Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes (1965)

2 factual errors in I Look Better in Basic Black

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Suggested correction: "Hogan's Heroes" is an American television show produced for an English speaking audience. The whole show is shot in English! Did you expect Schultz and Klink to speak German and LeBeau to speak French?

I have seen MANY instances in the show where German characters are speaking actual German phrases (many quite accurately, by the way) and ranks of fellow German soldiers. When the German characters are addressing English-speaking characters in this American-made show, you do expect them to speak German-accented English, however, when German-speaking characters speak German to each other, one expects them to use the proper address and vernacular Germans would use and not mix in other languages. In this case, the SS guard did not know a lick of English when he was questioning some prisoners who were out their barracks, but addresses Sergeant Schultz as "Sergeant" rather than "Feldwebel." Furthermore, why aren't little things like buckets of water used in the show are labeled, "Water" rather than the German "Wasser"? Why isn't the list of rules tacked onto the barracks say "Forbidden" rather than "Verboten"?

Scott215

The point is that when German characters are speaking to each other, it is assumed by the audience that they are speaking German and we are hearing an English translation for our convenience. In the world of the show, they are using the German term, but we hear the English equivalent.

I Look Better in Basic Black - S1-E28

Factual error: The American women the SS brings into camp claim to be entertainers having performed for troops. The series is allegedly set in 1942. Before June 6th, 1944 there were no allied troop concentrations in central Europe, certainly not in Germany, and very certainly none of a size and security rating the USO (or probably rather its predecessor organization, since the USO was founded in 1941 and would not have been fully operational yet) would send a troupe of female entertainers to.

Doc

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Trivia: A sinister aspect of an otherwise lightheated comedy, but the fact is that Hogan and his men are war criminals. They engage in combat activities behind enemy lines when not in uniform, and worse, while wearing enemy uniforms. The Germans tried that during the Battle of the Bulge and those arrested were shot.

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Answer: It's a solitary cell. Steve McQueen, star of 'The Great Escape' is known as the 'Cooler King'.

Answer: It's a slang term for an isolated jail cell. In wartime, POWs who attempted to escape or otherwise thwart their captors might be punished with solitary confinement, often in a cramped, poorly ventilated, windowless space.

raywest

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