Plot hole: After the six shuttles take off, there are obviously dozens, if not hundreds of Drax' minions left behind in the base. Not regular employees, but the kind that knows what's coming, if only because Drax is obviously talking about it, e.g. to Bond, quite openly. Would they just stoically stay behind to be gassed? One would think they would mutiny and rush the shuttles wouldn't one?
Doc
10th Jun 2022
Moonraker (1979)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: No reason they couldn't have been brainwashed into obeying Drax like here was a god. Further, for all we know, the base could have secure facilities for the employees, who have been sterilized, doubtlessly, to wait until the gas in the atmosphere has dispersed sufficiently. Drax needs ground personnel to enable people to land on Earth later on.
If you have gas-tight bunkers on earth, the whole exercise of taking everybody to orbit would be a bit pointless, wouldn't it?
But Drax has a god complex: he wants to stay in his "untainted cradle of the heavens", instead of the planetary surface. Not to mention, just in case something goes wrong with the Amazon bunker, his master race will be safe and secure in the orbit.
20th Mar 2020
M*A*S*H (1972)
Plot hole: This episode revolves around the doctors trying to "transfer" a north Korean surgeon to the outfit. To this end, they get him papers, uniform, dog tags, etc. In the end, the plot is toppled and The Korean Surgeon taken to a POW camp by the MP. In reality, it would not have ended quite so pleasantly. A combatant wearing the uniform of an enemy is usually automatically considered a spy, and Hawkeye, BJ and Radar would also have been considered guilty of espionage or at least complicity therein.
5th Jan 2020
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
The Great Impersonation - S1-E21
Plot hole: This episode revolves around training the reluctant, untalented Schultz to impersonate Klink to get the captured heroes back from the Gestapo. This is actually a pretty common theme, somebody, usually one of the heroes, impersonating an officer to free a prisoner. The plot gives no reason why this time, they would have to use the cowardly, untalented Schultz instead of doing it themselves.
4th Jan 2020
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Oil for the Lamps of Hogan - S1-E14
Plot hole: The Heroes take an empty oil drum to the depot, knowing full well that Schulz will protest, allowing them to steal a full one. However, all but their barrel have snow on it. Since it's really salt, it all falls off as they load it on the cart. With real snow, that wouldn't happen. It would be quite obvious that the barrel they are taking out is not the one they brought in.
4th Nov 2019
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London - S3-E5
Plot hole: When the driver of the car addresses Roberts (the real Roberts that is, not the double), Roberts reprimands him, telling him not to call him Baumann. It is safe to assume the guard was supposed to be speaking German, since he addressed Roberts by his German identity. That poses some interesting questions. Did Roberts speak English? In those days, most Germans did not even have a basic knowledge of the English language. Did he speak German? That would imply he has a good enough command of the German language to pass as a German. Roberts however isn't a spy like Hogan and his crew, but a pilot in the RAF.
12th Dec 2018
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
German Bridge Is Falling Down - S1-E7
Plot hole: We see Hogan's men empty out the gunpowder from a lot of cartridges inside the armoury. What did they do with their empties? It's not like a mound of empty cartridge cases on the ground wouldn't draw some suspicion is it? Yes, I am aware some options come to mind, e.g. putting the bullets back in and stuffing them back into the belts, but none of that is actually shown or talked about - LeBeau even chucks one cartridge over his shoulder, implying they are not very concerned about hiding their tracks.
11th Feb 2018
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Plot hole: In several occasions throughout the story, e.g. S4E18, Hogan attends parties at Stalag 13 wearing an immaculate US dress uniform. Where did he get that? Dress uniforms are not part of the usual kit a bomber crew brings along with them on their missions.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Considering they have a tailor (Newkirk) and are air dropped everything from explosives to penicillin, a Class A dress uniform would hardly be a challenge to make or receive.
Klink: "Hogan, where did you get that uniform?!" - Hogan: "Oh, I had OSS airdrop it together with our latest shipment of explosives and ammunition. We brought it in through our tunnel last night and stored it there."
I got it from the Red Cross.
Only a few high ranking intelligence officers are aware of Hogan's mission. Hogan's activities would under normal circumstances be considered fraternisation. While it might be true that he could theoretically obtain a class A uniform via the red cross, doing so would brand him as a collaborator and traitor.
16th Nov 2017
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Plot hole: The prisoners fake a fire with some smoke bombs to have an excuse to rush into the print shop and smash up the print plates. Afterwards they even receive thanks and a reward for their valiant efforts. In reality, the guards would notice immediately that nothing in that room is even singed, but everything important has been smashed by fire axes.
16th Jan 2017
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Plot hole: Hogan's men have that clever device in Klink's quarters, where they turn the oven from below to reveal the trap door. That however unplugs the oven from the chimney, you can even see the smoke pouring out of the oven in some shots. Often enough, they have the oven unplugged for half a minute or more. If an oven smoked into a room that long, the whole room would fill with smoke so badly it could actually lead to smoke poisoning. If nothing else, Klink would have the oven checked. Any device that can turn a heavy cast-iron stove flawlessly like that would by definition have to be quite massive and not disassemble easily. If Klink had the oven checked, that would certainly lead to the discovery of the turning mechanism.
29th Sep 2016
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Plot hole: Hogan has his men play romantic music over the radio. Earlier they were afraid of the radio in the observation post being detected. Elsewhere in the series, they try to avoid sending too long to avoid being homed in on - which is correct. Now, if they were to play a whole record at once, wouldn't the homing devices pick up on the transmitter at the camp?
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: It is shown several times in the series that the detectors are brought out at specific times / events. With how much control they have over the camp they would know when those times were / more than likely be able to tamper with them. The other times they were worried were simply because either A. They were close to the scanning times or B. New ones got shipped in that they didn't have time to tamper with yet.
28th Sep 2016
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Happy Birthday, Dear Hogan - S4-E26
Plot hole: In the cinema, Hogan and his female underground contact avoid attention from a passing plain clothes policeman by kissing. This is wrong for three reasons. Firstly, 3rd Reich Germany wasn't so liberal that open kissing in the cinema would have passed as normal, it would probably rather have been viewed as libertine and offensive. Secondly, the scene takes place with a speech of Hitler as the background, which can hardly be viewed as romantic, and thirdly, this is even more true for the Gestapo, who was tasked with ratting out political dissent. To a Gestapo officer, ignoring the Führer's speech and kissing instead would make them stand out doubly.
13th May 2016
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
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.
8th Feb 2016
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
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.
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.
3rd Jun 2014
Octopussy (1983)
Plot hole: When Bond wakes up in the monsoon palace, his watch is still beeping with the activated tracking mode. Wouldn't somebody have noticed the constant beeping while he was brought there? The tracker is shown to have a range of several hundred meters, so it would certainly have been in range of the transmitter at least part of the time while Gobinda dragged him back to Kamal's palace.
2nd Jun 2014
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
29th May 2014
The Living Daylights (1987)
20th Dec 2013
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Plot hole: In his German uniform, Col. Hogan wears a number of decorations, among them the Iron Cross first and second class. When did he earn those if he has just been drafted for a suicide mission? After all he was not posing as a Wehrmacht soldier for a change but wore the uniform "officially". (00:17:00)
11th Oct 2013
M*A*S*H (1972)
Plot hole: Hawkeye calls a number of people into the mess tent over the PA - the ones he allegedly suspects of being behind the thefts he is suspected of himself. Interestingly enough, Ho Jon, later revealed to be the guilty party, is not on Hawkeye's list - yet he shows up uninvited, just to be ensnared by Hawk's clever ploy. Note also that he had no way of knowing what the purpose of the meeting was, so we cannot ascribe to him the motive of wanting to find out how much Hawkeye knew.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Of course Ho-Jon would come to the tent; it makes perfect sense, since he is the "houseboy" of the Swamp and, consequently, a sort of personal assistant to the Swampmen (Hawkeye, Trapper, and Spearchucker). He simply followed Trapper and Spearchucker to the tent after the announcement, probably figuring they might need him in some way.
It's late evening. It's, as far as anyone knows, an official meeting. Ho Jon isn't "standing attendance", he's sitting at the table (which is very convenient for him to hide his hands later). If he WERE standing attendance, it would be the only time in the series he does so in the mess tent instead of the swamp. It would also be the only time he's attending a meeting anyone called. Also he isn't a "house boy" - that would be totally out of character for Hawkeye, see "The Moose" - he's more an adoptee and roommate who makes himself useful. And last but not least: What a convenient coincidence, that just the guy who turns out to be the culprit would turn up uninvited, because he "might be needed" instead of staying the hell away because he is guilty and suspicious of the whole affair! Had - HAD, which he hasn't - Trapper said "Ho Jon, you better come too", you could call it a Deus Ex, but the way it is, it's just a plot hole, to quote Margaret Houlihan, "period, end of sentence."
4th Jun 2013
M*A*S*H (1972)
Plot hole: When the truck with the orphans arrives, Col. Potter and Nurse Cratty greet each other like one would an old friend. Being new to Korea, Col. Potter doesn't know Nurse Cratty - as becomes clear from his reaction to Hawkeye's explanation to BJ earlier (who doesn't know Nurse Cratty for the same reason, but that's not relevant for this mistake). Note that in other parts of the series Col. Potter is depicted mostly as somewhat old-fashioned and reserved towards strangers. (00:05:20)
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.