Best sci-fi TV factual errors of all time

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Men Into Space picture

Is There Another Civilization? - S1-E24

Factual error: The huge piece of retrieved space debris breaks loose in the hold and the astronauts struggle to lift and re-secure it. Only they shouldn't have had to. They're in space with no gravity generator, wearing magnetic boots to hold themselves to the deck. The debris would be weightless, too. (00:20:00)

Jean G

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Lexx picture

I Worship His Shadow - S1-E1

Factual error: When His Divine Shadow lays on the table to have his brain removed, the machine cuts his skull open and simply reaches in with a three pronged hand and tugs on the brain pulling it out. It would not have worked this way... The brain is about the same consistency as gravy and the prongs on the hand/claw putting pressure on it to pull would have caused them to sink into the brain's tissue destroying it. Also it pulls the brain out without cutting or separating it from the spinal column and merely just pulls it out from the top. This would have caused his brain to be torn into pieces as it was tried to be pulled off the spinal column, not come out perfectly in one piece as shown. (01:09:00)

Quantom X

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Terra Nova picture

Vs. - S1-E9

Factual error: The frequency which is used to attract the dragon fly is said to be "sub-sonic" and therefore can't be heard by humans, but the exact frequency is stated to be 38.2 Hz. This is well above 20 Hz, the lowest frequency an average human can hear.

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The Andromeda Strain picture

Show generally

Factual error: When the doctors are testing the contagiousness of Andromeda on the rats and monkey, in a highly secure, bio-sealed environment, the robotic arm that does the work simply pushes the containers together - no seals, no suction or vacuum. There would be absolutely no chance whatsoever of a real bio-research lab doing this so casually.

DavidRTurner

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Dirk Gently picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: When Susan is sorting Ruth's things, she finds Gordon's iPhone wrapped in a newspaper from 1994 with her voice-mail to him and realizes he went back in time, where Ruth killed him and took the phone from his corpse. Even if the phone had been turned off, after 16 years idle, the battery would have died long ago, but we see the phone is on with her message waiting. (00:55:50 - 00:56:45)

Captain Defenestrator

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Intelligence picture

Delta Force - S1-E8

Factual error: Chip-augmented federal agent Gabriel Vaughn is chasing a former Delta Force comrade, now suspected of being a hired assassin in Bolivia. He catches up to the man, telling him to freeze because he's standing in a minefield. Vaughn says the field was planted by "Pinochet," which is wrong, since the episode takes place in Bolivia, and General Augusto Pinochet was the military dictator of Chile. Earlier in the episode, Vaughn is asked what happened between him and his former close friend, and he refers to an incident in Fallujah. But flashbacks of the incident show the two men in Afghanistan in 2006. Fallujah is in Iraq. (00:37:00)

Nightguy

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The Changes picture

The Noise - S1-E1

Factual error: When Mr Gore destroys the television set, it is obviously a prop, as when he breaks the screen there is no noise, in reality there would be a loud bang as there is a vacuum behind a TV screen of that era.

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The Last Man on Earth picture

The Wild Guess Express - S3-E2

Factual error: After escaping Pat, the group find Cher's house. Carol finds Cher's body in her bed having died. The body would have been in that bed at least 2 or 3 years, and yet the sheets are perfectly pristine white with no stains from bodily fluids or decay of the flesh or bugs that would have found the body. (00:01:25)

Quantom X

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The Invaders picture

The Leeches - S1-E4

Factual error: When David Vincent lands at the airport, a sign there says, "Welcome to San Diego." When Vincent exits the airport, it says, "Maricopa Airport." There is a Maricopa in California, but the episode takes place in Arizona, as indicated by the license plates on the cars and mentioning the city of Tucson close to the town the episode takes place in.

Scott215

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Heroes Reborn picture

Company Woman - S1-E12

Factual error: As Ren enters Renautas and meets Emily, the word "Welcome" keeps scrolling in various languages on the screens in the background. Although hardly seen, the Hebrew is wrong, as it is reversed (text from left-to-right, as opposed to right-to-left).

IDFS33140

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Continuum picture

Family Time - S1-E9

Factual error: In the barn, one of the kids shoots Cameron, then drops the gun and flees. Cameron picks up the gun and checks how many rounds are in the magazine and then puts the magazine back in. However, after that, she pulls the slide back to chamber a round. But the semi-automatic pistol would already have a round in the chamber since it was just fired, and her action should have ejected an unspent round, which it doesn't.

Bishop73

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The Man in the High Castle picture

Kindness - S1-E9

Factual error: In the transition shot showing Hobart Building in San Fransisco, items not belonging to the scene are visible and have not been edited out. These items include; modern phone numbers, web addresses for several companies and educational institutions, satellite dishes and American flags. (00:24:10)

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Out of the Unknown picture

Sucker Bait - S1-E7

Factual error: It is quite true that atoms that do not occur naturally are bad for humans. However, in a space age as this story's, that would apply to most or even all planets. It would be a well known risk that didn't require an abnormal specialist to diagnose. (This fact rarely figures in other SF, because it would severely limit most stories).

Spiny Norman

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Once Upon a Time... Space picture

Show generally

Factual error: The forces of Cassiopeia all sport the crown-like "W" sign which is the shape of that constellation... but only as seen from earth! These five points in three-dimensional space (like all star signs named after anything) look like that when viewed from our own planet; but from anywhere else, they aren't shaped like that at all. Why would they chose to see themselves through a very specific angle of view from some other distant planet (earth)?

Spiny Norman

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Journey to the Center of the Earth picture

Show generally

Factual error: The group finds an underground sea and there is a flock of pterosaurs flying overhead. The professor identifies the pterosaurs as the missing link between pterodactyls and archaeopteryx. This is not true as archaeopteryx (and other birds) did not descend from pterosaurs but from a branch of theropod dinosaurs.

Noman

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