Best sci-fi movie mistakes of all time

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The Fly picture

Plot hole: The whole problem with the teleporter occurs when fly DNA is mixed in with Seth Brundle's DNA, starting his transformation into the Brundlefly. Brundle is on a hiding to nothing from the word go, and the fly is irrelevant. Humans are a walking talking mass of foreign DNA - we are host to one trillion bacteria all of which has a complete complement of DNA, as do various tiny mites that live in our hair follicles and all sorts of single cell organisms in our gut. If the transporter serves to mix the DNA of all living creatures which are in the transporter pod at the time Brundle would turn into a half-man, half-bacteria. Incidentally, DNA from a bacteria, an amoeba or a hair follicle mite would be just as 'compatible' with human DNA as that from an insect. It's quite a simple chemical, really.

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Suggested correction: Being as how the bacteria and mites and such were IN or ON Seth, the machine was able to organize those symbiotic relationships accordingly as teleporting one would teleport all. The fly was separate, not touching. The machine was not programmed to anticipate two separated entities and so combined them into one on the other side.

Phixius

We leave behind a vapour trail of bacteria and viruses (among other things) as we walk, in our breath and emanations from pores in our skin, and Brundle isn't trapping any in his clothes as he isn't wearing any. Brundle has an invisible cloud of DNA floating around him in that teleportation chamber and as far as the machine is concerned their DNA has exactly the same status as that of the fly.

We don't know enough about how the machine works to determine how it might differentiate different DNA types. Unexplained science means it's somehow able to do it. Willing suspension of disbelief for the win.

Apart from blatant continuity errors and examples of visible crew or equipment, you just invalidated every posting on this site.

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Revealing mistake: When Luke is being fed to the Rancor, in Jabba the Hutt's dungeon, there are black outlines around the beast's legs, from the composite's blue screen special effect. This was edited out in the special edition rerelease.

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Suggested correction: This was not a "mistake". The outlines showing around the beast's leg were due to the limited CGI technology at the time the film was made. With advances in special effects in the following decades, the filmmakers were able to enhance the CGI quality in later releases.

raywest

But it is a mistake to show that the Rancor is not real, and the outlines show that. It's certainly not intentional.

lionhead

Not sure what you mean that the rancor is not real. Of course it's not real. The issue is, at that time, it was not technically possible to show the beastie without the lines showing. I classify a mistake as something that was not intentional. In this case, it was, due to the limitations of CGI in the 1980s.

raywest

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Alien picture

Continuity mistake: In the shot of the alien's tail wrapping around the back of Lambert's legs right before it kills her, the floor is different to what it was before, there is water suddenly falling from the ceiling when there wasn't before and her trousers have changed from white to blue. This is because that shot was originally intended to be used when Brett was killed.

THGhost

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The Time Machine picture

Factual error: When Philby and Alexander are talking about Albert Einstein, Alexander mentions that Einstein is a patent clerk. The beginning of this movie takes place in the year 1899. Einstein was still in school and didn't become a patent clerk until 1902.

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Hot Tub Time Machine picture

Continuity mistake: When Lou and Nick are playing pool in the bar, Lou goes to break the rack and misses. When Nick goes to break them, the balls are racked in a different pattern. (00:50:10)

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Robocop picture

Continuity mistake: Dick Jones brags (admits?) to Robocop, "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now, it's time to erase that mistake" while Robocop is crouched on the ground, not only looking away from him from across the room, but also Robocop's eyes are in a vertical position. In the playback, Jones is facing the camera as though it were videotaped or filmed in a studio. (01:10:50 - 01:35:10)

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Jurassic Park picture Jurassic Park mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Tim and Lex first arrive, Lex is wearing a purple tank top with a colorful design, and in the following scenes or even between consecutive shots her tank top changes to completely different designs, though it's the same style of tank top.

Super Grover

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Star Trek: Nemesis picture

Continuity mistake: In the latter half of the movie, Picard looks at a picture of himself from his days as a Starfleet Academy cadet while Beverly looks on too. This picture is actually the actor Tom Hardy (Shinzon, Picard's clone) and he appears with a completely bald/shaved head. Showing Picard bald as a cadet completely contradicts the TNG series. In the TNG episode 'Tapestry', a flashback set in 2327 (the year Picard graduated from the Academy), Picard is shown with a full head of hair. Also, in the TNG episode 'Violations', a flashback set in 2354 shows Picard with a partial head of hair when he takes Beverly to see her dead husband Jack's body. (00:46:25)

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Suggested correction: It's entirely reasonable that he might have shaved his head for a time. People don't necessarily keep the same hairstyle their entire life.

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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure picture

Other mistake: Beethoven didn't seem fussed nor resentful of Napoleon being part of the group. Historically he temporarily admired him and wrote the Third Symphony inspired by Napoleon's ideals of Europe's new hope of enlightenment but later despised him after he crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804 and furiously scribbled out his name off the title page of his Third Symphony and named it Eroica which he originally titled it as "Bonaparte Symphony" due to his former admiration of Napoleon.

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Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials picture

Continuity mistake: There are missing boys in the movie. At the end of The Maze Runner, there are 8 boys that get out of the maze besides Teresa. At the beginning of Scorch Trials, only 7 get in the compound. When Thomas shows the stolen card to the others, there are 6 of them and they all escape with Teresa and Aris. When they get out the mall and enter the city, there are 5 of them besides Aris and Teresa. The last boy (called 'Jack' by cast and crew) dies in a deleted scene, the other two boys simply vanish without a trace or explanation.

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The Purge: Election Year picture

Continuity mistake: When the Senator is about to be sacrificed, the cloth on her mouth immediately disappears for a split second. (01:29:35)

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Time Bandits picture

Factual error: When the Titanic sinks all six dwarves and Kevin end up in the sea clutching a lifebelt. The water in which the Titanic sank was freezing - that is how most of the casualties died, by freezing, not drowning. In water like that you'd be lucky to stay conscious for more than a few minutes. Despite this none of them show the slightest effect of the cold. Maybe the dwarves have some 'magical' ability to withstand lethal cold, but Kevin doesn't even react to being plunged into freezing cold water. He'd be screaming in pain, but he doesn't even show the slightest sign of discomfort.

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Darkman picture

Other mistake: At the carnival, you can see an African-American man staring at the camera for a while. I am unsure if he is a crew-member watching over the scene, or if he is just an extra trying to get onscreen.

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Suggested correction: He isn't staring at the camera. He's glancing over at Peyton and Julie as they are joyously dancing upon exiting the ferris wheel.

Phaneron

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The Day After Tomorrow picture

Other mistake: At the end of the film when they arrive in NYC looking for the library, we know that they survived because they are inside with a roaring fire burning. But where is the smoke up above, as Jack Hall approaches? There must be a chimney, or else they would have all died of asphyxiation.

kiazersoza

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Suggested correction: As already corrected, just because we can't see an outlet for the smoke doesn't mean there isn't one. White smoke against white snow is very hard to see.

Nik Rolls

But they were still burning the books, which meant the smoke should be black, if they stop burning the books, the smoke would have been white, which isn't the case in the movie.

Just looked at a boatload of videos of burning books, including one in a fireplace, and the smoke was indeed white.

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2012 picture

Plot hole: During the later parts of this movie there is much talk about 'continental displacement' and this appears to be happening in the film. The Earth's crust is falling apart because of the heating of the inner core, and all the cities seems to be falling apart since the ground can no longer hold them. When our cast finds themselves surprised to be already over China when they figured to be over the ocean, it is explained that Asia has actually moved from where it was. If this phenomenon is taking place globally, how come the monks in China don't seem to have been disturbed at all? In fact the bell the monk rings as the ocean approaches hasn't even been shaken. The arks are built in between the mountains, but the mountains are apparently fine. Shouldn't they be falling like the rest of the crust?

polaris

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Men in Black II picture Men in Black II mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When MIB agents exit the lift to get into the main hall of the MIB Office, the lift opens halfway up the wall and they need to go down a little platform. But when K and J return during the lockdown and face the trashcan with guns, the lift opens at floor level, so it can be conveniently peppered with bullets. (01:02:05)

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Suggested correction: The building is in lockdown so it is no surprise that the lift is changed to a less flamboyant version. Even in the first scene, there are some doors there.

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Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones picture

Revealing mistake: When Amidala and Anakin are eating and he cuts her a piece of the fruit and "floats" it back to her, the bite appears in the fruit a split second before she actually eats it. [This appears to be fixed in rereleased versions]. (00:53:40)

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Cube picture

Deliberate mistake: Leaven spends too much time thinking about if 645 and 372 are prime numbers to be believable. But she knows the factors of 649 and the result of 26 to the power of 3 almost immediately. Plus anyone with any maths knowledge whatsoever would know that any even number (or one divisible by 5) can't be prime, so 645 and 372 could be dismissed without even thinking about it.

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The Matrix Reloaded picture The Matrix Reloaded mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Neo is talking to Agent Smith in the park area where Neo was talking to the Oracle, there is a close-up on Agent Smith's face. In his sunglasses you can see a bright white screen to reflect the light onto the faces of the actors. This isn't visible in any non-reflected angles. You can also see the cameraman on the other side. (00:51:15)

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