Best adventure TV factual errors of all time

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Black Sails picture

I. - S1-E1

Factual error: The men rowing the longboat into the wharf at Nassau are completely hopeless oarsmen. Needless to say, 18th century sailors would have been expert oarsmen. Untrained 21st century actors are not.

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The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! picture

Robo Koopa - S1-E52

Factual error: Koopa tries to kill the Mario brothers, Bunsun and Dr. Nerdnik by pushing an electric pole at them. Mario and Luigi use a nearby fire hydrant to protect them by having water rush out of it and keeping the pole from crushing them. There is no way a single blast of water can stop a large pole from falling, and the brothers would have been electrocuted as soon as the water hit the pole. (00:07:00)

Yoshi

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Samurai Jack picture

Show generally

Factual error: Even though the show is called "Samurai Jack", Jack isn't really a samurai. The correct title for him would be a Ronin as a Ronin loses their master if their master dies or loses favor with their master and also has no home anywhere. Jack has these attributes. He has no master and no home.

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Suggested correction: Nor is his name really Jack. "Jack", and thus "Samurai Jack", is just an alias that the prince takes. It's not meant to be his title or rank. Just like Cowboy Jack wasn't actually a cowboy.

Bishop73

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Maverick picture

Stage West - S1-E6

Factual error: In the background, in the scene when Simmons is talking to the stage driver, you can see cars driving by on a road in the background. (00:12:06)

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Lexx picture

I Worship His Shadow - S1-E1

Factual error: When His Divine Shadow lays on the table to have his brain removed, the machine cuts his skull open and simply reaches in with a three pronged hand and tugs on the brain pulling it out. It would not have worked this way... The brain is about the same consistency as gravy and the prongs on the hand/claw putting pressure on it to pull would have caused them to sink into the brain's tissue destroying it. Also it pulls the brain out without cutting or separating it from the spinal column and merely just pulls it out from the top. This would have caused his brain to be torn into pieces as it was tried to be pulled off the spinal column, not come out perfectly in one piece as shown. (01:09:00)

Quantom X

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Whiskey Cavalier picture

The Czech List - S1-E2

Factual error: Will is asked by Jai to place his wrist watch - which is filled with explosives - against a wall. He does, and it somehow sticks to the vertical concrete wall. An adhesive back would have been noticed by Will, as it was against his skin on his wrist. Not to mention that an explosion in a contained space that small would have deafened them both, or worse. (00:35:05)

toroscan

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The Terror picture

Show generally

Factual error: Sir John Franklin, Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames all wear a crown over an anchor on their epaulettes, the rank badge for a captain with over three years in rank. This is correct for Franklin and Crozier, but Fitzjames only held the rank of commander, and should therefore only be wearing an anchor on his epaulettes.

Necrothesp

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Magnum, P.I. picture

Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii - S1-E1

Factual error: Magnum manages to lure the dogs outside making them wail in pain as he plays a sound that greatly bothers them. As great and sensitive as dog hearing is, Magnum put in the sand past the perimeter wall of the mansion a little Sony Micro cassette recorder M-202 and played the sound off its in-built speaker. That would hardly produce, especially at that distance, an output worth the kind of reaction displayed here.

Sammo

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Los simuladores picture

El joven simulador - S1-E5

Factual error: During the maths exam, Dr. Mariani instructs Lamponne to write two division signs together and then to write 1 divided by 0, two things that are impossible in secondary school maths. (00:41:02)

Big Game

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The Last of Us picture

Look for the Light - S1-E9

Factual error: In the giraffe scene, the Salt Lake LDS Temple can be seen in the background. However, this view of the temple is as it looks today. The building has been undergoing earthquake and stability renovations for a few years (as of 2024), and is completely shrouded in scaffolding. That is the view shown here, and not what the temple would have looked like when "abandoned" in 2003. Also, many of the tall downtown buildings shown in these shots did not exist in 2003.

msgelter

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Once Upon a Time picture

Dreamy - S1-E14

Factual error: In "What Happened to Frederick", Kathryn learns about David's affair and confronts Mary Margaret at school (after taking her anger out on Regina), where students and teachers are milling about. Later, she apologizes to Regina for "what happened yesterday", whereas Emma, earlier that day, seeks out Henry at school. Kathryn leaves Storybrooke the same day, and mysteriously disappears. According to Kathryn's phone records in this episode, she disappeared on a Sunday. However, the day she left, and the day before, was a school day. In the U.S., school classes are not in session during weekends. (00:38:25)

Kylantha

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Samurai Champloo picture

Stranger Searching - S1-E6

Factual error: When the large Dutch guy tells his story about his life in Holland, there are a several windmills. However, the blades are placed on the wrong side, that way it's not possible for a windmill to turn clockwise, which it does. If the blades were placed correctly, they would still turn to the wrong side, because wooden windmills in The Netherlands are always turning counter-clockwise.

Serber

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Mission: Impossible picture

The Legacy - S1-E15

Factual error: For supposedly being Hitler's heirs, the three conspirators are pretty lousy Nazis. None of them notices that on their copy of their idol's book, Mein Kampf, Der Fuhrer's name is prominently misspelled "Adolph" instead of "Adolf." (00:13:00)

Jean G

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Iron Man picture

Cell of Iron - S2-E3

Factual error: When Mandarin is in the Himalayas looking for one of his missing rings in a bird's nest, he ends up getting attacked by a bald eagle. There are no bald eagles in the Himalayas or anywhere in Asia for that matter. They are only found in North America.

Phaneron

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Journey to the Center of the Earth picture

Show generally

Factual error: The group finds an underground sea and there is a flock of pterosaurs flying overhead. The professor identifies the pterosaurs as the missing link between pterodactyls and archaeopteryx. This is not true as archaeopteryx (and other birds) did not descend from pterosaurs but from a branch of theropod dinosaurs.

Noman

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Twisted Metal picture

NTHLAW1 - S1-E3

Factual error: In the beginning when the girl's cell phone goes crazy, she says that she should have gotten a Razr. Razr didn't come out until 2004, and this scene takes place in 2002. (00:01:09)

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure picture

Dio the Invader - S1-E1

Factual error: Dario Brando dies in 1880 (date on the gravestone) but when he was screaming at his son from his bed, Dio was reading "The Rise of Silas Lapham", which while being appropriate for his character, would be published only 5 years laters (started serialization in 1884).

Sammo

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters picture

Beyond Logic - S1-E10

Factual error: Season 1, Episode 10: Lee is trying to get out of the underworld on his capsule with the rescued others. They all get in, and he closes the top hatch by turning the hatch wheel clockwise. Trying to take off, a wire becomes disconnected outside, and Lee has to go out again. He turns the hatch wheel clockwise, and this time it opens instead of closing. If it was clockwise for close, it should be counterclockwise to open.

toroscan

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