The Worst Tech Mistakes in TV and Movies

[curb193]

You forgot the biggest mistake in all zombie movies: Ninja zombies. In any zombie movie or tv show, there always seems to be a point where a perfectly silent zombie just appears from nowhere. Whilst every other zombie in the whole world seems to constantly be groaning and making general zombie noises, this one is perfectly silent and still, waiting for your arm to poke round the corner before it grabs you.

 

[americanbrian]

There is an arguement for sound in space when it is produced by an explosion. The molecules of the rapidly dispersing wreckage would make sounds as they impact the hull of your ship. So Star wars is actually ok in regards to the death stars. As for the noises of the TIE fighters it could be percieved that this is the engine noise present within the ships as they manouver... Not specifically the sounds heard from an observer in space.

 

[joedastudd]

Just a note about the Interoperability section.
There was a 7 minute deleted scene in Independence Day which explains it (on this occasion).
Goldblum is actually shown tinkering with his PowerBook inside the recovered craft from the Roswell crash site, mumbling something about how the spaceship was running off the same programming language he was able to decipher before (when he first uncovered their invasion plans and all that).
http/www.cracked.com/article_18720_7-famous-movie-flaws-that-were-explained-in-deleted-scenes.html

 

[Branden]

was it in film "speed 2" that the bomb on the boat went thru a progress bar for every second the timer counted down, then reset again for the following second?

 

[tanjo]

Cloning an adult human means the clone has accelerated metabolism to grow up quickly. Fast metabolism = faster aging = quickly dying of old age.

 

[jecastej]

#2 Magical Enhance Button
In shows that represent today's technology like CSI or Law and Order I agree, but not in a movie like Blade Runner as it represents a more advanced technology. It will be a matter to add more megapixels and better optics to a camera until you could get a multiple resolution image. Up to a certain point the details will be there in the first place but it will be the user who is willing to display the 100% scale. So, I think for the future it may be possible to zoom almost like crazy but always considering the image, as big as it could get, will always be a fixed matrix of pixels.

 

[marraco]

Blade Runner is not a goof, because the photo could actually have very big resolution

 

[Pailin]

sound in space from explosions...

the shockwave (all that particulate matter accelerated from the explosion with no air resistance) from something as big as a DeathStar hitting your fleeing shit Would make a Lot of noise

must be a scary noise :s



from any moderate sized explosion in space some of the matter shot outwards would probably hit your ship = noise


Tie fighters screaming.... how are they making those tight turns in space without jets shooting out all over the place.... maybe some kinda gravity drive pulling on all nearby objects in space to help the craft manouver -- so some kinda freaky noise of this new drive...??

maybe they doen't have to make that noise but the Empire tweaked the drives to strike fear into their enemies - kinda like the Nazi's Stuka Dive Bombers scream to heighten the fear of their victims

 

[hetneo]

Oh please, all those "mistakes" are work of fiction or done out of convenience. Only bullets are plausible because hollow points do not penetrate but transfer some 70ish% of kinetic energy to the target, up to 30% is lost due to bursting upon impact. Also the problem with gunshot wounds is misconception made by layman that bullet drill through human body like a drill through wood, making clean channel. In truth behind penetrating bullet expanding not uniform temporary cavity is created. Expansion of this cavity creates shock wave moving away from entrance wound in radial manner. How big temporary cavity will be and consequently how far it will push body depends on rounds velocity and caliber, and is directly proportional to them. Body slumping on them ground from gunshot wounds never happens, there's always certain amount of backward momentum which is almost always grossly over emphasized by movies.

 

[Guest]

so why does everyone presume we would be storing images as a 2D matrix of pixels in the future rather then a collection of photons (which yield significantly more information)

 

[Pailin]

a rabbit hit by a low velocity (subsonic) .22 hollow point bullet is often knocked over... if not in a vital spot can get up and run.

a rabbit hit by a high velocity .22 copper jacketed hollow point gets knocked over (kinda just flops over in the direction of travel of the bullet) and dies instantly - even from a thigh shot

proportionally a .22 and a rabbit is huge compared to other gun rounds and people

I once spoke to someone that in a war used to call the people he shot (with a high power rifle) floppies, as when shot they flop over...

 

[Guest]

Star Wars IS NOT the worst offender in the case of invisible force fields...that would be STAR TREK.

 

[orodreth]

Blade Runner is NOT an appropriate example. Deckard (not Decker by the way) is holding a stack of photographs. As he flips through them, he stops at a photograph of a room. That photograph is unique in that it has a black border and if I recall, there is text on that border that identifies is as a 3D photo. He inserts only that photo, into his computer/scanner thingie, and uses the software to navigate the 3D photo (plausible in the future). The only "mistake" if you want to call it that, is when he prints the new "angle", the printed version on paper does not match the angle on the monitor.

 

[orodreth]

The movie 2001, used silence in space.

 

[DSpider]

Why are there explosions in space? Or sparks caused by bullets that hit a space ship or space ships trading paint? I don't get it. You need oxygen for something like that. In Battlestar Galactica I swear I saw parts of Galactica's hull burning (on the surface). Come on!

 

[nottheking]

#1 is really more "old" than anything else. If you just changed the messages, it could more or less match how it is when we log into anything: instead of ACCESS GRANTED and ACCESS DENIED, we have "Welcome" and "Incorrect username and/or password." Coincidentally, these things (especially the "welcome" message) tend to be in a pretty large font.

#2 and #7 are egregious mistakes. For the former isn't actually possible even with FUTURE technology: it's impossible to accurately add information you don't have. It's just as plausible for a computer to tell you what that 3-pixel-wide reflection is, as it is for, say, a security camera to grant footage from a time before it was even installed by hitting the "rewind" button enough. Similarly, for flammables/explosives, fire needs more than just fuel and a spark: it needs air.

#5 is the one unrealistic thing I can plausibly forgive. After all, it's not like there's any people OUT THERE in space, so it's pretty clearly a dramatic effect.

#6 is slightly off-mark: bullets CAN physically push someone, though it typically depends on a variety of factors. Remember that not all bullets penetrate through the target, and even those that do expend an amount of their kinetic energy upon the target they plow through: this is why bullet holes have a tendency WIDER than the actual bullets that went through them. While for high-velocity rifle bullets, chances are this won't knock someone back. But for lower-velocity handgun rounds (especially things like police-issue hollowpoints specifically designed to NOT over-penetrate) chances are good that the target will receive a decent amount of momentum.

As for #11, there's a strong argument against what shades_aus said; what they mentioned were instincts, not memories. They're behavioral traits that were never "learned" by any point along the ancestry, not even the original ancestors to do so.

As for #12... That's not the only head-scratcher Star Trek: Nemesis had. Even if you ignore all the "science reality flaws," it still has an embarassing number of gaffes in continuity and storytelling. I really like how this pictoral synopsis put it.

 

[nottheking]

Oh, and I neglected another thing for #6: firing a gun DOES yield light. It's called muzzle flash. (and why guns tend to have those fancy things on the tips of the barrels, known as "flash suppressors, to partially mitigate this) After all, what propels a bullet but expanding gas from igniting a charge of powder? And if it's ignited, is it not flame? And doesn't flame produce light, not just heat?

Granted, most movies tend to exaggerate the level of flash for many weapons, but it's not a horrendous error. And given directors' preference for the gun known as the Desert Eagle, some of those huge flashes are actually UNDERSIZED compared to the reality.

 

[Guest]

LOL "When you’re shot by a bullet, you don’t actually get knocked backwards."
talking ballsh!t mate.
fair do's a handgun wouldn't do ah heck all but what she is holding is what they call a "shotgun"
witch fires 21 small metal balls.
one shot from a shotgun and it would have more force than a horse kicking you with its back leg!

 

[warezme]

More accurately, "This is a Unix system..., I don't know this, how do I even know what Unix looks like???, I think I will go eat more cake."

 

[njt]

wait a second. some of these unfortunately irritate me as well, like all the computer-related nonsense, but only when watching a movie or series that is set in current times, like a cop show, or an er, when it's science fiction it's a different story.

2 points:

1) take the Alien saga, which you have under the "genetic memory" heading. so you're having no problem with the starships, "molecular acid", chestbursting aliens, terraforming tech, ftl travel, but you're busting their chops over genetic memory? it's called "suspension of disbelief" for a reason. well written sci-fi is generally enjoyable _despite_ the flaws and occasionally even *because* of them. otherwise you'd have to write the whole genre off as a load of bollocks and never make one again. as long as it makes for a good plot and enjoyable show, it's fine.

2) some of these flaws are absolutely necessary key plot points, e.g. in the "fantastic four" movie under the heading "invisible force field". that is the power of one of its members, the movie is about them, no IFF, no susan storm, makes fantastic three... you might be partially right when such a device is used in a different sci-fi setting, but then, see point 1).