The Day the Earth Stood Still

Revealing mistake: When the guys are seen piloting the UAV's, they are using Saitek X52 Pro joysticks. These are commercially available controllers for Microsoft Flight Simulator. These were obviously used as props. Even if the army did use these for some reason, they weren't turned on in the movie (the buttons glow green when turned on).

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Suggested correction: There is no casing on the bullet.

Revealing mistake: Toward the end when they are being chased by the military through the city, there is a quick shot of a military radio in one of the HUM-Vs. There are 2 antenna ports on the left side of the radio (I used to work on them), neither was hooked up to an antenna, yet the radio was transmitting and receiving.

Factual error: As Klaatu is walking down the train platform at Newark Penn Station, in the background you can see signs that say "VIA". VIA is the national railway of Canada and does not have a presence in New Jersey. This scene was filmed in Canada, as evidenced by the signs on the platform and the 1950s style streamlined passenger cars on the track. Neither Amtrak nor NJ Transit uses those type of cars in their trains.

More mistakes in The Day the Earth Stood Still

Klaatu: If the Earth dies, you die. If the human race dies, the Earth survives.

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Trivia: When Klaatu is shown on the tv as an escaped convict, the phone number shown to call to report him is not the usual 1-800-555 number, rather it is 1-800-472-0391 which is the Alaska Weather Information Hotline.

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Question: When Klaatu and Professor Barnhardt are writing on the black board together, are they solving something that we just haven't solved yet, and so answering this question is hopeless, or does anybody know what it is they are supposedly solving, it looks to be something to do with an event horizon.

Answer: As in the original 1951 movie, Professor Barnhardt has an equation on the board that suggests (theorizes) that space travel through inter-dimensional universes is possible. Klaatu solves the mathematical equation thereby proving that, not only is it possible, but that's how he got there. This was brought out in the original movie.

CCARNI

Answer: The equation Klaatu finds on the professor's blackboard is real - an in joke for mathematicians: the "Three Body Problem" seeks to account for all possible relationships among three objects in space (Landon 85).

Not to mention, Reeve's chicken scratch on that board reminds me of an 8th grader. Frankly, they should have CGI'd that bit. For anyone whose spent any time actually doing equations on a chalk board, his sophomoric scribble is hard to watch.

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