Annoying mistakes in TV programs and movies

[KilljoyKlown]

I just know everyone notices things that are wrong in a movie or program that sometimes ruins the show for you. Sometimes the science is so bad you actually have to quit watching the movie, because it offends you to much and sometimes it's a small annoyance and can be ignored.

I want to know what has annoyed you and how that affected your enjoyment of the movie or program.

Small annoyance, I was watching an episode of House and some kid had swallowed a magnet that other doctors wanted to operate and remove. House said it would pass without an operation. The other doctors said the magnet interfered with their MRI machine and they couldn't get a good reading about what was going on with the magnet. (what about a regular xray?) Anyway House pulls out a scalpel and moves it around on the kids stomach until it sticks to the magnet. (what's wrong with this picture?) I'm pretty sure all surgical tools are stainless steal and stainless steel does not stick to a magnet. (But what the hell, I'm betting not many people would notice or care about that. But it did annoy me)

[Stryder]

Stainless Steel is Ferrous, therefore a magnet would be effected. As for a MRI being "effected", if it's a static magnet I'm sure the topology of the magnetic fields reaction could be countered.

[Balerion]

Wasn't there an episode where they scanned a guy's brain and put his dreams in a computer?

[Asguard]

There was an epsiode of Santuary where Magna was defribulating a patient (human before you say it was a trick of anatomy) firstly she defibed while the patient was in asystole (flat lining) which is a waste of time anyway because there is no energy for the defib to clear to reestablish normal function but she defribbed the abdomin NOT the heart

[KilljoyKlown]

Stainless Steel is Ferrous, therefore a magnet would be effected. As for a MRI being "effected", if it's a static magnet I'm sure the topology of the magnetic fields reaction could be countered.

Well Stryder, If it is affected, it is so slight that you can't feel any magnetic pull while holding a magnet close to the stainless steel. I used to think the same as you until I was shown with an actual test with a very strong magnet and a thick piece of stainless steel. Even then it didn't want to soak in that, that magnet wasn't going to stick to the stainless steel.

I just did a little research on stainless steel and found there are a lot of different grades depending on the percentages of Nickel and Chromium in the stainless steel and I'll admit I'm not clear on those percentages in surgical instruments, so maybe there are grades that do have some magnetic attraction. But for now I'd have to see it to believe it.

[Buddha12]

I've always watched for things like ties being different, period clothing not matching up, people wearing glasses when they weren't invented yet, clocks that gain or lose time when in a scene that I'm watching and on and on.

[KilljoyKlown]

I've always watched for things like ties being different, period clothing not matching up, people wearing glasses when they weren't invented yet, clocks that gain or lose time when in a scene that I'm watching and on and on.

If you can stand it try watching the SyFy Supershark show tonight. Talk about bad science? It's so bad you can't help laughing.

[C C]

Anyway House pulls out a scalpel and moves it around on the kids stomach until it sticks to the magnet. (what's wrong with this picture?) I'm pretty sure all surgical tools are stainless steal...

Surgical tweezers are occasionally advertised as being composed of an inox that is magnetic (not sure if similar pertains to even a tiny percentage of scalpels). The majority of the world's surgical instruments are made in Pakistan, the city of Sialkot. The UK is concerned about them being increasingly substandard, since some of the official companies farm-out their manufacturing to thousands of backstreet workshops deficient in sterile conditions and quality monitoring. It's not clear that the latter would include swapping more expensive alloy for cheaper steel hidden under a superficial facade. Might also crank up House's extra-human skills to yet another level if he could immediately detect an ersatz tool from the up-to-standard ones in a nearby collection.

[KilljoyKlown]

Surgical tweezers are occasionally advertised as being composed of an inox that is magnetic (not sure if similar pertains to even a tiny percentage of scalpels). The majority of the world's surgical instruments are made in Pakistan, the city of Sialkot. The UK is concerned about them being increasingly substandard, since some of the official companies farm-out their manufacturing to thousands of backstreet workshops deficient in sterile conditions and quality monitoring. It's not clear that the latter would include swapping more expensive alloy for cheaper steel hidden under a superficial facade. Might also crank up House's extra-human skills to yet another level if he could immediately detect an ersatz tool from the up-to-standard ones in a nearby collection.

C C I like your new avatar. House, is the last doctor I'd ever want to work on me. Have you ever counted the mistakes they make before they get it right? Anyway good point about the quality of the alloy. I suppose if you could ever see any rust that would be a problem and I'm sure it would stick to a magnet

[C C]

House, is the last doctor I'd ever want to work on me. Have you ever counted the mistakes they make before they get it right?

Yeah, the top-ranked diagnostic teams in that world must benefit often from the evaluation system getting confused with one for Halloween rides.

[R1D2]

I just know everyone notices things that are wrong in a movie or program that sometimes ruins the show for you. Sometimes the science is so bad you actually have to quit watching the movie, because it offends you to much and sometimes it's a small annoyance and can be ignored.

I want to know what has annoyed you and how that affected your enjoyment of the movie or program.

Small annoyance, I was watching an episode of House and some kid had swallowed a magnet that other doctors wanted to operate and remove. House said it would pass without an operation. The other doctors said the magnet interfered with their MRI machine and they couldn't get a good reading about what was going on with the magnet. (what about a regular xray?) Anyway House pulls out a scalpel and moves it around on the kids stomach until it sticks to the magnet. (what's wrong with this picture?) I'm pretty sure all surgical tools are stainless steal and stainless steel does not stick to a magnet. (But what the hell, I'm betting not many people would notice or care about that. But it did annoy me)

I will add that action movies. Have started annoying me. Like for instance I liked indiana jones an the crystal skull. But during a chase scene. Dr. Jones supposedly put a wooden item in the spokes of a motor cycle.
The motor cycle was not a real vintage piece but it flipped. In slow motion, it really flipped because of a explosion.
I wish action movies wouldn't fake what would really happen!!
To me that annoys me.

[Asguard]

How about the new movie battleship, apart fr the fact that a decommissioned ship had weapons on board, how the hell did 2 people run up a VERTICAL wall when the ship was sinking and the deck was pointing straight up?

[R1D2]

Or how about some horror movies where the man, say jason, walks an his victims run. An he's still able to catch up! What the hell. Wack

[Epictetus]

Yes stupid mistakes and unreal situations are rampant on TV and in movies. That's why I mostly read books. My pet favorite is Star Trek, the famous science fantasy series. What I don't get is how the characters can visit their families after a, well, star trek. Like when Dr. Beverly Crusher treks about the stars for a few months, then goes back to Frisco to see her son Wes at Star Fleet Academy. Why isn't she meeting her great grandchildren instead? They would say things like, "Sorry Doctor Great Grandmother, we're not as young and spry as you, but after our nap, we'll take you to your son's grave. Aye, he lived a long happy life and spoke of you often."

[Janus58]

Yes stupid mistakes and unreal situations are rampant on TV and in movies. That's why I mostly read books. My pet favorite is Star Trek, the famous science fantasy series. What I don't get is how the characters can visit their families after a, well, star trek. Like when Dr. Beverly Crusher treks about the stars for a few months, then goes back to Frisco to see her son Wes at Star Fleet Academy. Why isn't she meeting her great grandchildren instead? They would say things like, "Sorry Doctor Great Grandmother, we're not as young and spry as you, but after our nap, we'll take you to your son's grave. Aye, he lived a long happy life and spoke of you often."

Star Trek assumes the existence of a "loophole" in Relativity, in that we will discover a way of traveling at greater than c velocities without undergoing relativistic effects. In the show is is called the Warp drive.

Granted, this is just an invention by the creators of the show and its sole purpose is to allow convenient travel between stars; it is the show's way of saying that "Yes, we know that normally it would take centuries to travel between stars, and this is how we got around that". This is also not unusual in the history of SF. FTL is a common theme in much Science Fiction.

It also is not entirely ruled out by science as we now understand it. Sure, we don't know how to even start going about doing it or if it even really is possible, but that is sometimes what science fiction is about; If X were possible, what would be the consequences.

But mostly FTL in science fiction is a means to an end. It is simply a device that allows us to tell the type of stories we want to tell. It is not a "mistake", it is asking the viewer/reader to invoke a "willing suspension of disbelief" for the sake of the narrative.

[KilljoyKlown]

Star Trek assumes the existence of a "loophole" in Relativity, in that we will discover a way of traveling at greater than c velocities without undergoing relativistic effects. In the show is is called the Warp drive.

Granted, this is just an invention by the creators of the show and its sole purpose is to allow convenient travel between stars; it is the show's way of saying that "Yes, we know that normally it would take centuries to travel between stars, and this is how we got around that". This is also not unusual in the history of SF. FTL is a common theme in much Science Fiction.

It also is not entirely ruled out by science as we now understand it. Sure, we don't know how to even start going about doing it or if it even really is possible, but that is sometimes what science fiction is about; If X were possible, what would be the consequences.

But mostly FTL in science fiction is a means to an end. It is simply a device that allows us to tell the type of stories we want to tell. It is not a "mistake", it is asking the viewer/reader to invoke a "willing suspension of disbelief" for the sake of the narrative.

That may be true, but how have those same SF concepts affected your perception of the future? I want to believe because that's the only way the human race can avoid going the way of the dinosaurs one way or the other.

It is also, the only way we will ever meet intelligent aliens one way or the other. I'd prefer that humans be the advanced beings making contact with the aliens on their home world rather than the other way.

Star Trek does a very good job of building plausible future technology. The one thing that still bugs me today about Star Trek is they always had to wait for the captain to say Shields up or fire phasers or photon torpedoes, frequently after damage has already been taken. What the heck are the super computers of the future doing if they can't help with the ships defenses hundreds of times faster than any human could?

[Janus58]

In the vein of my last post, here's something that I consider a real mistake in terms of a science fiction show.

It come from a very old show that most of you probably never saw or even remember. It was called "The Starlost". It aired in 1973.

The basic premise was this: Survivors from a disaster on Earth are fleeing in a space ark in which different cultures live in separate bio-domes, isolated from each other and the crew.
The ark has been in route long enough, that many of these cultures have forgotten that they are even on a space ship. A small group from one of these cultures stumbles into the crew section to find that all the crew have died from some unexplained cause. They have to come to terms with the fact that the world is not what it seemed and have to figure out how to save the Ark's initial mission (to find a new home for Humanity).

Okay, now the mistake.

In one of the episodes, an exploration ship that had been launched to search for habitable planets returns from what, from their perspective was a 10 year mission. Due to time dilation, over 400 yrs has passed on the Ark.

Okay, so far so good, they are acknowledging and making use of time dilation. But then it all goes so horribly wrong. For one, the crew of the ship is surprised that 400+ years has passed on the Ark while they were gone. Excuse me? How could they have not been aware of what the effects of traveling at near c velocities were? Did people become incredibly stupid between the time the show was written 1973 and the far future when the Ark was launched.

To make matters worse, the crew begin to exhibit symptoms that resembled senility. The explanation being that even though only 10 yrs seemed to pass for them, over 400 had really passed and their minds were showing the signs of extreme old age.

Even my 15 yr old brain of the time had a hard time swallowing that one.

[Janus58]

Star Trek does a very good job of building plausible future technology. The one thing that still bugs me today about Star Trek is they always had to wait for the captain to say Shields up or fire phasers or photon torpedoes, frequently after damage has already been taken. What the heck are the super computers of the future doing if they can't help with the ships defenses hundreds of times faster than any human could?

Don't you remember what happened when they tried that with the M-5 computer back in the original series?

But seriously, This is just one of those examples of where reality bows in favor of dramatic effect. In reality, the occupants of the Ship wouldn't be thrown about by weapons hitting their ship (after all, what are those "inertial dampeners" for?), you wouldn't hear weapons fire or explosions in space, etc. And what about all those panels blowing up in people's faces on the bridge; haven't these people heard about circuit breakers?.

But how exciting would it be for the viewer to watch the bridge crew just sitting there twiddling their thumbs and undisturbed and the ship silently fights the battle for them?

[Jeeves]

I can suspend disbelief and critical thought in sci-fi (except for the lack of seatbelts on spaceships. I can't forgive that!) and fantasy; it's the sloppy props and continuity in realistic dramas that annoy me.
- Quincy carrying a folder of fresh slides, vertically - and the slides are not stuck into a single lump when he opens it. BTW You can't rush histology; tissue processing takes as long as it takes, no matter who's yelling on the phone.
- A building (Boston Legal) that, on external shot, has no balconies, and nothing remotely like a brick wall anywhere, yet you can see them from inside the offices.
- Characters' family and childhood changing from one season to the next (MASH; Fringe).
- Probably the most persistent irritation is anachronistic language: people in 1920 England using phrases in current American vernacular and having currently fashionable names. That's why i prefer BBC productions: the attention to detail.

My partner, who plays several musical instruments, has a small tantrum whenever an actor is shown mishandling one. I suppose that would be true of anyone who sees their special skills misrepresented.

[KilljoyKlown]

In the vein of my last post, here's something that I consider a real mistake in terms of a science fiction show.

It come from a very old show that most of you probably never saw or even remember. It was called "The Starlost". It aired in 1973.

The basic premise was this: Survivors from a disaster on Earth are fleeing in a space ark in which different cultures live in separate bio-domes, isolated from each other and the crew.
The ark has been in route long enough, that many of these cultures have forgotten that they are even on a space ship. A small group from one of these cultures stumbles into the crew section to find that all the crew have died from some unexplained cause. They have to come to terms with the fact that the world is not what it seemed and have to figure out how to save the Ark's initial mission (to find a new home for Humanity).

Okay, now the mistake.

In one of the episodes, an exploration ship that had been launched to search for habitable planets returns from what, from their perspective was a 10 year mission. Due to time dilation, over 400 yrs has passed on the Ark.

Okay, so far so good, they are acknowledging and making use of time dilation. But then it all goes so horribly wrong. For one, the crew of the ship is surprised that 400+ years has passed on the Ark while they were gone. Excuse me? How could they have not been aware of what the effects of traveling at near c velocities were? Did people become incredibly stupid between the time the show was written 1973 and the far future when the Ark was launched.

To make matters worse, the crew begin to exhibit symptoms that resembled senility. The explanation being that even though only 10 yrs seemed to pass for them, over 400 had really passed and their minds were showing the signs of extreme old age.

Even my 15 yr old brain of the time had a hard time swallowing that one.

Your last post? Are you going somewhere without an Internet connection? Well whatever, feel free to drop in from time to time when you miss us.

I don't really remember that show, but your right that time thing sounds really hokey.