Doc

29th Sep 2016

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Rockets or Romance - S6-E24

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?

Doc

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.

In the whole series, they never once are shown tampering with the detection equipment or obtaining any "scanning schedules" or anything. Seriously, did I sleep through all of that selectively or are you pulling this stuff out of thin air?

Doc

8th Dec 2018

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

German Bridge Is Falling Down - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: During his experiments to create explosives in the tunnels, Carter has a pretty extensive set of glassware on his workbench. Necessarily he would have to replace (most of) that after each explosion - not to mention various light bulbs, furniture and other non-blast-proof stuff by the way. A lot of that glassware is specialty equipment, it would not be easy to come by even one set of in peacetime for a free civilian. In wartime, for an allied prisoner (even with the heroes' connections) it should be nigh impossible, and totally impossible to have an inexhaustible supply of the stuff. So we can either assume a giant plot hole, or treat it (as I did) as a big continuity mistake.

Doc

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

Suggested correction: Considering they regularly get equipment of all kind air dropped from "London", a few laboratory instruments and containers would hardly be challenge.

stiiggy

Firstly, considering the number of explosions, it's not "a few" but more like "QUITE a few." Secondly, if they had had the option to receive airdrops at the time, they would just as have had them airdrop the explosives instead of the glassware for carter to blow up, wouldn't they? Or are you suggesting they would have more spare laboratory equipment in store than a wholesale laboratory outfitter, "just in case"?

Doc

11th Feb 2018

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

My Favorite Prisoner - S4-E18

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.

Doc

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.

stiiggy

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."

Doc

I got it from the Red Cross.

stiiggy

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.

Doc

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.

Movie Nut

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.

Doc

I stand corrected.

Movie Nut

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.

Movie Nut

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.

Doc

Correction: Some of those things are mentioned again. For example, "the workshop" is mentioned in several other episodes too, e.g. the one where they make a medal for Klink.

Doc

8th Mar 2017

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Correction: Unternehmen is correct. In German, the word Unternehmen originally means "undertaking", or operation. The modern meaning of "company" is actually derived from the term "geschäftliche Unternehmung" which has a pretty literal English translation in the term "business venture"

Doc

22nd Feb 2017

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

The Swing Shift - S2-E21

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.

Doc

2nd Feb 2015

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Correction: It is true that first the water stream goes up over Klink's head, but even in the shot of Schultz his hand with the hose is moving down, and in the countershot of Klink it first hits his cap then travels downward.

Doc

27th Jan 2014

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Bombsight - S5-E7

Corrected entry: The whole story line is a plot hole. The blueprints would be a top secret item, and as such, wouldn't accompany the item they depict (in this case, missiles). Klink carries the prints around as if they were ordinary papers for no other purpose than to be "borrowed", copied, and returned by the Heroes. For this, Klink would have been eliminated.

Movie Nut

Correction: Not a plot hole. The rationale for the plans being present was probably because they were to be presented to the assembled general staff. That makes it a deus ex, not a mistake. It's often stated in the series how the Axis general staff considers Stalag 13 a particularly safe place, so there's no reason not to take top secret plans there. As a matter of fact, the safety is precisely the reason the demonstration is held in Stalag 13. As for the reason Klink carries the plans with him, that's not a proper plot hole either. Again, viewed from the German point of view, the plans were safe there, especially rolled up where nobody could peek at them. After all, no prisoner had ever escaped from Stalag 13. Fact is, the Germans have no clue that Hogan's men have ways to get those plans out of country. True, Klink probably shouldn't have put the plans down, but that's just his usual clumsy self, and as already pointed out twice, from his point of view he had no reason to suspect duplicity.

Doc

2nd Mar 2014

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London - S3-E5

Corrected entry: When Hogan goes to shake hands with Baumann, he grabs and raises Baumann's arm to make the wrist gun fire upwards. As it fires, it takes Klink's hat off. Upon inspection, Klink's hat has only one hole, as if fired through from underneath. The gun fired at the peak of the hat, therefore, there should be a second hole about the level of the top of the eagle on the front of the hat.

Movie Nut

Correction: The second hole is there. It is below the wing of the eagle. If you look closely, you can see a dark spot where there shouldn't be one.

Doc

25th Nov 2013

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

Reservations Are Required - S1-E15

Corrected entry: When LeBeau goes to get out under the wire, he raises an entire section of the wire on the inner and outer fences to do so. It can be seen that there is a bar on the bottom of the sections that he raises that suggests the sections are totally framed for the purpose.

Movie Nut

Correction: It is framed for the purpose. In another episode, the guys are shown repairing the wire, distracting the guards and testing the mechanism. It's one of their clever little devices for escaping, like the periscopes and the hatch in the tree stump.

Doc

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.