Film and Television
Some nitpickers specialize in finding mistakes in movies and television shows. These mistakes can range from very trivial mistakes that regular viewers don't notice, to very serious mistakes which disrupt the suspension of disbelief in the show's story for even casual viewers. The types of mistakes include inconsistencies or even contradictions between episodes in a series, to plot devices and oversights, to production problems.
Nitpickers will also be inclined to find trivia in a show, including possible "inside jokes" and "signature items" added by the writers or other members of the production team.
When a recurring signature item is found in a series (such as the occurrence of the number 47 in Star Trek), nitpickers will often pore over the episodes with great diligence to find all the occurrences.
Books have been published on the subject, such as The Nitpicker's Guide for X-Philes (for fans of The X-Files) by Phil Farrand. Farrand started with four books nitpicking Star Trek and two of its spinoff series, The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Since the beginning, Farrand has emphasized that nitpicking should be done "with good cheer."
Read more about this topic: Nitpicking (pastime)
Famous quotes containing the words film and television, film and/or television:
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“You should look straight at a film; that’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”
—Werner Herzog (b. 1942)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)