Best sci-fi movie factual errors of all time

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Project Almanac picture

Factual error: They find an old video camera from their dad, but that camera is already 10 years old. And the battery just works?

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Moon picture

Factual error: When Sam speaks with his daughter on the long range phone there is virtually no delay between some questions and answers. It takes over two seconds for radio waves just to travel from the Moon to the Earth and back in a straight line. The interval between question and answer physically can't be shorter than that and realistically should be around 3 seconds or even more, accounting for additional signal relays and time needed for a person to form a statement. Same for the communication between Gerty and the Lunar employees when Sam 2 got out of his infirmary bed.

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The Wolverine picture

Factual error: In the Shinkansen fighting scene, the railway line is seen having color light signals along its way. But the Shinkansen uses a signalling system that doesn't involve the use of light signals at all.

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Jason X picture

Factual error: Rowan has been frozen since at least 2010 because that's when the Cryo machine was made. The android says she has been out for 4.55 centuries. With it being 2455 it would be 4.45 centuries. Pretty simple mathematical mistake for a robot. (00:16:20)

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28 Days Later picture

Factual error: After Jim escapes the house and makes his way back to the blockade there is a shot of him operating the siren. In the background is a sign saying that the M55 junction for Blackpool is in 1/3 mile. The M55 is nowhere near the M602, where the blockade is supposed to be. (01:30:20)

jle

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Monsters vs Aliens picture

Factual error: Gallaxhar scans the galaxy to find the missing quantonium. The scanner zooms in on earth, showing it to be very close to the center of the galaxy. Earth is actually nowhere near the center of the galaxy; it's located much closer to the outer edge.

BocaDavie

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Red Planet picture

Factual error: The roach-like insects that are apparently eating the algae and "producing oxygen" are continually referred to as nematodes. Nematodes are actually tiny round worms that have unsegmented bodies (unlike an earthworm).

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Earth vs. the Flying Saucers picture

Factual error: The aliens request a meeting with Dr. Marvin on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, near Washington DC. However, the shot of him driving along the shore line shows mountains in the background, which don't exist in Eastern Maryland. (00:35:13)

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Highlander picture

Factual error: When we first see Kurgan in modern day New York, he begins to assemble his sword in a motel room. The very fact that he is assembling his sword the way he is, snapping segments together, especially the blade itself, which is segmented in the middle, would make that quite possibly one of the weakest and most inefficient weapons a person could ever wield. Being that it is segmented the way it is, it is structurally weak, and a clash against another sword, or any hard surface for that matter, would break the segments apart easily.

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Ghostbusters picture

Factual error: At the very end of the movie, Ray is telling Louis about the Tunguska Blast of 1909, but the famous blast actually occurred in 1908. Given his oft-demonstrated levels of knowledge, he'd know better. (01:37:38)

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28 Weeks Later picture

Factual error: There is a point where the children travel to their home to get some things. They travel to SOUTH London but as they near their home, look at Canary Wharf in the background! The positioning of the buildings show they are in the EAST towards Dagenham area.

Brian Holmes

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Tremors picture

Factual error: Throughout the entire film Burt holds all of his rifles' butts underneath his armpit, rather than against his shoulder. A trained "survivalist" such as him would surely know better. Holding the "elephant gun" in such a way would most likely break his arm, wrist and hand when it fired. (00:58:20)

RJR99SS

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Jurassic Park picture

Factual error: In the early scene where Dennis Nedry meets a man to plan the embryo theft, the subtitle says that they are in San José, Costa Rica. However, the sleepy coastal town in the movie within sight of the ocean bears no resemblance to the real San José (a cosmopolitan capital of almost 1 million people, situated 50 miles from either coast). Even the book makes this error. (00:13:10 - 00:14:45)

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Face/Off picture

Factual error: In the hangar scene when Castor and Archer point their guns at each other, if Castor's gun was really empty the slide would be locked back.

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Young Frankenstein picture

Factual error: The movie is set in Transylvania, but the natives all speak German and with German accents (probably an homage to the book, but still incorrect). (00:14:30)

Phoenix

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The Running Man picture

Factual error: In the beginning of the movie just prior to the Bakersfield Massacre, the camera cuts away from Arnold periodically and shows a computer schematic for his location. The very first coordinate that we see is 29º, 43' N by 119º 23' W and is off the coast of Baja California. The last coordinate that we see is 45º 4' N by 119 8' W and is in north-east Oregon. So, in the 35 seconds or so between these scenes, Arnold's helicopter traveled approximately 1050 miles. That's one fast helicopter. This cannot be explained by saying that they just shortened the trip for the movie because in the first computer schematic you see Bakersfield in the distance which is certainly not 1050 miles away. (00:01:35 - 00:02:10)

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Tarantula picture

Factual error: When they are driving in the convertible, before the tarantula attacks them with the stones, if you look at their hair, it's not moving with the wind. If they were driving a convertible that fast in real life, it would.

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Gremlins 2: The New Batch picture

Factual error: When the Security Guard in the pump room gets bitten on the nose, he starts shooting with his revolver (a SIX shooter). Count the bangs. He manages to fire SEVEN times. (00:39:45)

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