Best adventure movie mistakes of 1984

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom picture Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Willie spits in Indy's face it cuts to Short Round running through the mine, and just as Shorty turns his head toward the camera behind him, we can catch a glimpse of something blue which does not belong in this dark dreary environment, at the right side of the screen. There is a tall spotlight and two crew members, one is wearing a solid blue shirt and a cap, and the other a blue/white striped shirt with white pants. (01:21:25)

Super Grover

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Suggested correction: This takes place in milliseconds and there's no way to see it unless you pause the image or play it in slo-mo. It should be under trivia.

Sacha

Right now I have it playing on Netflix, and there is no slow motion. The striped blue shirt is noticeable as it plays without any slo-mo. If something catches my eye onscreen, it is fair game to go back and rewatch what was noticed in the first place. And in order for me to confirm what I find, I do pause, and may take screenshots. By the way, I've seen this movie countless times over the years, and it was just a matter of catching that glimpse of the color blue because it popped out against the dreary surroundings. I'll leave it up to Jon whether to move it to trivia or not.

Super Grover

Fair enough :).

Sacha

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Dune picture

Other mistake: There is a scene in which Piter DeVries is talking about the Landsraad (one of the governmental organizations in Dune). Twice he mispronounces the name, saying "Lansdraad" instead.

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2010 picture

Factual error: While the Leonov has a centrifugal section to simulate gravity, the ship's bridge is not part of it (evidenced by the stationary views outside its portholes). Yet in various scenes, including the one when Floyd rushes in to discuss his plan to return to Earth sooner with Tanya, gravity seems quite evident. Floyd marches across the compartment onto the raised pilot area's floor, then steps down from it, his foot landing audibly. Tanya's open jacket also hangs down normally as she moves about. Yet when Floyd demonstrates his plan using two pens, they float in mid air. (01:26:50)

johnrosa

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Romancing the Stone picture

Revealing mistake: When Michael Douglas attempts to swing on a vine over a deep abyss, the rock that he runs into on the other side moves like a marshmallow, indicating that it's a fake rock. (00:39:10)

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The Neverending Story picture

Audio problem: When Nighthob and Teeny are talking to the Rockbiter near the beginning of the film, Teeny says to Nighthob "This could be serious", then turns to Rockbiter and calls out his name. Watch Teeny's mouth as he calls out "Rockbiter". You will see a very blatant editing mistake as Teeny is not actually saying 'Rockbiter", but is saying the next line that follows. (00:16:40)

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Conan the Destroyer picture

Factual error: In the very beginning sequence, as the riders are galloping triumphantly across the mighty windswept plains of yore to capture Conan, you can see power lines in the background in one brief shot at the very left of the screen.

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The Ewok Adventure picture

Revealing mistake: There are two Ewoks Wicket's parent is in search of. One of the those Ewoks is climbing down a mountain and the other has finished climbing down. As this happens, look at the Ewok not climbing. As he bends down, half way down his left leg, there is some sort of fold there. This is mainly due to the fact that the Ewok actors wore costumes whilst filming. The fold is coming from the Ewok costume. (00:07:50)

Casual Person

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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock picture

Factual error: According to "The Doomsday Machine", full impulse drive is one-quarter the speed of light. In the first two movies, Enterprise used thrusters as opposed to impulse drive to leave Spacedock, confirming the notion that impulse drive is far too fast to leave such a (comparatively) small structure. Styles, however, orders Excelsior to one-quarter impulse, which is 18,750 km/s. In one second, she will travel half again Earth's diameter. From the time he gives the order to the time we see Excelsior clear spacedock's doors is approximately 40 seconds. Even allowing 30 seconds to go from rest to one quarter impulse, spacedock must be 13-15 times bigger than Earth! That's some serious engineering. (00:23:45)

Grumpy Scot

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Suggested correction: I reckon the writers always refer to levels of "impulse power" precisely so they don't have to worry too much about particular speeds (personally I always thought of it as roughly analogous to gears on a vehicle, but your mileage may vary). They use impulse to leave dock in both Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (it's implied to be unusual in both cases, for what it's worth). If all of that contradicts an earlier episode, I think we're looking at more of a retcon situation than a mistake.

TonyPH

Suggested correction: The warp scale has been adjusted several times, so it is impossible to say precisely how fast this fictional technology is, and by extension, how fast impulse is.

Impulse drive speed on starships have been consistent. Although sometimes quarter impulse on a shuttle refers to quarter power and not speed. Even if the speed of quarter impulse is 10 times slower than suggested (and used in the series), spacedock would still be 1.3-1.5 times bigger than Earth, which it wasn't. "It's fictional technology" is usually only a valid correction if the technology isn't explained in-universe. However, when certain parameters regarding fictional technology are established (even if they set wide parameters such as warp speed velocities) violations or contradictions (through bad script writing or whatnot) are valid mistakes.

Bishop73

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Sword of the Valiant picture

Revealing mistake: When the guy on the horse pulls out his sword, he has trouble getting it out of the sheath at first and it bends severely. It is clear that it is not a real sword.

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Supergirl picture

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie, Selena drives her car to the right side of the house. When the shot changes, the car is several feet further back and is now heading across the front of the entrance.

Sacha

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The Last Starfighter picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the Starcar lands for the second time, there is a shot where the car comes to a stop in front of the camera. In this shot, the wooden rafters of the sound stage can be seen. (Noted in the director's commentary).

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The Philadelphia Experiment picture

Continuity mistake: After crashing through the guarded barrier of the base, David drives the stolen pickup truck and burning debris from the electrical storm falls onto the hood of the truck. In the next close-up the burning debris is shaped differently. Then after they crash through the wall, in the wide shot there is no burning debris on the hood. Yet, in the next close-up there's plenty of burning debris, but then in the next shot there is no burning debris again, just a smoking engine. The building debris surrounding the truck and behind it, in the first shot differs from all the building debris in the second shot as well. (01:21:50)

Super Grover

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Seksmisja picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the dinner scene in "Her" Excellency garden, right after Lamia breaks the egg in her hands, there's a cameraman's reflection on the metal jug held by Max.

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Against All Odds picture

Continuity mistake: When Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward are on the beach in the grass hut on the video version you clearly see the overhead boom mike swinging back and forth to face the character who is speaking at the moment. This continues through the whole scene.

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Starman picture

Factual error: When Jenny Hayden and Starman accidentally overshoot their destination and arrive in Las Vegas, Jenny discovers that her wallet is missing. She has no cash, no credit cards, and no identification whatsoever. The only money she has is a single quarter. Starman uses the quarter to hit the jackpot on a 25-cent slot machine, then uses the prize money to play the Horseshoe $500,000 slot machine, which he also wins. They then use the giant jackpot money to purchase a brand new Cadillac and drive it off the lot. Huge problem: In 1984 (and today), you could never collect a giant Las Vegas jackpot without several pieces of personal identification, for tax purposes. Likewise, you could never purchase and drive a brand new Cadillac off the lot without multiple pieces of identification and a financial disclosure statement (if paying cash).

Charles Austin Miller

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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension picture

Continuity mistake: At the beginning, Buckaroo tests his oscillation overthruster. Sitting in his test vehicle he's wearing a wrap-around mirrored visor that reflects a full panorama of the desert area in front of him. There is a thick black divider running down the center of the windshield that is missing from the reflection. Also, since it is a panorama seen on the visor, the edges of the front windshield should be reflected on the sides.

BocaDavie

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Sheena picture

Factual error: The tigers used here are Indian Bengal tigers and this is set in Africa. Plus zebras can't be ridden as Sheena's able to do.

Rob245

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Suggested correction: The only striped animals in the movie are zebras, not tigers. A tiger did appear on some of the DVD covers, which is an error on the covers. For a fantasy movie, riding a zebra falls under artistic license. In any case, the zebra Sheena was riding was a small horse with makeup to make it appear to be a zebra.

Noman

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The Lost Empire picture

Character mistake: The ref says there's no rules before McClure fights Whiplash but she tries stopping them later.

Rob245

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Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes picture

Continuity mistake: When the first flying arrow stabs D'Arnot's butt, it lands diagonally. When the angle changes it's horizontal.

Sacha

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