13 minor goofs from 'Hawaii Five-O'

Plus: The biggest mistake McGarrett ever made undercover.

Keeping up with all the action on Hawaii Five-O often requires your full attention. Between cops chasing criminals on the literal edge of a cliff to chase scenes that captured every angle of the drama, it was easy to overlook any minor blips occurring on the edges of your screen.

But careful viewers are aware of some of the smallest recurring mistakes the riveting drama occasionally made. These often involved the cars that officers like Captain Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams drove (or, you know, the ones they dragged out of the ocean).

Most of the small goofs we came across were blink-and-you-miss-it moments, but we found one that's such a glaring error that it made McGarrett look like a rookie! Ready to see all the action you missed? Scroll through this list below.

1. Leave in one car. Arrive in another.

 

There were many tiny slip-ups when it came to cars on Hawaii Five-O. Most consistently in the first season, McGarrett would often leave the department in a two-door car, then arrive in a four-door. But it was much more noticeable when this happened and the car changed colors. Here's an example from the episode "Cry, Lie," where Danny's car goes from black to green in an instant.

2. Cars explode every now and again on the show. Or do they?

 

If you peer through the smoke of some of Hawaii Five-O's most dramatic car explosion scenes, you might notice the car that's exploded has sustained no damage at all. In this scene from the episode "Deathwatch," a bad guy loans his girlfriend the keys to his car and whens he goes to start it, it triggers an explosion. Despite all the smoke, in several shots from multiple angles, you can piece together the evidence to see the car in question is still pristine.

3. The windshield's smashed out. Then it's not.

 

Here's another one that proves it's fun to watch the cars in Hawaii Five-O for minor goofs next time an episode's on. This car had to be pulled from the water it was sunk in, and when it's drawn out, water gushes out of all the smashed out windows, including the rear windshield. Later, once the car's back on land, the rear windshield is magically back intact.

4. People wearing sneakers in scenes on the famous cliff.

 

Hawaii Five-O returns to this scenic cliff location in several episodes, with rocky terrain that looks difficult to navigate even in hiking boots. So it should surprise no one that occasionally, you can catch a character's shoes changing mid-cliff-scene to get the actor in more sensible shoes, for what we assume was a safety concern. Here's an example from the episode "Not That Much Different," where the killer's wearing loafers for most of the scene, but once he starts leaping down the cliff, somewhere in there, he swaps them out for sneakers.

5. This necklace suddenly disappears.

 

Hospital scenes are fodder for minor goofs, too, like this one from the episode "Savage Sunday," where this shooting victim wears this noticeable necklace throughout much of the scene, but then just before McGarrett leaves, we see a flash of the victim in the bed, no longer wearing the necklace.

6. McGarrett has the same inmate number as the prisoner he shares a cell with.

 

In "The Ways of Love," McGarrett goes undercover in a jail, dressed as a prisoner. It's a great moment where he is brought to the cell, but his identity is withheld until he introduces himself to the episode's central criminal. But there was only one problem with his disguise. He accidentally chose the exact same inmate number as the inmate he was concealing his true identity from. Rookie mistake, McGarrett!

7. This stewardess has a dramatic costume change within the same scene.

 

For the episode "Sweet Terror," viewers boarded a plane where this stewardess greeted passengers in a bright floral dress. But then when she goes to help another passanger, she's suddenly wearing a much more traditional stewardess uniform. That's some quick-change skills!

8. This cat's eyes change colors.

 

Perhaps it's an illusion of the camera, but we couldn't stop staring at this white cat from the episode "King Kamehameha Blues." The cat serves as a decoy, and we see him closeup once when the criminal drops him into the gallery and then again when Kono discovers him there. In the first, the cat seems to have one blue eye and one green eye. In the second, his eyes are clearly both bright blue. Either it was a different cat, or we need to get our eyes checked.

9. This agent removes the murder weapon twice in a row.

 

There's also this tiny bloop from the pilot of Hawaii Five-O. When agents rush into the room where McGarrett has discovered a murder victim, the intelligence chief immediately tosses aside the knife in the victim's hand. The scene then cuts to McGarrett on the phone, and when the camera turns to scan the room again, we see the same intelligence chief reaching for the same knife, and tossing it aside again. That's some thorough police work!

10. McGarrett can't remember how old his sister's baby is.

 

Kids grow up so fast and he's a busy guy, but it's still a little weird that McGarrett can't seem to remember how old his own sister's kid is. When referring to the baby in this scene from "Once Upon a Time," McGarrett puts the age once at 6 months, then later, a year. Give or take, right?

11. McGarrett answers the phone, but it keeps on ringing.

 

McGarrett takes a ton of calls on Hawaii Five-O, and the way his phone rings sounds like someone pressing down on a door buzzer, and it's a sound that's usually sustained until he picks up the phone. Then the sound usually ends. But in this episode "Samurai," the buzzer keeps on sounding well after McGarrett has started talking. Whoops!

12. Let's play spot the reversed shots during chase scenes!

 

Chase scenes are just as riveting to watch as the shoot-outs that take place along the famous cliff in Hawaii Five-O. We see lots of different angles to capture all the drama. But in some of the close-ups we saw on TV, the shot was noticeably reversed in editing, and you can tell because any words or insignia is clearly backwards. Here in "Kiss the Queen Goodbye," you can see an instance of it with the H.P.D. pin on this officer's collar.

See also: Can you name these characters from 'Hawaii Five-O'?

 

Jack Lord starred as the tough and cool Steve McGarrett, catching criminals before commanding his underling Danny (James MacArthur) to "book 'em." But Danno was not the only one helping McGarrett nab the bad guys. There was an entire police station on the case.

Take this quiz and see if you can book 'em all.

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2 Comments

Roses4u 40 months ago
Hawaii Five-0 was one of my favorites. When will you be showing the reruns? Thank you
DoubleP1 61 months ago
About Episode 7 - Back in the days the airlines would have a different Uniform for the Hawaiian flights. The Flight Attendants used to Change them During the Flight after Service for arrivals. It may not be a goof after all.
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