Corrected entry: When our heroes open Impotep's sarcophagus, Evie translates something carved into the inside of the lid ('He has left us a message') For someone trapped inside a coffin while alive he carves quite neatly doesn't he? (00:56:30)
Doc
21st Oct 2003
The Mummy (1999)
21st Oct 2003
The Mummy (1999)
Other mistake: Evie explains that if Imotep was resurrected he'd bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt. This is followed by (in no particular order) a plague of Locusts, Flies, Water running to blood, the sun being eclipsed and a plague of boils. At the plague of boils Jonathan says 'last but not least, my favourite plague - boils and sores'. How does he know this is the last plague? Aren't there supposed to be 5 more? (01:23:10)
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Suggested correction: This may be taking the dialog too literally. It may be foreshadowing, in the sense of "uh, oh, they've got us now" or Jonathan may simply be expressing the fact that he's had enough plagues now and would like it to stop please. By the way, you forgot the fire raining from the sky, so technically Imhotep did six, not five.
The fact that Evie stated specifically 10 plagues, it makes no sense for Jonathan to say "last" on the 6th one, without considering it a mistake on the parts of writers, actor, or director.
Jonathan doesn't simply say "last", but rather "last but not least" - a statement that is regularly used on things the speaker knows for a fact to be, in fact, not the actual last. Taken as a sarcastic remark it makes perfect sense in the situation.
I know he said more than just "last", but that was the keyword to point out that the mistake is in fact valid. "Last but not least", weather said sarcastically or not, is never meant to be said about something that is in fact not last. It's always said to indicate the last item is not necessary the least, such as at Christmas when the last gift remains or when the last graduating student is given his or her diploma.
Also it's a possibility that off screen there was death of livestock, lice, raining frogs and death of first born children. Just want to show which we missing and it's obvious why, as in a movie raining frogs or dying livestock isn't all that threatening to the main characters and doesn't look cool. And for the movie showing first born children die is just stupid. And lice, that's just too much like flies.
6th Nov 2003
U-571 (2000)
Other mistake: A German U-boat could dive in less than 30 seconds. By the time the boarding party even got to the conning tower the boat would already have been submerged.
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Suggested correction: Just because it can, doesn't mean it has to. Not a mistake.
Yes mistake. The order to crash dive is heard. On a German sub the cry "Alarm!" always implied an order to crash dive as quickly as possible. A bit later the order to dive is given again. Practice on German subs was to open the quick-release vents as soon as the prompt "hatch latched" was given - in case of air attack often before that, meaning the vents were already open while crew members were still dropping through the hatch, resulting in the last guy getting an involuntary shower. True, the boat couldn't have dived in record time because they had no way in the ship, but still, at the very least the first thing the boarding party should have needed to do after taking the Central of U-571 should have been to close the vents and blow the tanks.
27th Aug 2001
U-571 (2000)
Factual error: The submarine gets buzzed by a single engine German fighter. They are somewhere between the US coast and Greenland. The Germans had no aircraft carriers nor bases in the area. Since it was not a float plane how did the fighter get there? It could not possibly have flown the several thousand miles from continental Europe.
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Suggested correction: This is explained in the film saying that the plane came from the destroyer on a recon mission.
If that is the explanation the film gives, it is a mistake in is own right. Firstly, destroyers did not carry recon planes, and secondly, recon planes are always equipped with floats, because they were launched from the ship by a catapult, but had to land on the water next to the ship to be lifted aboard by a crane.
27th Aug 2001
U-571 (2000)
Factual error: Depth charges explode at a distance of some 10 meters from the boat without any fatal effect. In reality fatal (i.e. destroying) distance was some 50 meters. (00:06:00)
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Suggested correction: The second sentence is in error. Hull-rupture maximum distance is approximately FIVE meters. K-gun DISPERSION range was selectable from the attacking DD or DE: (1) Mk-6 at 50, 75, and 120 yards, (2) Mk-9 at 60, 90, and 150 yards. Citation: http://uboat.net/allies/technical/depth_charges.htm states "The pressure hull of the U-boat was strong enough to withstand anything but a charge exploding 10 or 20 feet from its hull.", and http://www.math.iitb.ac.in/~manishk/msc_project/OR-Notes-Mirror/OR-Notes/mscmga.ms.ic.ac.uk/jeb/or/intro.html states "As mentioned above the standard 250lb depth charge was believed to have a lethal radius of only 5-6 metres."
I have seen German sources which suggest any depth charge going off closer than 100 meters would be instantly deadly. I don't know where those sites you cite get their info from, but descriptions of battles from the era of from a submariner's perspective make it look extremely unlikely that bombs of the stats which you describe would have been an effective weapon at all.
100 metres is 330ft. If depth charges were that effective, the Battle of the Atlantic would have been won in days. Escort ships used to drop ten charges in a pattern to sandwich the sub when they exploded.
18th Dec 2018
M*A*S*H (1972)
Good-Bye Radar: Part 2 - S8-E5
Corrected entry: Radar tells Klinger that "nobody helped me when I took the job." However, when Potter complains about Klinger's performance, Mulcahy tells him about Blake taking Radar under his wing and helping him grow into the job.
Correction: It is made clear that Colonel Blake was inept and had very little understanding of Radar's job. While Blake may have been supportive of Radar, Radar still had to learn the job on his own.
If he had little understanding of the clerk's job, then Mulcahy's statement that "Henry took Radar under his wing and helped him grow into the job" is moot.
Not necessarily as such. Both "taking under one's wing" and "growing into the job" are rather generic statements after all. Blake may very well have just kept his back while he learned the job, even though he may not have been such a great source of topical information on company-clerking in particular. For the question at hand however one should keep in mind that neither Radar nor Mulcahy are laying down historic facts when they make their respective statements, but try to make their points, which are, to wit: Radar thinks Klinger should stop bitching and try to find his feet, and Mulcahy thinks Potter needs to be supportive of Klinger.
24th Aug 2013
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
German Bridge Is Falling Down - S1-E7
Corrected entry: In the very beginning, the prisoners are all in formation for a count. Shultz completes the count at 15, reports it, and Klink calls Hogan over to talk. This leaves 14 in formation. Hogan says "Smoke if you have them". Unbeknownst to Klink, the men are in an arrow formation to point the way to the bridge for the bombers. The aerial shot from the planes shows at least 25 lighters lit. Where did the other 11 guys come from? With Hogan, his barracks only had 15 men who would've been in on it.
Correction: First, it's not true that only the men from Hogan's barracks are in on their operations. It's mentioned in several episodes that they've used other men during their missions. During S1E22 Hogan sends his people out to find a pizza recipe which is hardly the most inconspicuous thing to ask in a POW camp. During S1E27 Hogan asks Kinch if there's a Safe cracker among the prisoners in the camp, so he obviously has no problem recruiting people from outside his barracks. Second, the moment Hogan steps towards Klink, the prisoners break ranks and start to mingle. We simply have to assume that not only Hogan's barracks were ordered to fall out, but other barracks as well, (which would only be logical) even though it happens out of frame. The reason is obvious as well - it's hardly news that the producers of Hogan's Heroes were kept on a pretty tight leash budget-wise. Last but not least, it's true that Schultz counts to 15, but if you count yourself, you will find that not 15 but 19 people are in formation in front of the barracks in the first place. In conclusion, there is a valid mistake right there, but it's not the fact that the arrow consists of more than 15 people.
I stand corrected.
16th Nov 2018
M*A*S*H (1972)
Corrected entry: It would be impossible for Radar's bee Blitzen to sting the general as drones do not have stingers. (00:17:05)
Correction: Since it did sting him, it seems that Radar had misidentified it as a drone.
20th Feb 2017
M*A*S*H (1972)
Corrected entry: Between season 2 and season 3, the interior decoration of the officers' club changes radically. Up to season 2, it's furnished with wicker chairs and tables and has a picture of General MacArthur at the wall, from season 3 on, it has the familiar look with the tables made from tires and the unit insignia on the wall.
Correction: As you say, it happens in-between seasons. Given the 4077th's successful track record, the higher-ups may reward them with better equipment for the Officers' Club. (At one point, they save the life of an officer's son, and he gives them an upgrade to the club as well. Who's to say that hasn't happened more than once?).
Actually, it isn't so much an UPgrade as a DOWNgrade. In the 2nd season, it had nice wicker chairs and tables and even local bartenders. In the 3rd season and on, both the decoration and the furniture have a much more home-brew/scrounged air to them. I think it's more likely the producers or production designers noticed the officers' club was out of whack with the rest of the production design and adjusted it.
Again, the officer gave them the upgrade, he'd get to pick the decor and they'd just have to learn to like it. What you call an upgrade and what he calls an upgrade might be two separate things.
The basic problem with what you say is always the same however: There is exactly nothing in the dialog to support any of your theories.
There's also nothing but your own personal flair for design to say that the officer's idea of "That's what I call an upgrade" was, in fact, a downgrade. The taste of the officer who's giving them the upgrade is what decides if it is or isn't, and if his "upgrade" sucks, there's not a lot that the 4077th can do but say "Gee... thanks... sir..." and learn to like it.
"In reward for your dedicated service, I decided to replace your barkeeper with no barkeeper. You also won't have to look at the ugly mug of MacArthur any more, I've found you some nice random unit insignia instead! What's not to love, eh?"
Yeah, it sucks. I hear it's this thing called The Army.
26th Sep 2016
Hellboy (2004)
Trivia: One puzzling point for newcomers to "Hellboy" through the cinema was the scene in which Hellboy rhetorically asks John Myers, "You know what'll kill me, don't you?" The question is left open and unanswered for the rest of the movie (and it remains unanswered in "Golden Army," as well). Long-time readers of Mike Mignola's comics, however, have known for years that the only thing that can kill Hellboy is ripping his heart out of his chest. This is precisely what happened in the 2011 Hellboy comic entitled "The Storm and the Fury," when the dragon-witch Nimue unexpectedly ripped out Hellboy's heart, killing him on the spot and sending his soul back to Hell.
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Suggested correction: He was rhetorically alluding to his love for Liz, and how it is metaphorically "killing" him that they can't be together. He even blatantly nods in her directly after he says the line. You're looking into it WAY too far... it's not supposed to be an inside reference to the comics.
19th Jun 2006
M*A*S*H (1972)
Corrected entry: BJ gives his home phone number as 555-2657; in the 1950's, phone numbers were generally given in a TWo-letter-five-number format e.g. "PEnnsylvania-6-5000" or "BEechwood-4-5789".
Correction: This is not a mistake. First 'generally' doesn't cut it - they might be the exception. Also, film makers are required by law to use unassigned telephone numbers, and have always used 555 as a prefix as such numbers are never used in real life.
They don't have to use the 555 prefix, it is just better that they do. They also used KLondike 5 or KL5 before the local area name was dropped.
Correction: 555 was never an area code. Original area codes all had a 0 or a 1 as the second number. 555 was an exchange that was never used for general public but it was used for some information numbers such as the time and weather. Usually Klondike 5 was used in movies or shows instead of 555 but either one is correct although in the 50's, it would be common to say Klondike.
Correction: The place name in the numbers mentioned actually translates to a three-digit code, the two letters merely were an abbreviation of that place name. It is simply an area code. The code 555 was reserved and never assigned to any real city in the US. To avoid people prank-calling numbers they heard in songs or movies, movie directors often used the 555 prefix. As detailed above, songwriters were often a lot less squeamish about using real, assignable phone numbers. There are several cases on file where phone numbers used in songs had to be reassigned and reserved, because people would call it "just to see whom it actually belonged to"
The place name and next number weren't the area code, they were the exchange. Usually giving the general neighborhood for the local number.
24th Feb 2010
M*A*S*H (1972)
Other mistake: Charles starts a discussion on the army having forbidden the use of curare. The following chatter is all about how things in the M.A.S.H. OR have slowed after curare was banned, leaving us with no choice but to understand that the ban came into effect during the Korean War. Actually, curare was not approved for use by the U.S. Army at any time during the Korean War. (See "Notable Names in Anasthesia" - J. Roger Maltby, Royal Society of Medicine, Great Britain, pg. 14). (00:00:25)
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Suggested correction: The whole point of the discussion is to make it clear that curare was never allowed for use by the US military, however since the majority of the doctors there are not enlisted, they know of curare and how to use it on a patient. At no point is it mentioned that the banned occurred during the Korean war.
While they never specifically say that the ban occurred during the Korean war, at the beginning of the episode, Charles says "Ever since the army forbade our use of curare..." Then at the end of the episode, COL Potter says "It sure is the cat's P.J.s having our curare back." after they get some supply from another non-American unit. These conversations imply that the doctors had been allowed to use curare by the army until this point and the ban by the army is why they aren't using it any more.
Father Mulchahy says "I've noticed the work goes much faster with curare." Father Mulchahy's only experiences in operating rooms are from his deployment at mash 4077 (he mentions he used to work with children before the war), so he must have "noticed" it there. This makes it clear as daylight that curare was used at mash before it was banned.
19th Feb 2013
M*A*S*H (1972)
Corrected entry: When the champ comes in, several soldiers are lying in the post-op ward, and some of them don't look likely to get out soon. After the champ suffers his stroke, the ward is empty and Cavanaugh is the only patient there. Hawkeye even says "Afraid you're going to lose your private room, Champ?" What happened to the other wounded? (00:05:00 - 00:18:45)
Correction: Patients get transferred out all the time. If they knew that they were going to get more wounded in, they would transfer as many as could be feasibly moved. Obviously all could be safely moved.
No mention is made in the dialog of moving wounded out to make room, as it is in many other episodes. The wounded are just suddenly gone. While none is explicitly mentioned as being critical or unable to be transferred (transferring wounded just isn't touched upon at all in this episode), as detailed in the original mistake, some wounded look quite heavily injured, e.g. the guy in the body cast the champ talks to. In other episodes, the doctors show quite a lot of reluctance in moving patients with similar looking injuries.
Correction: They do things all the time without specifically mentioning it. The job of a mash unit is to fix up those in critical need and get them to a recovery/evacuation or their unit as soon as possible.
25th May 2013
M*A*S*H (1972)
Character mistake: Hawkeye and Trapper make Tuttle an alumnus of "Berlin Polytechnic" and translate that (wrongly) as "Berlinishes Polytechnikum". Berlin's polytechnic university was named "Technische Hochschule Berlin" at the relevant time - and at no time offered a medical curriculum. To study medicine in Berlin, Tuttle would have to attend "Freie Universität Berlin" instead.
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Suggested correction: And how are Hawkeye and Trapper suppose to know that? They are after all, making all this up. It is never meant to be factual.
It is intended to fool Margret and Frank, so it has to be assumed that they meant to pull it off. Hawkeye says "It can't be any place they'll check", which is why they select a German university in the first place. That shows it is indeed meant to be if not watertight, then at least convincing. To use an university you don't know the proper name of doesn't make sense under these circumstances.
17th Jul 2012
M*A*S*H (1972)
Other mistake: Rosie says she took the darts away from Klinger and BJ, but there are still plenty of darts sticking in and around the dartboard. (00:12:45)
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Suggested correction: Rosie said she took them away AFTER they began throwing them at the dartboard. Therefore there would be some in and around the dartboard. And since Klinger and BJ were drunk, they likely wouldn't have thought to grab them from the board.
1st Oct 2015
Twister (1996)
Other mistake: When the twister hits the drive in theater, the sirens are wailing, but nobody reacts. Only when Jo screams at the waitresses they start panicking and run. The movie is set in Oklahoma, smack in the middle of tornado alley. The people there know what the sirens mean, they sure don't need no out-of-town big-shots to tell them to get under cover.
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Suggested correction: Sirens go off so many times that true Okies tend to ignore them. We might get nervous if the cable goes out.
Do true Okies also run screaming the second an out-of-town big-shot yells at them? Sorry but that argument just doesn't compute. People ignoring fair warning simply isn't a thing in the movie. The main plotline is people not getting warnings soon enough.
It's also possible that they did hear the siren, but unlike the people at the drive-in who could actually see the tornado tearing the screen apart, the people at the snack bar might not have been able to see it (especially with an awning over the windows). They were probably at most confused as to what was happening and it wasn't until Jo actually said to get underground that they realised it was real and was actually happening.
28th Sep 2016
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
The Informer - S1-E1
Corrected entry: In this episode, the German spy Hogan conducts around the Underground tunnels sees things (i.e., steam room, weapon manufacturing line, barber shop, etc.) that are never seen in the series again.
Correction: It is never made quite clear whether those were really supposed to be a thing or just part of an extremely elaborate plot to throw off the spy. Admittedly, if they were supposed to be part of the plot, the question how Hogan's men managed to set up such a complicated system in the time available would be a mistake in its own right.
8th Mar 2017
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Corrected entry: On the cover of the plan for Operation Hannibal, the top line says. "SEHR GEHEIM" (Top Secret). But the plan is called Operation Hannibal (translated as "betrieb hannibal"). The title says "unternehmen hannibal (translation: Companies Hannibal).
22nd Feb 2017
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Corrected entry: As the scene fades to the Höf Brau (with lighting that would violate black out rules in wartime Germany) passing vehicles can be seen to be modern (mid-1960's) cars rather than the more appropriate early 1940's German vehicles. And they're travelling at 1960's standards speeds.
Correction: Only the headlights of the cars are visible for less than a second, plus, the reporter presumes to accurately judge speeds of cars in a movie scene, which would be difficult at best. Furthermore the mistake depends on the assumption that speeds were significantly different inside closed settlements between 1940 and 1960, which they were not. Legally, in Germany, 40 km/h would be permissible in 1942 whereas 50km/h would be permissible in 1960. In California, the speed limit would have been between 25 and 30 mph, or 40-48 km/h respectively. Even in real life, accurately judging a speed difference of 8km/h would be almost impossible except in direct comparison. This mistake should probably be upheld in part, but either it must be rewritten without the speed stuff, or a comprehensible explanation must be given how the difference in speed is to be explained and judged.
21st Oct 2006
Red Sonja (1985)
Corrected entry: When the evil queen's assistant (who had the bag of gold coins) fights the young prince toward the end of the movie, he gets squished by the giant cement circular door. When Sonja, Calidor, the prince and Vulcan exit this same door, there is no body visible.
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Correction: Given the fact that according to the script he was buried alive and slowly eaten by scarabs over a period of years, he sure had all the time he needed to figure out a way to neatly carve a handful of letters, didn't he?
Doc ★