On Thursday We Leave For Home - S4-E16
Factual error: The colonists' planet has twin suns and, we're told, no night. We see the suns, side-by-side in the sky. But twin suns would not create perpetual day. Night/day is caused by the rotation of the planet on its axis, regardless the number of suns. In a binary star system, the two stars orbit each other around a central point in space. The planets would orbit around that central point too. In order for there to be no night, the planet would have to pass between the two stars, a process it would not survive. The gravitational forces of two opposing suns would tear the planet apart. (00:18:35)
Suggested correction: This assumes that all planets orbit along a Sun's equatorial plane, which they don't. In fact Earth's orbit is 7° off on either side of our Sun's equatorial plane. Also taking into account the tilt of their planet, it's likely that experience a similar phenomenon to that of Alaska, although for much longer, where their orbit and position don't allow their side of the planet to see darkness.
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up - S2-E28
Plot hole: At the end of the episode, the trooper answers the phone declaring the bridge is safe to cross but the driver is still worried. The trooper says "We'll go on ahead, cross the bridge first." When Mr. Ross returns to the diner, he tells Haley the bridge wasn't safe. It collapsed. The state police car, the bus, everything went into the river with no survivors, except him of course. Here's the problem. The troopers were going to cross the bridge first to check its safety, then let the bus cross (1 vehicle at a time). That means only one vehicle could have made the bridge collapse, not both at the same time. If the police car made it across safely, then the bus caused it to collapse. If the police car caused it to fall, the bus would not have gone anywhere near the bridge. Therefore, the story Ross gives Haley throws off the whole point of the police going across first.
Suggested correction: It's simply a story he made up walking back to the diner. It's clear he caused the bridge to collapse and made sure all the vehicles went in.
Doubtful. He was very clear and precise about everything that happened on that bridge. Besides, he explained exactly how he survived, and the plans of his friends landing soon. There were no more secrets at this point. Why make up the bridge story?
Originally, Ross tried to still convince Haley that he is a human and that he was lucky to be the only survivor. It wasn't until Haley confronted him with the fact that he was totally dry, despite just falling in the water, that he came out clean and admitted he is Martian. Therefore, the false bridge story could be part of his original attempt to conceal who he really is.
Suggested correction: Maybe they decided to change plan and go all together at last moment. Doesn't make sense, I give you that, but it could have happened. Plus, Ross could have used some Martian magic to make both vehicles go on to the bridge at same time. If he can make lights go on and off and jukebox go on and off and have a third hand, we can safely assume he can do more magic.
Factual error: The premise for this episode has a major flaw: the only things that could shift the Earth's orbit significantly are a near passage of or a collision with an astronomical body of sufficient size to alter the course of a body weighing 6.6 sextillion tons - the mass of the Earth. Either event would cause sufficient disturbances that cities would probably not be left standing, nor would there be anyone left to stay in or flee from them. While the events of the episode are mostly a dream, the revelation is that the earth is actually moving away from the sun, not towards it, so the mistake applies regardless.
Suggested correction: The Earth's orbit moves outward and away from the Sun about 1.5cm every year. Eventually though the Earth will lose orbital energy and spiral into the Sun. Norma and the rest of Earth exist in a time when the planet has moved away from the Sun.
Continuity mistake: When Martin meets his parents in their house, the door is split and closes in the middle with a screen. In the next shot, it is a full door without a screen.
Suggested correction: As seen from the exterior, the outer door is a very wide screen door with its handle to the left and hinges at the right. Behind the screen door are two solid doors which swing open inward from the center. Notice the wide screen door is the door Martin bangs on when his father closes the solid double doors (with individual doorknobs), and later in the episode when Martin's mother walks outside we see her push open the screen door.
Other mistake: When Ferris first arrives in the town the the church bell chimes seven times indicating it's 7 o'clock. Later the bells chime again but this time only four times indicating 4 o'clock. Surely he didn't walk around the empty town for 9 hours.
Suggested correction: Since the revelation of the episode is that Ferris is merely in a simulation, it stands to reason that they control how quickly time passes for him.
Plot hole: If Walter was indeed immortal from his deal with the devil then there was no reason for him to use the Escape Clause when he was sent to jail. Since he can't be killed by any means and nobody can harm him there would have been nothing to stop him from escaping the prison the moment his cell was opened.
Suggested correction: He may be immortal and not feel pain, but he isn't super-strong and can't walk through walls or people, so escaping wouldn't be trivial. That isn't to say it'd be impossible or even that hard, but this is a man who got centuries of perfect youth and health, and all he could think of to do were things that would kill a normal human (even though, again, he can't even feel pain.) He also confessed to murder to experience the electric chair, not considering that they wouldn't just let him walk away when he survived execution. He's a short-sighted, unimaginative moron, and that's probably why the devil chose him.
Suggested correction: Walter uses his Escape Clause because he doesn't want to live forever in a prison cell. Even if he could escape at some point, he's not willing to spend any time behind bars waiting.
Factual error: Caswell acts surprised at the sight of the lighter, but lighters were around in his time.
Suggested correction: The modern lighter, which use ferrocerium to create a spark, was developed in 1903. Caswell was from 1880. This would have been different then anything he would have seen.
Other mistake: Bemis is happy because he has enough time to read all he wants, but all the food would be poisoned by the radiation and and even if it wasn't, meat and fish it would spoil from not being refrigerated.
Other mistake: The Kanamit have to lower their heads to pass through the doorways on their own ship.
Suggested correction: Just as astronauts on the International Space Station and the Shuttle before that had to.
