ctown28

5th Mar 2024

Rocky II (1979)

Factual error: Rocky buys and drives a Trans Am. Later, we find out that he can't read after his commercial goes horribly wrong. He couldn't have a driver's license because he would need to pass the written test first. You can't take the test if you can't read the questions or the driver's manual for that matter.

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Suggested correction: It's not that he can't read at all, he just reads slow and has some trouble. It may or may not be enough to hamper him from taking the test. But is it ever established that he has a driver's license? He wouldn't be the first person in Philadelphia to drive without a license.

When you can't tell the difference between simple words like rat and cat, there's a pretty good chance you can't pass a written driver's test, which is why I said he "couldn't" have a license.

20th Dec 2023

Gilligan's Island (1964)

The Sweepstakes - S2-E5

Corrected entry: When Gilligan is declared the winner of The Sweepstakes, he's suddenly treated in a "rich" manner (such as being allowed in the Howells' private club). Upon finding out the ticket was for the previous year and Gilligan did NOT win after all, he's treated "poor" once again. They are on an island where money technically does not exist, so what difference would it make about The Sweepstakes winnings one way or the other? Even the Howells' money is irrelevant on the island realistically.

Correction: This is not a plot hole. It is a character trait of the Howells. Yes, their money is irrelevant for as long as they're on the island. But for them, it is perceived wealth that they use to determine their treatment of Gilligan.

15th Dec 2023

Splash (1984)

Plot hole: Why would Madison take a bath in steaming hot water? The ocean water is warm or cold depending on the area of the ocean. So, it makes no sense as to why she does this.

Amy Emerick Tice

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Suggested correction: Not sure I would call this a plot hole. It's more of a question. While she is used to the warm or cold water of the ocean, she may prefer to have the hot water once she realises that it's an option for her.

11th Dec 2023

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

Corrected entry: When Ralphie is imagining he's in prison, the guard tells him he has a visitor and says, "Dead Man Walking." That refers to a prisoner being taken to his execution. Ralphie was not going to be executed, only to see his family.

Correction: Not a mistake. This is a product of Ralphie's overactive imagination, which is a character trait of his throughout both movies.

Good point.

4th Mar 2016

Family Guy (1999)

Underage Peter - S14-E14

Plot hole: They're in the Clam complaining that they can't drink when they make the revelation that Brian can because he's technically 56. But Quagmire should be able to drink, as in a much earlier episode, he's revealed to be over 60.

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Suggested correction: Quagmire considers the rest of them to be his best friends. He isn't drinking because they can't drink. He is complaining because since his friends can't drink - he won't drink, so he is still pissed.

It's still a plot hole considering Quagmire's age. I think the writers messed up big time.

You make a good point, but it's awkward to be that one person who is drinking while surrounded by people who can't. So, I understand the correction that was submitted above. Because his friends are not drinking, he now feels that he can't.

It's 100% a mistake. Quagmire simply would buy them alcohol the same way Brian did when they realized he could.

19th Oct 2023

Goodfellas (1990)

Other mistake: Even though this is a fictional event of how Billy Batts was murdered, he was a made man in the Gambino Crime Family. So, it doesn't make sense for him to have a party of him coming home from prison at a rival family's establishment, meaning Henry Hill's club, which was a Lucchese Crime family hangout. He would have had the celebration on his own turf, around his own family.

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Suggested correction: While there is no way to prove how factual it actually is, this is almost exactly the way the real-life Henry Hill told the story in the mafia memoir, Wiseguy. The only differences being that Batts was not killed that night, but a couple of weeks later, and Henry did not own the club, Jimmy did.

Well, that isn't at all the disagreement here. My only concern was, why was a Gambino made man having a party at a rival family's establishment and not on their own turf? That's the blooper here.

Because of the fact that he actually had the "party" at a rival family's establishment, negates it from being a mistake. And when he was killed a couple weeks later, he was killed in that same establishment.

23rd Nov 2018

American Horror Story (2011)

Season 1 generally

Plot hole: It's been established that if you die on the property, you remain as a ghost for all of eternity. However, in Season 8, Moira's bones are retrieved and buried in a cemetery so that her ghost can escape and join her mother. However not all the ghost's bones are buried on the property, we know for sure that the Black Dahlia was not buried on the property and it's not likely Tate, Vivian, Ben or some of the others are buried on the property as well so they should not be tied to the house.

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Suggested correction: Tate's victims from the school shooting are ghosts who can move between different locations. There's nothing to suggest that the ghost of the Black Dahlia isn't merely choosing to be in the Murder House rather than being tied to it. The same goes for Vivien and Ben, since Violet is going to stay in the house, so might they.

Tate's victims cannot move around freely to different locations. The only time that they can is on Halloween, when all ghosts can move around freely but then return to their death location at the stroke of midnight. "OP" is a valid mistake.

7th Jan 2023

Married... with Children (1987)

Im-Po-Dent - S2-E19

Corrected entry: Steve is having dinner in bed. He asks Marcy for the salt. She brings it to him, and he puts a tiny pinch on his potatoes. Takes a small bite then puts his napkin over the food. He didn't even eat any of it! Just took a few bites of potatoes.

Amy Emerick Tice

Correction: Steve deliberately did this to punish Marcy for damaging his car. As seen at the end of the episode, Al had been giving Steve ways to not only fake his impotence but, also ideas on how to torture Marcy. This was most likely one of Al's ideas.

I know he wanted the salt just for a pinch to make Marcy mad. My entry isn't addressing this. Steve had a whole plate of food and didn't eat any of it. Just a bite of potatoes.

Amy Emerick Tice

So where's the mistake? Wasting food isn't a movie mistake, it happens all the time.

21st Jun 2009

Animal House (1978)

Other mistake: When Pinto throws rocks at the mayor's daughter's window, the first two rocks bounce off the window and don't get her attention. The third rock supposedly breaks the window. If you watch closely, you'll see the rock bounce off the window while a glass breaking sound is heard. Likewise, when the mayor's daughter opens the window, it is intact.

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Suggested correction: Watching the movie right now and the window is definitely broken by the stone.

Not only is it broken, when the stone hits the window, you can see the shards of glass fall from it breaking.

17th Jun 2020

The Incredible Hulk (1996)

Darkness and Light: Part 1 - S1-E11

Plot hole: When Hulk and Banner have been physically separated by the nutrient bath, they are both wearing tattered pants. Given that Hulk and Banner were previously occupying the same body, this should not be possible. Hulk was the one that went into the nutrient bath, so if Banner's body was separated from Hulk, then Banner should be naked.

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Suggested correction: It was done deliberately as a form of censorship. They didn't want to show Bruce's genitals.

Explaining why the mistake occurred doesn't invalidate it. Unless you're suggesting the nutrient bath also was able to duplicate the pants.

I am not. I am just explaining the reason behind this error.

Do you have a source for this explanation? If not, I would call it conjecture and while it doesn't invalidate the mistake, it does change it to a deliberate mistake if true.

You realise a character can be drawn naked without actually showing their genitals (and/or breasts in the case of women), right? The Little Mermaid is a good example of this.

27th Oct 2021

Married... with Children (1987)

Peggy Turns 300 - S4-E19

Plot hole: In this episode Al is about to break Puggy Weaver's record. Peg decides to bowl and scores a perfect score of 300. Problem is Peg is a horrible bowler, as seen in season 2 episode 9. She never bowls with Al or even enjoys bowling, so this episode really makes no sense.

Amy Emerick Tice

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Suggested correction: This is not a plot hole, but a plot point. Yes, Peg is a horrible bowler, but it's typical Al Bundy luck that his wife would be able to put together a perfect game no matter how unlikely.

So this one and only episode she scores a perfect game? Highly unlikely. Oh and she's wearing a long evening dress too which would make it difficult to bowl. So this episode makes no sense.

Amy Emerick Tice

It makes perfect sense. In the world of the show, the universe is out to screw Al over. The worst that can possibly happen to him will happen no matter how unlikely.

It is a comedy, so having all those "strikes" against her, she still managed to bowl a perfect game - leaving Al hopeless and hapless.

28th Apr 2021

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Corrected entry: A woman's jar of popcorn is stuck. Toxie takes it, it's a jar of unpopped kernels. When he hands it back, it's suddenly popped corn.

Correction: This is not a mistake, the implication here is that the radiation from the Toxie is what caused the kernels to pop.

15th Jan 2005

Family Guy (1999)

E. Peterbus Unum - S2-E18

Corrected entry: In the scene where Peter and the delegates of the UN are in the meeting room, when everyone laughs at Peter, you can see that some of the country names on the labels are spelled wrong. For example, there is "Danmark", "Maxico", and "Morrocco". Also, it looks like three of the seats are not filled. Why would there not be any UN delegates at the meeting?

Correction: The misspelling is certainly intentional.

Why would it be?

I believe it is to show that the representatives are supposed to be other people that have seceded from their countries and formed their own states. Danmerk would be Dan, Maxico would be Max and I think Morrocco would be Morris (Not sure on this one), much like Peter's is Petoria.

8th Dec 2004

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)

Corrected entry: At the book signing in Berlin, the camera pans from right to left and the guard at the very end of the line of soldiers (to the left) has his left hand raised in military salute to Hitler. All the other soldiers have their right hands extended.

Correction: The person in question could have an injured right arm that he simply can't lift.

Exactly. "If physical disability prevented raising the right arm, it was acceptable to raise the left." Kershaw, Ian (2001). The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192802064.

There's nothing about it in the script though. So between the two options, on the one hand (no pun intended!) that the creators were aware of that fact, and on the other hand, that it was a movie mistake that wasn't noticed, well... There's no possible reason why they'd put that in deliberately. Still, Jon decides, and the rules seem to be that behavioural oddities are not generally considered mistakes.

But not every single bit of background extra behaviour gets detailed in the script. The point is simply that based on what we see there's no way to decree something like this as a "mistake", because it has a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation, and there's no point having an endless chain of bickering about it.

So just to summarise: the "perfectly reasonable explanation" is, then, that some random bystander has an extremely convincing prosthetic arm (which serves no purpose at all for he story); and NOT that one of the many "extras" simply made a mistake.

6th Mar 2021

Cobra Kai (2018)

Take a Right - S2-E6

Corrected entry: In Okinawa, Daniel reunites with Kamiko who in turn reunites Daniel with Yuna (the little girl he saved during the typhoon in KK2) and Daniel recalls her and says her name "Yuna", but in KK2, the little girl never revealed her name to him.

Correction: Just because it doesn't take place on screen, it's reasonable to assume that he learned her name before he left Okinawa in KK2.

Yes, remember, that same little girl taught Daniel how to dance for the festival so one can assume he learned her name.

20th May 2014

Friends (1994)

The One With The Embryos - S4-E12

Character mistake: After the guys have beaten the girls in the quiz, Rachel refuses to move apartments and Monica says: "If we had lost, we would have made them get rid of the birds." But they did lose. That's why the guys have got their apartment. She should have said if we had won.

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Suggested correction: She did say something along the lines of "if they had lost."

This episode was on TBS this afternoon, I watched the scene multiple times, Monica does in fact say "If WE had lost...", this is a valid mistake.

17th Dec 2020

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Corrected entry: There is still fuel inside the Delorean which Doc hid in the mining shaft. They could take it without any problems, because it will be found in 1955 and then Doc and Marty can refuel it without any problems.

Correction: Doc knows well enough that leaving fuel in the Delorean before hiding it in the shaft would mess up the engine and would not even be good in 1955, so he likely would drain the fuel before sealing up the mine.

26th Oct 2020

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Corrected entry: When Mark is at the restaurant he calls Damone and asks him to bring his wallet to the restaurant and Damone reluctantly agrees and hangs up the phone, but never asks Mark where he is.

Correction: Damone helped him plan the date, there's no reason to believe that Mark didn't tell him where they were going beforehand.

21st Jun 2017

Home Alone (1990)

Factual error: Kate flies American Airlines to Scranton, but that airline did not serve Scranton in 1990. Also, a DC-10 is too big to be serviced at Scranton.

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Suggested correction: Air Force One, which is quite a bit larger than a DC-10, has landed at Scranton in the past (https://wnep.com/2013/08/22/air-force-one-lands-in-scranton/). Just because DC-10s don't generally land there doesn't mean they can't.

They are much more likely to make an exception for Air Force One than the are for a single family unless it was for something wrong with the flight or an emergency on the flight, not for a connecting flight to Chicago or a chance at a connecting flight.

The idea is that DC-10s can land there for whatever reason.

The news article is from 2013. 23 years after the film. A lot of things can change in 23 years.

Kate landed at Dallas first, then flew to Scranton. This is revealed in Kate's rant at the ticket agent.

Air Force One would park at GA parking, not at the terminal. The DC-10 that lands would have very likely parked at a gate for only 737s and smaller.

10th Aug 2016

Star Wars (1977)

Stupidity: The Death Star comes equipped with a powerful tractor beam capable of capturing a ship the size and agility of the Millennium Falcon. Why don't they use it against the rebel fighters attacking them at the end of the film? Okay, Obi-Wan Kenobi turned it off earlier but I find it hard to believe that someone who has never before visited the largest, most complex space station in the Universe and who was previously unaware of its very existence can disable a fundamental security system but the people who designed, built and run the whole thing can't work out how to switch it back on. They should have no problems with this, considering the fact that Obi-Wan didn't damage it.

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Suggested correction: Obi Wan disrupted the battle at a critical time causing much confusion. We could chalk this oversight up to "Fog of War" - that in the heat of battle it's normal for commanders to overlook obvious things and seem to act stupidly. It would also be reasonable to assume that the fighters were too close for the tractor beam emitter to target them.

This scenario would require every single person on the Death Star who was involved in the maintenance of vital defence systems not noticing that one of them had been switched off! Not ONE person noticed? Obi Wan did not disable the tractor beam during "the heat of battle." There was a considerable time lapse between his switching off the tractor beam and the climactic final battle, during which time it would have been switched back on. When the Millenium Falcon leavs the Death Star Han Solo remarks that he hopes that "old man" succeeded in disabling the tractor beam, implying that those on the Death Star would be trying to use it. Even then, they didn't notice it had been switched off? Not sabotaged, not disabled, switched off.

Good point. This was definitely stupidity on the part of the Death Star crew, but not stupid as a plot point. It does happen in combat regularly. In 1987 the USS Stark was hit by 2 Iraqi Exocet missiles after challenging a single fighter. The ships' Close-in Weapons System should have easily shot the missiles down, but the investigation showed that no-one had noticed that the system had not been turned on.

They didn't use the tractor beam when the gang was escaping in the Falcon because they WANTED them to get away. The Empire placed a tracking beacon onboard so as to be able to find the hidden Rebel Base. As to how the Falcon was snagged originally: yes, they had just exited hyperspace, but they were not relatively fast; they were preoccupied with the TIE fighter (incapable of light speed) and the small moon right up to the point they were trapped in the tractor beam (and realizing "that's no moon!"

Suggested correction: The Falcon was travelling towards the Death Star when it was caught in the tractor beam. The tractor beam was properly turned back on by the time it travelled to Yavin. The rebel fighters are too small and quick to be held in a tractor beam and there are so many of them so it would be near impossible to trap enough to make a difference.

As I have already pointed out, assigning technical limitations to a wholly fictional piece of technology is absurd. As to "flying towards the Death Star" - the X and Y wing fighters are shown doing just that. As for being too quick, the Millenium Falcon is decelerating from superluminal speeds when it is captured in the tractor beam. That's pretty bloody fast in anyone's books.

The key phrase here is "fictional piece of technology", there is no way to understand how it works. Any explanations is pure conjecture.

It's flat out stated by General Dodonna in the battle briefing that the Death Star's defenses are based around repelling attacks by capital ships, not fighters. The targeting may not be exact enough.

Actually, claiming a fictional piece of equipment can't behave the way you think it should is somewhat silly. The previous explanation that the tractor beam's limitations were the reason for not using it during the battle makes perfect sense.

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