Factual error: The astronauts land on an asteroid said to orbit a binary star 655 million miles from Earth. This is impossible, as that distance would place them well within our solar system. In fact, they'd be inside the orbit of Saturn, where of course there aren't (nor could there be) any extraneous suns. The nearest star to our system is, in fact, trillions (not millions) of miles away. (00:02:15 - 00:04:00)
Factual error: Samuel Clemens, who has written several humorous tales for the Territorial Enterprise, tells the publisher he would like to start writing serious news stories. The publisher replies, "This is a newspaper, not a comic strip. You write it and I'll print it." The first comic strip, "The Little Bears," debuted in 1893 and the term "comic strip" did not enter the vocabulary until 1920. "Bonanza" is set in the 1860s.
Factual error: The show is set in the 1860s. However, in several episodes, trail boss Gil Favor can be seen wearing Wrangler jeans. The Wrangler brand was not introduced until 1947.
Factual error: The series takes place during the 1930s prohibition era. The $50 bill projected on screen is series 1953A with signatures of Ivy Baker Priest and Robert Anderson.
Factual error: When McCauley and Rennish find the body of a previous moon explorer, they play back a message he left on a portable tape recorder. But they shouldn't be able to hear this: there's no atmosphere on the moon to carry the sound waves. Even if there were, their pressurized, self-contained spacesuits would still prevent them from hearing the tape. (00:19:30)