Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman : mistakes…

Re: mistakes…

In the episode 'The Prisoner' in the first season, Olive is getting girls ready for a 'Hurty Gurty' (spelling?!) and Ingrid is one of them. Matthew buys up all all her tickets so that no one else can dance with her (romantic and sweet move!). When she thinks no one wants to dance with her she runs to the tent to cry and Matthew comes in and they talk and introduce themselves. Umm... they've already met! In an earlier episode, 'Law of the Land', Matthew is working with her brother Jan and giving them food for the work he's going to do. Ingrid comes over for dinner and is wolfing down the food because she's so hungry. Jan and Matthew kill one of Olive's cows so that Inrid and the sisters can eat. too much talk between them for them to suddenly not know each other!

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Maybe she didn't think he knew her name but originally she was asking what the bandana was called and I think Matthew thought she was asking him his name cuz after he said his name, she told him she knew his name


I just watched the episode on amazon yesterday

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In the pilot episode when Sully and the Indians bring the Indian Chief in to have the bullet removed from his neck. Watch Matthew and his movements behind
Dr Quinn.

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I caught a few continuity mistakes, but the one I just got was where Loren says to Dorothy, "I asked you this 30 yrs ago, and you turned me down" now when Dorothy came to town, Loren told Dr. Mike he had been married to Maude (Dorothy's sister) for 41 years. I hope Loren wasn't asking his wife's sister out to a Sweetheart's Dance on their 11th anniversary.

The problem with these mistakes is by the time someone notices, it's too late to fix. The show had many writers, and things get lost in translation, or some writers don't know the show as well as others, or some are just lazy. But someone should have been paying attn. Most if not all the time though they kept the story pretty tight to correct.

With all the sets, and locations, costumes and horses it's easy to get things confused. But they tried really well.

"I am a lover and have not found my thing to love"~Sherwood Anderson

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Actually, the title MD is as old as medieval times. Ancient Universities in Scotland conferred it. English and North American universities required a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery until the late 18th century (late 1700s) when the medical schools in North America switched to the ancient Scottish university model and granted MDs and discontinued the MB model. The first medical school in the US to grant the MD was King's College of Medicine in New York (now Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons)when the country was still the original 13 colonies of Great Britain, in 1767. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate with an MD from an American medical school (Geneva in New York) in January, 1849.

The PhD (Doctor of Philosphy) was not used anywhere even in ancient times for Theology, Law, or Medicine. It was the doctorate for those who did not pursue a Doctor of Divinity/Theology. Doctor of Law, and Doctor of Medicine. Even today, there is a PhD, a ThD, a JD, and an MD.

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When the train conductor got major burns from the train accident. Dr. Quinn refered to the reconstruction as plastic surgery. There wasn't a name for it when it was first invented. I don't know when the term was invented.

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busybook, this is from Merriam-Webster:

Origin of PLASTIC

Latin plasticus of molding, from Greek plastikos, from plassein to mold, form
First Known Use: 1632

First Known Use of PLASTIC SURGERY: 1842


Patricia

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Apologies if anyone mentioned these before, I'm adding them as I see them.

In episode 4, one of the prospective sheriffs said he rode with the Daltons, who were not till years later--I believe they were lawmen around the time of Huckleberry Finn (1880s) and turned outlaw later.

In "Cooper vs. Quinn," Brian was using bedsprings for his "ancient Roman" catapult. Metal bedsprings were barely invented in Germany by this time. They hadn't reached the United States, let alone the west. One estimate, on the PBS history program "Frontier House," gave the 1930s as to when they reached Montana. In any case, they were inappropriate for something recreating ancient Rome.

In "Cooper vs. Quinn," Loren gave Brian "one of them new yo-yos." They weren't called yo-yos till the late 1920s, previously to that they were usually called a bandalore.

In one of the episodes where Sully was hiding out in the cave, Brian was reading to him from "Huckleberry Finn," which wasn't published until about 12 years later.

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Here's a bunch of them that people have found (click on each season to see the "nitpicks"): http://www.drquinnmd.com/library/nitpicks.html

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Who gives a *beep*

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I added this mistake to the goof section, in the episode The Washington Affair (3x07) Dr Mike uses the word 'genocide' to describe what will happen to the Native Americans. However, the word 'genocide' was not conceived until 1948.

I had just done 'A History Of Gencoide' at uni so I picked up on

The only Abnormality is the incapacity to love

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Good catch! I hadn't thought about it at the time but now that you mention it I realize it was something that niggled at my subconscious, wondering if that's something they'd even have heard of in those days.

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Wrong. In the U.S., M.D. degrees have been granted since the late 18th Century (1700s).

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I just started watching it after so much time - it was one of our favourites when I was a schoolgirl. I gotta say, it's naive, sentimental, but still noble and relaxing. There is a lot of little mistakes actually, that if you don't pay attention, you wouldn't notice them at all. Right now I'm on second season. I can think of 4 now ... when the reverend shaves his beard, they are teasing him that it's because of a woman and no man shaves his beard for no reason. Earlier in the episodes he clearly shaves his beard (i just can't remember which episode, cause I'm like a hungry bear and swallow like 3,4,5 episodes at a time, hehe ...) In the middle of the season Matthew gets a haircut, then later (when the reverend and dr. Quinn get ''engaged''), he has the same hair, and later - cut again. (My guess is that this episode probably was shot earlier...)When Brian gets the operation, his hair is magically grown again in the next episode. And when Grace is attacked and they cut her hair, she gets the same long hair next time ...(don't really understand how people could eat her food, but not accept them living in the town). Also, where's Loren's sister ?!...
A lot, a lot of small things, and I'm sure that if I watch it again, I'll see 100 more ... Also, right now I'm the abduction episodes, and it really bothers me - why the hell the kids didn't tell the soldiers that their mom is out there with Sully, trying to reach the woman with the broken leg (who the soldiers just took to the clinic) ?!?! They could save her. Instead, Matthew decides to ride out there. It is a bit stupid, and they could find another way for dr. Quinn to be abducted. :)

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There are many episodes during season 2 I believe that were filmed out of order, Matthews hait goes from long to short back to long again in alternating episodes.

Also the new Colleen, Jessica Bowman, takes over in season 3 episode 15, but then in episode 22 the original Colleen is back. Super wierd.

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Re. the plastic surgery - I also thought that was wrong but apparently it was around at that time. However I am dubious if Doctor Mike could have transformed him as much as she did back then. Even these days those kinds of burns would be difficult to fix. Also Halloween - I'm not American but was it a big thing in the west in those days? It seemed like a very modern Halloween.

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There are many factual time mistakes. I am just rewatching, and only beginning the 3rd season, but in Where the Heart Is, I believe it is in part 2, and the second song where people are dancing...it is a waltz called Barcarolle from the opera Tales of Hoffman, which did not premiere until 1881 in Paris.

I don't remember which episode, but in an early one, there is a flyer on the wall of Mr. Bray's store, I believe, announcing an Ocsar Wilde appearance. Wilde did not come to America until 1882.

I'm sure there are other factual time errors made, but one of the problems seems to be that no one is sure what year it is in the series. There were newspapers dated 1867, 1868, and I think when David came back, he had been missing for 7 years, yet he says he was injured and taken to Andersonville Prison, which did not open until 1864. The time/date of the series is very confusing to me.

Possibly though, what bothers me the most is the grammar that the children use. With Dr. Quinn being so educated, and desiring that the children have a good future, I cannot believe that she would not have taught them correct grammar.

I do love this series, and I know some people seem to see all of this as complaining. The writing in some episodes feels like it was done by a teenager, or was taken from some book that I would have read in elementary school. But, with all of the mistakes, which most are still hard to believe because they are so blatant, this is still an excellent family show.

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It is excellent, and it's also good to remember it was fiction. They didn't have time throwing together what amounted to half a movie a week and fact check every date and historical figure to make sure it was exactly correctly used. Even those of us who have watched the entire series numerous times couldn't possibly remember there even was an announcement of an Oscar Wilde appearance or that Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman wasn't written yet, and I'm a singer in an opera chorus so it's not that I'm not familiar with the genre. These little details don't matter.

I have always taken some issue with the idea that this is a family show, however. Seems to me they dealt with some very serious and adult issues, from drug addiction to child abuse to rape to capital punishment to what happened in slavery and the Civil War. It was centered around a family, and I think most older kids could handle most of the stories, but to think of it as a kiddie show, which is the implication when you use the term family, I just find a little hard to swallow. Just sayin'...


"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

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Wendy, that is a very good point about some of the story lines not being appropriate for all ages!!! When I said family show, I was thinking of the difference between DQMW and the shows on television now. DQMW was, for the most part, a morally good historical drama.

I wasn't "complaining" about the many things that are out of time. Just pointing them out and joining in on the discussion. I have watched many hour long shows that just don't have all of the obvious mistakes. Perhaps DQMW didn't have the budget. Even with all of the mistakes listed in this discussion, it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of DQMW. As many of us have watched the series over and over, you start to notice everything! :)

P.S. Love your picture of Aidan!!!




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Ah, you had me at Aidan! LOL That's one of my favorite pictures of him though there are many good ones so it was hard to choose. 😍

No problem, I've noticed some things, too, but I will say, from what I understand about DQ, it was a very expensive show to produce. They had a huge cast what with all the regulars and all the extras that showed up in just about every episode, and then there were the horses and other animals that had to be maintained, plus costumes rented or made, a musical score par excellence, Jane Seymour (I'm sure she commanded a large salary), famous guest stars, and the crew trying to film on a set that wasn't closed but exposed to all the elements. So if there were some slipups, oh well. I've watched the whole series multiple times but never noticed what you did. You must be very observant. ::snicker::


"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

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Hehe, I think I noticed them this time because I am really sick right now, and not in the best mood!!!! 😩 It has really amazed me that I noticed this. I am usually that one person who never sees anything except the characters!!! They also had to deal with that horrible fire!

Who cares? Let's talk about Aidan! 😀

Amen to favorite picture of Aidan!!! 😉

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Ah, yes, let's talk about Aidan! LOL

But before I do, let me just say I've been told that there's at least one episode where there was a car somewhere in the background. And also, a horse was peeing at one point. I never noticed either. I don't know how many times I saw one of the episodes before I noticed a huge contrail across the sky. I thought that was pretty hilarious. Well, all I can say is stuff happens. ::snicker::

I was a huge Joe Lando fan for a long time (I even drove 6 hours to LA to meet him once), until I watched Poldark last year and found Aidan Turner. He's an amazing actor, and the best thing about him is he's only 33 and will remain gorgeous for the rest of my life. 😆 I'm so happy season two of Poldark is going to be running starting September 25. I'm sure it'll be great from what I've seen of the trailer. I've often said anyone who loves Dr. Quinn would love Poldark. It's somewhat similar in that it involves a romance between people of two different classes, there are beautiful horses, and there are interesting medical procedures that were even more primitive than in Dr. Quinn, but anyone who is interested in medical history might find this interesting. Also, the music is fabulous! (One of the draws of Dr. Quinn for me was William Olvis's beautiful music.) At any rate, good to find another fan of Aidan Turner. I think he has a long career ahead. He's still not out of the running to play the next James Bond. That says a lot, imho.


"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

Re: mistakes…


I have always taken some issue with the idea that this is a family show, however. Seems to me they dealt with some very serious and adult issues, from drug addiction to child abuse to rape to capital punishment to what happened in slavery and the Civil War. It was centered around a family, and I think most older kids could handle most of the stories, but to think of it as a kiddie show, which is the implication when you use the term family, I just find a little hard to swallow. Just sayin'...

Don't forget about how they dealt with prostitution, various diseases and the treatment of the Native Americans in a realistic manner. So yeah, as much as I love this show, it will be many years before I introduce it to my little niece, who is 3 ½ years old at the moment.

Intelligence and purity.

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Exactly. I think these historical problems are good to know about since most of us Americans could use a little humility when it comes to our history, but the kiddies shouldn't be exposed to it until they're at least eight, imho.


"How was the war, sir?"
"As any war, ma'am, a waste of good men." (Poldark)

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IN EPISODE THE OPERATION WHILE DR 'MIKE' IS PERFORMING BRAIN SURGERY ON BRIAN AT THE BUILDING SITE THERE IS A BLOND BOY WHO IS BRIAN'S SIZE, IT LOOKS LIKE HE IS WEARING ONE OF BRIAN'S SUITS, I KNOW IT CAN'T BE BRIAN AS HE IS THE ONE BEING OPERATED ON BUT IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE HIM.
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