place she has TOTAL control of, (that by the way is designed to be isolated in sections for this very reason), she lets the infection spread to everybody in the Hive. She could have easily contained it in a small section of the facility. This is standard procedure in ANY biowarfare lab, there is no way she wouldn't be programmed to do it. 2. Rather than let everyone know the virus is loose, she just starts killing everyone. She had counter-virus available, why not let everyone know that they are locked in with the virus, but help is coming? The infected personnel would be hit with it only minutes after infection. If it didn't work and they died, they are still locked in. 3. Instead of calling Umbrella and telling them the virus is loose, she clams up and just slaughters everyone. This guarantees that Umbrella will ignore anything she has to say, and breach the Hive with a response team and release the virus, the very thing she is programmed to prevent. 4. When Kaplan is disabling her, she keeps telling him that it's a bad idea, but doesn't bother to let him know that shutting her down will release hordes of flesh-eating killers. 5. She just assumes that Spence, no matter how he got in to the T-virus storage has clearance to stuff it all in a duffel bag and walk out with it. She could have locked him in and double-checked with Umbrella. 6. The entire reason for her existence is to prevent the virus from escaping, while almost every decision she makes greatly increases the chances it will get out of the Hive. This is way beyond bad programming - this is highly advanced AI doing the exact opposite of what she's designed for.
Correction: She isn't allowed to help them since the viral outbreak was on purpose. Via the final movie.
28th Apr 2008
Star Trek (1966)
Corrected entry: Spock presents himself to Dr. McCoy in sickbay to be relieved of duty for "killing" Captain Kirk. However, as a medical officer, Bones has no place in the ship's chain of command. Doctors have an officer's rank in recognition of their education and value to the service, but no authority over military matters. (For example should Kirk, Spock and Scotty be indisposed, command of the ship would fall to Sulu who is in the chain of command even though McCoy has a higher rank) If Spock believes he should be relieved for breaking regulations and committing murder, and thus confined until court-martial, Scotty would be the one to do it, as he is the next senior officer. And this is not a character mistake, Spock quotes regulations regularly, there is no way he'd ignore chain of command. Contrary to what viewers seem to think, militaries have regulations and officers don't get to ignore them and do what they feel like! The only reason Spock talks to McCoy is so Kirk can walk out of the back of sickbay and create a nice emotional moment.
Correction: McCoy is a full commander and is in the chain of command. There are several reasons Spock may have chosen McCoy, the most likely being that Scotty simply wasn't available at the time. In any case, you're assuming regulations in the future must be identical to regulations in today's military. In the future, the regulation may simply require him to turn himself into the the first available officer above a particular rank. Spock also knew the reason for his killing of the captain was directly related to his mental state, which would fall under McCoy's expertise.
8th Sep 2016
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Corrected entry: Picard states in his log entry that the "alien" ship has detected the Phoenix's warp signature. Picard knows perfectly well that a Vulcan ship made first contact. Historically, he and the rest of the Starfleet doesn't use "alien" unless they are referring to an unknown race. This was only done to preserve the surprise of Vulcans walking off the ship.
Correction: Perhaps he was just being nostalgic. Since they have been on Earth in the past for a while he just empathizes the feeling these people had from a time before humans knew about extraterrestrials.
13th Oct 2003
Space Cowboys (2000)
Corrected entry: So what if the shuttle loses power? Once you re-enter the atmosphere safely, the shuttle does have ejection seats. Granted ejecting at those speeds is dangerous, but it beats the chances an unplanned, manual descent gives.
Correction: Only the Enterprise and Columbia orbiters were fitted with ejection seats, for the pilot and commander positions during the initial test missions STS-1 through STS-4. During later missions the ejection seats were disabled because it was not possible to provide ejection capability for additional crew positions, and later on they were replaced with non-ejection seats which were lighter.
15th Nov 2005
Eurotrip (2004)
Corrected entry: Absinthe is a very bright pale green, but it does not glow in the dark as seen in the film.
Correction: This is not a mistake. There are plenty of options used by nightclubs all over the world to make drinks appear to "glow", usually a mix of photoluminescent additives and the right lighting (usually a blacklight).
9th May 2005
Resident Evil (2002)
Corrected entry: Spence and Alice are charged with making sure no one without proper clearance gets into the Hive. Why then does Spence have the clearance to get into the Hive's most secret and secure area, the T-virus storage? Does a bank guard at the door have the combination to the vault? Can the guard in the entrance of a missile silo launch a missile? Of course not. There is no reason for him to have access that deep into the Hive. And while he may have bought the codes to get in, why does no one in the most secure facility in the world give him a second glance? Did he buy off every security guard and Red Queen as well?
Correction: It is never mentioned that they don't have access to the hive. Comparing them to bank guards or silo guards is a moot point. This is a highly classified government facility. There is no law that says they cannot give them access to the inside of the hive.
28th May 2012
Falling Skies (2011)
Corrected entry: Where do the resistance fighters get their weapons? They have carried Russian AK series, German UMP's, American M4's and M16's and Israeli Galil series just to name a few. While they might have salvaged the M4's and M16's from US military sources, it is highly unlikely they would find foreign assault rifles and ammunition in the Northeastern United States. That area of the US is notorious for its strict gun control laws.
Correction: This is not a plot hole or error, if anything, it's a question. First off, show starts 6 months after the alien invasion; plenty of time for various guns to be moved to the Boston area. Second, many of the fighters were ex-military or ex-police, who would have access to weapons, even in an anti-gun region. Third, we're told a lot of the guns come from Alex Vlensa, a paranoid gun collector who had a vast variety of guns. There are several additional reasons and ways they get foreign weaponry.
18th Feb 2006
The Terminator (1984)
Corrected entry: In Tech Noir, The Terminator fires his Uzi at Reese who leaps behind the bar. In the next shot, The Terminator very briefly has the .45 Longslide he dropped earlier, the shot cuts back to Reese. It then returns to the Terminator who has the Uzi again. (00:35:55)
Correction: Careful frame-by-frame review of the scene, cannot see the Longslide anywhere. In the 6-frame (1/4-second) shot you speak of, he is holding the Uzi - in real time, it does look a little like a handgun, but it is the Uzi.
20th Nov 2004
Blue Thunder (1983)
Corrected entry: Cochrane's chopper has a 12.7mm or 20mm cannon on the side (it can't be a 7.62mm as it has already been shown that Blue Thunder is armoured against small arms rounds), The round that punched through the glass should have torn Murphy's arm off.
Correction: It's entirely possible the round was deflected when it came through the window, and Murphy was struck by a shard of the window material instead.
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Correction: Just because Watto knows that mind tricks don't work on Toydarians doesn't mean that it is common knowledge that the Jedi should also be aware of. Also, there are literally hundreds of species in the Star Wars universe, it isn't out of the question that Qui Gonn doesn't recognize what race Watto is.
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