Doc

1st Jun 2016

Django (1966)

Revealing mistake: In some of the shots showing the muddy town street, tracks from modern rubber tires can be seen. (00:28:00)

Doc

Plot hole: Indy stows away on the Nazi sub on the way to the secret Nazi base somewhere near Greece. Where did he stay all that time? Inside? On a VII-Class boat, there's barely enough room for the regular crew, and hardly any places to hide. Also, everybody knows everybody, so no passing yourself off as "the new guy." Outside then maybe? Well, the boat did dive, it's in the dialog, and while on the surface, German U-boats always had a bridge watch on the tower, so no luck there either. Note that by all accounts I could find, German submarines were required to always post a bridge watch, if only because otherwise they would be running essentially blind. It's not like the helmsman's station in the tower had any windows.

Doc

8th Mar 2016

M*A*S*H (1972)

April Fools - S8-E25

Other mistake: When Charles, BJ and Hawkeye steal Margret's tent, what's left is a frame of wood, including roof beams. From other episodes we know that the tents are held up by a wooden frame around the edges and a center pole. We even know for a fact that Margret's tent is built that way, because in an earlier episode Hawkeye and Trapper saw through the center pole of Margret's tent. We also know that the construction principle of the tents hasn't fundamentally changed since then, because when Hawkeye finds the oatmeal in his boot earlier in the same episode, you can see the center pole of the Swamp.

Doc

7th Mar 2016

M*A*S*H (1972)

The Price - S7-E17

Revealing mistake: Margret is running out of the shower tent screaming where just moments before we saw her taking a shower. We can see she's wearing a flesh-colored pantyhose.

Doc

7th Mar 2016

M*A*S*H (1972)

Dear Sis - S7-E14

Revealing mistake: When the ambulance arrives in the compound at Christmas eve, it drives through the newly fallen snow, but it doesn't leave any tracks. Vehicles driving over a very thin snow cover always leave dark tracks, because the pressure instantly melts the snow just below the wheels. Even a person walking through the snow would leave dark footprints under these conditions.

Doc

4th Mar 2016

M*A*S*H (1972)

An Eye for a Tooth - S7-E13

Continuity mistake: Charles arranges a prank that involves a cake. The cake looks totally different in the respective shots. At least three cakes were involved: The one Klinger gives to Margret looks different from the one she holds in her hands when walking over to Capt. Hill. The one she holds in her hand in the closeup counter shots is yet another pie.

Doc

25th Feb 2016

Dead Like Me (2003)

A Cook - S1-E8

Continuity mistake: Dolores walks to the computer and tells Georgia "Apparently Stinky5000 votes for 'Ferns and Flowers'." The first look we get at the screen shows the message "Could you tell us what the dog's name is?" and nothing else. The next two glimpses of the screen we get shows "You forgot to put detergent into the dishwasher" and nothing else. It's after the next cut that Dolores says Hungrygirl wants to know the dog's name. As Dolores walks away from the computer, we get a last look at the screen. You can see Stinky5000's message "I vote for "Ferns and Flowers'" appearing on the screen. (00:29:40)

Doc

12th Feb 2016

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Operation Briefcase - S2-E4

Character mistake: As Stauffen parts company with Col. Hogan at the road checkpoint, he salutes Hogan. While that is understandable under the circumstances - after all Hogan just saved his life, it would also be highly suspicious. Both Schultz and Stauffen's adjutant were watching them, so it can't be said they did it surreptitiously either. After all, Stauffen is a German general whereas Hogan is an allied prisoner officer of inferior rank. For an officer of higher rank to initiate the salute is a demonstration of great respect and/or thanks, which, as far as anyone besides Stauffen and Hogan knew, was not warranted in this situation.

Doc

8th Feb 2016

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Psychic Kommandant - S1-E25

Plot hole: Hogan's men steal the motor from the silent plane. When Klink and Burkhalter inspect the plane, Burkhalter doesn't notice the engine missing. Later Klink doesn't notice the fact that it has been put back. This is totally impossible for two reasons: Firstly, if a propeller airplane misses its motor, there is no place to mount the propeller. Secondly, when we get to see the whole plane, it becomes obvious that it has an open engine cowling which leaves the motor exposed to be cooled by the airstream. The propeller issue aside, if there is enough light to see the hand in front of your eyes, it is impossible to miss either the presence or the absence of an engine inside that kind of cowling. Add to this the fact that both Klink and Burkhalter are Luftwaffe (Air Force) officers and therefore by trade have some experience with airplanes, the whole thing becomes even more ridiculous.

Doc

2nd Jan 2016

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

What Time Does the Balloon Go Up? - S3-E24

Plot hole: Hogan has the men fly kites to get wind data and build a hot air balloon for a man to escape in. In reality, kites and hot air balloons are pretty much mutually exclusive - if there's enough wind to fly kites, one can't launch a hot air balloon, and vice versa.

Doc

Other mistake: As Johnny looks down on the wrecked car after defeating the devil, we see a blank brake disk without a wheel on. I guess it would theoretically be possible for all five lug nuts to rip clean off during an accident and leave the brake disk bare and exposed. But then the threads in the disc would still contain the shorn-off remnants of the lug nuts, instead of being empty. (01:23:00)

Doc

11th Nov 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Show generally

Factual error: Throughout the series, the SS and the Gestapo are often used interchangeably, as if the two organisations were basically the same. The most notorious example is "Major" Hochstetter, who sometimes claims to be Gestapo, sometimes SS, most of the time wearing an SS uniform. This is historically incorrect. The SS was a paramilitary and military organisation, while the Gestapo was a secret police force and since 1939 part of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. The Gestapo, being essentially a plain clothes police, never had any uniform of their own.

Doc

Factual error: The sign outside Einsargen Prison says "high security area." For some inexplicable reason, the German writing just above reads "Hochsicherheitssteckdose", thus declaring the area to be a high security electric wall outlet. (00:25:40)

Doc

9th Nov 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

14th Oct 2015

The Martian (2015)

Factual error: Prior to and during the orbital rendezvous rescue scene, the dialog states that a) the capsule with Watney is on a parabolic trajectory and will drop back to Mars b) the Hermes is on a swing-by trajectory that will carry it past mars c) the Hermes doesn't have the fuel to spare to do more than swing-by, i.e. They can't brake enough to even enter an orbit (yes, when one is on a fly-by, one has to brake to get into an orbit. Watney would be way slower still) d) the relative speed of the spaceships at the time of rendezvous is less than 20 m/s e) the spaceships are at a distance of less than 200m. All those statements can't be true at the same time. What orbit you are on is pretty much defined by your altitude and speed. If the speed and altitude of two spacecraft are the same, they are on the same (general shape of) orbit. Conversely, if they are on the same altitude but one is on a suborbital trajectory and one doing a swing-by, the latter is faster than the former by hundreds, if not thousands of m/s. By comparison, the rendezvous depicted in that scene would be like granny with her walker trying to "rendezvous" with an Amtrak train at full speed.The dialog states explicitly that the Hermes can't brake into orbit of Mars to pick up Watney because it doesn't have the necessary reaction mass to do that and get home too. If they can't even brake into orbit, they can brake to match Watney's speed even less. Even without that dialog, it wouldn't make sense either way. The acceleration required to do that would be measured in thousands of m/s. Translated into fuel, that would be dozens, if not hundreds of tons. No spacecraft this side of complete science fiction carries that much spare fuel, for the simple reason that lofting the extra weight to orbit would be prohibitively expensive.

Doc

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

Suggested correction: The dialogue doesn't state that Watney's capsule is on a parabolic trajectory. In fact, in one scene, Mitch and Bruce explain to Vincent that to allow the MAV to 'escape Mars' orbit', it needs to be made 5 tons lighter to allow it to reach the speed required for rendezvous.

1st Oct 2015

Twister (1996)

Other mistake: When Jo readies Dorothy IV on the back of the truck, she switches it on, but she never releases the rubber catches holding the lid in place.

Doc

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

Suggested correction: The rubber catches weren't needed to open the machine; they were only there to secure the entire lid in place. As seen when Jo is first showing how Dorothy works, the lid could be opened manually or automatically, depending on which button you pressed. As long as the pack was "set up" (sirens on and buttons activated), the pack would open automatically when close enough to the tornado, as shown when the pack lid opens at the end.

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.

Doc

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

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.

Doc

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.

Really?! As I already wrote, the people in tornado alley know very well what the sirens mean. And they don't look confused or bewildered either.

Doc

1st Sep 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

The Ultimate Weapon - S3-E28

Factual error: Towards the end of the episode, Burkhalter gets a call from a General Seidenbaum. Anybody with such a "Jewish" name would have been weeded out of the officer corps by the Nazis. In fact, anyone of that name would have had great trouble even getting his Ariernachweis (proof or aryan ancestry), and without carrying a copy with him he could not have opened a charge account at the local bakery. Most people with such names (those who managed to pass the Nazi board of racial review) had them changed to more "German" ones like Müller or Schmidt to escape the constant bullying. A little bit of background on "jewish" names: At some time during the medieval period, Jews in the German Reich who traditionally didn't use last names were forced to have them. Many selected names like Gruenbaum, Cornfield, etc. Which over time were perceived as "typical Jewish" names, even though many bearers weren't even of Jewish faith any more.

Doc

21st Jul 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

6th Jul 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Show generally

Factual error: In several episodes, German hand grenades, the famous "potato mashers" are seen. In (almost) all cases the Stielhandgranate 43, easily identified by its pull pin through the base of the head, was used. If the series is set in 42, the grenades should be the 24 or the 39 model, because the Stielhandgranate 43 - as the name suggests - was introduced in 1943 and didn't see widespread deployment until 1944. The earlier models didn't have a pull pin but used a pull cord that ran through the handle and was hidden by a screw cap at the end.

Doc

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