Corrected entry: When Galadriel is distributing gifts, she gives Merry and Pippin "daggers of the Noldorim", the blades of which are barely longer than their hands. If they had actually been daggers of the Noldorim (a race of Elves), they would have been the hobbit equivalent of a sword.
Tailkinker
17th May 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
17th May 2005
Hellboy (2004)
Corrected entry: When Hellboy and the agents go back to look for eggs in the subway, they enter through a working subway tunnel. Later, when HB is searching for Kronen and encounters Sammael, they fall into a hole, fighting as they drop hundreds of feet. But they crash through the ceiling of a subway station. Why is there another subway system hundreds of feet below the one they came in through?
Correction: In subway systems, different lines run on different levels, to allow the tunnels to cross each other without interference.
15th May 2005
Star Trek (1966)
Corrected entry: Romulans come from the planet Romulus, which has a nearby twin called Remus. These planets are named for the mythical founders of Rome, the twin sons of the war god Mars and the Vestal Rhea Silvia. But Romulans would not know about ancient Earth history, so it seems unlikely that they would name their planets after our mythology and refer to themselves as "Romulans."
Correction: They didn't, any more than the Vulcans chose to name their planet after the Roman god of fire. These are simply the names given to those worlds by the humans - the universal translator is programmed to use Romulus and Remus to replace the true names of the planets. The same follows with the species name.
15th May 2005
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Corrected entry: When Dave is trapped in the pod outside the ship and has to go through the airlock, the solution is impossible (and a real astronaut would have known that). The change in pressure between the pod and the vacuum of space would cause the body to explode without a pressure suit (including the helmet, which was missing). Also, the absolute zero temperature of space would have frozen Dave solid before he ever got the Discovery's door closed.
Correction: The suggestion that a human body would immediately explode in a vacuum is a common fallacy. Nor would they immediately freeze solid - heat does not transfer away from a body particularly quickly, even in a very cold environment. NASA estimates that a human being could survive exposure to space for thirty seconds without suffering any lasting injury, provided that they didn't try to hold their breath - something that Bowman, as an astronaut, would be well aware of. His actions are quite plausible.
15th May 2005
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Corrected entry: How did the captain of the Excelsior know that it was Adm. Kirk that was stealing the Enterprise? Never once was he informed who it was taking the ship.
Correction: Just because we don't see him actually being told, it doesn't mean that he wasn't informed, off-camera. The moment it became apparent that the Enterprise was being stolen, Starfleet would have been investigating to work out who was responsible - given that Kirk's already asked if he can take the ship, it wouldn't take much to work out who was behind the theft, and they would have informed the Excelsior immediately. Styles would have had the information given to him the moment he reached the bridge.
14th May 2005
Hellboy (2004)
Corrected entry: When Hellboy hits Myer with the rock, he is on a rooftop across the street and pretty high up, but they are more or less facing each other. When the shot cuts to Myer getting hit, if you watch slowly, the rock appears to come from behind, hitting him in the back of the head or at least the side. Myer puts his hand up to his forehead, where you would expect him to be hit, considering the direction Hellboy is throwing from. But then Myer turns around and yells, "hey, who threw that?" behind him, where it appeared the rock came from in slo-mo.
Correction: They're not even close to facing each other - Hellboy is looking at them almost side-on. The rock comes from the correct direction, hitting Myers on the right-hand side of his forehead, exactly where he puts his hand to. He then stands and looks left and right first, and only turns round to look behind him once he's failed to spot the thrower in the more plausible directions.
11th May 2005
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)
Corrected entry: Whenever a shuttlepod leaves Enterprise, two wings deploy on either side. In reality, these wings, because they are so thin, would burn up in a planet's atmosphere. This is done to show that Enterprise-era technology is less advanced than Kirk-era technology.
Correction: As we don't know what the wings are made of, we can hardly state that they should burn up in the atmosphere. And as the shuttles make controlled entrances to planetary atmospheres, unlike the uncontrolled method used by current space vehicles, the flight velocity could be adjusted to keep the heat lower anyway.
18th Jan 2005
The Incredibles (2004)
Corrected entry: Violet's headband wasn't made by Edna, so it shouldn't disappear. However, it always goes invisible whenever she does. If her parents had it made by some other costume designer, why didn't they go the whole hog and get her entire wardrobe made up to disappear when she does - it makes no sense to just do her hairband.
Correction: Violet doesn't wear a headband until after she dons the costume that Edna made for her. Given that it appeared at that point, does vanish when she does, and that the colour appears to precisely match the colour used for the costume belts, it seems fairly clear that Edna did make the headband.
8th May 2005
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Corrected entry: How the heck did Hannibal get ahold of the pen during his release from the mental hospital ? It was at least 4 feet away from him; he was bound and had a face plate over his mouth. Not only did he get the pen but somehow he got the internal portion of it which would have required freedom of movement to remove. This must be a mistake because aside from telekinesis, it should have been impossible.
Correction: We see Chilton leave the pen on the bed, then head for the exit to the cell, forgetting to pick it up, which is hardly implausible, given that he's rather agitated at the time. Barney then releases Hannibal, who simply picks the pen up and conceals it once his restraints have been removed.
7th May 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Corrected entry: When Earth II is finished, it can be assumed that the location in space is not anywhere near that of the original. (Due to the bypass) That in mind, how do the people resolve the fact that all the constellations won't be the same? Now that earth is in a different location, won't all the stars in the sky also be different?
Correction: Given that everything, people included, has had to be rebuilt pretty much from scratch, it would seem like a relatively simple task to adjust memories and documentation relating to the constellations to take account of this.
6th May 2005
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Corrected entry: When Wells turns the burner knob on the gas stove in the cellar to ignite the gas, there should not be a spark. The stove has electronic ignition and the werewolves had cut the power to the cabin long ago. No electricity, no spark.
Correction: Some stoves use a battery rather than the mains supply to provide the ignition spark.
20th Apr 2005
X-Men 2 (2003)
Corrected entry: When Cyclops goes to check if Jean Grey is alright after recovering from Stryker's mind control, we see him walk around and grab Jean before quickly assuring her that he is fine. Trouble is, we only see him walking to find her. Given their serious situation and his love for Jean, he would definitely have being moving much faster (running even).
Correction: Given that he's just attacked her, rushing up to her would be the worst thing to do - far better to approach at a more measured pace, despite his concerns, to give her time to see that he's not being hostile, so that she doesn't lash out and fling him across the room again.
17th Apr 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: The Kingdom of the Dead fled before the battle between Isildur and Sauron. They hid in the mountains and they never saw or spoke to anyone after that. So how is it that they are instantly able to recognize Aragorn's sword and know that it was broken?
Correction: Narsil, Elendil's sword, was legendary even at the time of the War of the Last Alliance - it was over three thousand years old at that point. Even with the alterations made by the reforging, it would be recognisable. The Dead didn't retreat to their subterranean realm immediately after their curse, making it highly likely that they would have encountered others at some point. At that point in history, only shortly after the fall of Sauron, the tale of Elendil's fall would be widely known, making it highly unlikely that they wouldn't have been made aware of the details, including the breaking of Narsil.
13th Apr 2005
The Incredibles (2004)
Corrected entry: When Mr. incredible is driving wildly in the caravan after landing in it from the rocket, he eventually brakes for no reason other than to do the parallel parking joke. Surely he couldn't have known that the van would land exactly in that spot. There was no traffic crossing the path of the van either, so no reason for him to brake.
Correction: The van is moving extremely fast and they need to stop it so that they can get out to go after the Omnidroid. Hitting the brakes is the traditional method of doing this. Mr. Incredible was not planning on the van flipping. He just got lucky on the parallel parking bit.
13th Apr 2005
Fight Club (1999)
Corrected entry: In the bathroom scene when project mayhem are confronting the city council member, Brad Pitt's character is the one pushing the council man into the bathroom and to the floor, however at the same time we see Edward Norton's character locking the bathroom door, as one is a figment of the others imagination it should not be possible for them both to be touching different things at the same time.
Correction: Everything that the Narrator does in that sequence is in his imagination. He's unsure about the whole thing, doesn't want to be holding down the councillor, so he imagines himself doing something relatively passive, like locking the door behind them. In fact, this was done by the last person in, the one we see going in before the Narrator enters, but mentally, he sees himself doing it - after all, he believes that he was the last one into the room, so it must have been him that locked the door.
6th Apr 2005
Blackadder (1986)
Corrected entry: How does the Spanish guard know that Blackadder gets the charades clues wrong at first, and then starts getting them right? He doesn't speak any English and would have no idea whether he was making the right connections or not.
Correction: Many people can understand a language far better than they can speak it - the guard is presumably able to understand enough to know when Blackadder's along the right lines (although it isn't good enough to understand Blackadder's rather involved insults).
11th Apr 2005
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Data is on the bridge being contacted by Picard, and when he speaks to the computer to gives orders is impossible. All the air has been removed from the bridge, yet sound can still travel through the air (though we allow poetic license that exploding ships make sounds). (00:07:20)
Correction: The air has not been sucked from the bridge - the life-support has simply been shut off. The air on the bridge would quickly become unbreathable, hence the evacuation, but it's still there. As such, sound will be able to travel normally.
5th Apr 2005
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: When the face sucker alien jumped at Kane it only attached itself to the front of Kane's mask. It did not penetrate the mask. When they get Kane to the Nostromo, the face sucker alien is completely inside his mask and there is a big hole that it entered through. (00:36:20)
Correction: The face-hugger used an acidic excretion to burn its way through the helmet visor. The visor can be seen to be warped by the effect of the acid.
5th Apr 2005
Alien (1979)
Corrected entry: When the face sucker jumps at Kane, he only jumps onto Kane's helmet. This is best seen when in slo-mo on the DVD. Having it jump through his helmet, as we are led to believe, would have resulted in some glass breaking and facial lacerations to Kane and injury to the face sucker alien. (00:34:20)
Correction: The face-hugger emits a quantity of acid and burns its way through the helmet visor. The visor is visibly affected - the sides of the hole appear melted, not broken.
Then wouldn't Kane's face be melted?
It secretes enough acid to just melt the helmet and not damage the host.
2nd Apr 2005
The Italian Job (2003)
Corrected entry: In a deleted scene entitled "Left Ear gets stuck in traffic", you can see the steel tow rope wire attached to the car, obviously making it jerk about.
Correction: Deleted scenes are often presented 'as filmed' - i.e. without special effects and so on. Had the scene made it into the film, the wire would have been digitally removed, but there would be no point in spending money on a scene that wasn't to be included in the final version of the film. As such, this cannot be considered a mistake.
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Correction: Merry and Pippin already have hobbit-scale swords, so Galadriel is giving them short-bladed knives to complement their existing weapons. There's no official length for a dagger - it's merely a short-bladed weapon, which seems to describe what she gives them quite nicely.
Tailkinker ★