Audio problem: In their struggle on the lookout point, Don Cassidy throws the gun over the railing. A clattering noise is heard as if the gun fell on a solid pavement, but the way the action is shown, it went down in a spot where a few seconds later during the suicide attempt there's nothing but a freefall. (00:46:05)
Revealing mistake: The closing shot of the episode shows the lookout point platform where the suicide attempt happened...but also, below it, you can catch a glimpse of an additional platform, and a rope probably used for safety reasons as well. Needless to say, it was not featured in the dramatic shot of Holly looking down into the abyss. (00:46:55 - 00:47:40)
Audio problem: The whole episode revolves around a radio DJ, who calls the various songs - however, for licensing issues, contrary to what the DJ advertises, the songs (including at least four Beatles hits, Elton John, and a version of Satisfaction that already appeared in the celebrated Season 3 opener) are not the originals, but stock covers.
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: In the opening shots, the helicopter is the N58243 one with flotation pads, but as soon as it starts malfunctioning, the pads thin up and we switch to the usual chopper. The skids change shape back and forth again once. (00:02:05)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Visible crew/equipment: When TC makes a successful crash landing on Frenchman's Island everyone exits the chopper, and as Rick says, "Hey, you know what this place is," the boom microphone is visible moving around at the bottom left of the screen. (00:05:30)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: TC is working by the tail rotor to fix the vibration. It's red with thin white stripes. By the end of the episode the rotor is the opposite; white with red stripes. (00:06:40 - 00:44:20)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Character mistake: Higgins hearing the drunk sailor sing "Ukulele Lady" pitches in saying "Written in 1925 by Gus Kahn, Richard Whiting and Irving Berlin." The song was written by Kahn and Whiting only, who published it through Irving Berlin's eponymous record label. (00:10:50)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: When TC shouts at Higgins for being pedantic about Ukulele Lady, he's holding at different height the piece of equipment he's repairing. (00:11:05)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: When TC is lashing out at Rick for the unwarranted comment about "crashing" the chopper, Rick is casting a shadow on him under the closer angle, does not when the camera is positioned in front of Higgins weaving the basket. (00:11:40)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: Rick first follows Magnum carrying branches. When Magnum passes him an additional one, look at his shirt; from the side you can see it's almost entirely unbuttoned. In the front view he has "just" the top three undone, and then he takes off his shirt when Magnum spooks him. (00:13:30)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: When Rick says that the place is spooky and reminds him of 'Nam, the pieces of wood he's holding change place entirely (one was under his armpit, now it's across his chest) between shots. (00:13:45)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Visible crew/equipment: When TC first starts singing "Under the Boardwalk" while he's fixing the chopper, just as he leans over the toolbox, the legs of a crew member wearing jeans are visible under the chopper, at the left side of the screen. It cannot be Rick, who's wearing white slacks, or Higgins, who's wearing his typical trousers, or Magnum, who's in shorts since he removed the Santa suit. (00:15:55)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Other mistake: The three friends mistake Higgins' footprints in the sand for a pirate's. They find him and they have their explanation; Higgins is carrying a cane and some palm leaves; dragging the palm leaves, he involuntarily erases the prints of his foot, while the cane leaves a circular print akin a wooden leg's. That makes no sense, because as it is shown, Higgins is holding the cane in his right hand, and dragging the palms with his left; he'd wipe the prints of his left foot, if anything. And yet when Rick pointed at the prints, it was obviously a left footprint. (00:18:20)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: When the three buddies rush into the clearing before Higgins and he calls them "cannibals", he holds the palm branches at hip-height in the shot from behind, breast-high in the front views. (00:19:10)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: By the Japanese wreckage, Higgins calls it a "reconnaissance plane." Rick has his arms folded. Next shot and he has his arms down; takes him a couple seconds before he folds them. (00:21:05)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Other mistake: Higgins ask for the hacksaw from TC's toolbox. In 30 seconds sharp (no pauses in the dialogue), Rick brings it to him. So the wrecked airplane and the chopper are 10 seconds apart, in a thick forest. That's quite a bit uncanny. (00:24:15 - 00:24:45)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Continuity mistake: Magnum and the others push Higgins' makeshift boat into the sea. Water does not even reach Magnum's knees, but as Higgins keeps pontificating from the sinking vessel, Magnum is thigh deep in salt water, with splashes all over the crotch. (00:34:00)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Audio problem: On the beach, TC is comforting Higgins who is depressed for the unceremonious ending of his sailing adventure. He tells him "It could have worked." There's a cut to Higgins and silence between the two, but you can spot at the edge of the frame that Roger E. Mosley's mouth is moving with no sound. (00:38:20)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Visible crew/equipment: While Higgins, TC, and Rick are on the beach, Magnum is wearing the Santa suit as he runs over to them singing and carrying a quirky little tree, and in the shot facing all four men, lighting equipment is visible at the right side of the screen. (00:39:25)
Operation: Silent Night - S4-E10
Revealing mistake: When Magnum and friends sing "Silent Night" at the end, fake starry night background and dry ice clouds are perfectly discernable. (00:46:00)
