Best sci-fi movie mistakes of all time

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The Incredible Hulk picture

Continuity mistake: During the street chase in Brazil, the time of day changes from night, to perhaps late afternoon/evening, to night again.

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Ready Player One picture

Plot hole: In all scenes where special or heavy items are used against the sixers, they are 'zeroed' in waves or circles. This can be seen by their stations turning red in clusters. This makes no sense as the stations have fixed positions, meaning that the sixers would have identical positions in the Oasis and have no freedom or own will to move relative to each other.

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Suggested correction: From a military point of view it makes perfect sense. AOE weapons would be most likely to hit members of the same squads, companies or battalions. It would make sense for squad mates in the oasis to stick together in stations as well. I just watched that scene. As long as the Sixers are trained soldiers or players it makes perfect sense.

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Black Widow picture

Factual error: The sisters run out of fuel for the helicopter, which is then shown slamming down on the ground and essentially destroying itself. All helicopters are capable of autorotating safely to the ground in the event the engine(s) quit. Of course, that would not have been as dramatic. (01:05:15)

toroscan

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Suggested correction: You may have noticed the helicopter was severely damaged, it may not have any rotating capabilities left after the fuel was gone.

lionhead

I did notice it, but it did not look that any damage would prevent it from autorotation.

toroscan

Perhaps the sisters (not being experienced helicopter pilots) couldn't use the autorotation properly.

OK, while that may be a possibility, if they have a helicopter pilot's license they would have had to demonstrate autorotation as part of both the curriculum and the practical exam. But listen, it's just a movie. The way they did it makes it more dramatic.

toroscan

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The Hunger Games picture

Other mistake: The video stream displayed in the night sky showing which tributes have died after the first day does not add up correctly. They display in district order. We see the start, the girl from three (so the boy is still alive), and the boy from four with no breaks. Then they break away to show Katniss and the control room, after which they continuously show the boy and girl from seven, the boy from eight (so the girl is still alive), the girl from nine (so the boy is still alive), and then fade to the end. We know that Foxface, the girl from five, dies later in the movie. Even if we assume that during the portion not shown, the girl from four, the boy from five, and both tributes from six are dead, that's only a total of ten. Thirteen are supposed to be dead at that point in the movie. (01:16:20)

P3ngu1n

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Runaway picture

Continuity mistake: The whole time sequence in the last part of the movie is messed up. After trying to nab the bad guys at the hotel, Tom Selleck goes home and puts his son to bed, then is called back in to work, and then the rest of the film is supposed to be the same evening, but it was already late night.

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Battle Royale picture

Other mistake: When Sugimura is looking for Kotohiki, he activates his scanner to see if she is nearby. The scanner shows her location, but fails to show either Mitsuko or Kiriyama, who show up quickly after.

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Star Trek: Generations picture

Other mistake: As the Veridian star is destroyed, Picard raises his hand to supposedly shield his eyes from the sun's light, but he is looking in the wrong direction; the sun is behind him, and there is no light on the rest of the front of his body.

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Land of the Lost picture

Continuity mistake: When Grumpy jumps the chasm to chase Dr. Marshall, there's a large green bulbous plant that moves from the side Grumpy jumped from to the one he lands on. It wasn't there before.

jerimiah

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country picture

Continuity mistake: After the bird of prey first fires on Enterprise, Kirk is thrown right out of his chair to his left and lands on the floor. The camera pans around the bridge briefly, seeing the rest of the crew staggering and holding onto things. In the very next shot Kirk is back in his chair shouting "back off, back off" and the crew back in their positions as if nothing has happened.

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Superman IV: The Quest for Peace picture

Revealing mistake: After Nuclear Man destroys the cab's hood, the shot changes and there's a thick string running behind him all along the car, and the cab driver is stretching out to pull it. Probably he was activating some sort of bad FX.

Sacha

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Escape from the Planet of the Apes picture

Plot hole: While it is essential to the story, there is a problem with apes in the space ship. While it is the one that took Taylor to the future, there is no way the chimps could have salvaged the ship from the water (plus there wasn't enough time for such a salvage operation. Kira and Cornelius were living in the ape city we see in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" never mentioning to Brent that they found a spaceship he could travel back with). They didn't have the technology for such an operation, no diving suits, and chimps are scared of water. Also, the water would have destroyed the power systems of the ship when it sank. (00:00:25)

Movie Nut

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Dark Phoenix picture

Factual error: In the car at the beginning of the movie, Jean uses her telekinetic powers to switch the radio from a station playing "By the time I get to Phoenix" by Glen Campbell to Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London." It's 1975, and Zevon recorded the song only in 1978 (although the song itself had already been written in 1975, other artists played it in live concerts in the Fall of that year). (00:01:30)

Sammo

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Airplane II: The Sequel picture

Other mistake: When McCroskey gets the information about Joe Seluchi, he's told that Seluchi purchased life insurance and was impotent. McCroskey informs Ted about Seluchi and the bomb he's carrying but nothing else. When Ted confronts Seluchi, he mentions both the insurance and the impotence.

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Frequency picture

Factual error: A ham radio requires the person to hold down the button while talking. Numerous times in the movie they are talking without pushing the button.

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Suggested correction: This is actually subtly addressed in the film. The magic which allows the radio to work across time also allows the two men to speak without pressing the button. There is a moment where Frank wonders what is going on with the radio and presses the button a few times to talk but then notices that he doesn't have to press the button to be heard.

BaconIsMyBFF

If that was true, then it wouldn't make sense for them to continue to show Frank and John hitting the squawk bar throughout the film.

Bishop73

That is a separate issue. The mistake entry states that you need to hold the button to talk on a ham radio, which is true, but the magic ham radio in the film doesn't require it. If the actors continue to occasionally press the button that could be considered a character mistake but it could also simply be a force of habit by the characters.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Predator picture

Revealing mistake: As the Predator tends to his wounded leg, one of his claws can be seen bending as if made of rubber.

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On the Beach picture

Character mistake: In the scenes in San Diego, all the scenes outside the sub are taking place during daylight hours. Immediately after the crewman relays the message about the mysterious telegraph transmission, the scene shifts to the sub. The commander asks what time it is in Melbourne and is told it is 1500 hours (3PM). But if it were that time in Melbourne, it would be 10PM in San Diego, and thus not during daylight hours. (01:33:30 - 01:38:05)

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Robocop 3 picture

Plot hole: The opaque red lined map that Otomo retrieves from his first fight is ridiculous. Why would people who know where the hidden base is be carrying around a map on them (which shows a route so basic that they'd have to be brain-dead not to be able to remember it anyway) just so that conveniently one of their enemies can get it?

GalahadFairlight

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Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase picture

Audio problem: On the first level of the video game, after Velma brings up what she remembers what Eric said about the Scooby snacks in the game, you hear Daphne talking but you see Velma's lips moving. (00:01:00)

Aaron Chi Thomas

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles picture

Other mistake: In the music within the ending credits, the lyrics incorrectly state that Raph is the leader of the group when all Turtle fans past and present know it is Leo.

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Blade Runner picture

Other mistake: When Deckard visits the Tyrell Corporation, he prepares to test Rachel with the "VK" machine. He is shown putting his briefcase of the table and lifting the "VK" machine out and onto the table. If you look closely, the "VK" machine is already on the table and Harrison Ford is miming the lifting - there is nothing in his hands! (00:19:45)

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