Factual error: Mercenary Sheila "Scope" Sterlin's profile says; "As a former member of the British Special Forces, Sheila Sterlin was stationed in Belfast." Her profile in the sequel (Jagged Alliance 2) begins with this note; "First off, a correction is in order; Sterling's previous bio mistakenly stated that she was a member of the British Special Forces when, in fact, no such service exists. She served with the British Special Air Service (SAS). A.I.M. regrets the error and any inconvenience it may have caused." Enough said.
Sammo
6th May 2020
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
5th May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii - S1-E8
Factual error: Wheels stuck in the jungle terrain, the mobsters get out of the car. It's a jungle in Hawaii, but, lo and behold, the first sound they hear is the call of a kookaburra, which is native of Australia and New Guinea (but also one of Hollywood's favourite stock sounds). (00:25:05)
4th May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: For the ballistic test, Higgins goes on to explain in great length that the shell contains 12 pellets, but when he displays the effect on the second target, it's blatant that there are way more than 12 holes in it - and the way the test is done, it is specified that it is the result of a single shell being fired. Incidentally, there are also more pellets than what Higgins states when he empties the shell initially -14 instead of 12 - but this last detail realistically can be assessed only if you pause. (00:29:20)
4th May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: When Magnum looks at the collection of tapes and books from Erin, the shelves are stocked entirely with tapes marked L-250, L-500, L-750. A huge collection...for Betamax, but Erin's VHR player is a VHS, as shown by the logo in close-ups. And in fact, Magnum to watch her movie puts in close-up a T-120 tape in the machine, which is the proper format. (00:21:15)
3rd May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: The villain holds Magnum at gunpoint with a weapon with a silencer. Which is useless, the gun being a revolver. (00:41:20)
3rd May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: Richard Johnson appears in the end credits as "Brigadier General Alistair Ffolkes, Royal Army", and is consistently referred to that way by Higgins and Hooker. The rank was abolished in 1921, the Royal Army would have him as as a Brigadier or a higher rank.
1st May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii - S1-E1
Factual error: Magnum manages to lure the dogs outside making them wail in pain as he plays a sound that greatly bothers them. As great and sensitive as dog hearing is, Magnum put in the sand past the perimeter wall of the mansion a little Sony Micro cassette recorder M-202 and played the sound off its in-built speaker. That would hardly produce, especially at that distance, an output worth the kind of reaction displayed here.
1st May 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii - S1-E1
Factual error: Magnum phones Rick at his Casablanca-like establishment and tells him; "Two guys tried to run me off the Pali Highway. They deep-sixed about a mile past Lanai Lookout." Lanai Lookout is not on the Pali Hwy, it's 15 miles driving south off the east end of the highway, and Magnum was in the Nu'uanu part. (00:40:35)
30th Apr 2020
The Rockford Files (1974)
Tall Woman in Red Wagon - S1-E6
Factual error: At the end of the episode, Rockford regains consciousness while the doctor tells the nurse; "500 cc of adrenaline, stat." Five hundred cc means half a litre. It would kill a whale. (00:43:45)
30th Apr 2020
The Rockford Files (1974)
Tall Woman in Red Wagon - S1-E6
Factual error: This episode takes place in Elmira, California. Sandra tells Rockford that it is about 150 miles south. Rockford is in Los Angeles (it is later confirmed that so is Sandra, Longview to be precise) and Elmira is in Solano County, about 400 miles north.
29th Apr 2020
The Rockford Files (1974)
The Countess - S1-E4
Factual error: Two cops (the bowtie guy that cuffs Rockford and the one that watches him being taken away from his trailer) report to HQ saying that the protagonist is a suspect for a 157, to which Rockford reacts saying he did not murder anyone (and it is in fact what he is accused of). But homicide is in CA police code 187, not 157. A 157 is an entirely different felony. (00:21:00)
28th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: This episode is set during a party happening on the weekend of Spring equinox, which means end of March. but it's also happening during a devastating hurricane. No hurricane (not tropical storm) has ever occurred in Hawaii in that month or anytime close to that; hurricane season in the Pacific starts at its earliest in May, and used to begin towards July in the 1980s climate.
28th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: It is stated in the episode twice that Rod 'did time' in Camarillo, but Camarillo does not have a penitentiary, just a jail and (had at the time) a State mental hospital, neither compatible with his 18 months sentence for growing weed. (00:25:00)
27th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19
Factual error: When Sam climbs on the plane to give chase to the baddies, the tail number is N64CE. When he takes off though, the control tower announces the clearance for "Sixty-four Charlie Lima." Should have been Charlie Echo. (00:41:35 - 00:42:30)
27th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19
Factual error: No matter how good of a pilot Samuel is, he's chasing a Learjet 24 plane with a WWII design P-51 Mustang (that he does not even know how to start, but of course fictional pilots can just 'wing it' and do amazingly). Assuming that speed is not a factor since the bad guy is not flying at top speed just yet (but still he has a projected arrival time of 6 hours, meaning he'd fly around 700 kmh), they do the chase at high altitude (42,000 feet are mentioned), with Samuel not wearing a mask or anything in a non-pressurized plane! He'd have passed out.
27th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19
Factual error: Sam crashes the plane running out of gas, but just barely. His boss and the client are mad at him, but he actually worked some miracle, since from Van Nuys to Honolulu there's a distance of over 2,200 nautical miles, and even considering additional fuel tanks, that is over 3 times the range of the Cessna 172 plane he was flying, also considering it had headwind throughout the voyage (it's even a plot point).
27th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Two Birds of a Feather - S3-E19
Factual error: In his 'Nam flashback at the beginning, Magnum has (another) fun encounter with a large macaw. Green macaws (or any macaw for that matter) are not something he would have found in a Vietnam war mission, unless he inadvertently crossed the Pacific Ocean and ended up in South America. (00:02:00)
27th Apr 2020
GioGio's Bizarre Adventure: The Golden Whirlwind
Factual error: After the first fight with Bruno Bucciarati, a map of Italy is shown, tracking the progress of the story. The map has written on it names of both regions and cities, but with no internal logic and consistency; some of the names (Sicily, Adriatic Sea) are in English, others in Italian (Sardegna, Napoli), and instead of the name of the region (Calabria) the name of its capital city (Catanzaro) is used (there's no dot to mark a specific city).
26th Apr 2020
Magnum, P.I. (1980)
Factual error: Higgins frightens the parrot with his peregrine falcon call, and the parrot flies away. The sky is a fairly big place though, and TC's helicopter is far away, so the fact that it'd be sucked in (that's not how helicopters work), maimed and somehow explode in a puff of (clean) feathers that instantly and calmly float down is borderline cartoon slapstick. (00:45:20)
25th Apr 2020
Charleston (1977)
Factual error: Morris manages to rake up 5 million pounds in cash. Even if they all were £50 notes (which they aren't, there are at least 3 different denominations in the props), there still would be 100,000 of them, much more than what the little bag they empty in 3 handfuls could contain. (01:20:00)
Join the mailing list
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.