Factual error: In the beginning, when the Germans are setting up the tables to record the names, one German puts down a plastic stamp pad. Stamp pads of that era were metal.
wizard_of_gore
21st Feb 2005
Schindler's List (1993)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Not true. Rubber stamp pads were invented in 1866. By WW2 they were easily available.
I do not believe the mistake refers to the stamp itself or the ink pad, but to the container holding the ink pad. The stamp is made of rubber, but the ink pad should be contained in metal.
Personally I think it is a metal stamp pad. Maybe a second pair of eyes to confirm? At 1:31 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UoF6uIQOK8.
It could have easily been celluloid or Bakelite - both had been around for decades.
25th Jan 2020
Underwater (2020)
Other mistake: *Spoiler Alert* The strength of the underwater suits is wildly inconsistent. Rodrigo's suit almost immediately cracks and implodes, killing him. Paul's suit is easily ripped open by the creatures, also killing him, but Norah is repeatedly slammed into the sea floor by one of the creatures and her suit remains remarkably intact.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: It is stated by one of the survivors that one of the helmets was damaged. Rodrigo had the damaged one.
Actually, that's not completely accurate. She says something like "Faulty, I knew they were faulty." That also doesn't account for the fact that the creatures tore Paul right out of his suit, but couldn't seem to do the same with Norah.
His suit was faulty. He noticed a crack when he first picked it to put it on.
10th Jan 2020
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Other mistake: The Millennium Falcon crash lands on Kef Bir, leaving a long trail of destruction, supposedly because the landing gear is malfunctioning. However, the Falcon has always had vertical takeoff capability, so even if the landing struts were damaged, there would be no reason for this type of crash landing.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Since so many things always break down on the ship it's possible the vertical landing capabilities were malfunctioning at that time.
However, the characters specifically mention the malfunctioning landing gear as the reason for the crash landing.
Exactly, they needed the landing gear to land but it malfunctioned, resulting in a crash.
If the vertical landing capabilities were malfunctioning then they wouldn't be able to take off, as they are the same things that help keep the Falcon level in atmosphere and control its yaw and wake in space and also what gives it vertical lift at the point of liftoff. Also, before you suggest it, how would they repair it when they can't even reach them because the ship is sitting on them and buried in sand. Also, the exit to the ship is a ramp underneath the ship, how did they get out?
I never said they had to repair it after crashing. I just said it malfunctioned at that time. Perhaps it was a software issue. As for the specifics on the Falcon's capabilities and exits, same guesswork. I'm sure you can exit the Falcon at other places than just the belly.
A plausible explanation but highly unlikely as it would be a one way trip. The damage caused by a high speed landing and a hard one at that would make the falcon unusable for space flight, the underbelly gun would be ripped off for starters and possible damage to the gunner's window as well and damage to the Hull. Same situation in the force awakens on Starkiller base and in solo. These problems are never addressed or explained but I guess this is the magic of the movies.
16th Nov 2019
Batwoman (2019)
Continuity mistake: The bat-signal (or bat-light as Alice calls it) is on a rooftop looking entirely different from the one established in the first episode (from minute 4 on). (00:03:10)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Yes, because Kate re-designed it.
Ohhh, okay. I must have missed the part when she said she was doing it, my bad. Which episode?
I'll have to look that up, which I will when I have a chance, but it follows in line with the redesign of the batsuit and emblem.
27th Mar 2005
Open Water (2003)
Trivia: No digital- or special effects were used in the film. The actors were in the water with real live sharks.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: You can see the edges of the pool the actors are in when there are "ships" on the horizon.
Not true. The film was shot on location, for three weeks, off the coast of The Bahamas. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2004/08/open-water-sharks-fear-real/#close.
26th Mar 2019
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Factual error: Near the beginning of the film there is a warning sign that the "Tron" game has a virus. How does an arcade game get a virus?
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: I don't believe it was actually a virus in the game. It was more of a bug in the coding that arose, probably in just that particular cabinet after wear and tear. However, the characters in the arcades would not really have a full understanding of a virus and would conceivably use the terms of virus, bug, and possibly even glitch interchangeably. I don't think it was an actual virus or a mistake in the movie, but just the miss-information that the characters were going off. Especially seeing as how we see the physical/cyber manifestation of a virus later in the film.
Respectfully, that's just speculation. What you "believe" to be the case doesn't make it so.
12th Jul 2008
Elf (2003)
Question: I am confused. Buddy has blood drawn in order to do a DNA sample and they get the results almost right away. Doesn't it take weeks for DNA samples to come back? If so, how can they get the results so quickly in the movie?
Chosen answer: More than likely, it was done for storyline reasons. Since the results of DNA tests *do* take a while to come back, it slows the plot down to show them waiting. I guess, in a way, this situation calls for a suspension of disbelief; it may seem like it took no time at all, but in order to enjoy the film, you have to just accept that the necessary waiting period has passed.
There's an old story where someone asked a major sci-fi producer how fast one of his space vehicles could go. He answered, "At the speed of the plot."
Answer: It was most likely a blood typing test (it can take minutes and its done through a finger-stick test). If the doctor's office had the test cards. If both parents have type A blood, their child can't have type B and vice versa with type B and A. Type O is rare enough that its more likely that Walter and Buddy's mother were either type A, B, or AB. -college student who has rewatched the movie and had to go through several allele genotype/phenotype lectures.
Actually, type O is the most common type. O - is more rare than O+, which is true for every blood type, but O is still the most common for most ethnic groups.
Answer: Most private labs can return DNA testing results in 1-2 days because the test isn't that complicated, even in the early 2000's. It's usually court ordered testing that take weeks to process because of all the bureaucratic red tape, paper work, and signatures required. Some labs do get extremely busy and therefore it might take up to 2-4 weeks to get results back, but that also usually includes more extensive DNA testing.
Answer: Even so the test came back almost immediatly.
24th Sep 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Question: Would any company in their right mind build a theme park (or any business for that matter) on a private island with a volcano? I know populated areas like Hawaii just assume the risk, but wouldn't a company that has the money to purchase their own island do their due diligence and make sure they won't be prone to a major catastrophe like that?
Answer: As it was stated in the film, the volcano had been dormant for many many years. Presumably even since well before the events of the first Jurassic Park movie in the early 90's. It was only recently, between the events of this film and the prior Jurassic World that the volcano had its surprise re-awakening.
For sure, but dormant simply means that the volcano could one day erupt again, so wouldn't it be pretty foolish to gamble on building a multi-billion dollar theme park with the hope that the volcano will never again erupt?
One would think. But just look at our world's history. Like Pompeii, an entire civilization wiped out cause they lived at the base of a dormant volcano. And then even in more recent history. Mount Saint Helens, which I've actually been to and seen the exhibits and footage of it's destruction. Foolish, yeah. But that doesn't stop us from still doing it repeatedly.
I think it's been made pretty clear over the course of all the films that the people building these parks did not exactly think everything through properly. They took a gamble on the volcano, and they lost.
23rd Aug 2018
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Question: Why did the writers decide to have Snoke killed just like that? Fans have spent the last two years wondering about so many theories about who he is, so was it really wise to kill him that early on without even the slightest hint as to who he really is?
Answer: According to reports, JJ Abrams had different ideas for each characters' story arcs while he was directing "The Force Awakens"; when Rian Johnson signed on as director for "Last Jedi", he basically decided to ignore Abrams' ideas and create his own direction for every major character, including Snoke. Since there is still one more film left in the current trilogy, though, we may learn more about Snoke's true nature in Episode IX; the possibility also exists that he may return as a Force ghost or in a cloned body, at least according to fan theories.
Answer: I know this caused quite the uproar with a lot of the fans, but looking back at the original trilogy, how much information was known about Emperor Palpatine when he was killed off? None of this was addressed until the prequel trilogy many years later.
Exactly. I have made this same argument so many times. Back when the original trilogy came out, none of us were running around complaining that we never found out the Emperor's backstory.
I was merely asking why they decided to kill off Snoke this early.
To be more to the point of your question, it seems that Rian Johnson believed (in my opinion, correctly) that the Snoke character added very little to the story and his death would be shocking to the audience. As a virtual copy of Palpatine in almost every way, the audience expected Snoke to fill a similar role in this story and last well into the third film. By killing Snoke so early, you get rid of a pretty useless character and also shock your audience, leaving them with no idea what direction the story will take going forward.
17th Jul 2018
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Other mistake: Throughout the movie, Hank's lab in its shrunken form is constantly jostled and tossed around, but when it's restored to full size in a new location, nothing is out of place and everything still works perfectly.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Given that he has prepared the lab to be shrunken and mobilized at a moment's notice, he probably thought of this ahead of time and secured everything important in place.
Perhaps he could secure some things, but there's never so much as a computer monitor out of place.
It's a fair point. I agree that some things should definitely be out of place, but given the importance of what he is working on, he would take measures to ensure that the important things wouldn't become damaged and inoperative when the lab is being moved around. We see on at least one occasion that he has ants roaming the lab, so it's possible he trained them to ensure that the Quantum Gate and any device essential to its operation are protected at all times.
In a world in which a man becomes the size of an ant, I guess any correction could be invalidated. I this case, there are any number of reasons why everything, down to paper and pens, never moves. Maybe the ants pick them all up. Maybe gravity works differently when shrunk. This means that basically any movie that uses magic or magic type technology would never have a valid mistake.
14th Jul 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Corrected entry: Owen is dosed with Carfentanil in an amount intended for dinosaurs. At 10,000 times the potency of Morphine, that amount of the drug would have killed him. It's so potent, the lethal dosage for humans is measured in micrograms.
Correction: The quantity needed to anaesthetise the dinosaurs would depend on their size, and the users would have been trained to measure out the necessary quantities. It is likely they would have also adjusted it for Owen so that he was not killed.
Not sure what the amount needed for the dinosaurs has to do with Owen. Any amount that would bring down a dinosaur would certainly kill a human.
The amount used was calibrated for a smaller dinosaur like Blue. Also, Zia pulled the dart out of Owen before it was fully injected into his body (the liquid can still be seen in the vial) so he did not get the entire dose, which might have been enough to kill him.
23rd Jun 2018
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Corrected entry: When the Enterprise first encounters V'ger, Spock determines that they cannot communicate because V'ger is transmitting at a frequency and speed that is too advanced for Enterprise to interpret. At the end of the movie, when they finally encounter V'ger itself, they determine that it cannot communicate with Earth because it is using 300 year old technology and no one on Earth can receive the signal. Which is it?
Correction: Both. V'ger has been upgraded and has evolved. When they first encounter it, it's communicating with its advanced technology. At the end, it's trying to communicate with "the creator" and so is using its original language.
It still doesn't make sense. V'Ger does not know who the creator is, so why would it attempt to communicate with the creator using only it's original signal type?
V'Ger's original programming was quite specific: collect all data possible and return that information to its creator. Neither V'Ger nor the living machines knew who the creator WAS, and didn't know where the creator would be in the galaxy, but did know what the creator's planet would look like, thanks to the plaque with V'Ger's true name on it. That plaque had the continents of Earth visible, so it wouldn't be a stretch to have the added hardware from the living machines scan for that particular configuration of continents to aid V'Ger in finding the creator's home planet. The signal the Enterprise received from V'Ger earlier in the film is because V'Ger did not know who its creator was and thought the Enterprise was a living being, just like it. The radio signal V'Ger transmitted once it entered Earth orbit is because of V'Ger's 20th Century programming compelling it to do so. Remember, the living machines did not alter V'Ger's programming. They simply made it possible for V'Ger to complete its mission. V'Ger achieving sentience was an unintended side effect.
24th Aug 2012
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Question: Even though it's meant as a comedic moment, I've never really understood why Kirk would be so nervous about Saavik piloting the ship out of space dock. She's not actually flying the ship, so it's not like she's going to crash it into the wall or something. Plus, Sulu is an experienced pilot, so even if she said something stupid like "Warp speed!", he's unlikely to follow the order. Just something odd that I have always wondered about.
Chosen answer: He's nervous because she's a trainee and had never done this maneuver before. Even if Sulu is there, she could still possibly make one small error that he would be unable to react to in time. As you point out, the scene is meant to be comedic, and it's being a little over-played strictly for that.
Again though, she is not actually piloting the ship, only giving orders.
Even though Sulu is an experienced pilot, taking the ship out of space dock under power is still prohibited for a reason. If something were to go wrong and a quick decision had to be made, Savick would be the one giving orders to correct the problem. That's what makes Kirk nervous, not the piloting skill involved but the decision making required in an emergency.
Answer: Normally a ship is piloted out of spacedock using thrusters (see ST:TMP). Saavik ordered impulse power.
Answer: Saavik destroyed a simulated Enterprise during her Kobayashi Maru test, with Admiral Kirk chiding her afterwards. When Spock invites Saavik to take the real Enterprise out of space dock, Kirk is obviously nervous because he thinks Saavik is unready for command, as she destroyed the Enterprise earlier.
To my original point though, she is not actually touching any controls, only giving orders. The Enterprise was destroyed in the simulation during a Klingon attack, which is very different than guiding a ship out of spacedock. Not to mention the fact that the simulation is designed to make the cadet fail.
The whole scene is about Spock taking a dig at Kirk's ego. Being the only cadet in Starfleet history to ever actually beat the Kobayashi Maru test (albeit by trickery), Kirk has an inflated standard for what constitutes "readiness for command," and it shows in his reaction. Knowing full well that it will raise Kirk's hackles, Spock deliberately invites Saavik to handle the simple space dock maneuver. McCoy also knows that Kirk will over-react, which is why he offers Kirk a tranquilizer.
27th Jul 2017
Wonder Woman (2017)
Corrected entry: When Diana and Steve sail from Themyscira to London, the sails on the boat just hang there, indicating that there is no wind. Sailboats need wind to move and the sails need periodic adjustment depending on from which direction the wind is coming.
Correction: In the sequence at night there's no wind, but nor are they moving much - that's sailing for you - if there's no wind you just need to wait and hope. After another scene we then see them arriving in London, with a taught rope off the bow, a steamboat in front clearly towing them, and Steve says "we got lucky, we caught a ride and made some good time".
Correction: The sailboat is attached to a steamship or similar in front. That's why Steve said they made some good time.
I just watched the film again. There is no steamship. Where would it have come from?
As they sail into London they're being towed by a steamship.
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.