Continuity Errors within episodes

We've had many discussions about the continuity problems between episodes. But what about continuity errors within an episode? One that comes to my mind is "Psych Out!".

Mumm-Ra summons Alluro to his pyramid, tells him about the Egora Talisman, and gives him an ancient scroll which describes its location. Mumm-Ra's discussion with Ma-Mutt after Alluro leaves indicates that he (Mumm-Ra) is just using Alluro to find the Egora Talisman and then he will somehow take possession of it. But while Alluro is in the forest still searching for the talisman, Ma-Mutt appears out of nowhere and attacks him. Huh?!?!?!?!?

I remember there was another episode which also had continuity problems, but it's slipped my mind right now. Anyone else notice any such in-episode continuity problems?

Love this topic. Thanks, Wilycub! I am sure I can think of situations that more closely relate to your original question, but for now, here's what I got.

Not sure if this counts, but I always found the exchange about Cheetara's sixth sense in "The Ghost Warrior" to be very awkward. It goes essentially like this:

"Because the Eye has no psychic powers." - Tygra, looking at Cheetara.
Cheetara emphatically responds "No, I can't! You can't ask me to to!"
"Cheetara, you have this gift?" - Lion-O
"It's a curse!" - Cheetara
"It can take Cheetara weeks, even months to recover." - Tygra
"Then you mustn't, Cheetara!" - Lion-O
"This time, I must!" - Cheetara

Wait...what? "No, I won't! No, you mustn't! YES I MUST!"

It always felt like a part of the conversation was left out. Ya know...the part where they actually talk Cheetara into changing her mind. As it is it just seems like she changes her mind because she felt like arguing on that particular day.

One that I noticed a while back, it's probably in other episodes but I noticed it in this one specifically, is ''The Last Day'' when Lion-O is using the sword he is not wearing the clawshield. But when it cuts to the sword it shows him wearing the clawshield, then when it goes back to Lion-O he is not wearing the clawshield.

This is probably more of what you are looking for.

The episode "Sideswipe" makes the conceit (as did most season 2 episodes) that only Lynx-O can navigate to Darkside. This is the only reason he accompanies Mandora there, otherwise we are led to believe Mandora would just go alone. In any case, at the end, after the Eye of Thundera brings Lynx-O and Mandora back down to Third Earth, Lion-O goes with the two of them back to Darkside to get Chilla. Only this time - Lion-O pilots the Thunderstrike while they go to Darkside while Lynx-O sits in the back with Mandora. C'mon now.

Nice examples, BB and Mark! :thumbsup

Another one I remembered is "Mumm-Ra Lives!" (I count the five parts as one story). In Part V, Luna pretends to be a damsel in distress in order to lure Lion-O so that Amok can grab him. When Lion-O sees her, he says, "Who are you? What happened here?" and then picks her up to help her. Lion-O must be suffering from amnesia because he just fought Luna and the rest of the Lunataks in Part IV when he was trying to rescue Snarfer!. ;)

Oh if we're considering five-parters as one episode, then I can't neglect to mention my number one pet peeve continuity error; Lion-O magically knowing to go to Fire Rock Mountain. Its not even so much that the error exists...its that it is so glaring that I can't believe it just slipped Starr's mind. Did he go to write part 4 and realize, "Ya know...I just need to get Lion-O to Fire Rock Mountain and I forgot to have him find a reason and I ain't going to do any rewriting now." That is so unsatisfying. I mean, I just want to know what went wrong. When Starr was mapping out the story, he must have had a reason to have Lion-O go to Mumm-Ra's pyramid. As it stands within the story, it was an entirely pointless endeavor. Did it get chopped up in editing and no one noticed?

The unanswered questions surrounding this continuity error just get under my skin and I wish, I WISH there was some way I could just know what went wrong. Then maybe I could sleep at night.

...man I gotta get a life...lol

"Wilycub, post: 119223, member: 25043" said:

Nice examples, BB and Mark! :thumbsup

Another one I remembered is "Mumm-Ra Lives!" (I count the five parts as one story). In Part V, Luna pretends to be a damsel in distress in order to lure Lion-O so that Amok can grab him. When Lion-O sees her, he says, "Who are you? What happened here?" and then picks her up to help her. Lion-O must be suffering from amnesia because he just fought Luna and the rest of the Lunataks in Part IV when he was trying to rescue Snarfer!. ;)

This continuity error always bugged me, too. I try to semi-justify it by the fact that just as Luna and Amok come running out in part IV, Lion-O turns around. Maybe he didn't get a good look at Luna? I know that is ridiculously flimsy logic but I am grasping at straws.

"ButterflyBoy, post: 119226, member: 16168" said:

Oh if we're considering five-parters as one episode, then I can't neglect to mention my number one pet peeve continuity error; Lion-O magically knowing to go to Fire Rock Mountain. Its not even so much that the error exists...its that it is so glaring that I can't believe it just slipped Starr's mind. Did he go to write part 4 and realize, "Ya know...I just need to get Lion-O to Fire Rock Mountain and I forgot to have him find a reason and I ain't going to do any rewriting now." That is so unsatisfying. I mean, I just want to know what went wrong. When Starr was mapping out the story, he must have had a reason to have Lion-O go to Mumm-Ra's pyramid. As it stands within the story, it was an entirely pointless endeavor. Did it get chopped up in editing and no one noticed?

The unanswered questions surrounding this continuity error just get under my skin and I wish, I WISH there was some way I could just know what went wrong. Then maybe I could sleep at night.

...man I gotta get a life...lol

I hadn't noticed that plot hole until you mentioned it in another thread a couple of months ago. Then I started wondering how could I miss such an obvious goof! LOL! :D

When I first saw the ThunderCats HO! VHS (5 parts spliced together), I was stumped when Lion-O, out of the blue says that he alone will "confront Mumm-Ra face-to-face in his pyramid". And this because he just guesses that Mumm-Ra is behind all this. :confused Even a kid knows that it's a ridiculous plan. Sounds more like an ego trip than anything else! Did Lion-O really expect that Mumm-Ra would just tell him his plan? Wouldn't it have been easier to interrogate one of the Mutants? Slithe was nearby on a ledge in the ravine. Or why not use the Sword of Omens to show him the location of the Thunderian Refugees? And where's Jaga when you need him! :mad:

But even if he really felt that interrogating Mumm-Ra is the best and only way to find out about the Thunderians, then he should have gone with reinforcements. Why send Tygra and Cheetara to "muster up all of their ThunderCat strength" instead of accompanying him to the pyramid? They just keep on flying around aimlessly for a good part of the episode. And Lion-O only has to send out the Cat signal to "muster up all of their ThunderCat strength". ;)

In Divide and Conquer, when Tygra falls into teh Giagntor's pit, he takes his maze away and breaks it with his knees. The next scene when we saw Tygra confronting the Gigantor, the latter has his maze again.

"Wilycub, post: 119230, member: 25043" said:

I hadn't noticed that plot hole until you mentioned it in another thread a couple of months ago. Then I started wondering how could I miss such an obvious goof! LOL! :D

When I first saw the ThunderCats HO! VHS (5 parts spliced together), I was stumped when Lion-O, out of the blue says that he alone will "confront Mumm-Ra face-to-face in his pyramid". And this because he just guesses that Mumm-Ra is behind all this. :confused Even a kid knows that it's a ridiculous plan. Sounds more like an ego trip than anything else! Did Lion-O really expect that Mumm-Ra would just tell him his plan? Wouldn't it have been easier to interrogate one of the Mutants? Slithe was nearby on a ledge in the ravine. Or why not use the Sword of Omens to show him the location of the Thunderian Refugees? And where's Jaga when you need him! :mad:

But even if he really felt that interrogating Mumm-Ra is the best and only way to find out about the Thunderians, then he should have gone with reinforcements. Why send Tygra and Cheetara to "muster up all of their ThunderCat strength" instead of accompanying him to the pyramid? They just keep on flying around aimlessly for a good part of the episode. And Lion-O only has to send out the Cat signal to "muster up all of their ThunderCat strength". ;)

Yeah, we should make a list of bizarre dialogue from Thundercats.

"We'll have to muster all our Thundercat strength."
"That will be your job."

...what does that even mean, really?

Like in "The Trial of Strength" -

"...as Lord of the Thundercats, you'll be expected to deal with anything you'd ever come up against, especially the unexpected."
"And that means I'd have to be as strong as Panthro, as fast as Cheetara, cunning as WilyKat and Kit and have the powerful intelligence of Tygra?"

Not only is Lion-O psychic, but he that is just the weirdest response to what Snarf said to him. Keep in mind that Snarf hasn't even given him the map yet and its only after Snarf gives him the map that he tells Lion-O he will have to best the Thundercats one at a time to get to the next point in the map. I get that the exposition needed to happen for the story, but it could have been done it a lot less awkward of a fashion.

"ButterflyBoy, post: 119286, member: 16168" said:

Yeah, we should make a list of bizarre dialogue from Thundercats.

That would make a great and very amusing thread! :biggrin We should start one.

You make a good point about that dialogue in "Trial of Strength". My guess is that we are supposed to assume that Snarf mentioned the "going up against each ThunderCat" while they were walking from the dining room to the next one. But still, as you said, it could have been done in a better way.

Coming back to that goof in "ThunderCats Ho!" that you pointed out, the dialogue makes even less sense in that scene. Even if we assume that Starr forgot to write the scene where Lion-O learns about the location of the refugees being Fire Rock Mountain, the dialogue still is illogical.

As soon as the mummy wrappings crumble away, Lion-O says: "That was useless. I'll have to assault Fire Rock Mountain directly..."

1. If we assume that Starr forgot to write the scene that I mentioned above, then why would Lion-O call the trip useless? He came to learn about the location and he did.
2. If the trip was useless then it means that Lion-O already knew the location, so why did he even bother going to the pyramid? :confused

That "goof" could have been very easily rectified, even without the need for any additional animation. When the mummy wrappings come alive, they could have just added Mumm-Ra's voice, gloating, telling Lion-O the location of the refugees and also telling him that he will never be able to use that information since he will remain in the pyramid forever as a mummy. Or something to that effect. :) But even then, the "That was useless" line would have to be replaced with something else.

Exactly, the "that was useless line" would seem to support that idea that there isn't even a missing scene or dialogue from somewhere in the editing process. I never thought of that before.

Another thing I recalled today while watching "Slaves of Castle Plundarr"...do you all think that the Brutemen were redesigned after the dialogue was recorded? I ask because WilyKit's line "They look like they are made out of left over parts." would seem to describe a sort of monstrous, Frankenstein-esque creature. I personally don't think the Brutemen as we saw them align with that description. I've always found that line of dialogue conspicuous. Anyone else?

"ButterflyBoy, post: 119350, member: 16168" said:

Another thing I recalled today while watching "Slaves of Castle Plundarr"...do you all think that the Brutemen were redesigned after the dialogue was recorded? I ask because WilyKit's line "They look like they are made out of left over parts." would seem to describe a sort of monstrous, Frankenstein-esque creature. I personally don't think the Brutemen as we saw them align with that description. I've always found that line of dialogue conspicuous. Anyone else?

Good point! I think you are right. Because in the script, Starr has described the Brutemen as follows:

"The Brutemen are slightly larger than normal human size, muscular in an undefined sort of way. They have no neck to speak of, odd patched of hair sprout from their bodies willy nilly, and though their color is predominantly gray, the color of their hair varies. Their faces look as though features had begun to be sculpted out of putty but never completed. There is something pitiable about them".

So the description paints them like Frankenstein-esque creatures, as you said, the different colored hair patches, the Hunchback of Notre Damme type of face etc. I'm guessing that maybe the designers simplified the design to (a) make them easier to animate and (b) make them less scary so that we can feel sympathy for them more easily. Thus we ended up with the brown Gnu-like humanoids.

"Wilycub, post: 119356, member: 25043" said:

Good point! I think you are right. Because in the script, Starr has described the Brutemen as follows:

"The Brutemen are slightly larger than normal human size, muscular in an undefined sort of way. They have no neck to speak of, odd patched of hair sprout from their bodies willy nilly, and though their color is predominantly gray, the color of their hair varies. Their faces look as though features had begun to be sculpted out of putty but never completed. There is something pitiable about them".

So the description paints them like Frankenstein-esque creatures, as you said, the different colored hair patches, the Hunchback of Notre Damme type of face etc. I'm guessing that maybe the designers simplified the design to (a) make them easier to animate and (b) make them less scary so that we can feel sympathy for them more easily. Thus we ended up with the brown Gnu-like humanoids.

Thanks for that information. Fascinating!

"ButterflyBoy, post: 119286, member: 16168" said:

Yeah, we should make a list of bizarre dialogue from Thundercats.

Another weird dialogue that I remembered, from "Trouble with Time", I think. When Lion-O summons the others like he always does, Cheetara looks at the signal and says: "The ThunderCats signal! And especially urgent somehow". Huh?!?!?!? :confused:

I didn't know that there were several degrees of urgency that were displayed in the Cat Signal in such a way that only Cheetara could see them! ;) It's too bad there wasn't an episode in which she said: "The ThunderCats signal! Oh, it's not an urgent one. I think I'll take the scenic route". :biggrin

"Wilycub, post: 119378, member: 25043" said:

Another weird dialogue that I remembered, from "Trouble with Time", I think. When Lion-O summons the others like he always does, Cheetara looks at the signal and says: "The ThunderCats signal! And especially urgent somehow". Huh?!?!?!? :confused:

I didn't know that there were several degrees of urgency that were displayed in the Cat Signal in such a way that only Cheetara could see them! ;) It's too bad there wasn't an episode in which she said: "The ThunderCats signal! Oh, it's not an urgent one. I think I'll take the scenic route". :biggrin

I actually love that line! I always took it as foreshadowing her sixth sense. There are a few early episodes (pre-"Ghost Warrior") that allude to Cheetara's psychic ability without calling it out explicitly.

I always classed them saying that Grune died centuries ago as a continuity error.

Interesting thoughts here:

First off, calling the Bruteman "Gnu-like Humanoids" - someone has to say "Gnumanoids"!

Then in "Trouble With Time" - yes, that angle of this signal being "especially urgent" was interesting and should have been explored more. Cheetara's sixth sense is a fair enough answer, and considering that she and Tygra were the closest thing to an item on the show, it makes sense that that would resonate with her too.

In Thundercats Ho - yes, that is an odd one, been gone over on here many times. I reckon that there were lines in the original script that were cut for time before it reached the animators. I know the same thing happened in a few episodes of Visionaries - especially "Lion Hunt", where a lot of explanation is cut.

Mark M, Grune dying centuries ago isn't a continuity error in itself because in Exodus when they're in the suspension capsules that journey took years, quite probably centuries.

"LiamABC, post: 119460, member: 25438" said:

Mark M, Grune dying centuries ago isn't a continuity error in itself because in Exodus when they're in the suspension capsules that journey took years, quite probably centuries.

Hmm, I dunno, I'm not sure how long 10 galacto years is meant to be, but I wouldn't think it was that long. Jaga piloted the ship most of the way, I would have thought he lasted a few years, but he was pretty old.

"LiamABC, post: 119460, member: 25438" said:

Interesting thoughts here:

First off, calling the Bruteman "Gnu-like Humanoids" - someone has to say "Gnumanoids"!

Then in "Trouble With Time" - yes, that angle of this signal being "especially urgent" was interesting and should have been explored more. Cheetara's sixth sense is a fair enough answer, and considering that she and Tygra were the closest thing to an item on the show, it makes sense that that would resonate with her too.

In Thundercats Ho - yes, that is an odd one, been gone over on here many times. I reckon that there were lines in the original script that were cut for time before it reached the animators. I know the same thing happened in a few episodes of Visionaries - especially "Lion Hunt", where a lot of explanation is cut.

Mark M, Grune dying centuries ago isn't a continuity error in itself because in Exodus when they're in the suspension capsules that journey took years, quite probably centuries.

"Booshman, post: 119464, member: 25641" said:

Hmm, I dunno, I'm not sure how long 10 galacto years is meant to be, but I wouldn't think it was that long. Jaga piloted the ship most of the way, I would have thought he lasted a few years, but he was pretty old.

It's a strange one. Jaga did say some aging does occur in the suspension capsules but its never fully explained why Lion-O ages and non of the others age.