MITM Mistakes / Goofs / Errors / Contradictions

Amigo22 · Mar 11, 2005

SEASON 1

Pilot
In the opening, we see Dewey's cold feet. Two shots later, his legs are in a different position.

When Lois tells Hal to raise his arms so she can shave his armpits, if you look at the bottom of the screen you can briefly see that Hal is wearing something to cover up his privates.

When Malcolm returns to his seat during the painting lesson he is empty handed, but sits down with bananas in his hand.

When Malcolm is at Stevie's house, when Stevie is talking you can see the boom mic poking out at the bottom left part of the screen.

When Lois hangs up on Francis before saying "Oh, I love you," it seems as though the line is already disconnected (as can be heard from the dial tone from Francis' side), but in a later shot, Malcolm and Reese are just about to hang up the phone.

During the playground scene there are only two or three rows of people behind Malcolm, but the aerial shots show more.

At the end of the scene where Malcolm defeats Spath, Malcolm throws some chocolate pudding on him and it is dripping off. A few seconds later in the wide shot, Spath has no chocolate on him.

Red Dress
When Lois is coming out of the bathroom, if you look to the left of Lois, you will see a crewmember kneeling down, handing Lois the red dress, who is holding a bucket of water. He quickly gets out of the camera's view.

In this episode, Lois tape records the boys singing and dancing and says she'll show the tape to their friends at their next birthday (key word 'next'). But in "Forwards Backwards" we find out that Malcolm and Reese have never had a birthday party in their entire lives.

Francis announces to the others that "They saved the TV", but Malcolm hadn't called him after finding out about the threat, so it would have been meaningless. (If my wording makes any sense)

Francis tells Lois on the phone that she can never let anything go and she says that she can too let things go. But in Season 2's "Traffic Ticket", she was the complete opposite with the ticket.

When Hal turns the TV on it is evidently working, but how was it wired up to the mains and aerial sockets?

Home Alone 4
In the cold open, at 0:09 Malcolm briefly looks at something not on set, as if turning to the camera too soon.

The fake studio ceiling of the living room is visible in several shots

When the boys run to the car to go to the hospital, you can see the reflection of the whole crew in the van window

When the front door is opened, you can supposedly see inside the house, but it is different to what the house looks like from the inside.

Even though Lois states in this episode that sending Francis to military school was their best decision ever, Lois eventually admits otherwise to Francis in season 6 episode "Ida Loses A Leg"

While Hal and Lois are driving to the wedding, Lois yells at someone outside, but her window is closed. You can see her reflection in her mirror.

Shame
Lois tells the Neighbours that they mowed their lawn in the middle of the night for 15 years to avoid talking to them, but in Flashback (2x25) they only moved in when Malcolm was born, who was 12 in Season 1.

Malcolm Babysits
When Malcolm is trying to get the TV back to the channel he was watching, he picks up a big remote and finds the channel the video camera feed is on, but the remote he is holding on the TV is a smaller one. It then cuts back to Malcolm who is moving his hand away from the remote he just put down and it's the bigger one again.

Francis Escapes
In the scene where Lois finds out about Francis escaping, there are three orange mugs hanging from a rack by the phone. When Lois reaches for the phone to call the police, she makes the middle one start swinging. She and Hal sit down, and the end mug has moved from the rack into a box on the kitchen counter. Also, the mugs are hanging still. Towards the end of the scene, the "fallen" mug is back on the rack, and the middle mug is swinging again.

When Dewey throws stones at the 'sasquatch', they would never reach Francis:
-They never go above Dewey's head height, which is lower than the fence
-They would never even reach the fence with the angle he threw them at
-Francis wasn't that close to the fence anyway
Yet the stones hit Francis with a downward angle as if they had gone really high!

When Hal and Francis are talking in the van, there is a pair of headlights behind them following very close, but when seen from outside, the car is driving down the rain soaked road with no car behind them.

Krelboyne Picnic
When Dorene throws away Lois's brownies because she's concerned about nonexistent peanut allergies, look right behind Dorene and there's a concession sign reading... wait for it.... "Peanuts"

When Malcolm offers a hamburger to crying Caroline, she wolfs down 2/3 of it, but after several shots it only has 2 nibbles out of it.

When Stevie is setting up his project, you can see his wheelchair is tied to the table. Two shots later, the rope is gone

In 'Forwards Backwards', it said that Lois is allergic to nuts. If that is so, how was she able to make the almond brownie?

When the Krelboynes made a run for it when Stevie's project explode, you can see a camaraman chasing after Malcolm for a shot.

Sleepover
During the cold opener when they're getting their photo taken if you watch closely you'll notice that when Dewey sits down on the chair he's sitting in front of the beach background even though Hal just changed it back to the autumn background.

Lois vs. Evil
At the end of Lois vs. Evil (Season 1 Episode 9) Malcolm speaks to camera with several children moving in the background. One boy doesn't know where or when to move and he tries to speak to someone off camera. In the end he gives up, shrugs his shoulders and walks off.I think the kid was waiting for a cue to walk to the drinking fountain (I think it is) in the background, which is where he ends up later.

Stock Car Races
When Hal and the boys arrive at the track, Hal says "we've got 4 hours of this." When Caroline gets to Malcolm's house she said Malcolm had been ditching school. But then, when the story goes back to the guys, they are still at the track. I wouldn't think that Caroline would leave the school to come and talk to Lois. And I also don't think Malcolm only has 4 hours of school.

Funeral
In this episode Dewey tells Francis that their aunt died from a cat eating her face (or something involving a cat mutilating her face) and we find out this is how she really did die. But then why would it be an open-casket if her face was destroyed?

Rollerskates
Reese is playing with a Game Boy, which has no cartridge in it

Hal ask Malcolm to read the list of names to the man that held him in his arms the minute he was born (or something like that) but in later episode Flashback we see that Malcolm was born on the front lawn while Hal was gone for a drive and even when he came back he didn't hold the baby (actually he just offered Lois the rest of his Slurpee)

The Bots & The Bees
Lois says to Spangler that Francis "nearly lost his life", yet later says to Francis that he "did not almost die"

Water Park
While Dewey stands on the table, Mrs. White (Bea Arthur) dips her finger in the bowl of chocolate and draws a moustache with it on Dewey. In the following shots the chocolate on Dewey's face differs.

When Malcolm pushes lois down the water slide, you can hear her going down, and then she reaches up pulls Malcolm and Reese down

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 2

Traffic Jam
When the fart bomb exploded and the kids tried running away, a camaraman is visible in a few of the shots

Look closely at every shot and you can see that the shadows from the cars are way off from time to time (probably because the shots were taken from different days)

At the shot when the thief takes a sharp turn into a dirt road, you can't see Dewey in the backseat. Probably like that because the turn was done by a professional driver.

When the family have got back in the car Malcolm says something like "who would have thought a traffic jam could be so cool, we should do this again". Well near the end of the sentence we can see Malcolm's mouth and it isn't moving.

Halloween Approximately
The calendar in the boys' room is on September, when the story is early November (shortly after 31st Oct). However, this may be intentional since when Reese confirms that Halloween is the 31st October, he lifts up the September page.

Lois' Birthday
Lois gives the boys $30 to spend on her present(s). The boys claim that the 3 dumb things they bought, totaled up to $8. later when Francis was arguing with them, he said thet they spent the rest on candy so the candy totaled up to $22. He later says that there was $20 worth of candy.

Dinner Out
When Lois and Kitty Kenarban (Stevie's mom) are at the table in the restaurant, while Hal and Abe sit at the bar, things on the table change position or disappear and reappear between shots. Same thing happens at Malcolm's table with Reese and Stevie.

High School Play
When Lois arrives home and discovers the Lego City still in the living room, she puts her bag on a table and it falls off

Hal Quits
In the scene was Hal and Lois are in the kitchen, talking about different kinds of paint brushes. Lois pours herself some tea. As Hal and Lois head back to their room Lois has the cup of tea in her hand, the door then opens (it's Francis) and when she turns to see who it is the cup is mysteriously gone.

Reese Cooks
When the girl Krelboyne is talking loudly, you can see her mouth barely matches anything she's saying.

During one of Reese's cooking classes, Hal puts some bread into a toaster. It then cuts to a shot of Reese. When it cuts back to Hal, the toast that pops out of the toaster isn't the same shape as the bread he put in.

Bowling
When Hal goes into the boys' bedroom to talk to Dewey, he is not wearing his glasses. But as he sits down to read Dewey a story, the glasses magically appear on his head seconds before he reaches to get them

The monitor above Hal's lane at the bowling alley reads Lane 15. However, the number above the pins indicates he is actually bowling at Lane 26.

Malcolm vs. Reese
When Reese was throwing things in the boys' bedroom, a woman's hand appeared

When Francis gets pulled over, his window is open and closed between shots.

Flashback
In the Cold Open when the boys are playing baseball on the street, production equipment is visible in the background

When Lois goes into labour with Malcolm, she runs outside taking Francis and Reese with her. When Francis says, "You're a liar, you're a liar," watch the back window of the car and you will see the camera and camera operator's reflection in the window.

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 3

Malcolm's Girlfriend
In the cold open, when Reese leaves the house his pants are briefly visible.

Company Picnic
Dewey's sugar problem is a major plot point, yet on multiple occasions throughout the series he eats ice cream (e.g. Hal Grieves (7x14) when Hal brings the ice cream trolley into their bedroom) and sweets (e.g. Smunday (1x15) while on the roof)

There are a few problems in the hockey game. First, when the fight breaks out and the end, the clock is still running and the game is continuing. Whenever there is a fight in hockey the game is stopped. Second, when Francis goes for the game winning goal, he pokes the puck in with a broken hockey stick. It is a penalty to play with a broken stick, so the goal should have been disallowed.

When Francis is dragged along the ice at the end of the episode, supposedly naked, his black trousers are clearly visible in one shot.

Hal's Birthday
Stevie takes all of 2 seconds on the phone to tell Malcolm about going to the Demolition Derby, yet he wouldn't be able to say more than one or two words in that time

While Lois and Piama are at the table talking, Lois asks Piama about her bracelet. Goin back to every shot the bracelet is in a different place on Piama's arm

Dewey's Dog
The beef that the dog was eating is not the one that Dewey ate at 09:45.

When Hal comes into Lois' office, you can see Craig in the office behind her sitting up straight in his chair then he gets up and leaves after staring at Hal for a while. When Hal turns around, Craig is lying on the couch sick.

Monkey
Lois seems out of character when she gets scared when the burglar breaks in. I know often people would get scared, but she seems like the type to confront the burglar.

The hat Reese dons while announcing his intent to become a cop says"MPD." The 'M' might possibly stand for Millbrook, the only town name mentioned in the series.

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 4

Zoo
When the Tarantula is put on Hal at the zoo, the shot is only of a yellow shirt with the tarantula crawling on it. When the shot changes to where they show the whole Hal, you can easily tell that the tarantula is fake - it is larger than it was and is in a different spot on Hal's shirt.

The goat Reese is fighting at 18:00 is evidently fake: even the markings are different!

In the last argument scene where Malcolm and Dewey are in the tigers cage,if you look over Malcolm's right shoulder you can see a man with a camera filming them.

Humilithon
Malcom says he was a krelboyne for four years, but he said later he was a krelboyne for three years (and he was).

Family Reunion
Hal says that his father was never there when he got dumped. But in episode 7, "Francis Escapes" Hal tells Francis he's never been dumped.

Forwards Backwards
When Malcom scares Reese with the horn while Reese is in the shower, Reese falls and we get a glimpse of the shorts he is wearing. Shorts in the shower?

The supposed "Amazing Spider-Man #14" that is featured is actually a copy of "Amazing Spider-Man #351". Craig calls it a 1993 reprint of #14, yet #351 is actually from 1991

Malcolm Holds His Tongue
While Reese and Craig are talking the cake repeatedly appears and disappears depending on whether we face Reese or Craig.

Grandma Sues
During the slow motion scene when Ida slipped on the leaf, Jane Kaczmarek is on the left and you can see that she's wearing her glasses.

When Hal and Lois find out that Lois is pregnant, they talk about ways to save money. Hal says that it wouldn't kill anybody if they stopped wearing label clothes. Lois answered, that they are not wearing any. Not exactly right because almost whole family is wearing Puma shoes.

Reese said that he never reads unless he absolutely has to for school. When Malcolm asks him if he doesn´t even read comics he answers "no". But in "Dewey´s dog" Malcolm and Reese are quite upset because Dewey´s dog has destroyed their comic book collection. So Reese DOES read comics.

If Boys Were Girls
When the boys were fighting over the pen, Malcolm punches Reese hard in the face. In many of the past episodes Malcolm really didn't beat people up other than a 7-year-old(correct me if I'm wrong). Plus Reese is supposed to be the bully, so wouldn't he just hit back rather than get scared of Malcolm?

Long Drive
Hal states that Malcolm was supposed to pick Dewey up at school, but the earlier episode "Humilithon" established that Dewey now walks home unsupervised. (Malcolm doesn't yet have a driver's license, so this can't be a matter of convenience.)

Malcolm's seat belt changes from on to off the first scene with him and his mom in the car. When it's a shot from the front it's on...but when it's a shot from the side (from the driver's/mom side) you can see that the part of the seat belt that's going across is now behind Malcolm, instead of on him like it was a second ago. This changes back and forth.

Kicked Out
Just before Francis smashes the keyboard of Otto's irritating cousin Willy, you can clearly see it isn't a real keyboard, or at least it has suffered some damage from previous takes, because the keys are loose and some stick out

Stereo Store
Flying pencils poked out from inside the box! The lead was pointing the wrong way.

Clip Show #2
Lois states that due to a staff infection she was stuck in hospital for six weeks after Francis went home, but in 225 "Flashback", Lois and Hal arrive home with Francis together.

Reese's Party
In the cold open, when Lois comes back outside, Hal's legs show he is on his back perpendicular to the car (as if working), but when the camera cuts to him, he is on his front parallel to the car (a completely different position).

Lois is in the last month of her pregnancy. This didn't seem to bother her and Hal. They had sex in the hotel. MITM crew obviously didn't know that pregnant women can only have sex before 4th month of pregnancy.

Future Malcolm
In the last chess scene of the show where Leonard and Malcolm set up the chess pieces on the board, just before George comes over and knocks over all the pieces to ask Leonard for money - Malcolm who set up the white pieces on the board, had arranged the white king and queen wrongly

In one of the scenes where Leonard and Malcolm are playing chess, after Leonard tells a passing guy to shut off the music he calls crap, observe the white bishop on the board. After a few shots, it suddenly disappears from the scene

Baby (Part 2 of 2)
When Lois is giving a birth, once the baby is delivered, it's totally clean. Just born children are always covered with blood all over them. Maybe they couldn't show it like that so it isn't too drastic or something but even though showing it perfectly clean is a goof.

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 5

Watching The Baby
Craig's badge is different, he has a gold one instead of a red one

Goodbye Kitty
Francis states he never killed anything bigger than a poodle to Otto, yet in Season 4 episode "Long Drive," he accidentally killed Otto's cow Helga.

Notice when the piece of wrapping flies onto Stevie's face. The back (with the dietary information) is showing. But when Malcolm comes to pull it off, the front (with the name and logo) is showing.

Malcolm Films Reese
The guys arresting the CEO are Hal's bosses from his flashback in "Company Picnic" where he remembers photocopying his butt

Malcolm's Job
During the baby drool contest, you can see Jamie turn his head and when he does, you can see the drool line coming from the other side of his head.

Christmas Trees
When Craig and Lois are talking the lemon lime drink can moves back and forth depending on which angle it is seen.

Block Party
When Malcolm is watching the Squaredy Cats perform, there are two shots for the scene - one taken from behind, the other from the front. In the front shot, Malcolm is clearly in the middle of the crowd (ie. There are lots of people behind him) but in the other shot he's evidently right at the back, so there's no-one to push past when he goes to watch the kids fighting with the Silly Spray. They swap between angles at least twice so it's not like Malcolm could have moved offscreen.

Ida's Boyfriend
When the camera shows Hal and the boys at the dinner table after finding out Ida will be moving to China, we can see a blue globe in the background. When the camera comes back to them a second time, it's gone

Softball
When Francis bashes Reese for his toilet seat grabbing record, the vapour trails of a plane in the sky change and disappear between close-ups and long shots

So-called 'secret agent in the making' Hal returns to the secret service headquarters to see the whole building gone. Yet in the frontal shots of Hal, we see an enormous shadow looming over him - indicating the building is still there.

Lois' Sister
Lois's sister gives Dewey a cotton candy machine in this episode, but in "Company Picnic" from Season 1, Lois says that Dewey can't metabolise sugar.

Malcolm Dates A Family
Stevie says he watched Abe torch his wedding album, but in Kitty's Back (6x05), Abe says he has a wedding album to tape back together.

Experiment
Dewey is moved to the Busey class in 5x18, so logic would have it he's still in that class for 5x19 - but in 5x19, Dewey's "class" are supposed to be selling chocolate bars. Given how the Buseys are treated and that they're given hardly any opportunities - Hanson is even rebuked for "learning something" - how likely is it that they're asked to go knocking on neighbours' doors selling candy bars?

Victor's Other Family
At the start of the episode, Hal and Dewey are talking about taking part in the father-son race. In the first long shots, Dewey is reading a comic magazine, but quickly puts it away when Hal starts talking to him. It remains next to him on the couch in all the long shots. Yet in all the medium shots on Dewey he still has the magazine in his lap

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 6

Buseys Run Away
When Dewey is reading a book in his bed, his head lies on the pillow. But each time the other camera show the 2 brothers, we see the whole head of dewey which is impossible if he's lying.

Pearl Harbour
Dewey is still in the Busey class during Season 6. Dewey's "class" are supposed to write a report on their personal hero. It is unlikely that special needs students would be able to write an essay.

When Lois asks Reese if he wants any more pasta, the camera is focused on both of them, and his plate is almost empty. However when the camera cuts to just Reese, his plate is full.

Malcolm says the family never goes anywhere or does anything, when numerous episodes show that they do (eg Stock Rar Races, Water Park, Dinner Out, vacation episodes), many of which the boys didn't actually enjoy

Hal Sleepwalks
Hansen's hands are in the motorcycle riding position when the camera focuses on Dewey, but in the zoomed view, they're at his side.

Lois Battles Jamie
When Malcolm blows up his chemistry set, The young actor who played 'Young Malcolm' looked about the same age as 'young reese'. Also the 'young Francis' looked about 1-2 years older than 'young Reese' and 'young Malcolm' when in real life between Reese and Francis there is about a 5-6 year age gap and probably more

Dewey’s Opera
Malcolm and Reese are launching push pins into ping pong paddles. When Reese picks up a new push pin it is yellow. When it hits Malcolm's board, it is white.

Amigo22 · Mar 12, 2005

SEASON 7

Health Insurance
Hal says that Reese is 17 in Health Insurance, but later in "Secret Boyfriend" Lois confirms that he's 18

College Recruiters
After Francis pulls a neighbours cable into his apartment whilst they are away, watch the cable miraculously move back and forth from two alternative positions during camera shots as he is sitting on the bed talking with Dewey

Mono
When Hal accidently drops a tray of biscuits that he's giving to Malcolm and Lois, he starts picking them up with that daft grip-thingy. When the camera switches back to Lois and Malcolm, one second later, all the biscuits are suddenly back on the plate.

sullie1505 · Mar 12, 2005

MITM Mistakes / Goofs / Errors

I noticed one mistake in season 1 without the DVD commentary that i later realised metioned the mistake. I saw this mistake when it was on TV but i forget which episode it was, but anyways reese was playing a Gameboy without any game in it. I thaught it was kind of stupid to make such a big mistake.

If anyone knows about any other kind of mistake in the show, please post especially if its from any other season other than season 1 because we are told about the mistakes in season 1 in the DVD commentary

admin · Mar 12, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

There are many mistakes, some bigger than others.

The biggest in most people's minds is in Red Dress, where you can actually see Lois take a wet dress from a bucket held by a technician!

There are loads more technical errors... I am sure others have some to share

daniel1985 · Mar 12, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

You want to check out the MITM section at tvtome.com. They have a section on all of the mistakes made on the show, even really small obscure ones which no-one would ever spot. It's really interesting.

http://www.tvtome.com/MalcolmintheMiddle/goofs.html

tjpeople · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

anybody know about tvtome - i mean it cover loads of shows and get tons of details such as all the goofs etc - who runs it? they must spend all there time on it!

Dewey · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

I'm not sure about TV Tome, but another great reference site: IMDB.com (for TV shows and movies) - is owned by the same people as Amazon.com.

yardgames · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

TVTome has separate volunteers for each show. For example, there's two guys that update the Malcolm page. If you're familiar with the concept of AllExperts, I think it's very similar to that in that experts work on their segment of the site. A group effort.

(Hooray! This is my 200th post!)

Gouki · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

admin said:
There are many mistakes, some bigger than others.

The biggest in most people's minds is in Red Dress, where you can actually see Lois take a wet dress from a bucket held by a technician!

There are loads more technical errors... I am sure others have some to share

I never noticed that bucket until they mentioned it on the DVD. Now I can't stop noticing it!

admin · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

Yeah, i didn't noticed it either until it mentioned it on the DVD!

NeCoHo · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

now it's like when ever you watch it on dvd, you pause, slow foward to the spot and tell everyone around you to come see it. it's impossible to not notice that bucket, how could we not see it before?

Amigo22 · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

I don't have the DVD but I have that episode, and I had downloaded it after reading about that mistake somewhere so I looked out for it and it's clearly obvious. I've noticed a few, I've got them in a file on a CD somewhere but not sure which one.

One I can remember from the list is in Bowling, where Hal goes to read Dewey a story. When he first goes into the room you can see he is not wearing his glasses, but then when he sits on the bed with the book he reaches up to his head, watch carefully and you'll see the glasses appear before he pulls them down onto his face.

Amigo22 · Mar 13, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

Even though each episode does not follow on from the previous one, there have been times when things have happened differently to earlier episodes, if you know what I mean. For example in Season 1's "Red Dress" Francis tells Lois on the phone that she can never let anything go and she says that she can too let things go. But in Season 2's "Traffic Ticket", she was the complete opposite with the ticket.

yardgames · Mar 14, 2005

Re: Has anybody noticed any mistakes in MitM

I don't think that was a mistake, that's a character of Lois. If someone told you that you could never let things go, wouldn't you refute it? That's what Lois did; yet, Lois is also the type of control freak who needs to fight the traffic ticket.

Amigo22 · Mar 27, 2005

Slip-Ups

Has anyone noticed any slip-ups (from any season) in MITM that you didn't already know about?

I have a list somewhere of ones I have found which I'll find and post here when I do, one I can remember is in Bowling in the scene where Hal goes to read Dewey a story and he's not wearing his reading glasses but a second before he goes to reach for them they magically appear on his head.

MITM Mistakes / Goofs / Errors / Contradictions

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