Best sci-fi TV factual errors of all time

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Suggested correction: From a different perspective it's not a factual error. Because Jane shot multiple bullets. It means the gun still can be shot after the space suit case got pierced from the first bullet. So it's a possibility that the characters thought wrong (even though it's a bit silly for space travellers to not know this fact but doesn't mean it won't happen).

Terry Tim

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Superman: The Animated Series picture

Double Dose - S2-E10

Factual error: Season 2 episode 10 "Double Dose": When Superman snatches Parasite's escape boat and hauls it back to Stryker's, Parasite attempts to blast him with a shotgun found aboard. But somehow the animators appeared unable to decide whether the gun should be a double-barrel or a pump-action type; and building a double-barrel pump gun would be impractical due to additional weight and bulk.

Daniel4646

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Westworld picture

Trace Decay - S1-E8

Factual error: When the armed party comes into town to steal the safe in the bar, the leader points a repeating rifle at a victim on the ground and shoots. When he fires a used cartridge flies from the gun. Repeating rifles do not eject cartridges when they are fired. Automatic weapons eject a spent cartridge when fired. Repeating rifles only eject the cartridge when the lever is wrenched. (00:32:20)

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V (2009)

V picture

A Bright New Day - S1-E3

Factual error: Early in the episode, it is mentioned that Mrs. Faulkner's husband flew an F-16 fighter. Later, during Mrs. Faulkner's speech after her meeting with Anna, a picture of her husband is shown. He is wearing a Navy Dress Blue uniform. The Navy does not fly F-16s. In the US military, they are used exclusively by the Air Force.

Guy

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Primeval picture

Series 5, Episode 2 - S5-E2

Factual error: Many of the Royal Navy details are completely wrong. The submarine captain's cap badge is not that of the Royal Navy. "Midshipman" Leonard wears the insignia of a chief petty officer. "Officer" (not a naval rank) Neal wears the insignia of a petty officer. "Officer" Shaw wears the insignia of an able rating. The Flag Office Submarines is depicted as a full admiral, whereas in fact he was a rear-admiral and the position no longer exists.

Necrothesp

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The Invisible Man picture

Bad Chi - S2-E9

Factual error: Darien sets up a tripod and videotapes himself leaving a message for the Agency. When the tape is played back later, the camera can be seen to have both zoomed in and panned to follow his movements, even though no one was there to make those adjustments. (00:30:30)

Jean G

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Daredevil picture

Into the Ring - S1-E1

Factual error: At an eating area, a collector shows a man a computer screen with his daughter in real time and has her call him. She then speaks in the phone and you can see her lips and actions lining up perfectly with the words he is hearing. It would not be this perfectly in sink even in the most optimal of conditions. There is a slight delay between the video from the camera and sending that to the computer being shown. And then there is also a slight delay of the phone single traveling through one phone to the other. These would not line up right and so the father would not see the lips moving exactly with what he hears his daughter saying over the phone.

Quantom X

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Alphas picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: The show is supposed to be taking place in NYC, however its clear by the shooting locations that its shot in Toronto. This can also be seen very by the various signs throughout the city that are not found in the US and are very Canadian in nature, such as the Do Not Enter and One Way.

jerimiah

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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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Wolverine and the X-Men picture

Overflow - S1-E4

Factual error: When the X-Men are surfacing after crashing their jet into the dam, Shadowcat is shown phasing through the jet and pulling Wolverine and Beast through with her. Since Wolverine's bones are coated with a heavy metal, he wouldn't be able to float to the surface. He would sink instead. (00:14:57)

Phaneron

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Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons picture

Manhunt - S1-E4

Factual error: When we see the SPV escaping from the Culver Atomic Centre, it is night time. However, when we see Number 3 Tracking Vehicle, it has changed back to daytime.

Jcamts

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Taken picture

Show generally

Factual error: In the opening sequences of the show, B-17s are over the Ruhr in August 1944, and yet they're being attacked by nothing but yellow-nosed BF-109E's. The yellow nose was discontinued at about the end of the Battle of Britain, and the "E" model was discontinued even before that.

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The Invaders picture

The Leeches - S1-E4

Factual error: When David Vincent lands at the airport, a sign there says, "Welcome to San Diego." When Vincent exits the airport, it says, "Maricopa Airport." There is a Maricopa in California, but the episode takes place in Arizona, as indicated by the license plates on the cars and mentioning the city of Tucson close to the town the episode takes place in.

Scott215

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Dirk Gently picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: When Susan is sorting Ruth's things, she finds Gordon's iPhone wrapped in a newspaper from 1994 with her voice-mail to him and realizes he went back in time, where Ruth killed him and took the phone from his corpse. Even if the phone had been turned off, after 16 years idle, the battery would have died long ago, but we see the phone is on with her message waiting. (00:55:50 - 00:56:45)

Captain Defenestrator

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Next picture

FILE #1 - S1-E1

Factual error: Paul tells Shea that he has a condition called Sporadic Fatal Insomnia. Later, Shea finds a fork in a bag labelled Abby. Paul explains that Abby is his daughter, and he wants to test her DNA, because she has a 50-50 chance of contracting the disease. This is false. Sporadic Fatal Insomnia is not hereditary. Fatal Familial Insomnia is genetic and is the inherited form.

toroscan

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The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance picture

The Crystal Calls - S1-E9

Factual error: At the end when Skeksis enters the crystal chamber, in the overhead shot you can see 22 arcane symbols around the crystal when there should only be 18, one for each exiled skeksis. (00:45:53)

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Intelligence picture

Delta Force - S1-E8

Factual error: Chip-augmented federal agent Gabriel Vaughn is chasing a former Delta Force comrade, now suspected of being a hired assassin in Bolivia. He catches up to the man, telling him to freeze because he's standing in a minefield. Vaughn says the field was planted by "Pinochet," which is wrong, since the episode takes place in Bolivia, and General Augusto Pinochet was the military dictator of Chile. Earlier in the episode, Vaughn is asked what happened between him and his former close friend, and he refers to an incident in Fallujah. But flashbacks of the incident show the two men in Afghanistan in 2006. Fallujah is in Iraq. (00:37:00)

Nightguy

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