Best action TV factual errors of all time

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MacGyver picture

Pirates - S2-E15

Factual error: A 250-year-old sea chest recovered from the ocean floor is opened, and all its paper items are perfectly dry: the log book can be opened and read, and the letters can easily be unrolled. Highly unlikely. The chest's wood and pitch would deteriorate (salt water is extremely corrosive), and the paper should be damp and crumbly, at the very least. Even more likely, it would have become a lump of unreadable sludge.

Jean G

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Battlestar Galactica picture

Epiphanies - S2-E13

Factual error: Early in the episode a damaged Viper makes its way back to Galactica with its port-side gun trailing smoke as if in an atmosphere. But in a vacuum, the smoke wouldn't trail. It would build upon itself much the way shaving foam does when slowly leaking from a damaged can, unless the ship changed course and/or speed and then the smoke would appear to do the opposite - ship turns right, smoke moves off to the left because it remains on its original course regardless of what the ship does. The gun is not propelling the smoke rearward. The ammo inside is simply burning. (00:05:15)

johnrosa

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The Dresden Files picture

Birds of a Feather - S1-E1

Factual error: Talking to Dresden, Bob refers to his first grimoire (a book of spells & magic). But the closed captioner, apparently unfamiliar with the term, has rendered the line, "My first Renoir," which, though amusing, makes no sense at all in the context of the conversation. (Refers to the aired version: the error was corrected on the DVD release.) (00:24:00)

Jean G

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Star Trek: Voyager picture

Emanations - S1-E9

Factual error: To protect the warp core, Janeway instructs Paris to move away from the rings at Warp 7. Moments later (Janeway, Torres and Tuvok are still in the same position), Paris tells Janeway they are 0.6 light years away from the rings. Warp 7 is 656 times the speed of light. It would take about 8 hours to travel 0.6 light years at Warp 7.

Birdzip

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The warp scale, especially since it's fictional, has never been precisely defined.

While it's never been defined, certain aspects of warp speed drive and the length of a light year are accepted. Even if Warp 7 is double what is suggested in the mistake, it would still be 4 hours. The scene in question shows no lengthy travel at Warp 7.

Bishop73

More Star Trek: Voyager factual errors
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Stargate SG-1 picture

Children of the Gods (1) - S1-E1

Factual error: The escort for Colonel O'Neill is wearing both Major and Staff Sergeant rank insignia. Probably what the writers thought was a "Sergeant Major", which does not exist in the Air Force. Major is a commissioned officer, sergeants are non-commissioned officers.

wickeddoll

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Knight Rider picture

The Topaz Connection - S1-E16

Factual error: A secret file is password-protected on a computer, requiring a six-digit numerical access code. KITT states that the possibilities "are virtually unlimited." In truth, if each digit can be 0 through 9 (numerical meaning no letters or symbols), the possibility is 1 in 10^6, or 1 in a million. A supercomputer like KITT should have no problem running each number systematically until a correct code is found.

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Agents of SHIELD picture

Purpose in the Machine - S3-E2

Factual error: When examining the sand, Bobbi states "According to carbon dating..." Fitz finishes by saying "It's a billion years older than the earth." However, carbon dating is only good at determining the age of something to about 60,000 years old. The only thing carbon dating could tell about the sand is that it is 60,000 years old or older. It certainly couldn't determine that the sand was 5 billion years old.

Guy

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The A-Team picture

A Nice Place to Visit - S1-E14

Factual error: When the team is in uniform for their friend's funeral, Smith and Peck (both commissioned officers) have their Special Forces insignias on their berets when they should have their rank insignia.

Mister Ed

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Ben 10 picture

The Big Tick - S2-E2

Factual error: When Gwen and Grandpa Max use the shell plates from the tick to ward off it's corrosive secretions, their fingers should have been eaten away since they were grabbing the rims of the plates when the acid came raining down.

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Thunderbirds picture

The Mighty Atom - S1-E14

Factual error: An edition of the 'Melbourne Herald' newspaper can be seen in this episode, and appears to be dated Friday, December 24, 1964. Yet 'Thunderbirds' is supposed to be set in the 21st Century (2026 or 2065, depending on who you believe). This date is also seen on newspapers which appear in the episodes 'Edge of Impact', 'The Impostors' and 'Cry Wolf'. Also, to compound the error, December 24th, 1964 was actually a Thursday, not a Friday.

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Battletech picture

Trade Secrets - S1-E5

Factual error: The Strikers steal several suits of Elemental armor in a few minutes and use it to escape after they are discovered. It takes 15 minutes to put on battle armor unaided and that's for an Elemental trained in its use. The armor is custom fit for a 6 and a half to 7 foot Elemental but 5 foot Val wears one. Elemental armor is also protected by voice recognition and code phrase software. Needless to say there's no way they could just walk out with 3 suits.

Grumpy Scot

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The Avengers picture

The Girl From Auntie - S4-E17

Factual error: The bad guys are supposedly auctioning off the stolen Mona Lisa. But they and their prospective buyers aren't very art savvy. The painting is more than twice the size of Da Vinci's actual masterpiece. (00:44:50)

Jean G

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Star Trek: Enterprise picture

Carbon Creek - S2-E2

Factual error: Part of this episode takes place in the 50s, during a previously-unknown incident of Vulcans crash landing on earth. Modern twenty and fifty dollar bills are visible in the tip jar.

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Wonder Woman picture

The Return of Wonder Woman - S2-E1

Factual error: When Steve gets attacked by the bad guys and Wonder Woman shows up, the lady in the car pulls out a camera and films the event. She sits still, the car isn't moving, and she does all the filming from the same position. However when she watches the playback, the film shows footage from multiple angles and varying distances, which is impossible because she and the camera were in the same spot the whole time.

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Helen of Troy picture

Show generally

Factual error: When they first assault the city, the Greeks construct catapults. Only problem: catapults were invented at 400 - 300 BC, i.e. about 800 years later; and the first models looked similar to giant crossbows. The one-armed onager and similar types (as seen here) were a later Roman invention.

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MacGyver picture

Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17

Factual error: Bozer and for that matter I would assume all of the team went to a spycraft academy. A basic subject in any of such academies is surveillance, including proper techniques to follow and stake out someone. Bozer being so inept at tracking MacGyver's father is inconceivable given their training.

toroscan

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