Hawaii Five-0 was a popular series that holds a significant place in pop culture, captivating
audiences with its thrilling crime-solving narratives set against the stunning backdrop
of Hawaii's landscapes. The show, which originally aired from 1968 to 1980 and was later rebooted
from 2010 to 2020, showcased the adventures of an elite police task force tasked with maintaining
law and order on the islands. While Hawaii Five-0 garnered praise for its compelling storytelling
and charismatic characters, it was not without its fair share of bloopers and errors. These
occasional missteps only added to the show's charm and provided fans with behind-the-scenes
entertainment, further solidifying its enduring legacy. In this video, we’re taking a look at some
of the gaffes and bloopers from the show, as well as some interesting behind-the-scenes facts. So
join Facts Verse, as we present: This Scene Wasn't Edited, Look Closer at the Hawaii Five-O Blooper!
Switching Cars Continuity errors can happen on any show,
especially when they are first getting going. Hawaii Five-0 was prone to these, and early on
they seemed to happen a lot with the cars they were using. McGarrett, for example, would often
be seen pulling up to the police building in a four-door sedan. This is all good, except for
the fact that when he left in a previous shot, he was driving a two-door. But maybe only certain
viewers would notice the difference. However, a car changing colors is another issue altogether.
In the episode called “Cry, Lie” Danny’s car literally changes colors in the blink of an
eye. It starts out black but suddenly is green in the next shot. Now that’s a fast paint job!
Exploding Cars…sort of Not every show has the budget
to just blow things up whenever they want. And this seemed to be the case with Hawaii Five-0 in
the episode “Deathwatch.” Because while they tried valiantly to make us believe that a car exploded,
our eyes told us otherwise. In the episode, a baddie gives the keys to his car to his
girlfriend. But when she starts the engine, it triggers a bomb in the car that promptly
explodes. The only problem? They clearly only used a harmless smoke bomb when they
shot it. Because you see the car from a few angles as the smoke is around it,
and the smoke only blocks parts of the car. But for all the areas of the car that you can see,
it’s still in perfect condition. Not super likely if there had been a real bomb. But hey, you can’t
blame them for trying to keep that car in working condition to use again in another episode.
Shoe-Ins Safety is an important element on any set,
and you can’t blame an actor for wanting to wear sensible footwear to make sure they stay on their
feet. This is especially true if they are filming at a location where they need the extra grip of a
nice rubber sole to keep them from falling. But it’s a hilarious misstep, if you will,
by the costume department to have the actor switch shoes in between shots. In Hawaii Five-0,
there are multiple times that they end up at a cliff spot overlooking the ocean. And often
these were action scenes, involving someone running along the rocks. So clearly, from a
safety standpoint, you can’t fault the costume team for putting them in sneakers. However,
the problem lies with the scenes shot just before the cliff scenes. Often, the actors were clad
in non-sneakers up until the moment they were on the cliff’s edge. A prime example of this was in
the episode “Not That Much Different.” In it, the killer has on comfortable loafers for much of the
scene leading up to the climax on the cliff. But when he starts to jump down onto the cliff rocks,
he suddenly has sneakers on. So either this bad guy was a psychic who knew he’d be on
the cliffs at some point AND was somehow able to swap his shoes out in an instant,
it’s probably just a continuity error they had to be okay with for safety reasons.
Nice Necklace The costume department had
another small but noticeable goof in the episode “Savage Sunday.” In a scene in a hospital, we see
a patient who had been shot talking to McGarrett. Through the back and forth, the shirtless victim
has a noticeable chain necklace dangling across his chest. And then, suddenly, there’s a shot
of him completely bare-chested. It’s a bit of a mystery how that managed to happen, given that
there was no change of scenery, or moving around. Those are the types of things that might result
in the costume department forgetting things from one shot to the next. But in this case,
it was just a patient literally lying down and not moving. Perhaps they stopped during the scene for
lunch, and then the actor forgot to put his chain back on when they continued filming the scene.
Prison Can Change You This goof is one that
might be considered a plot point, but it’s hard to tell. The episode “Ways of Love” has
McGarrett heading into a prison, undercover. So naturally he’s dressed like an inmate and
added as a cellmate to the prisoner that he’s trying to get information from. This inmate,
who is the episode’s primary bad guy, starts talking to McGarrett as he enters. As McGarrett
introduces himself, he rattles off his fake inmate number. Which would normally be fine,
except for one big issue: He says a number that should have seemed alarmingly familiar to the bad
guy. That’s because it was literally HIS inmate number. So maybe the writers were trying to
hint that McGarrett was trying to think quickly, because he hadn’t memorized his own fake number,
and quickly looked at the other guy’s and recited that. Or perhaps it was a case of
an actor forgetting his lines, and reading a number in front of him. Hard to say,
but regardless it seems like the bad guy should have caught on to his ruse pretty quickly.
Nice Dress
Another costume issue happens in the episode Sweet Terror. The producers decided to have a
flight attendant greeting people as they board a plane clad in a lovely floral dress. It was
a nice touch of Hawaii-based authenticity since you do admittedly see a lot of bright
and floral dresses there. However, the flight attendants primarily wear standard uniforms.
It seems that the production team realized this, but a little too late. Moments later,
we see her helping a passenger. At that point, she’s wearing the more apt uniform of a flight
attendant. So in theory, she had one outfit on for the boarding process and another for
the flight. But that seems a little overboard, even for a flight attendant with her heart set
on entertaining the passengers. So it seems it was a standard goof by the costume department.
Double Weapon The editing department
isn’t exempt from potential bloopers. This was especially true in the days before all
of it was done on computers. So sometimes you’ll see something happen twice in a row,
which seems to make no sense. It means they probably were deciding between two shots,
and somehow both of them were left in. In the pilot episode of the show, McGarrett finds
someone who has been murdered. They have a knife still in their hand, so another officer takes it
out and tosses it aside. We then see McGarrett in a phone conversation about the murder. But then,
when the scene jumps back to the murder scene, we see that same officer literally
doing the same action: removing the knife from the victim’s hand and tossing it aside.
It's a classic example of a double edit, and they should have caught that before the episode aired!
Mystery Phone The audio and props
departments aren’t immune to goofs, and we can clearly see on in the episode “Samurai.” In it,
McGarrett hears a phone ring and picks it up. However, one distinct aspect of his phone in the
show is that instead of it being a normal ring, it was sort of a buzzing sound. So in this case,
we see him pick up the phone, and expect the sound to stop. But for some reason, it keeps
buzzing. Clearly, someone dropped the ball on the buzzer sound, either on set or in post-production.
Hotel Police? One interesting
thing about the show that you might not know is the fact that it was originally conceived
as being about a detective who worked for a hotel chain. The idea was that the crimes he
was investigating would have only taken place at different branches of that chain. But then
producers realized they would be limiting themselves when it came to potential stories
to tell. So they decided they’d have the protagonist be with the state police. That
was all well and good until they found out that at the time, the state literally didn’t
have a state police department. This couldn’t have been a deal breaker, but the producers
and the network decided they didn’t care too much about that aspect. Real or not,
they wanted the show to be set around the Hawaii State Police Department, and the rest is history.
Office Story In a little bit
of fun Hawaii-based trivia, the office they used for McGarrett’s office was actually in
what’s known as the Iolani Palace. It was the residence that the Kings and Queens
of the island chain used to inhabit. By 1968, when filming was going to begin,
it had fallen into a state of disrepair after not being inhabited for a while. And it hadn’t been
kept up at all. Regardless, the producers felt it would be a great location for an office. So
they helped partially restore it for the shoot. That restoration continued for a while, and these
days it’s in a much better state. If you’re in Hawaii you can even go on a tour of the house
Now it’s time to hear from you. What’s your favorite episode of
Hawaii Five-0? Let us know in the comments section below!