# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/41 "2021-11-08T22:14:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Also hard to think of Roman movies where the actors didn’t have current hair and makeup. That’s what really gets to me: they could easily and cheaply avoid SO many of these anachronisms (notice the word ‘chronos’ in there? I just did). Hairstyles? They’re already in the makeup chair, just tell the makeup artists you want them to do a period style. And they could probably make the teeth look less ‘Hollywood Veneers’ in a couple of minutes (not making them crooked, but a bit scuffed and brownish). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/42 "2021-11-08T22:16:50Z")
The classic example would be the sound of a clock striking in Shakespeare’s _Julius Caesar_. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/43 "2021-11-08T22:18:31Z")
But then the _“cuckoo!”_ sound clues you in that the Swiss Guard is about to enter… ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/44 "2021-11-08T22:24:01Z")
_Titanic_ did a pretty good job on the historical details, but there was a passing reference to visiting the Santa Monica Pier to ride the roller coaster, which was still 4 years away from being built. ---
**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 8, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/45 "2021-11-08T22:28:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Female actors haven’t had arm or leg hair for decades, of course. (All references are to American movies.) And definitely not a reference to [German pop stars of the 80’s.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gabriele-kerners-nenas-career-in-english-speaking-countries-really-derailed-because-of-pit-hair/953814) 🙂 ---
**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 8, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/46 "2021-11-08T22:29:57Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > _Titanic_ did a pretty good job on the historical details, but there was a passing reference to visiting the Santa Monica Pier to ride the roller coaster, which was still 4 years away from being built. Jack also said he fell through the ice of Lake Wissota, which was formed by a dam…in 1917. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/47 "2021-11-08T22:45:40Z")
I believe I’ve posted this one elsewhere on this board, but the 1992 TV-movie _To Catch a Killer_ about John Wayne Gacy has police detectives interviewing the mother of one of Gacy’s victims in the boy’s bedroom. On the wall is a Ryne Sandberg/Chicago Cubs poster… The last Gacy victim, Robert Piest, disappeared in 1978. Ryne Sandberg started with the Cubs in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/48 "2021-11-08T22:56:58Z")
There is a Renaissance painting in the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota of Jesus blessing a musician holding a violin. The violin wasn’t invented until 1,500 years after the time of Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/49 "2021-11-08T23:17:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There are a lot of movies like _Bridge of Spies_ that are full of little anachronisms. They don’t affect the story, mostly they’re things like the wrong year car or wrong year typewriter, that sort of thing, but they bug me because they are so _easy_ to fix. There are a lot of people that can tell the filmmakers at a glance that the prop is wrong. For a movie like BoS that pays the money for cgi to fix things, why can’t they spend a little time and get the right year car? Not anachronistic, but the movie occurs over a span of several years, but the kids never age. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/50 "2021-11-08T23:17:15Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > > > Y’all are overlooking the most obvious anachronisms of all - nice teeth. > > On the other hand, they had no sugar, no sodas, no processed food. > > Archaeology shows that people in earlier times had far better teeth than you might think. Archaeologic findings suggest tooth decay was common in prehistoric hominids. > **[Human ancestors had the same dental problems as us – even without fizzy...](https://theconversation.com/human-ancestors-had-the-same-dental-problems-as-us-even-without-fizzy-drinks-and-sweets-92546)** > > Prehistoric humans and their predecessors may have had a very different diet but their teeth suffered in similar ways to ours. And their dental care was…primitive. There were early helicopters in use by the Germans in WWII, but not the Bell 47 seen landing in the castle courtyard in _Where Eagles Dare_. That model wasn’t developed until after the war (apparently it was also used in “MASH”). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/51 "2021-11-08T23:20:33Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > To say that Gladiator is highly inauthentic is an understatement, not just in details, but in major things. My favorite movie complaint is when Maximus gets wounded in Germany, hops on his horse, rides to his home in Spain, and is still bleeding. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/52 "2021-11-09T00:34:19Z")
> [@Yosh99](#): > > There is a Renaissance painting in the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota of Jesus blessing a musician holding a violin. Renaissance painters are also notorious for putting contemporary hair on ancients. And lots of contemporary clothing. And pretty much everything else. Am I saying that Hollywood is using the standards of Renaissance painters? Well, maybe [Botticelli’s](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_Primavera_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/53 "2021-11-09T00:42:08Z")
In the movie “[Flight of the Intruder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Intruder)”, which is set during the Vietnam War, there’s a brief scene of the main character in the ship’s library, which features a copy of the book “[Children of Dune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Dune)” in a book rack. That book wasn’t published until after the Vietnam war ended. A minor thing, but the way the scene was framed, the book _really_ stood out. I caught it immediately wen I saw the movie in the theatre. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/54 "2021-11-09T01:59:58Z")
In _The History of the Holy Grail_ (_Estoire del Saint Graal_, part 1 of the Arthurian Vulgate (early 13th century), when St. Joseph of Arimathea and his son Josephus bring the Graal to Britain around the 2nd century, they find it full of “Saracens”. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/55 "2021-11-09T04:36:39Z")
I was talking about teeth in historical times, not human ancestors over 2 million years ago. > **[Ancient Pompeiians Had Good Dental Health But Were Not Necessarily Vegetarians](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/30/ancient-pompeiians-had-good-dental-health-but-were-not-necessarily-vegetarians/?sh=7b024b991c7c)** > > New scans of the inside of Pompeiian casts have revealed relatively cavity-free teeth. But is this a surprise to bioarchaeologists? > The Pompeiians had healthy teeth, only in the rarest cases marred by decay ---
**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 9, 2021, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/56 "2021-11-09T08:14:30Z")
As far as teeth and _ **Star Trek** _ are concerned, watch “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” some time. The close-ups on the actors’ mouths while they’re activating the self-destruct mechanism definitely show 20th century teeth! In _ **Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves** _, I thought Morgan Freeman’s telescope was supposed to show how much more advanced the Islamic world was in the 12th century, compared to Europe. Whether Muslims had such things at the time, I don’t know, but the movie is impossible to take seriously anyway. Not a movie, but in the _ **Poldark** _ series of novels, the author talks about using dynamite in Cornish mines of the 18th century. Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel a century later. The Cornish would have been using black powder instead. (I don’t remember if this crept into the TV series or not.) Also in the _ **Poldark** _ novels, news of George Washington’s death seems to have crossed the Atlantic in less than two weeks. That’s pretty fast sailing for 1799! The last two examples are surprising, considering the amount of research Winston Graham obviously did while writing the novels. ---
**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 9, 2021, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/57 "2021-11-09T08:20:11Z")
Graham also has one of the characters playing with “elastic” at one point. I’m not sure what he was referring to, but I once looked up when elastic was first used in clothing. IIRC, the year was 1913. Also, why would spray bottles on the _Enterprise_ be considered an anachronism? I have lots of them in my 21st century apartment, and I expect they’ll be used far into the future. (It’s the way they were always left standing around unsecured in the laboratories that bugged me. And they never seemed to fall or bounce around when the ship was hit by a phaser blast or photon torpedo.) ---
**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 9, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/58 "2021-11-09T09:04:37Z")
Ancient Egyptians apparently had good teeth too. There was an episode of _ **Newton’s Apple** _ where a mummy was brought into the studio. Ira Flatow was impressed by the condition its teeth were in: “_My_ teeth should look so good!” Watching TV shows set during WWII back in the '60s, my mother always commented on how wrong the women’s hairstyles were. Watching shows like _ **Little House on the Prairie** _ in the '70s, I was struck by how the men and boys always had neatly trimmed, blow-dried hair. No punchbowl cuts, lice combs, or bacon grease at all. I don’t recall any of the Scots in _ **Braveheart** _ wearing armor, helmets, or even padding. Were they still painting themselves with woad at the time? They looked like an army the Romans would have faced, not the English. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/59 "2021-11-09T09:25:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Great kilts are period No, they’re not. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/60 "2021-11-09T09:30:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Were they still painting themselves with woad at the time? They looked like an army the Romans would have faced, not the English. It isn’t an anachronism, the Braveheart battle scenes are basically modern-day Motherwell on a Friday night. I kid, they stopped painting themselves with woad 20 years ago. One anachronism, that may be a misremembering on my part, but didn’t Han Solo mention “Einstein” when rebuking C3PO? Which would be out by a factor of “a long time” and in a different galaxy altogether. [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=2) [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=4)