Waterworld

Revealing mistake: Right before the Smokers show up, you can see land on the left hand side of the screen.

Revealing mistake: When the Mariner hangs a man from a rope on his ship, the man jumps ahead a little: he puts his hand round his throat and makes strangled noises before the rope even goes straight.

rabid anarchist

Factual error: The Mariner's tiny gill-slits behind each ear could barely oxygenate a one-foot-long fish, never mind a full-grown human being. To accommodate his 6-foot body, the Mariner would need multiple 8-inch gills stacked on either side of his neck, at least. Compounding this error, the Mariner then draws Helen to safety underwater, telling her, "I'll breathe for both of us!" So, now his grossly undersized gills are oxygenating two full-grown human beings.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: The Smokers' plane is shown with every surface completely rusted reddish-brown. But planes are made from light alloys, not steel. They can eventually corrode - very slowly - but the film of corrosion is white, not red like iron rust.

Factual error: Regardless of the type of event that caused the ice caps to melt, Waterworld, as shown, is impossible because: A. Scientists have measured that if all landlocked ice (Antarctica, Greenland, and the like) melted, the worldwide water level would not rise by anywhere near enough to cover the whole world in water. B. The melting of the North Pole ice cap would have no effect at all on the worldwide water level because that ice cap is already floating in the water (try putting an ice cube in a glass of water and letting it melt. The water level won't change). C. Unless the event that caused the ice to melt also altered the earth's tilt, the poles would still be cold and would refreeze, lowering the water level.

Grumpy Scot

Factual error: The Mariner's gills that allow him to apparently breathe ocean water, are extremely unlikely. Even mammals that live underwater, like whales and dolphins, did not evolve gills. It is not possible for a warm-blooded creature to supply itself with enough oxygen using only small gills.

wizard_of_gore

Continuity mistake: When the woman is on Mariner's boat, you can see that her dress strap is on her arm, but when the camera goes back to him and then back to her it is on her shoulder.

Continuity mistake: During the attack on the Atoll, a smoker on water skis falls over while going up the ramp. The next shot shows him hitting the wall of the Atoll, but he is now upright again. (00:29:20)

Jason Sieberg

Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Mariner goes diving off his boat for sunken treasure, he fills a timer with a handful of small stones which steadily drop to bring up the diving equipment when exhausted. After the camera shows some scenes to imply time going by, you can clearly see the amount of stones fallen is equal to about ten handfuls of stones.

Factual error: The Mariner takes Helen down to the sea bed in a makeshift 'diving bell'. He tells Helen there is only enough air for one person. The depth they dive to is shown as quite comfortably exceeding 200m. (To save this turning into a science essay I'll include this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyle's_law). Regardless of suspension of disbelief, there is no way that a bell of that size would carry enough air for even one person at that depth for that long.

Factual error: When Costner spots the Smokers on their jet skis, his catamaran has no sails up and is dead in the water. He hastily puts up the sails and speeds away, outrunning the Smokers. This would be impossible in real life, from a standing start and light wind.

Continuity mistake: After the mariner escapes the atoll and begins turning the gunboat towards the deacon, we see the firing path pass the end of the atoll wall. A couple shots later, it shows four smokers on jet skis getting shot as they exit the main gate, which is in the center of the wall facing the attack and had already been passed by the firing path. (00:38:00)

Jason Sieberg

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Watch the movie again and look at where the boat is firing from.

Continuity mistake: When Mariner is knocked into the mud pit while in the cage we see that it does indeed sink. However as the woman and the girl are crossing the bridge to get to the windmill, the camera cuts to Mariner in the cage. The cage has sunk so that he only has room for his head and shoulders. Then as the woman and girl run past him there is another shot in which the cage is now further out of the mud and Mariner has room for the majority of his upper body.

Scrappy

Revealing mistake: During the attack on the atoll, a smoker on a jet ski throws a flaming bottle of gasoline at the wall. The explosion occurs several feet from where the bottle hits the wall, obviously a pre-planted charge. (00:28:25)

Jason Sieberg

Revealing mistake: The Mariner had just been ignominiously catapulted off the mast of his boat as a result of the tethering rope breaking loose from the circling airplane. In the scene showing him climbing back onto his boat land can plainly be seen on the right side of the frame. This occurs just prior to Helen saying: "Oh, I'm really sorry". (00:57:25)

MartyS

Continuity mistake: After the Smoker gunner on the Sky Boat starts to fire, the strip of red cloth flapping on the top of the barrel disappears then reappears between shots.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: After the Mariner rescued Enola, the Deacon and his goons collide. As the fireball of their collision comes up, their wakes are still visible. A second later, the fireball is still growing but the wakes have totally subsided. Not possible given the explosion is only several seconds old.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: When the Paper trader dies, he falls on the netting, with his hand on the tri-hull support. When the Mariner kicks the body overboard, it is lying completely on the support.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: After Deacon is done showing the crowd the girl's tattoo, he turns to face the crowd and puts his bottle in his left hand, which is also holding his cigarette. When the camera angle changes, the bottle is now in his right hand.

Bishop73

Helen: It's not what you think. They weren't after her.
Mariner: I saw what I saw.
Helen: What?
Mariner: No more lies. What are the marks on her back?
Helen: People-people say it's the way to Dryland.
Mariner: DRYLAND'S A MYTH!
Helen: No. You said that you know where it is. You did.
Mariner: Then you're a fool to believe in something you've never even seen before.
Helen: I've seen it. I've touched it. Dirt that was richer and darker than yours. It was in the basket we found Enola in.
Mariner: It doesn't exist!
Helen: Well, how can you be so sure?
Mariner: Because, I've sailed further than most have dreamed and I've never seen it.
Helen: But the things on your boat.
Mariner: Things on my boat what?
Helen: There are things on your boat that nobody has ever seen. What are these shells? And the music box? And the reflecting glass? Well, if not from Dryland then where? Where?
Mariner: You want to see Dryland? You really want to see it? I'll take you to Dryland.

More quotes from Waterworld

Trivia: The most remembered line from "Waterworld," "Dryland is not a myth; I have seen it," is never spoken in the actual movie.

rabid anarchist

More trivia for Waterworld

Question: Why did they burn the Mariners boat? Wouldn't it have made more sense to capture it and use it for themselves? They know they are gonna run out of "Go Juice" at some point so why not use the fastest sail boat to find dry land?

Answer: Most likely to make sure that the Mariner and Helen couldn't follow them and rescue Enola. They were trying to find Dryland and if Enola was taken from them, they'd never be able to find it. Also the smokers ship was filled with people and using the Mariner's boat and constantly going back and forth from Dryland to the ship would have taken too long. Better to use the ship they're all on and get them there quicker. Also, none of the Smokers could read the map that was on Enola's back.

Answer: If they'd have captured it and took it for themselves then they wouldn't have been able to follow them either. They could have used the Trimaran to find dry land a lot faster than using the tanker. Once they'd found dry land, simply go back to the tanker and tell them where it is so the tanker can make its way there too.

More questions & answers from Waterworld

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