Best sci-fi TV factual errors of all time

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Men Into Space picture

Is There Another Civilization? - S1-E24

Factual error: The huge piece of retrieved space debris breaks loose in the hold and the astronauts struggle to lift and re-secure it. Only they shouldn't have had to. They're in space with no gravity generator, wearing magnetic boots to hold themselves to the deck. The debris would be weightless, too. (00:20:00)

Jean G

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The Hot Zone picture

Arrival - S1-E1

Factual error: Season 1 Episode 1 Arrival - Doctor Jaax is a Lt. Col. in the US Army. Her BDU blouse has a US flag on the right sleeve. The time period of the show is 1988, as there is a doctor wearing a Dukakis T-shirt. The US Army didn't have a US flag on the BDU uniform until 2005. (00:11:20)

Snag.1

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Foundation picture

In Seldon's Shadow - S2-E1

Factual error: Season 2, Episode 1: Cleon is fighting some "ninja" warriors. One of them slices part of an android's head clean off, below the right eye. When the android is next seen - with part of its head cut off - the slice is above the right eye. The right eye is fine.

toroscan

More Foundation factual errors
Adventures of Superman picture

A Ghost for Scotland Yard - S2-E8

Factual error: Bearing in mind the episode takes place in London, Sir Arthur MacCready is driving his Rolls Royce. The car has the steering wheel on the left hand side. A true British Rolls Royce would have the steering wheel on the right side. This is a Hollywood Rolls Royce.

DaddySteve72

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Surface picture

Episode #1.13 - S1-E13

Factual error: When Rich and Laura are searching for drug information from the 1960s, they visit the US Patent Office website; under the heading "SSRIs", is displayed "Selecttive Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors" - with the double-t spelling error. (00:15:25)

David R Turner

More Surface factual errors
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.

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

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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The Changes picture

The Noise - S1-E1

Factual error: When Mr Gore destroys the television set, it is obviously a prop, as when he breaks the screen there is no noise, in reality there would be a loud bang as there is a vacuum behind a TV screen of that era.

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Once Upon a Time... Space picture

Show generally

Factual error: The forces of Cassiopeia all sport the crown-like "W" sign which is the shape of that constellation... but only as seen from earth! These five points in three-dimensional space (like all star signs named after anything) look like that when viewed from our own planet; but from anywhere else, they aren't shaped like that at all. Why would they chose to see themselves through a very specific angle of view from some other distant planet (earth)?

Spiny Norman

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The Man in the High Castle picture

Kindness - S1-E9

Factual error: In the transition shot showing Hobart Building in San Fransisco, items not belonging to the scene are visible and have not been edited out. These items include; modern phone numbers, web addresses for several companies and educational institutions, satellite dishes and American flags. (00:24:10)

More The Man in the High Castle factual errors
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X-Men: Evolution picture

Adrift - S2-E6

Factual error: The map of the western United States shown during the weather report at the start of the episode shows some states drawn incorrectly. Idaho's entire western border is a straight line, whereas in real life, Oregon has a horn-shaped indentation on its northeastern border that it shares with Idaho. Idaho also looks like a crude staircase, with the southwestern border of Montana going down to central Wyoming, whereas that area in real life is around the northwestern part of Wyoming.

Phaneron

More X-Men: Evolution factual errors
The Mandalorian picture

Chapter 10: The Passenger - S2-E2

Factual error: The premise of the episode is that Mando needs to travel at sublight speed or else the fragile eggs will die. They need to travel to a nearby star system, though, not just a planet. Stars can't be too close together, so Mando is in for a trip that would take him literally years, which is not reflected at all by what is shown in the episode. (00:08:00)

Sammo

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Doom Patrol picture

Puppet Patrol - S1-E3

Factual error: When Jane is putting up the lost poster, the number to call is 1-800-saw-him. However, this is only a 6-digit phone number when it needs to be 7-digits (not including the 1-800 part).

Bishop73

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Lovecraft Country picture

Show generally

Factual error: In Massachusetts, Atticus, Leti and George are attacked by the local sheriff and his deputies, who are patrolling the county roads. In Massachusetts, sheriffs run the county jails, but they do not (and did not) handle routine policing, which is the responsibility only of municipal police departments.

Necrothesp

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Terra Nova picture

Vs. - S1-E9

Factual error: The frequency which is used to attract the dragon fly is said to be "sub-sonic" and therefore can't be heard by humans, but the exact frequency is stated to be 38.2 Hz. This is well above 20 Hz, the lowest frequency an average human can hear.

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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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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

More Monarch: Legacy of Monsters factual errors
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