The top mistakes in The Final Countdown http://www.moviemistakes.com/film476 en Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:55:11 +0000 12051 During the dogfight with the Japanese Zeroes, the ordnance hung on the two F-14s' weapon stations keep changing. For the weapons to change, the airplanes would have had to land and re-arm about four times during the two-minute dogfight. 136801 When Lasky heads toward the conning tower, an F8 Crusader is shown at left (and the helicopter nose has a number "3" on it). As he is led inside the tower, the camera pans up, and now the Crusader is gone, replaced by an AWACS Hawkeye (and the number "3" on the heli is gone, too). 136804 Real Japanese Zeros were, of course, not available for the film, so American T-6 Texans were painted in Japanese markings instead. 136835 There are two F-14s that deal with the yacht and the two Zeros. They are respectively numbered 202 and 203 prominently on both sides of their forward fuselages. But when one fires a missile to down the second Zero, suddenly it is number 200, a jet that hasn't been launched. 136800 While still unsure where and when they are, the Nimitz has two F-14 Tomcats aloft, investigating a pair of low-altitude radar contacts. They determine the planes are WWII-vintage Japanese Zeros in full military livery. The Tomcats are told to shadow the Zeros without engaging them. Then, the Captain, the XO, the CAG and Lasky all go to a formal dining room and sit down to tea. In this scene, they talk about many other 1941-era things that are happening, but nobody mentions the Zeros. That fact, and that they left their Tomcats where they did, suggests this scene was meant to be in an earlier part of the film (when things seemed odd, but no imminent threat existed) and got moved here, creating a plot hole that the USS Nimitz could slide through sideways. US Navy nuclear carrier command staff wouldn't simply go have tea under the current conditions.