Question: Doc is quite a resourceful and clever guy. Why didn't he set to work on repairing the flying circuits which would have enabled them to use Mr Fusion to reach 88mph, instead of the engine?
jshy7979
12th Mar 2020
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
19th Aug 2019
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: Back in 1885 why doesn't Doc change the letter he sent to Marty, asking him to bring a can of gas?
Answer: When Marty received the letter from Doc in 1955, as seen in the second movie, Doc wrote down that he didn't want Marty to go to 1885 to rescue him because he was happy living in the past. Instead, he wanted Marty to take the Delorean straight back to 1985 and then destroy it so it could never be used for personal gain again.
But once Marty appears in the past Doc could easily change the letter, changing things such that Marty would bring gas with him.
Answer: This would create a different timeline, not the timeline they are in.
Answer: That would not be possible as in 1885, Doc sent the letter on September 1st, and 1955 Doc sent Marty to 1885 on September 2nd so it was a day later and on the 1st, Doc was not expecting Marty to turn up. However, one CAN ask why Marty and Doc didn't go to the local Western Union office and change it (or write a new one) there since it was in their possession per the gentleman in part 2.
Changing the letter while Marty is in 1885 with Doc would accomplish nothing, because it doesn't it instantly travel to the future. Marty at the end of Part II, for his part, may receive the letter almost immediately, but the letter itself had to wait 70 years to be delivered to him.
I mean, there's no solid rules to time traveling, but just for argument's sake it seems like the letter idea could work... in the franchise, when something is set in motion, the effects usually take place immediately. Take for instance when George and Lorraine kissed at the dance in Part 1. The picture of Marty and his siblings went right back to normal, even though the kids had not been born yet. Doc and Marty changing the Western Union letter "could" have had an immediate effect and a gas can could have materialized in the Delorean, much like we've seen newspaper headlines change before our very eyes, disappearing gravestones, etc.
In your examples, the changes occur to future events. The items that changes, like the picture and newspaper, are from the future themselves. They can't change the past by changing events in the future (like they do in Bill and Ted's). This is why Doc and Marty couldn't go back to 2015 to stop old Biff from taking the DeLorean.
18th Sep 2013
The Prestige (2006)
Corrected entry: When Angier and Cutter show the machine to Ackerman in the abandoned theater, it is shown that, after Angier enters the machine, he completely disappears. No duplicate is left behind. Since it is not a completed scenario, there is no trap door for a duplicate to fall in. He is seen disappearing, leaving none behind, and appearing at the other side of the theater to Ackerman's surprise. However, at the end of the movie it is revealed that this machine never disappeared anybody, it just created duplicates at a certain distance. So why didn't a duplicate remain in the machine when they showed it to Ackerman? And if the reason is that they could fix it, so a duplicate wouldn't remain, then why would they still create duplicates for the rest of the film? This little scene breaks all the logic of the film. (01:37:10)
Correction: It would not be unusual for magicians to ask theater owners for time to setup their trick beforehand so they don't give away their secrets. It's likely they had a previous off screen meeting with Ackerman where they set up the meeting we see and the trick is shown to him.
This entry shouldn't be corrected it is 100% valid. Very good observation. I was going to write the same thing before I saw this entry. Ctown28 corrections doesn't even fit to the entry.
I respectfully disagree. Great observation, yes, but this entry is absolutely correctable. When we see Angier perform the trick for Ackerman, it is at a rehearsal facility (Cutter makes note of it). The trick is completely set up before either Cutter or Ackerman arrive (keep in mind, Angier wanted Cutter up front, not backstage for this trick). The trick is set up and performed in full: trap door, with the tank underneath, Angier duplicates himself with one version drowning in the tank, and the other appearing as the prestige. The trap door IS there, the duplicate IS made (and killed), but we cannot see either in this scene. We are left to be just as bewildered as Mr. Ackerman, with the true nature of the trick to be revealed to us later.
Rewatch the scene. It is clear that there is no trapdoor, and no duplicate is left behind. The FX guys should've applied more light if we're supposed to believe that Angier falls through a trapdoor and we just couldn't see it. But it is shown that no duplicate falls through any trapdoor. This is never acknowledged.
This response has nothing to do with the original entry, which is completely valid. You can see the scene in slow motion when the machine is shown to Ackerman and you'll see that Angier doesn't fall into a trap door (there isn't even a trap door, it's not a stage). He just disappears. However, the end of the film reveals that Angier should have remained there, while the duplicate is created elsewhere.
27th Aug 2001
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Corrected entry: When Frost, the black guy, got bitten he turned into a vampire within a few seconds. After Jacob got bitten it took him half an hour to turn into a vampire.
Correction: Maybe because he's a priest.
I find this way too speculative with nothing in the movie to really back this correction up. What we do see in the movie, however, is that when characters get bit on the arm, it takes a little longer to transform into a vampire. Sex Machine gets bit on the arm, just like Jacob, and it takes quite some time before he turns as well.
14th Jan 2019
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Corrected entry: When Nick and Rachel board the flight from New York and are sitting in their 1st Class pod, they are sitting talking before take off and Rachel has painted nails, but when they arrive in Singapore she does not.
Correction: A nonstop flight from New York City to Singapore is roughly 18 hours. Sounds like more than enough time for Rachel to remove her nail polish.
It seems highly unlikely someone would remove their nail polish on a flight, but anything is possible.
I don't think nail polish remover is approved to take onto an airplane as it is very flammable.
According to the TSA website, nail polish remover is allowed on board, as long as it meets the size requirements: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/nail-polish-remover.
10th Apr 2015
Executive Decision (1996)
Factual error: 747's do not have overhead crawl spaces.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: I was just looking at the overhead crawl space in a Lufthansa 747 at Am Technik Museum in Speyer, Germany. There is space.
There is a very small space above the ceiling panels that does not match the movie, and would never hold the weight of a person.
27th Aug 2001
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Other mistake: When Mr. Blonde is torturing the cop he is listening to the radio (Stuck In the Middle With You). However, when Mr. Orange shoots and kills Mr. Blonde the radio mysteriously shuts off.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The radio doesn't shut off, it is just difficult to hear over the shouting in the scene.
No. The music turns off. Soon as Mr. Blonde is executed, there is no shouting. It is almost deathly quiet as we watch Mr. Orange still holding the gun, and Mr. Blonde fall to the floor. This mistake is a valid entry.
7th Jun 2011
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Corrected entry: Alex Summers, AKA Havok, is the younger brother of Scott Summers [Cyclops] and is a teenager in the film. Yet in the 90s, when the first X-men was set, Scott was still a teenager when the Cuban missile crisis occurred in 1962, so 30 years between events.
Correction: Scott and Alex are brothers in the comics yes, but it is never explicitly stated that they are supposed to be brothers in the movies. They have the same last name, but no further details are given, therefore, no mistake.
It is stated 2 movies later in X-Men: Apocalypse that Scott and Alex are indeed brothers.
26th Mar 2009
X-Men (2000)
Question: During the Statue of Liberty scene, Magneto is clearly seen to be manipulating the copper inside the statue to bind and tie up the X-Men. How can this be? I thought magnetism wouldn't work on a non ferromagnetic metal.
Answer: Well if he can control ANY metal...why did he have to wait for the guard to be injected with iron? Couldn't he take iron out of food or water? Or even his own body?
The way he took iron out of the Guard, that seemed very painful and it looks like the guard did not survive. So, taking it out of his own body would not have been the smartest of decisions. He needed to wait for the guard to be injected so he could have enough iron to take out to then turn into a weapon, and transportation.
29th Dec 2005
Collateral (2004)
Question: About how long would Annie's cab ride in the beginning of the movie have taken in real time?
Answer: From LAX to Downtown, about 40 minutes to an hour. Depending on the traffic getting out of the airport and heading to downtown.
Living in LA all my life, I can tell you the drive can be made in 20 minutes, without speeding. This is of course given light traffic conditions, which seems to be the case in the movie. Heavy traffic will add time of course, I'd say 45-50 mins at the most. (A quick Google Maps search just put the drive at 22 mins).
31st May 2006
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Corrected entry: After Mola Rom tears a man's heart out, the man is lowered in the molten pit. The man's chest is visible and has no hole or mark where his heart was taken.
Correction: True, but the man also is still alive after getting his heart ripped out of his chest and the heart is beating. Obviously something "supernatural" is going on.
Also, we do see the hole close, and somewhat heal itself, on screen.
Answer: Mr fusion only powers the flux capacitor. The engine is needed to get the car up to 88mph whether flying or not and the only way to get the car any power is by the use of petrol, which didn't exist in 1885.
The_Iceman
At the beginning of the movie, when 1955 Doc reads the letter that 1985 Doc sent to Marty, he reads that the lightning bolt activated the time circuits and at the same time destroyed the flying circuits. Because of this, the Delorean will never fly again.
These answers are correct. Plus, to the original question: as clever as Doc is, keep in mind he got the flying conversion done in 2015. Definitely no way he would have been able to repair something so futuristic with 1885 tools at his disposal. He couldn't even get gas.
jshy7979
Yet just a few years later he had built from scratch a flying time-traveling locomotive, all with 1885 tools and parts.
jimba
There's no indication he built the flying train in 1885. It's suggested he had been time traveling with his wife and kids and says he's already been to the future. Whether this is in the DeLorean or the train it's not clear, but the dialogue suggests he's been to the future in his train with the family and could have modified his train to fly with future technology.
Bishop73
That took years, as you said. They were trying to leave 1885 in a matter of days so Doc wouldn't be shot by Buford.
jshy7979