Plot hole: When Robin and Lily find Barney's secret Robin notebook, Barney and Ted are at the class, so Barney should have the notebook with him.
Bishop73
19th Jul 2017
How I Met Your Mother (2005)
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Suggested correction: This is a character mistake at best, and quite a common one. Students constantly forget their textbooks, homework, notes, supplies etc.
It should be noted that the plot hole isn't talking about "students." This isn't about forgetting textbooks, supplies, or homework. Barney is trying to be a better boyfriend to Robin and wants to learn Ted's secrets since Ted had dated Robin. If Barney has been writing everything down before, the mistake is pointing out why isn't he writing it down this time, except to allow the writers to have Lily and Robin find the notebook and the class.
19th Aug 2019
The Brady Bunch (1969)
Question: There's a scene in this episode I haven't seen in over 30 years (edited out in more recent years) where the 4 kids upstairs are arguing (boys vs girls) and the kids continuously stamp their feet on the floor and then Alice is shown downstairs watching her cake in the oven. Periodically with all the stomping from upstairs, the cake gets flatter until very flat the end of the scene. Question is does anyone remember this scene and why does the cake in the oven get flatter every time a kid stomps from upstairs?
Answer: I think I remember that episode - but, more importantly, my mother always told me (and my siblings) to stop jumping/ stomping, running in the kitchen, and opening the oven door when a cake was baking... because these could make the cake fall. I believed my mother... and I, as a child, also caused a few "fallen cakes" because I didn't quite always listen (right away, anyway). I'm sure Alice's fallen cake episode was exaggerated, but cakes really CAN fall from stomps and opening the oven door too soon. Usually, it has something to do with the baking powder and how the air bubbles change during the baking process. Doing something that might cause the oven and cake inside to move/shake can suddenly change the air bubbles inside the cake and cause a collapse. I don't know all factors that have to occur for a cake to fall (collapse in the middle), but I've seen fallen cakes during my adulthood and... well... caused at least a few myself. Regarding Alice's cake falling each time one of the Brady kids stomped upstairs, I'm not sure if a series of falls could occur. IF it is possible, I think there would have to be way too much baking powder in the batter or some other inaccurate combination of ingredients that alter the chemical process during baking.
Answer: Realistically, a cake would not deflate in that way. There are some desserts, like delicate, airy souffles, that can deflate during and after baking, and that must be served almost immediately from the oven. The scene, broadly played for humor, is merely meant to show the argument's growing intensity gauged against the rate of the deflating cake.
Answer: I haven't come across a scene like that, but maybe over time what you remember got mixed up with episodes of other shows, so this is just a suggested episode. "Try, Try Again." In the episode, Mike is preparing a gourmet meal for Saturday. Jan is practicing tap dancing in the kitchen and his soufflé that he had spent 3 days preparing is knocked to the floor. While it is true soufflés can "fall" (meaning deflate), it's because the cooking time was wrong (or opening the oven door too soon) or the structure of the egg whites is too weak. Noises don't make them collapse.
This was not from "Try, Try Again" (though I do remember that scene too). That was in a later season when the kids were older. The one I was talking about was during the first season when all the kids were young. I know the scene in question were the 4 youngest kids and the scene started by each the boys and girls arguing that Greg/Marcia (running for student body president) doesn't stand a chance against him/her to win (boys for Greg, girls for Marcia).
That's "Vote for Brady", s01e11. I watched it and for some reason Carol tells Mike to be careful, after he makes too much noise, indicating noise will ruin the cake. Alice does keep checking on the cake with the oven light every time the kids make too much noise. However, the cake is always fine, and in fact getting bigger. Then, realizing the cake is fine, Alice is relieved and leans against the counter, knocking over the cutting board. The cutting board crashes to the ground, which this time does cause the cake to flatten. It seems like an exaggerated prop, I've never see a cake rise like that, it looks like how a muffin might rise. Then it's somehow deflated, as if it was hollow, like a puffed pastry, or too raw. If it was too raw, it shouldn't flatten in the oven. But the look of the cake doesn't remind me of any puffed pasty, which is made from a dough, not a batter and the cake looks like a batter cake to me. So, it just deflates for irony or comedy of error reasons.
21st Jun 2010
Minority Report (2002)
Plot hole: In the scene where Anderton is talking with Hineman, she says to him that "You will bring down the [Precrime] system yourself if you manage to kill your victim. That would be the most spectacular public display of how Precrime didn't work." Shouldn't she be saying "If you manage to not kill your victim"? (01:01:30)
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Suggested correction: Well, if Crow did die, then Precrime wouldn't have worked because the whole point is to stop murder from occurring at all.
Ether way it is a hit against precrime. If he does not kill Crow then it shows that the vision may not come true so you do not know if someone would really have killed someone else, outside situation like with the cheating wife at the start where they interrupted the murder. If Crow is murdered then it shows the system is flawed, which would not be as bad as the first as you would still be stopping a lot of the murders.
I can't tell if this reply is suggesting the correction is wrong or stating the line should be "not kill", making the mistake valid. By not killing the victim, that shows how Precrime is actually working and that knowing the future means you can alter it. If the murder occurs, it would weaken Precrime's stance and support that it can prevent crime.
No if he chooses not to kill Crowe then that means that the visions are just a version of the future, and thus not the actual future. So all the people with the halo on them are locked up wrongfully, as they may have decided not to do it like Anderton did, so the system collapses. That was the point, and it did. Hineman's remark is about the idea that precrime stops all murders, unless Andrton does manage to kill Crowe. The system then is flawed but like the previous commentor says, they still prevent most murders instead of all of them, which would count for something.
8th Aug 2019
Dexter (2006)
Shrink Wrap - S1-E8
Factual error: In the police report Dexter examines, Emmett Meridian's name is followed by PhD, and yet he is referred to as a psychiatrist and prescribes medication. A psychiatrist would have an MD after his name, and a psychologist (PhD) cannot legally prescribe meds.
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Suggested correction: It is possible for someone to be both a medical practitioner and have a PhD.
Someone with both a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctor of Philosophy would have both MD and PhD after their name. Not having an MD after your name means you can't prescribe medicine.
Yes, but in that case, both MD and PhD are listed after their name. Why would the report eliminate the MD, which is the more prestigious of the two degrees and certainly would have been noted during the investigation?
19th Apr 2004
Finding Nemo (2003)
Question: When the turtle first meets Marlin, he talks about how he brought up his turtle offspring and says, "You know, you leave them on the beach to hatch on their own... and coo-coo-cachoo, they find their way back to the big old blue." Coo-coo-cachoo is also mentioned in the song 'Mrs. Robinson' by Simon and Garfunkel in the beginning of a chorus saying "Coo coo ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know." Does anyone know if there is any connection between the phrases containing coo-coo-cachoo, or what the phrase's possible meaning?
Answer: The actual lyrics are "Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mrs. Robinson", but it most certainly is a part of the song "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel. There is likely not a connection of any kind, or any hidden meaning, it's just a nonsense sound that is in more than one song.
Answer: Coo-coo-cachoo is not in Mrs Robinson, they actually sing woo hoo hoo and wow wow wow in that song. Coo-coo-cachoo is from a Beatles (and then Oasis) song called I am the Walrus. Other than the aquatic nature of the walrus being similar to that of the turtle there is no connection. The turtle was supposed to be a hipp-esque character prone to use unusual words and phrases like whoa, and like whoa!
"Koo-koo-ka-choo" is from "Ms. Robinson." The line in "I Am the Walrus" is "Goo goo g'joob"
12th Nov 2015
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
Continuity mistake: In "The Luminous Fish Effect" (S1E04) Sheldon tells Penny he weighs 140 pounds. In "The Porkchop Indeterminacy" (S1E16), he tells his sister he weighs 165. 25lbs difference would be a noticeable change, but he looks the same.
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Suggested correction: Lying to Penny but not to his sister, not inconsistent with the characters and his relationships.
14th Jul 2019
Ready Player One
Other mistake: Digital version: Wade claims to be 18 in the year 2045; he was born in 2024. He is actually 20 years old and yet still in high school. The paper version has the correct birth year of 2026.
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Suggested correction: In the paper book (print version), Wade was born in 2026, making him 18 in 2044, the year the book is set in. The year was changed in the Kindle and Apple digital book version to 2024, but that's Kindle's or Apple's mistake (whoever digitized the book first), not a mistake for the original book.
This was Audible's digital copy which is an exact copy from the text.
Audible is owned by Amazon, which runs the Kindle platform. The Audible version is the same as the Kindle version and wrong. I've read the physical paper book and in chapter 14, Sorrento says "Wade Owen Watts. Born August twelfth, 2026."
16th Jul 2019
The Karate Kid (2010)
Corrected entry: No kid ever uses karate in this movie. Kung Fu is used, which is a different martial art.
Correction: This isn't a film mistake and would be more suited to a forum discussion to address the question "why isn't it called The Kung Fu Kid?" Since this is a remake, they decided to keep the original name. Plus, karate, which means "Chinese" "Hand", later changed to "Empty" "Hand", can be used to describe kung fu, and some people use the terms interchangeably. Questions or comments like "Why is it called Karate Kid III when Daniel's not a kid?" or "Why is it called Home Alone 2 when Kevin isn't at home?" are not considered mistakes and neither is this film's title.
When a movie title is inaccurate including getting a martial art wrong it is a movie mistake. An alligator even though it has similarities to a crocodile is not the same animal.
Kung Fu is not interchangeable with Karate if that were true most persons would be saying Bruce Lee created Karate.
And these are all good points to make in a forum discussion. Perhaps Jon can weigh in on if film names constitute a movie mistake (perhaps mis-titling films/shows can be listed in the common mistake section or trivia for the film). There are already "mistakes" that are not valid, like mistakes needing slow-motion to see, so I think it should be an invalid mistake.
Yeah, I'm with you. Sometimes a title can be a mistake, like Krakatoa, East of Java, which is actually west of Java. But there has to be some leeway, and especially if something's a remake or sequel the understanding of the title is what matters more than the literal meaning. I mean Reservoir Dogs or A Clockwork Orange or The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia. Sometimes you've got to give some leeway. But as ever it's a grey area and there's not always a one size fits all approach.
18th Jun 2014
Lone Survivor (2013)
Factual error: In the scene at the evacuation hospital doctors are seen administering shocks to Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) with paddles. The EKG shows a flatline. In reality, medical personnel do not give shocks for a flatline - a "shock" is to correct Ventricular Fibrillation into a normal sinus rhythm, if you have a systole there is no muscle activity in the cardiac area and a manual shock will not achieve anything.
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Suggested correction: That's not true. If ever you do a first aid course they will point out that on arrival, paramedics will replace your AED with their defib precisely because their defib will shock no pulse, whereas an AED that you might find in public spaces will not.
No professional medical professional would shock a flatline patient. They would start chest compressions until they could determine why the heart stopped. Ventricular Fibrillation or Ventricular Tachycardia, where shocking may help, does not register as a flatline. The mistake is valid and doesn't need to be corrected.
30th Nov 2013
The Sound of Music (1965)
Question: Gretel was 5 years old and the mother died seven years ago. Who is Gretel's mom?
Answer: In the film, the Mother Abess explains to Maria that the Captain Von Trapp's wife died "several years" ago. This is commonly misheard by viewers as "seven years." In reality, the actual mother of the Von Trapp children was Agathe Whitehead, who died of scarlet fever in 1922, just four years before Maria came to the Von Trapp home, initially as a tutor (not a governess) in 1926.
Answer: However when Captain Von Trapp gets the children to step forward and introduce themselves to Maria he states that their mother died 7 years ago.
Not in the 1965 film, perhaps in another version. In the 1965 film the only thing he says about his late wife when he first meets Maria is "you'll be the 12th governess...since their mother died." When he has the children introduce themselves, he only advises Maria to pay attention to their signals and names. Later after he leaves and the children say how old they are, Marta says "I'll be 7 on Tuesday."
4th Jul 2019
Army of Darkness (1992)
Corrected entry: When the army of the deadites arrives at the castle, Evil Ash says something along the lines of "Bring me forth into that castle." A few moments later, he says "Sally forth!" only not being able to say forth because of his decayed mouth, despite being able to say it only moments before.
11th Apr 2016
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)
Corrected entry: In the beginning they show an Illinois license plate with OPA! on the plate. There are no punctuation marks on Illinois license plates.
Correction: The front plate seen isn't state issued. It's a novelty plate he put on the front. While it would be illegal for him to drive without a state-issued front plate, there isn't anything otherwise preventing him from having a novelty plate on and cops probably wouldn't harass him about it. I drove my last car for 10 years without a front plate in a state that required it and never got a ticket for it, even when I was pulled over for speeding and the cop told me I had to have one.
Correction: They could have gotten one that says "OPAI" and just used a little paint to touch up the I into an exclamation point. Probably illegal, but doable.
After reviewing the scene, there's no possible way it was done with just some paint (nor is it possible in real life to do). Illinois license plates don't use any letters or numbers that resemble a lowercase "l."
12th Sep 2007
Shooter (2007)
Continuity mistake: When Memphis is tortured, he gets water poured in his mouth from a bottle. When they're done pouring, the water level in the bottle is almost full. (01:07:00)
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Suggested correction: Before this frame, there is a shot showing multiple water bottles on a nearby table... it could easily have been the next bottle of water?
No, it could not because the shot was meant to be continuous. After Memphis spits out the water, we see the guy holding a half filled bottle start pouring water into Memphis' mouth. When the camera angle changes (i.e. continuous shot and not a jump cut), we still see the guy holding the bottle up to Memphis' mouth. It's at that point the bottle has changed and is now almost full.
It's even worse than that. It refills at least twice between those quick successive shots.
10th Oct 2017
The Office (2005)
Continuity mistake: In one episode Angela says she hasn't talked to her sister in years over an argument that she doesn't remember. When she's engaged to Andy and they're touring Dwight's farm he mentions she has multiple sisters. In the finale she only has one sister and apparently they are incredibly close.
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Suggested correction: In the finale the "Sister" is Angela's best friend. Do you recall them each saying this is my older sister?
That's a common joke among siblings that are close, they're joking about which one is older. Rachel is Angela's sister, not just a friend. They even go on to say "we're very close. We even have our own special language", which is something common among siblings that are close. The mistake is valid.
5th May 2006
Phoenix Nights (2001)
Continuity mistake: During the last episode of the first series doorman Paddy uses his hair spray to give him fuller locks. But at the start of the second series his hair is back to its normal style even though the second series starts where the first series ended with the club on fire.
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Suggested correction: The start of the second series takes place some time after the fire of the first season. Many of the staff of the Phoenix have moved on and got new (proper!) jobs. For example, Jerry is now working for Asda, a job he didn't have before. The spray maine (sic) is, as the name suggests, spray-on hair and would undoubtedly come straight off again the first time it gets wet! Plus after a couple of weeks or months, even a slightly more resilient hair spray 'treatment' would have fallen off.
15th May 2019
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: Are we ever given any suggestion as to what offence Lorraine's brother was incarcerated for?
Answer: Not in any official, canon source. In the Back to the Future comic books published by IDW he is an aspiring member of Biff's gang and gets arrested breaking into the home of Doc Brown's mother in an attempt to steal a large sum of money. It must be reiterated that the comics are non-canon and this should be taken with a grain of salt.
The comic books are so skewed from the movie events, they cannot be considered canon. "Jailbird Joey" was only a baby in a playpen when Biff and his gang were seniors in highschool. Unless Biff and his highschool buddies were still recruiting gang members into their mid-30s, there is no way Jailbird Joey would be trying to join their gang.
While the answer does state the comics aren't cannon, it's the only place that really delves into Uncle Joey's criminal history since the film's didn't need to spend time discussing the exact nature of his crimes. However, it would not be unreasonable (or even unheard of) for Biff to be recruiting members for his "gang" at 35. Plus, Joey wanting to be part of Biff's gang wouldn't necessarily require Biff or his high school buddies to be personally involved in recruiting young Joey.
19th Mar 2016
Frasier (1993)
Other mistake: When the power outage occurs, Daphne claims she can't cook the steaks, however, the cook top in the kitchen is gas. They have matches as shown by them lighting the hurricane lamps.
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Suggested correction: In episode 6:02, Frasier's Curse, Niles finds Frasier's head in the stove and is worried. Frasier responses "I was cleaning it, Niles. It's electric" The matches seen in episode 2:24 were more likely used for candles (like for Frasier's bath), not the oven, because it's electric.
The range is gas burning. You can see the grates and burners indicative of a gas cook-top. The comment regarding the matches wasn't used as proof the range is gas, but merely to point out they had the ability to light the gas cook-top (to avoid someone correcting the mistake by saying maybe they had no matches). The mistake is valid. In s06e02, the cook-top is still gas and one may want to submit a character mistake for that episode because Frasier says it's electric when we see it's gas. However, if one submits the mistake, be prepared for someone to correct the mistake by pointing out that dual fuel ranges exist, so the oven could be electric and cook-top gas, Frasier has an electric oven and gas stove, or Frasier was simply lying.
5th May 2019
Married... with Children (1987)
Corrected entry: Al goes upstairs and yells in excitement that "she listened to me" referring to Peggy not messing with the bathroom upstairs. Later in the show Al says he will use the bathroom upstairs because she ruined his bathroom in the garage. Peggy says he shouldn't use the upstairs one because she decorated it like a woman's bathroom. So at first he saw it and was happy she didn't change it. Later she said she did and he acted surprised but he already saw it normal.
Correction: Al does not make the statement referring to the bathroom upstairs. He doesn't like using the upstairs bathroom because of all of Peg's stuff in it, so it's unlikely he would checked. He's more concerned about his bedroom so he just did a quick check of that.
I understand what you are saying but he said it when he went upstairs and there is only one bathroom upstairs. I guess I am only saying bathroom because he knows she was doing a bathroom and went upstairs. But I do see what you are saying. I guess we both could be right ;).
At that point he had no idea she was going to redecorate a bathroom. She only chose to do the bathrooms because "a bathroom is not room." Since we know he didn't check all the rooms in the house before making the statement or talking about his win with Bud, it's safe to say he only looked at his bedroom, since he also wasn't up there long enough to check the kids' rooms.
21st Sep 2018
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
Character mistake: When Jet tells Katara and Aang to waterbend the water from underground in the geysers, Katara states that she has never waterbent on water she couldn't see before. However, six episodes prior to this, in 'The Warriors of Kyoshi', she waterbends the water out from Aang's lungs to save his life.
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Suggested correction: That was a moment of desperation on her part, and she probably doesn't think of it/think she can do it again without the same desperate impetus, Furthermore, the water in Aang was only a small amount and very close anyway.
Regardless of if she did it in desperation or not, she did use bending on water she didn't see. The mistake isn't suggesting anything about Katara's ability to waterbend unseen water, the mistake is only in regards to the statement Katara made about never using bending on water she can't see. And for Katara to forget the one time she used bending on water she didn't see would qualify as a character mistake as well. Now if she made the statement "I don't think I can do this" or "I've never used bending on underground water", etc, that would not be a character mistake.
21st Jan 2004
The Relic (1997)
Corrected entry: When Margo first explores the Superstition exhibit near the beginning of the movie, she has to step over a velvet rope blocking its entrance. However, when she runs out of it a few minutes later, she charges right through the entrance and down the stairs - the rope was obviously removed so she could run faster, but in reality, she would have either jumped over it or tripped and fell.
Correction: When she is running her arms are pumping but when she reaches the rope she raises them in a wing - like fashion as people do when they are jumping down. You can also faintly hear her shoes thud when she lands because she jumped the over the rope (which was only calf high) and the three steps.
She doesn't jump over the rope, she jumps down the steps (rather than running down each one). At no point in the scene is she seen jumping up that would be required if she jumped over the rope. The rope is not there.
Correction: The rope is still there. The reason it's not seen is because when Margo flees from the exhibition the focus is on her and the entrance. Not on the ropes.
The rope is not there because there's no evidence she jumped over the rope, even if the camera angle was too high not to show the rope, her jumping (or even stepping over) it would have been visible on camera.
It's not because the camera is on her the entire time and with how low the rope is, it would never be seen on camera.
Except that's not what the mistake is saying. The rope not there in real life for the stunt scene of her running out. Saying the rope is simply off camera is wrong. Yes, if the rope was actually there it's possible that it would be off camera. But if the rope was there, she would have had to jump over it, which she does not do. We know she doesn't jump over the rope because we see her on camera and all she does is jump down the steps.
Pause the movie at the 35:04 mark and advance frame by frame. It shows the rope is still there. And yes, Margo is seen making a jumping movement. If she hadn't, she would have tripped over the rope.
The rope is there from that angle, just as it was there when she stepped over it. That's never been the issue. When the camera cuts to face Penelope Ann Miller, that's when the rope is no longer there. Because in real life they would have stopped the action in order to change camera position, or the shot of her running out was a re-shoot during post. Either way, that shot of her (which is meant to be continuous in the film but was not continuous in real life) was filmed without the rope present.
If the rope wasn't present, then there wouldn't be a need for her to make a jumping motion. She would have just kept running without any interference but her jumping is a clear indication that the rope is still there. We don't actually need to see it.
Except she never jumps up and over the rope. She only jumps down the steps. There was no jumping up motion.
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