Corrected entry: George is in a life crisis that leads him to contemplate suicide at a bridge. Clarence shows George how much George's life means by showing him how the world would be. if George wasn't born. But Clarence doesn't show George what the world would be like if George completed his suicide. Clarence gave reasons why George should have lived up to the bridge scene. But Clarence doesn't give reasons for George staying alive beyond the bridge scene. Life insurance and remarriage are already two benefits to the family's problems. According to the plot, George's dilemma is whether to jump off the bridge or not.
Tailkinker
18th Jan 2008
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
18th Jan 2008
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Corrected entry: Leia's famous metal bikini outfit was originally supposed to be a long, flowing robe many yards long.
Correction: Please provide a source for statements like this if possible.
17th Jan 2008
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: It is a great irony that the cowardly soldier just happens to be named Upham. It is an unusual name and happens to be shared with Captain Charles Upham, a New Zealand soldier who, during WWII, was awarded the Victoria Cross twice. He is only the third person in history and the only combat soldier to receive the VC twice (the other two being medics). So the fictional Upham couldn't be more different to his real life namesake.
Correction: Without evidence that the choice of name was an intentional nod to the real-life Upham, this lies entirely within the realm of coincidence and, as such, is not valid trivia.
15th Jan 2008
Doctor Who (1963)
Corrected entry: Peter Davison's hair is blonde, however when he has just regenerated from Tom Baker, it is dark black.
Correction: And what does this reveal, exactly? His body's just been effectively torn apart and reconstituted and it's established that the regeneration energies remain in the body for several hours after the event. Hardly unreasonable, given that he doesn't establish anything even close to equilibrium for some considerable time after the event, that, when we see him post-regeneration, his hair colour, which, by the way, is hardly dark black, more a light brown, might not quite have settled down yet.
15th Jan 2008
Shrek 3 (2007)
Corrected entry: Captain Hook is supposed to have had his left hand cut off. As he is from the work of a single author and not a composite like Robin Hood, that characteristic is not subject to interpretation.
Correction: Maybe not, but by oft-stated site policy, any differences between a film and its source material is not considered a mistake.
14th Jan 2008
X-Men 3 (2006)
Corrected entry: In the opening scene when Xavier uses his telekinetic ability to lift the cars in the street outside the Grey house, Magneto says "Oh Charles, I like that one!", a reference to the fact in the first film he used the same trick outside the train station.
Correction: Nope, totally wrong. He says "I like THIS one", referring to Jean, the one's who's actually lifting the cars, not to what she's doing.
12th Jan 2008
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)
Corrected entry: Dave's friend Claire says she will come over at 7. When she arrives Alvin interferes and he stops near the clock where the time is 6.35.
Correction: So she said that she'd come over at 7pm, but was early. Well, gosh, that NEVER happens in real life, does it. Also, the clock may have been wrong, Dave is known as a bit of a slacker.
12th Jan 2008
Superbad (2007)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Seth and Evan are waiting outside the liquor store, next to the keymaking drive-thru, Seth gets hit by the car that is backing up, in a DRIVE-THRU. The car should have been going forward.
Correction: That's rather the point, isn't it. The car's SUPPOSED to be going forwards, but some idiot (and somebody being an idiot is not a mistake) has backed up and caused the accident.
12th Jan 2008
The Bodyguard (1992)
Corrected entry: In one of the opening scenes when Frank returns home from his first assignment in the film, he finds his front stoop covered with mail and newspapers which have accumulated during his absence. It is unlikely that a security professional of his stature would not cancel his deliveries or arrange to have it collected by a neighbor/friend.
Correction: "Unlikely" does not equal "impossible". This is an opinion, not a mistake.
28th Dec 2004
Little Britain (2003)
Corrected entry: A lot of the sketches in the pilot episode were repeated or re-filmed throughout Series 1.
Correction: Things that can be seen simply by watching the show are not valid trivia.
13th Dec 2005
Little Britain (2003)
Corrected entry: This is the only series of the show (including the radio show) that does NOT start with a Vicky Pollard sketch.
Correction: Things that can be seen simply by watching the episode are not valid trivia.
11th Jan 2008
Robocop (1987)
Corrected entry: When Robocop tries to arrest Dick Jones in his office, he can't because of Directive 4. Dick Jones then tells Robocop "any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown". The shutdown never occurs.
Correction: That's because what's left of Murphy was able to fight back against his programming enough to avoid actually shutting down, although the directive still gave him considerable problems.
1st Jan 2008
Rome (2005)
Corrected entry: At the time the series is set the height of the average Roman foot soldier is estimated by historians to be about 5 feet 4 inches. A big chap like Pullo would have looked like he was surrounded by Hobbits in battle. The Celtic peoples that the Romans fought tended to be significantly taller due to a better diet than Mediterranean people. The small battle shown in the first episode is therefore not strictly accurate. As more Central and Northern Europeans were recruited by the Romans the average height of the army rose. Excess character height tends to be a mistake in all historical dramas and would be extremely difficult for the directors to correct.
Correction: When real people are portrayed in films, the actor or actress is often the wrong height, as acting ability generally takes precedence over exact appearance. Likewise many other physical factors (age, hair colour, weight) take second place to the quality of the performance when casting. In a nutshell, using actors of the wrong physical appearance is completely standard in films. As such, in common with other standard movie conventions, this sort of thing is not considered to be a mistake.
29th Dec 2007
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Corrected entry: Crouch Jr. (as Moody) executes a huge, complicated plan in order to teleport Harry to the graveyard (tricking the goblet into accepting Harry's name, earning Harry's trust, making sure he wins the tournament, etc.) but this plan is extremely unnecessary. During the movie, there is a scene where Harry and Crouch/Moody were alone together in Crouch/Moody's office. Crouch/Moody could have done anything during that time (e.g. make a glass of juice a portkey and then offer it to Harry) that could have saved him going through his huge plan. Crouch/Moody is obviously not stupid, and he would have thought of that plan.
Correction: True, Crouch could just make a portkey and hand it to Harry when they're alone, but he can't predict when such an opportunity might arise. Voldemort and Wormtail have to be ready at the right moment for Harry to arrive, they can't just improvise on the spur of the moment when he appears. Plus, at Hogwarts, Harry has classes on a strict timetable and is around others the vast majority of the time - they can't risk taking him out during school time, in case his absence should be noted and a rescue attempted before the ritual can be completed. While waiting until the final task of the Tournament is time-consuming, it gives them two major advantages. Firstly, they can predict Harry's arrival time to within an hour or so, allowing them to be prepared well in advance. Secondly, it gives them a long period where Harry's unmonitored, away from his teachers and friends, allowing them plenty of time to finish the job before any possible rescue mission could be mounted. There may be quicker options, but the option that carries the least risk of failure is, sensibly, given the vital nature of what they're attempting, the one that they take.
28th Dec 2007
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Corrected entry: Data sacrifices himself at the end to save Picard and the crew. In the final episode, "All Good Things" where Picard keeps going back and forth through time, Data is in the future era where Picard is an Ambassador/old man. Unless B-4 actually becomes Data (which can be determined by the singing), Data should not exist in those sequences of "All Good Things"
Correction: Time travel stories are rarely cut-and-dried. Q showed Picard a possible future; it doesn't mean that it's the future that will eventually become the real one - indeed, as Picard has now seen that possible future, he may well take have already taken steps towards avoiding it, either consciously or unconsciously. Equally, your built-in correction may well be correct - that Data's memories "woke up" in B-4, effectively resurrecting the character.
4th Jan 2008
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Corrected entry: Teabing describes the Malleus Maleficarum as something which the church used (perhaps even created) as a tool to persecute women and burn them at the stake. The Malleus Maleficarum was actually banned by the church, not used by it.
Correction: The book deals with an alternate history of the Church, which has been covered up in a conspiracy covering nearly two thousand years. It's hardly unreasonable that, in that alternate history, it was indeed the Church that originally created the Malleus Maleficarum, later covering it up and officially banning it.
31st Dec 2007
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Corrected entry: On Scaramanga's Island. When Goodnight knocks the guard into the "pool" of liquid helium, a sign above it states: "Absolute Zero Must Be Maintained" even today absolute zero hasn't been achieved, let alone maintained.
Correction: Bond films frequently deal with technologies that do not exist, as do many other films; this is simply an example of that. Films are not required to deal solely in things that are actually possible with the technology available in the real world at the time the film was made. It's that whole "fictional" thing.
Fiction or not, reaching absolute zero is impossible no matter what the technology, so the original correction is accurate in that sense. What the "Absolute Zero Must Be Maintained" sign probably means is that it must be maintained to within a specific bound, so it shouldn't be raised above a threshold else criticality or whatever occurs.
4th Jan 2008
The Prestige (2006)
Corrected entry: When Angier asks Nikola Tesla to make him a machine for his magic act, Tesla makes a machine that can exactly duplicate human beings, down to their memories. Why would Nikola Tesla sell this machine to a lowly magician when it could be sold to his government for colossal amounts of money?
Correction: How is this a mistake? Tesla's motivations are his own - just because YOU feel that he should sell it to the government, it doesn't make it a mistake that he chooses to honour his deal with Angier, who, as we see in the film, is considerably more than just a lowly magician and undoubtedly compensated Tesla very well for his work.
2nd Jan 2008
Red Dwarf (1988)
Corrected entry: In the cinema scene, one Rimmer makes hand shadows to annoy the other. This is impossible, as Rimmer is made of light and, therefore, wouldn't cast a shadow.
Correction: Rimmer isn't transparent, ergo, light does not pass through him. If light doesn't pass through him, he'll cast a shadow.
27th Aug 2001
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Corrected entry: There must have been a scene deleted that deals with Fred Kwan smoking pot. The parts that support Fred's "activities" are that he is holding a large paper sack (maybe carrying snacks for when he gets the munchies or the pot itself) while signing autographs, on the spaceport, and on the planet while rolling the sphere back to the shuttle; Fred seemed VERY interested in getting something out of the vending machine as they were being sent to the ship; and last, and most obvious, is that Guy Flegman actually asks Fred if he is stoned when he comes up with the idea to transport the rock monster onto the ship.
Correction: This is pure supposition on the part of the submitter. As such, it cannot be considered valid trivia.
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.
Correction: You're missing the point by a parsec or so. Clarence is there to SAVE George's life, to give him a reason to go on living; indeed, Clarence's future as an angel depends on him doing so. He's not there to just dispassionately show him the options and let him kill himself if he still wants to; that wouldn't exactly be very angelic, would it.
Tailkinker ★
So true and I think this plot was done in a Christmas story.