# What was the most anachronistic thing you've seen in a fictional work that wasn't intentional or an accident? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956 "2021-11-08T03:28:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/181 "2021-11-17T14:03:51Z")
In the movie, [“One Million Years B.C.”](https://www.amazon.com/Million-Musketeers-Legally-Prehistoric-Standing/dp/B014ZJLG9A), Raquel Welch looks like a Super Model with hair done by a professional beautician. I don’t know if there was anything resembling a human woman one million years before the Christian era but, if there was, it sure didn’t look like that. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/182 "2021-11-17T14:17:00Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > When I say “Accident” I mean stuff that’s entirely out of the filmmakers control or was very easy to overlook. Vehicles from the mid-Seventies in the far background of a movie set in the Thirties, for example. [![](https://pics.imcdb.org/2517/anachronisms1-23-46.jpg) ](https://pics.imcdb.org/2517/anachronisms1-23-46.jpg) [![](https://pics.imcdb.org/2517/anachronismscropped.jpg) ](https://pics.imcdb.org/2517/anachronismscropped.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/183 "2021-11-17T14:39:23Z")
The dinosaurs mixing with the humans doesn’t bother you? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/184 "2021-11-17T14:44:04Z")
Did I say that? It’s just not “the most” to me, but mine is a woman’s view. If you ever had to sit for what can be hours getting your hair done, Raquel’s “Hollywood hair” might be “the most” to you as well. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/185 "2021-11-17T14:49:40Z")
I did that only once, and immediately had it cut GI short when I saw the results. Sadly, I don’t have enough hair left to get it styled again ☹ , though I do plan on tying it back when what’s left finishes growing past my collar. Nowadays, I look more like '70s George Carlin than '50s Ernest Hemingway. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/186 "2021-11-17T15:14:29Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > In the movie, [“One Million Years B.C.”](https://www.amazon.com/Million-Musketeers-Legally-Prehistoric-Standing/dp/B014ZJLG9A), Raquel Welch looks like a Super Model with hair done by a professional beautician. I don’t know if there was anything resembling a human woman one million years before the Christian era but, if there was, it sure didn’t look like that. LOL Reminds me of the one scene in that film with the dinosaur-sized spider. Everyone knows that those creatures didn’t exist until the 1950’s, when atomic blasts in the desert made giant sized insects “Them” and arachnids “Tarantula” - and aliens made giant sized people “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/187 "2021-11-17T15:29:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The dinosaurs mixing with the humans doesn’t bother you? Actually, the thing that bothers me most about that scene isn’t the anachronism It’s the fact that the pterodactyl has bat wings, with finger-bone "ribs’ going through the wing material > **[Giant winged Transylvanian predators could have eaten dinosaurs | Elsa Panciroli](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/08/giant-winged-transylvanian-predators-could-have-eaten-dinosaurs-azhdarchids)** > > Welcome to the Cretaceous Romanian island of Hațeg, once populated by lifeforms stranger than anything imagined by Lovecraft or Giger Real pterosaurs stretched their wing membranes between their arm bones and their “little fingers” Willis O’Brien got it right in **King Kong** and _The Lost World_ > **[Pteranodon](https://kingkong.fandom.com/wiki/Pteranodon)** > > Pteranodon was one of the prehistoric creatures featured in the original King Kong. It is not a dinosaur but a Pterosaur, a group of prehistoric flying reptiles. The wingspan of an adult male Pteranodon was 18 feet, while females were 12 feet. They... But Harryhausen liked the look of a bat-winged pterosaur more. It goes without saying that the pterosaur is way too big, as well. Racquel Welch and the other cavepeople might be anachronistic, but I can look at Ms. Welch in a fur bikini for hours. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/188 "2021-11-17T15:56:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not an excuse, since tanks like M47s and M48s can easily be disguised with some sheets of plywood. With the money that Hollywood movies throw around, they could have likely built plywood tanks from whole cloth and used bulldozers or other tanks to power them. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/189 "2021-11-17T15:57:23Z")
As someone interested in paleontology, I gotta ask: How can you tell male and female pterosaurs apart? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/190 "2021-11-17T16:04:57Z")
I think they did this in _ **Fury** _, at least for some scenes where the Tiger was moving. The Tiger used in _ **Kelly’s Heroes** _ was a Soviet T-34 so beautifully disguised it fooled a lot of people. It was only when you viewed it from the side that you could see the proportions were wrong. (If what I’ve heard is correct, exactly the same T-34 served as the Tiger in _ **Saving Private Ryan** _.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/191 "2021-11-17T16:05:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > As someone interested in paleontology, I gotta ask: How can you tell male and female pterosaurs apart? 🤨 Beats me. If they’re drawn by Gary Larson, look for the ones wearing Harlequin glasses. Otherwise, they’re the ones with big eyelashes and boobs. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/192 "2021-11-17T17:10:10Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > This locomotive was dressed up to look older than it really was, with a wood-burning smokestack Along those lines, there was an episode of _The Americans_ set in 1984, but for whatever reason they were using a car from around 1987-90. Even though the majority of viewers wouldn’t have noticed that the car was slightly too new, someone from the prop department put black tape around the headlights to emulate the appearance of the older style sealed-beam lights on the 1984 model. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/193 "2021-11-17T17:23:22Z")
Yeah- IIRC the _Kelly’s Heroes/Saving Private Ryan_ “Tiger” still had the T-34 Christie suspension, not the overlapping road wheels of the Tigers. But unless you’re actually looking at the running gear of the tank, it’s not particularly obvious. At any rate, a mocked-up T-34 is worlds better than just putting a Balkenkreuz on the tank and calling it a King Tiger. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/194 "2021-11-17T17:30:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Some of the biggest ones: Robert the Bruce wasn’t a traitor to the Scots; William Wallace was a nobleman, not a commoner who lived in a thatched hut; William Wallace never met Isabella of France, much less impregnate her (she would have been a child anyway); Edward I didn’t impose droit de seigneur/jus prima noctae on Scotland. Well, the son of a Knight- however, little in the way of solid facts are known. But yes, not a unwashed ragged peasant in a hut. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/195 "2021-11-17T17:42:40Z")
It is funny- they had a poll a few years ago, where they asked if humans and dinosaurs co-existed. So there are three ways to answer that- **YES-** by ignorance, basing your knowledge on a fun film starring the fabulous Raquel Welch, a great cartoon series and others. Or **NO,** knowing the that last dinos of that type died out long before the first humans existed, or **YES** , knowing that I am about to stuff and cook one in a couple of weeks, and that a bunch of them come every morning to my backyard bird feeder. So people using the number of people saying YES as a measure of American ignorance are themselves- ignorant. I am a smart ass and would likely answer YES. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/196 "2021-11-17T17:55:56Z")
I enjoy how there was a scene in Battle of the Bulge where the Germans are showing off models of their new “Wonder Weapons” so they have scale models of the V-2 and ME-262, but when they reach the King Tiger they instead use a model of an M48 Patton tank, because it would just look silly if they showed off a model of an actual King Tiger and then cut to M48 Patton’s that are supposed to REPRESENT King Tigers and have the audience asking “Hey wait what about that secret Wonder Weapon Tank the Germans had with the model?” Of course they still didn’t get this entirely right, when the Germans are doing the “overhead war room map” and pushing little models to represent progress made in the battle, the little micro machines sized tank model used to represent the SS tank divisions was still an actual King Tiger model. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/197 "2021-11-17T19:12:35Z")
**Foyle’s War** was set in rural England during WWII, but usually showed houses with (both landed estates and normal homes) with lawns that were neatly trimmed instead of plowed up for victory gardens. Otherwise they paid a lot of attention to historical details. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/198 "2021-11-17T20:39:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It goes without saying that the pterosaur is way too big, as well. Not to mention the sea turtle which (as I remember it) is the size of a building. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/199 "2021-11-17T20:51:36Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Not to mention the sea turtle which (as I remember it) is the size of a building. _Archelon!!!_ (The only case I know of where cavemen – cavewomen, actually – call a prehistoric beast by its real name.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/200 "2021-11-17T22:08:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (The only case I know of where cavemen – cavewomen, actually – call a prehistoric beast by its real name.) I knew ancient Greek was old, but 1,000,000 years old? Wow! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=11)