Best sci-fi movie character mistakes of all time

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Species picture

Character mistake: Fitch, who professes qualifications in biology, genetics and biochemistry, says that they made Sil female because she's a natural predator and so she'd be more docile. In almost every species of predator on earth the females are the hunters, aggressors and killers. The males may be socially dominant but they are the 'docile' ones. There are exceptions but Fitch speaks as if female and docile are the same thing - and they definitely are not.

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Suggested correction: This entry is so wrong, I don't quite know where to begin. The idea that all species, without exception, have the females as the aggressors and the males as docile is absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. It is not backed up by fact in the slightest. They also did use human DNA; they added the sample of alien DNA to it to create Sil.

The posting states that there are exceptions to the rule and specifically states "almost every species." The mistake is not that a female must be "docile". It is that a scientist professing qualifications in biology, genetics, and biochemistry would make such a stupid statement, believing it to be invariably true.

However, there are exceptions; any one species makes this possible. I will start with African Lions. In Africa, the female lions are the main aggressors.

Noman

Suggested correction: They never said Sil was a natural predator when they created her. She was half human and half alien and it was their belief that human females are more docile (i.e. more motherly, more gentle, more empathetic, and less aggressive than human males). Although the reply to "more docile and controllable" was "you guys don't get out much", meaning that girls aren't that docile and controllable.

Bishop73

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Geostorm picture

Character mistake: Jim Sturgess uses a sentence that contains the word 'me'. He is corrected, being told that the word 'I' would have been correct. However, he was grammatically correct in his use of the word 'me'. The correction was in error.

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The Thing picture

Character mistake: The last time Doc tries the defibrillator on Norris, he uses it on the abdomen instead of on the chest. He also positions the pads incorrectly. They should be placed diagonal, with the heart in the middle, not horizontal.

MaZtR HaXoR

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Alien picture

Character mistake: When Ripley interfaces with Mother for the first time and sees the special order, an instruction reads as "Insure return of organism" rather than "Ensure return."

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines picture Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines mistake picture

Character mistake: When the Terminator scans the doorman at the bar, a display comes up categorizing each piece of the doorman's clothing. The word "briefs" is misspelled "breifs". (00:13:40)

Phil C.

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The Final Countdown picture

Character mistake: Following the barricade recovery of the Corsair, the Officer of the Deck instructs the helmsman to return to course "three five oh." No line officer would use the term "oh" in place of "zero", especially when giving course change instructions.

goofyfoot

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Pokemon: the First Movie picture

Character mistake: One of the other trainers said he rode over on a Pidgeotto, but it was a Pidgeot. (00:40:07)

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Avatar picture

Character mistake: In the beginning scene where the shuttle lands on Pandora, as Jake gets on his wheelchair preparing to alight from the shuttle, the man behind him unloading equipment has his exopack mask loose even though he is exposed to Pandora's atmosphere. (00:05:20)

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Iron Man 3 picture

Character mistake: When Harley asks Tony what the light is coming from his chest, Tony responds "an electromagnet." Harley replies "What does it power?" An electromagnet is not a source of power. The arc reactor is the power source which powers both the electromagnet (to keep Tony safe from the shrapnel near his heart) and the Iron Man suit. (00:43:25)

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Sky High picture

Character mistake: In the scene where Steve and Josie prepare to leave to fight the giant robot at the beginning of the movie, Steve tells Will "Oh, Will, a reminder: a lot of the kids at Sky High will only have one super hero parent, not two." When he says "one super hero parent", he holds up two fingers. When he says "not two", he holds up only one finger.

omegaman1144

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The Lost World: Jurassic Park picture

Character mistake: When they're on the island and the INGen helicopters are flying in, Jeff Goldblum takes the binoculars and looks through the wrong end. (00:32:30)

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On the Beach picture

Character mistake: In the scenes in San Diego, all the scenes outside the sub are taking place during daylight hours. Immediately after the crewman relays the message about the mysterious telegraph transmission, the scene shifts to the sub. The commander asks what time it is in Melbourne and is told it is 1500 hours (3PM). But if it were that time in Melbourne, it would be 10PM in San Diego, and thus not during daylight hours. (01:33:30 - 01:38:05)

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Ad Astra picture

Character mistake: During the debrief meeting with the generals, Roy states the Lima Project was "some 29 years ago" and "the ship disappeared approximately 16 years into the mission." A few minutes later, Roy narrates "I was 16 when he left, 29 when he disappeared." This of course is only 13 years into the mission. (00:11:27 - 00:15:03)

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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith picture

Character mistake: During the opening space battle, Obi-Wan's ship falls under attack by buzz-droids, who proceed to cut into his fighter, disabling a number of systems and leading Anakin to try some decidedly dangerous moves to get rid of them. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan are acknowledged experts in the use of the Force and both have been shown to use the Force routinely, even for relatively mundane activities. It's also been firmly established that the Force works on droids and that the Force-user can still affect others through windows, viewscreens and so forth. Yet neither thinks to use the Force to deal with the buzz-droids. (00:05:10)

Tailkinker

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Suggested correction: There's no evidence this is a mistake. In fact, it's logically self-defeating. As you noted, both Anakin and Obi-Wan are trained Jedi Knights. If the option of knocking the droids off with the Force was indeed feasible, presumably they would have done it. There are any number of reasons why they didn't (they couldn't concentrate enough in the middle of a pitched naval battle to commit a Force attack, the droids could have been attached magnetically, etc.) but the bottom line is that if telekinesis was an option they would have done it.

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Character mistake: As they take Han away, watch Lando. Just before he tilts his mask down so we can see who he is, he whacks his head on the doorway. (00:16:20)

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Star Trek: First Contact picture

Character mistake: When Picard is explaining the Enterprise to Lily he states that it has 24 decks. Yet earlier on, a crewman had reported to Worf that the Borg had taken over "decks 26 up to 11".

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Silent Running picture

Character mistake: While he may not have figured it out the moment he found the forest dying, certainly a botanist like Freeman Lowell would know plants need light to survive.

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Downsizing picture

Character mistake: When they are having the going away party for Paul, "leisure" is spelled wrong on the cake.

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Ghostbusters picture

Character mistake: When Ray and Winston are driving across the Brooklyn Bridge around midnight in the Ectomobile, Ray quotes a verse of scripture claiming to be "Revelation 7:12". What he quotes is actually Revelation 6:12. (01:03:38)

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