Best sci-fi movie factual errors of all time

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Reign of Fire picture

Factual error: When the archangels jump from the helicopter, the "bait" is looking behind him saying he can see the dragon. For a parajumper to look between his legs to view behind himself, he would de-arch and thus de-stabilise himself while travelling at that speed. It would send the jumper into a barrel-roll spin.

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2001: A Space Odyssey picture

Factual error: On board spaceship Discovery, the crew's living area is the spinning centrifuge, which spins about its axis to generate a gravity-like acceleration at its perimeter, the floor. When exiting the centrifuge a crewman climbs a ladder from the floor up to the hub, where there's a door leading to other parts. When Poole & Bowman climb this ladder, it's evident that they're under full body weight the whole way up. But in reality they'd get steadily lighter toward the hub. In fact, they'd be practically weightless within a few feet of it.

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Pi (1998)

Pi picture Pi mistake picture

Factual error: In the beginning, when pi is listed, it reads: "3.141592652631245..." when pi is actually "3.141592653589793...". (00:00:31)

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Iron Man picture

Factual error: When Iron Man catches the Audi SUV, the front wings/fenders don't bend when he catches it, the car weighs close to 2 tons, some damage should occur to them as they are made of such thin metal.

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Dark Star picture

Factual error: In the scene right after pinback shoots the beach-ball alien, we see the Dark Star space craft cruising past a planet with a sun in the background. You can see a reflection on the planet which is coming from the space craft. I'm sorry, but usually ships in space are not large enough to reflect off a planet, especially to the degree this one does. (00:48:20)

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Hulk picture

Factual error: The Hulk picks up a tank, swings it around and hurls it about a mile away where it crashes into a sand dune. The impact should have been as strong as a plane crash, but a few shots later, they show one of the tank crewmembers standing casually outside the tank, watching the Hulk, as if nothing happened to them. All of the men inside the tank should have been seriously injured from the impact, if not dead. (01:38:25 - 01:39:45)

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine picture

Factual error: When Wolverine is being chased after the explosion of the barn, there's a Humvee chasing the motorcycle. The movie is supposed to take place in the late 70's - the Humvee started production in 1984 and started service in the late 80's.

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The Abyss picture

Factual error: [Special Edition] The Statue of Liberty is incorrectly shown to be facing the Narrows bridge.

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The Incredible Hulk picture

Factual error: At one point during the final battle, Betty puts her hand on the minigun. Having been recently fired for long periods, that thing would be scalding hot and would badly burn her hand.

Friso94

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines picture

Factual error: When Catherine's father walks through the corridor of the military base, on his way to the first test of the flying Hunter Killers, he is accompanied by a female civilian employee who is wearing a yellow blouse and you can see a fair bit of cleavage. Civilian employees on US military bases are required to dress modestly, and she is showing too much cleavage. The US military is utterly rigid in imposing their dress codes on civilians and she'd be ordered to button up.

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Chopping Mall picture

Factual error: When the first robot is trapped in the lift, the teenagers shoot the propane tanks on top of the lift in order to get them to catch fire and explode, killing the robot. However the teens are firing pistols or shotguns, and these do not contain incendiary ammunition, which is what is required to make the propane to catch fire.

swordfish

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Space Cowboys picture

Factual error: The shuttle re-entry being nose-down could never happen. You had to hit the atmosphere nose-up so the ceramic tiles took the heat.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Not totally true, the nose and leading edge wing were RCC and could take 2300°F, just like the tiles on the underside.

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RoboCop picture

Factual error: When they show Alex's partner in the hospital his heart rate is showing 35 on the monitor. His heart rate is not that low from the EKG pattern.

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Jumper picture

Factual error: Shortly after David and Griffin jump to Japan, Griffin goes to a car dealership and takes a Mercedes. Griffin then drives on the right side of the street rather than on the left as he should in Japan.

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Arachnophobia picture

Factual error: The spider being fried by the fuse box simply can't happen. Fuses are insulated for that very reason.

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Transformers: The Last Knight picture

Factual error: The finale takes place at Stonehenge. It is shown surrounded by woods, not in an open plain as it really is. It is also missing a security fence, dyke, a main road and visitors' car park. There are also hills, whereas Salisbury Plain is quite flat.

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The 5th Wave picture

Factual error: The EMP burst would have only affected a small number of vehicles. Most vehicles act like a Faraday Cage.

Movie Medic

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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure picture

Factual error: When Bill and Ted grab Beethoven, we are shown the piano he was playing which is a Steinweg (Steinweg later changed his name to Steinway when he immigrated to the United States). Steinweg made their first piano in 1835, and the model shown was built in Braunschweig so must have been made after 1858, but Beethoven died in 1827, years before a Steinweg piano existed. Also the onscreen graphic says it's 1810. (00:47:50)

jimba

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Deja Vu picture

Factual error: When the Bronco is underwater at the end of the movie, Claire's hands are tied to the steering wheel. Doug rips the steering wheel off. Anyone who has worked on cars knows you need a puller to get a steering wheel off, you can't just rip it by hand.

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Robocop picture

Factual error: After Robocop stops the criminal from robbing the convenience store by bending his machine gun, the robber tries to run past him, only to get clotheslined by Robocop. The direction the robber flies after getting hit defies all physics. (00:35:15)

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