Best sci-fi TV factual errors of all time

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Blake's 7 picture

Dawn of the Gods - S3-E4

Factual error: Tarrant fails Astronomy 101 here, just as Travis did in the first season. He tells the clerk, "I'm surprised you've heard of it (the FSA), if you're from another galaxy." The Tharn and his minions were not extragalactic; they were from other planets in our galaxy. (00:35:10)

Jean G

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Thunderbirds picture

The Mighty Atom - S1-E14

Factual error: An edition of the 'Melbourne Herald' newspaper can be seen in this episode, and appears to be dated Friday, December 24, 1964. Yet 'Thunderbirds' is supposed to be set in the 21st Century (2026 or 2065, depending on who you believe). This date is also seen on newspapers which appear in the episodes 'Edge of Impact', 'The Impostors' and 'Cry Wolf'. Also, to compound the error, December 24th, 1964 was actually a Thursday, not a Friday.

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Torchwood picture

Captain Jack Harkness - S1-E12

Factual error: When Gwen finds Toshiko's hidden message from 1941, she realizes that it was written in blood, and her flashlight reveals the bright red letters on the now-yellowed piece of paper. But after 60+ years, the iron in the blood would oxidize. The writing on the note should be rust-brown, not red. (00:33:40)

Jean G

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Journeyman picture

Friendly Skies - S1-E2

Factual error: When Dan goes into the machine for his MRI a light switches on just as his head enters the machine. MRIs have soft muted lights already in the machine (so technician can see the patient via cameras) they want you to rest and be calm to avoid claustrophobia, there are no bright lights. I have had 5 different MRIs in 4 different machines in 2 different states, all were the same. (00:02:00)

OneHappyHusky

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Battletech picture

Trade Secrets - S1-E5

Factual error: The Strikers steal several suits of Elemental armor in a few minutes and use it to escape after they are discovered. It takes 15 minutes to put on battle armor unaided and that's for an Elemental trained in its use. The armor is custom fit for a 6 and a half to 7 foot Elemental but 5 foot Val wears one. Elemental armor is also protected by voice recognition and code phrase software. Needless to say there's no way they could just walk out with 3 suits.

Grumpy Scot

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Star Trek: Enterprise picture

Carbon Creek - S2-E2

Factual error: Part of this episode takes place in the 50s, during a previously-unknown incident of Vulcans crash landing on earth. Modern twenty and fifty dollar bills are visible in the tip jar.

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Wonder Woman picture

The Return of Wonder Woman - S2-E1

Factual error: When Steve gets attacked by the bad guys and Wonder Woman shows up, the lady in the car pulls out a camera and films the event. She sits still, the car isn't moving, and she does all the filming from the same position. However when she watches the playback, the film shows footage from multiple angles and varying distances, which is impossible because she and the camera were in the same spot the whole time.

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The Prisoner picture

Many Happy Returns - S1-E7

Factual error: Number 6 wakes up to find the Village deserted, but the central plaza fountain is still running - until he looks at it from the bell tower, when it's suddenly off. The Village fountains never appeared to be on timers (they were always on, day and night), and no one is there to turn the water off, yet it's somehow still off when Number 6 returns at the end.

Jean G

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Star Trek: Discovery picture

Context is for Kings - S1-E3

Factual error: Science Officer Tilly calls the planet Trill a "very big" planet. It has an area of 500 million square kilometers. But that is not so large a planet. The Earth has an area of 510,100,000 square kilometers. So Trill is slightly smaller than Earth. Not really a "very big" planet.

toroscan

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Suggested correction: Not entirely true; although they are rare and may no longer exist now, I've seen traffic lights that followed the red, yellow, green pattern as recently as the mid-1990s.

zendaddy621

Interesting. What state (s) did you see this in? I'm assuming going from red to yellow was to encourage cars to cautiously enter the intersection in case someone was running a red light?

Phaneron

Traffic lights in the UK do this - it's more to give you a second to get ready, in gear, etc., then as soon as the lights turn green you can go. Otherwise you get no warning of when the lights are about to change.

In Illinois; as I said, such traffic lights are rare, but they did exist at least as recently as the time this episode of the series aired, and they may still possibly exist in larger cities such as New York City.

zendaddy621

This traffic light set-up (red to yellow to green) still exists today in the UK. From what I understand, it is to alert the driver that the light will be turning green imminently and to prepare themselves to put their car in gear, as manual cars are still pretty common in Europe. I'd wager this light cycle was phased out of North America due to the abundance of automatic cars today. Could have been different in 1994 though.

critterbonus

It should be noted that traffic lights that go from red to yellow before going green keep the red light illuminated so that both red and yellow are lit up. However, that's not what happens in the scene. I've never seen a traffic light operate the way it's shown. And Massachusetts still has traffic lights that go from red to yellow, however, when red and yellow are lit up together, this allows for pedestrian crossing.

Bishop73

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Agent Carter picture

Now Is Not the End - S1-E1

Factual error: There is a periodic table shown in the background of the lab, showing an accurate periodic table as of now. During 1945, at least 21 elements had not been discovered. (00:17:40)

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Revolution picture

Memorial Day - S2-E21

Factual error: When the presidents are coming together, there are pictures being taken with flash photography, which would not be possible in a world without electricity. (00:34:15)

Mike Walker

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FlashForward picture

137 Sekunden - S1-E3

Factual error: When browsing for information about the crow deaths in the Ganwar Region of Somalia, the computer indicates that the CDC requested additional funding from DHS. The only problem with that is, DHS was formed in 2002, 11 years after the incident in Ganwar. (00:40:05)

klaser

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Suggested correction: Although the Department of Homeland Security - commonly abbreviated as DHS - was not formed until 2002, in the later episode "Revelation Zero" it is indicated that DHS stands for an agency called Demographic and Health Services.

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Grimm picture

Map of the Seven Knights - S5-E10

Factual error: The Czech crime database (which appears to be an official Czech database) is headed 'Czechoslovakia'. Czechoslovakia has not existed since the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated in 1993 and neither country uses the term any more.

Necrothesp

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Sliders picture

Last Days - S1-E4

Factual error: When the missile intersects with the asteroid, and nothing happens right away, Arturo mentions to Bennish that light travels at over 186,000 miles per second, implying that the light from the explosion will take a moment to become visible. The problem is that by the time the missile is about to hit the asteroid, the light from the missile itself will have just as much lag time as the asteroid's explosion. The explosion should therefore have appeared immediately upon seeing the missile hit the asteroid.

Matty Blast

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The Dead Zone picture

Cold Hard Truth - S3-E4

Factual error: When Johnny and Bruce are riding in the truck, listening to the 'shock jock', Bruce turns off the radio by turning the volume control on the left side of the radio. Johnny says he wants to hear it and turns the radio back on by turning the knob on the right, which is the tuning dial.

wizard_of_gore

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