7th Jun 2024
Sometimes You Hear the Bullet - S1-E17
Factual error: We see Pvt. Wendel trying to hot-wire a jeep to escape. He wouldn't have to hot-wire it, because vehicles assigned to a combat zone were equipped with an ignition switch, not an ignition lock, for the simple reason that keys get lost or mislaid all the time and in an emergency, having to track down keys for vehicles would be extremely detrimental to an unit's combat effectiveness.
28th Jan 2023
23rd Mar 2022
Character mistake: As Hawkeye goes to help Maj. Burns right at the end of the episode, he touches the patient with his bloody, contaminated gloves he used to work on the last patient. Such a blatant error would be anathema to any surgeon from the civilized world of the 20th century, let alone one of Hawkeye's caliber.
20th May 2020
Baby, It's Cold Outside - S7-E9
Factual error: As Hawkeye performs CPR on the hypothermic soldier, he pumps his arms from his ellbows. CPR is done by keeping the arms stiff and pumping with the whole upper body. Hawkeye as a surgeon would know that. Fun Fact: You can perform CPR one-handed in a pinch, but only as long as you keep your arms stiff.
Suggested correction: True, but doing CPR the real way is going to likely seriously injure the actor it is being performed upon.
Explaining why mistakes occur does not invalidate them.
Chest compressions can definitely be performed by pumping from the elbow, one or two handed. The first documented use was in 1891, so Hawkeye would be aware of it. However, modern CPR standards, including straight arm procedures, were not developed until at least 1960 by the American Heart Association. Using straight arms and bending at the hips uses the larger muscle groups of the core and legs, which provides more control, as well as stamina. This is not an error for the Korean War era.
Additionally, what Lorg said - you don't want to hurt the actor, you can see his shoulders rise as his arms straighten, giving the illusion of compressions. There is another episode where Hawkeye is performing chest compressions similarly, and yells at the unconscious patient that his arms are getting tired, which is what would happen with bent elbow compressions, and one of the reasons modern technique uses straight arms.
10th Apr 2020
Audio problem: After Potter convinces Saunders he still wants to live, the hiss from the anesthesia machine fades out even while Potter and Saunders are still standing next to it. Neither Potter nor Saunders turned off the valve again.
5th Apr 2020
Revealing mistake: Klinger makes a big show of removing a big nut from the Jeep's leaf spring. The nut is clean and shiny whereas the rest of the undercarriage is painted and dirty. If you look closely, there are no screw threads where he takes it off either, there's another hex under it. The simple reason for this is that that nut doesn't belong there and never was affixed, Jamie Farr just pretended it was.
20th Mar 2020
Plot hole: This episode revolves around the doctors trying to "transfer" a north Korean surgeon to the outfit. To this end, they get him papers, uniform, dog tags, etc. In the end, the plot is toppled and The Korean Surgeon taken to a POW camp by the MP. In reality, it would not have ended quite so pleasantly. A combatant wearing the uniform of an enemy is usually automatically considered a spy, and Hawkeye, BJ and Radar would also have been considered guilty of espionage or at least complicity therein.
19th Mar 2020
The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan - S5-E6
Other mistake: As Frank cocks his gun in the Swamp, the slide locks open and he has to hit the slide release to get it to move forward. Next he fiddles with the hammer. Next we hear the shot go off. Burns' excuse later is that he was cleaning The Gun and it went off (although admittedly, Frank doesn't always stick to the truth that religiously in situations like that). The slide on a semi-automatic locks open only if the magazine is empty or missing. The Gun locking open is also a clear, unmistakable indication that the breech is empty. He would have to insert a filled mag, then pull the slide back again to chamber a round before The Gun even had the chance to go off. One never does that while cleaning a gun. One does what Frank did to begin with: Pull the slide back without a magazine inserted to make sure the breech is empty.
Suggested correction: Frank has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he does not follow the rules of safe gun handling, so ascribing his failure to do so is not a mistake.
You are missing the point. His gun is demonstrably unloaded when we last see it. He would either have to change his mind about cleaning it and load it instead, or load it first and then try to clean it (which makes even less sense), neither of which is not supported by anything in the dialogue.
16th Nov 2018
16th Feb 2017
Audio problem: As Trapper opens the door to the swamp and the football flies in, a splash is heard as if it hit a tub of water, followed by the sound of a high, fluted vessel filling with water. Neither of those sounds make sense in this case. (00:07:00)
16th Feb 2017
Revealing mistake: As Hawkeye calls for quiet in the officers' club, Henry pulls the tonearm off the record player, it comes away trailing a long wire behind it. Why would it even have a long wire to trail? After all, wire costs money too. It's not like the tonearm is designed to come off and be used remotely. My guess is: they lengthened it, so the shot could be taken several times without repairing the record player every time. Now, WHY they would do it that way and not simply use a dud record player is beyond me. (00:20:55)
31st Jan 2017
Factual error: Radar claims in his report that Father Mulchahy tried to calm the prisoner by saying "bang zhao", thinking it means "peace and friendship" when it really means "your daughter's pregnancy brings much joy to our village." There is, unsurprisingly, not even a remotely similar word in Chinese that means either of those things.
3rd Jan 2017
Stupidity: Radar takes his glasses off, takes a sip of coffee, then props his clipboard onto the typewriter and accidentally starts typing on the desk calculator. Even if he didn't know his desk well enough to wonder what he laid his clipboard upon AND was so blind he couldn't even orient himself by the desk lamp (which he isn't), he would have felt the difference the instant he touched the keys. Note that he puts his hands on the keys, squints at the clipboard (sic!), then starts typing, he doesn't hammer away right off, which would have added at least a little plausibility to the joke.
8th Mar 2016
April Fools - S8-E25
Other mistake: When Charles, BJ and Hawkeye steal Margret's tent, what's left is a frame of wood, including roof beams. From other episodes we know that the tents are held up by a wooden frame around the edges and a center pole. We even know for a fact that Margret's tent is built that way, because in an earlier episode Hawkeye and Trapper saw through the center pole of Margret's tent. We also know that the construction principle of the tents hasn't fundamentally changed since then, because when Hawkeye finds the oatmeal in his boot earlier in the same episode, you can see the center pole of the Swamp.
7th Mar 2016
7th Mar 2016
Revealing mistake: When the ambulance arrives in the compound at Christmas eve, it drives through the newly fallen snow, but it doesn't leave any tracks. Vehicles driving over a very thin snow cover always leave dark tracks, because the pressure instantly melts the snow just below the wheels. Even a person walking through the snow would leave dark footprints under these conditions.
4th Mar 2016
Continuity mistake: Charles arranges a prank that involves a cake. The cake looks totally different in the respective shots. At least three cakes were involved: The one Klinger gives to Margret looks different from the one she holds in her hands when walking over to Capt. Hill. The one she holds in her hand in the closeup counter shots is yet another pie.
25th Feb 2015
Dear Peggy - S4-E10
Character mistake: When he sees the 'P' for Protestant on Davis' chart, Col. Hollister states "A lot of your Davises are 'J's, you know" implying that Davis is a Jewish name. In fact, the ID tag code for Jewish faith was 'H' for Hebrew. (00:18:45)
13th Mar 2014
10th Mar 2014
Dear Peggy - S4-E10
Audio problem: As Hawkeye calls for X-rays, you can see Klinger hollering a reply through the door, but nothing is heard. (00:21:30)
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: The 1st movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 Op. 13.
Bishop73