Goofs
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Audio/visual unsynchronised (6) |
Character error (19) |
Continuity (65) |
Crew or equipment visible (8) |
Factual errors (6) |
Miscellaneous (9) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (14) |
Plot holes (4) |
Revealing mistakes (45) |
Spoilers (3)
Audio/visual unsynchronised
In the cantina, when Dr. Evazan says to Luke, "He doesn't like you," and "I don't like you either," his mouth doesn't match both lines.
Just before Alderaan is destroyed, Governor Tarkin asks the Princess "You would prefer another target, a military target, then name the system!" In the reaction shot of the Princess you can see Tarkin's mouth moving but there is no sound.
Back in the hangar bay on Yavin after the destruction of the Death Star, as Luke, Han and Leia are jubilant, C-3PO rushes to the side of Luke's X-wing. 'Anthony Daniels' in costume saying "Oh my! Artoo!" in the audio track. Shortly thereafter, C-3PO's proper "Oh my! Artoo!" (replete with robotic audio effect) is heard.
When Darth Vader says to Tarkin, "I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion," he then continues to gesture as if still talking.
During the heroes' procession into the award ceremony, the assembled rebel soldiers turn (either left-face or right-face, depending on which side of the aisle they were standing), accompanied by the appropriate sound of their feet stomping to complete the movement. However, only a few actors (visible on the left side of the aisle) actually stomp their feet after making their turn.
When Luke, Ben, and the droids first enter the cantina and Wuher the bartender yells, "Hey! We don't serve their kind here!" his voice does not match his lips. (See trivia.)
Character error
When C-3PO and R2-D2 are in the control room of the Death Star, the storm troopers barge in, and one hits his head on the door. This goof was highlighted in the remastered version with a comedy "donk" sound effect.
As Luke cleans R2-D2, watch C-3PO in the background. When Luke jumps back, surprised by Princess Leia's message, C-3PO slips off the steps (but recovers in time not to ruin the shot).
In the music in the ending credits, a trumpet overblows and hits a wrong note
"And these blast points... too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." However, as we've clearly seen (in Episode I) Sand People can easily pick off pod racers traveling around 400mph across the canyon floor. And also, the Stormtroopers' complete lack of marksmanship is legendary.
When C-3PO and R2-D2 depart in the escape pod, the gunners on the Star Destroyer who spot it remark "there goes another one," as if several have been jettisoned. Back on board Leia's ship, however, the officer tells Darth Vader that only one was jettisoned.
During the first trench run, a few seconds before Gold Five is killed, Red Leader refers to him as "Gold Leader". This may be intentional. Gold Five reports to Red Leader that Gold Squadron has lost two pilots - one of whom was Gold Leader. This may be Red Leader acknowledging that Gold Five is now the acting "Gold Leader".
When the rebel fighters enter the Death Star trench, they are instructed to divert power to forward shields to protect from the trench lasers. When the lasers are turned off after Vader and his escorts enter the trench, they should have diverted power to rear shields, allowing them to withstand at least some of the tie fighters' shots.
Just before Darth Vader appears for the first time on the ship a storm trooper is checking another lying dead on the floor, lifting his head. As Darth Vader enters the storm trooper quickly straightens up dropping the dead one's head. However he doesn't want to hurt himself so carefully lowers his head to the floor.
After escaping from the Death Star, Han Solo refers to the incoming TIE Fighters as 'Century Ships'. The script reveals the original line said 'Sentry Ships', which makes much more sense.
When Uncle Owen says to Luke that Obi-Wan "died around the same time as your father", Luke immediately says "He knew my father?". Owen didn't say anything about him knowing his father.
When Darth Vader strikes down Ben Kenobi, his cloak is empty the entire take. However, his cloak doesn't fall until he gets hit with Darth's lightsaber.
Han hides himself and his passengers under the floor panels of the Millenium Falcon, easily evading the Imperial search party. He also says he frequently uses them for smuggling. Yet he is in debt to Jabba the Hutt for dumping a shipment because he feared an Imperial boarding party, rather than hiding his shipment.
In the cantina scene, after Obi-Wan squares off against Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan, he severs the former's arm with his lightsaber. Afterwards, when the arm is shown lying on the floor the hand has fingers, as opposed to the other shots, in which Baba had round, fingerless hands. Also, there is red blood oozing from the arm, but it would later be established that a lightsaber strike would cauterize the wound.
When Ben and Luke are boarding the Millennium Falcon at Mos Eisley, the Stormtroopers are told to "load your weapons". However, their blasters would have already been loaded given the heightened state of The Empire looking for the droids and that Mos Eisley is a "wretched hive of scum and villainy".
After escaping the Death Star, the Millennium Flacon flies back to the rebel base. During the flight, Solo asks Leia about the information in R2-D2's memory. Leia right away blurts out that the data is actually the complete plans for the Death Star and they hope to find its weakness by analyzing them. Why would Leia divulge such mission critical information to anyone? She certainly wouldn't divulge it to Han, a proven scoundrel and mercenary with no loyalties.
During the duel between Obi-Wan and Vader, Obi-Wan twice refers to Vader as "Darth"like that was his first name.
Before Alderaan is destroyed, several Imperial officers make note that the Death Star is not yet fully operational. However, in Rogue One, the Death Star is shown to be fully operational, firing upon both Jedha City and the outpost on Scarif. In fact, when firing upon Jedha City, it is stated that only 1 reactor should be used as they don't want to destroy the entire planet yet.
When Luke and Obi Wan Kenobi are talking at the Jawa's Sandcrawler, Luke refers to R2D2 and C3PO as "Robots." All other times they are referred to as Droids.
"Jedi" and "Leia" are pronounced differently by different characters.
Continuity
When Luke is practicing with the lightsaber in the Millennium Falcon, his lightsaber blade is a very pale green. He turns it off to talk to Ben and when he turns it back on, it is back to its "proper" light blue. This mistake is only in the 2004 DVD release.
The windows of the TIE fighters are shaped differently when viewed from the inside and the outside.
In the first shot of the Millennium Falcon, the ship is missing its radar dish.
C-3PO sustains a dent on his head during the Sandpeople attack, but the dent appears, disappears, and swaps sides frequently during the movie.
When Ben gives Luke the lightsaber, and Luke activates it, the cape hanging on the wall behind him disappears while the saber is active, and re-appears when it is shut off.
As Luke prepares to board his fighter prior to the climactic space battle, he brushes his hand along the underside of the wing. The markings on the wing clearly indicate it is "Red One," shown by the one red stripe. However, during the battle it is repeatedly established that Luke is in fact "Red Five," and exterior shots of the spacecraft model have five red stripes. This is corrected in the special edition by adding the scene of Luke talking to Biggs. They start talking under red one and continue to walk to Luke's fighter. This scene was cut from the original.
The windows at the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon do not match when viewed from outside and when viewed from inside.
When Vader enters Leia's cell for interrogation, a guard takes position to the right of the door. When the floating orb enters the room, suddenly it's a different actor standing there (lips and position of chin strap are different).
When the Falcon is escaping the Death Star, they are pursued by four fighter craft. After three of the fighters are destroyed, what should be the lone remaining craft is next seen accompanied by another. The second craft apparently reassembles itself just long enough for this one fly-by, as it is not seen again (this was corrected in the Special Edition, as only one TIE fighter is visible in the shot).
When leaving the Yavin base, many of the rebel pilots are wearing brand new helmets. In the scenes that follow the helmets are clearly old and battered.
Princess Leia is in the trash compactor with her bright white robes on standing almost knee-deep in alien muck and filthy water (and metal junk which is oddly enough floating on the water). She climbs up on the metal chunks, as the compactor closes to almost the width of a human body (which oddly enough also hasn't crushed the team or been pushed upward much as the width of the trash compactor has decreased). Yet, when the trash compactor has been stopped, and they exit it, in the next scene, Princess Leia's robes are still pristine white, unsoiled, not wet and not ripped.
In the original theatrical release, when the laser bolt from the Death Star is fired at Alderaan, two separate explosions take place, not one, and some rubble that is fired from the planet during the first explosion disappears when the second explosion is taking place.
After C-3PO and R2-D2 escape from the Blockade Runner, the Blockade Runner has vanished from the Star Destroyer's underside tractor beam hatch. This is most evident in the last frame of the scene that shows the Star Destroyer flying by.
The blue panels on R2-D2 appear black when he is in the X-Wing with Luke in space. This is a blue screen shot which effectively makes R2's panels transparent. In the Special Edition, they left them as black but the newly added CGI X-Wing shots with R2-D2 are blue.
Just before the escape from Tatooine, Chewbacca puts his bandolier on a chair before sitting down in his co-pilot's chair. He is still 'naked' when during the lift off and when Luke & Obi-Wan enter the cockpit, but when they make the jump to lightspeed he is suddenly wearing his bandolier.
The Jawa that stuns R2D2 puts his gun into the holster twice in subsequent shots.
Even after Darth Vader's TIE's laser hits R2, he appears undamaged for the rest of the Battle of Yavin. He doesn't even appear damaged until the return to the base following the Death Star's destruction.
Just after R5D4 "blows a fuse" when the droids are purchased from the Jawas and C3PO recommends R2D2, we see R5D4 behind R2 (as R2D2 stands against the sandcrawler). In the next shot, R5D4 is once again beside C3PO being taken back by the Jawas.
When 3PO explains how the tractor beam is powered (in later versions like the Special Edition only), his voice is of a higher pitch than in the rest of the film, indicating an obvious dub.
When Luke returns to the Lars homestead to find it destroyed, in all shots from behind Luke (or from his point of view) the wind is blowing from his left; all shots facing Luke show it blowing from his right.
When C-3PO and R2-D2 take over the control room, three guns are leaning against the little window that overlooks the hanger. But in a few different shots, there are four guns.
A cloud appears over one of Tatooine's suns too quickly.
In the trash compactor, the metal bar that Leia uses to try and brace the walls is buried in debris. When she needs it moments later she is already resting her hands on it and it is easily obtainable.
In the scene with the oil bath in Luke's garage, C3PO is holding a rag. We cut away to R2D2, then cut back to C3PO, and the rag is gone. Then cut to R2D2 again and cut back to C3PO, then the rag is back.
The hologram of Leia that Luke discovers changes for one repetition as Luke and C3PO discuss it.
Red Leader's helmet mike switches sides several times just before he crashes.
When Luke enters the Yavin hangar bay, the rebel "bird" insignia on his helmet is a uniform bright red. In subsequent shots it's a dark, blotchy red and the insignia is outlined in black.
C3PO tells Luke Sywalker, as Luke is about to get his father's lightsaber from Ben, he is going to shut down if not needed anymore. His head movements change from shot to shot as he is exposed when Luke is playing with the lightsaber.
The restraining bolt placed on R2-D2 by the Jawas moves between scenes.
After their escape from the trash compactor, Han and Luke exchange their belts for stormtrooper belts and blasters. As they escape from the Death Star, Han sits in the pilot's chair wearing the stormtrooper belt, but when he gets up to go to the gunnery chair he's wearing his original gun belt and blaster.
C-3PO's head is fairly clean and polished in wide shots during the first scenes aboard the blockade runner. However in close shots, it is sprayed with dirt.
For the 1997 Special Edition, Industrial Light and Magic made CG models of the X-Wings (based on the "Red 2" filming model, Wedge's ship) and the Millennium Falcon (based on the filming model built for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back). Thus in the new, CG Special Edition shots, Luke's X-Wing incorrectly has two red stripes on each wing (instead of five), and the Falcon has the two extra landing gear bays on its underside it didn't *originally* have until Empire (it also has a slightly different paint scheme).
In the Death Star conference, the back of Tarkin's chair is higher in the wide shots than it is in the close-ups.
In a wide shot, it is dusk when R2D2 rolls through the canyon. However during one brief shot, it is clearly sunny.
Princess Leia uses R2D2 camera to deliver a message to Obi Wan Kenobi. The scene is a long shot made with a camera standing to her right. She operates whatever buttons on the droid and stands in front of it to have it recorded. Yet, when Luke Skywalker is cleaning R2D2 and the hologram is projected, Princess Leia is seen in a long shot from her right side. Exactly like the film camera shot the message scene, whereas the hologram should show Leia from the point of view of the droid, that is, from the front and in a medium shot at least.
Luke's sleeve and the position of his head and arms when he is lying unconscious after the Sandpeople attack.
The pitcher in Luke's hand while he is talking to Uncle Owen changes hands a few times.
In the escape from Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan is visible in the background, out of position, with a green light shining on his white shirt, making it appear green.
When Luke and his uncle are talking at supper he takes the cup of blue milk away from his face and in the next shot when he asks, "He knew my father?" the cup is at his mouth again and he is again taking it away. Also, the cup continually switches from Luke's right hand to his left and back throughout the scene.
Footage of R2-D2 turning his head skeptically during the Jawa auction is used twice.
On the way to the turbo lift to the detention area, the position of the rifle Han Solo (dressed as a stormtrooper) jumps from shot to shot.
Shadows outside the Mos Eisley Cantina jump around before Luke and Obi-Wan enter.
Direction of the shadows changes several times by almost 180 degrees between shots when R2D2 and C3PO are sold to Owen. Light conditions change simultaneously several times from bright to moderate and back.
In the shot directly before Owen approaches C-3PO, R5D4 is visible in the background in drive mode (body tilted, 3rd leg lowered). In the following shot, R5D4 stands straight with 3rd leg most likely retracted.
When Han steps off the transport on Gavin his blaster is in the wrong leg as the image is reversed.
Luke picks up C3PO's right arm from the ground, but when he and Ben lift the Droid he is missing his left arm.
When Han, Luke, and Leia meet the group of stormtroopers just after seeing the Millenium Falcon, Leia's hair is falling apart, but when they meet up again at the ship, it has been fixed.
Just after Leia has been rescued from her cell on the Death Star and says sarcastically, "Great Rescue!" as they are being fired at, her fringe is smoothed away from her face. The next time we see her part of her fringe is falling across her forehead, and in the shot after that it is back in place.
After Leia blasts a hole into the garbage chamber and jumps in, Chewbacca begins to step into the hole. The shot cuts to Luke, but when it cuts back to Chewie he is once again beginning to step into the hole.
There are 3 attack runs along the Death Star trench, the first was aborted without a torpedo being fired, the second run failed with the torpedo impacting on the surface which, judging by the way the Stormtroopers rocked about must have been quite some explosion. The third run sees the torpedo enter the exhaust port however the whole area should have been blown to smithereens.
When Vader is strangling Captain Antilles, a stormtrooper in the background holds his blaster at waist level in one shot and chest level in another.
Items on Ben's table as he watches the hologram.
The shrubs on the edge of the hole in Luke's desert home.
C3PO calls R2D2 his "counterpart", implying that protocol droids were supposed to be teamed up with Astrodroids. However, C3PO was constructed by Anakin with no idea that he'd ever meet R2D2 or even work properly. Also, Anakin was somehow able to program C3PO with thousands of languages even though he was a ten-year old slave at the time.
When the Millennium Falcon escapes the Death Star, Luke and Han approach the gun turrets through a ladder, like the turrets are on the top and bottom parts of the ship. But for the rest of the scene, they seem like they're on each end of a sideways tunnel.
On Yavin base, Luke's X Wing has a continuous red line on the side of it's fuselage both before & after the Death Star battle,but when Luke's X Wing is flying,the red line on the side of the fuselage is broken or'dashed'.
When the Detention Block officers directs the two guards towards Chewbacca, they each pull a DH-17 blaster pistol out of their holsters. However, once they begin firing, their weapons both switch to E-11 blaster rifles.
In the first run to destroy the Death Star, the bomb explodes on the surface and is such a big explosion that the interior shot of the hallway (@1:52) shows the explosion inside along with Troopers being tossed around.
The three TIE fighters behind the explosion do not take any damage and are unaffected. They also suddenly show up behind the final X-Wing fighter and shoot them down, even though it was further ahead and there was an explosion blocking their path.
The three TIE fighters behind the explosion do not take any damage and are unaffected. They also suddenly show up behind the final X-Wing fighter and shoot them down, even though it was further ahead and there was an explosion blocking their path.
Obi Wan's braided hair changes sides and it's length keeps changing.
When Chewie growls at the tiny droid in the corridor, his hands are cuffed behind him. Moments later, he is cuffed with his arms in front.
When Luke is being pursued by the tie fighter, someone asks red 6 if he can see red 5 (which is Luke). Red 6 was already shot down at that point.
After C3P0 fools the stormtroopers into leaving the command room, the tall one remains to stand guard. The blast door is not all the way up, and clearly at his head level (see Goofs). In the very next shot, when C3P0 talks to the tall stormtrooper, the blast door has now moved up so that it is clear of his head.
Ben Kenobi says that the Force is an Energy Field that surrounds all living things, despite learning from his Master, Qui-Gon, that the more midichlorians someone has, the more Force they have.
Lightsabers are weapons that generate bright shafts of laser beam energy 1 meter long. However these shafts of light do not cast any light upon people that they are near.
When Luke is walking with Uncle Owen to greet the Jawas (with their new lot of captured droids), he is called back by Aunt Beru. She reminds Luke about getting a droid that speaks Botchi. As he walks to the edge of the dwelling to answer her, his shadow is short and "in front" of him. When he reaches the edge there is no bright sun at all to cast a shadow. When he finishes with Aunt Beru, he turns around and walks toward where Uncle Owen is negotiating with the Jawas. Luke's shadow is now distinct, long and "in front" of him; where it should be short and "behind" him. Clearly, these scenes were shot at distinctively different times of the day even though only a few seconds have passed.
Crew or equipment visible
When 3PO is arguing with R2D2 about which direction they should walk, the camera and the dolly track are reflected in 3PO's helmet.
When the Falcon is on approach to the Death Star's docking bay, you can see the support prop under the vehicle. This was not corrected on the DVD releases.
Part of Kenny Baker's face visible through R2-D2's eye in the Sandcrawler.
When Han Solo is arguing with Jabba the Hutt, Jabba yells: "Come on!" and jerks to the left. As he jerks, we see dark crescent-moon object: Declan Mulholland's head, not fully covered by the animated figure of Jabba that was superimposed later. Since Jabba was re-animated for the 2004 DVD release, that is the only time it is seen.
When Han is going to the falcon,you can see the shadow of a crew member walk up to him.
Studio lights reflected in C-3POs head (at least 3) just before he enters the garage for the oil bath.
When the stormtroopers approach docking bay 94 and one asks 'which way did they go' studio lighting is reflected on top of the helmet.
When the stormtroopers approach docking bay 94, though intended to be open sky above, and one asks 'which way did they go', studio lighting is reflected on top of his helmet.
Factual errors
While the escape pod falls away from the star destroyer, both the ship and the star spangled sky are zooming out. However only the star destroyer should scale down, as the increase of the pod's distance to the stars is negligible.
When the walls of the trash compactor converge, the level of trash should rise. But it stays low until the walls almost touch each other.
Denis Lawson's name is misspelled "Dennis" in the credits, and was not fixed in the 1997 special edition.
All the spacecraft in all the Star Wars movies do not follow the laws of physics for flight. They move through space like airplanes, which have resistance to allow them to make sweeping, arcing, banks when turning. In outer space, this is not possible because there is no air to provide resistance for these turns.
When Greedo 'shoot's first' in the cantina & his laser bolt hits the wall next to Han's head,Han's facial expressions don't change.Factually he would squint & at least blink as a reaction.
Although much is made of Kenny Baker's portrayal of R2-D2, and what was involved in the casting, performing, and production of the character, there is nothing that R2-D2 does which could not have been accomplished with simple radio controlled mechanics.
Miscellaneous
For the 1997 Special Edition (and all subsequent re-edits) of the film, George Lucas famously altered the scene where Han Solo is confronted by Greedo to make it appear as though Greedo shoots first, thereby making Han's shot an act of self-defense (rather than appearing to sneakily murder Greedo). However, this alteration is in conflict with the dialogue in the scene. It is established by Greedo's dialogue that he intends to capture Han and take him alive to Jabba the Hutt. So Han's act of shooting Greedo, as originally established in the 1977 version, was purposely intended to be a sneak attack, not an act of self-defense. This fact is also established by the re-edited scene of Han confronting Jabba in the hanger when Jabba complains about Han shooting Greedo and Han countering that if Jabba wants him, he shouldn't send his underlings to get him.
When fleeing the Death Star in the Falcon, Han and Luke climb into gun turrets. Han climbs upward to one and Luke climbs downward. When reaching their turrets, they sit down as if they were back to back on a lateral plain. This would mean Luke would be facing downwards when strapping into the chair and possibly falling out of it. From the way the guns are positioned from the inside of the gun turret, Han would only be able to hit ships directly above the Falcon and Luke would only be able to hit ships directly below the Falcon. Any TIE fighters approaching from either the sides, in front or behind the Falcon would be safe from their fire.
When the Red team is checking off, they called out their numbers as "standing by" in a completely haphazard order. They should have called out "Red 1 standing by... Red 2 standing by..." in numerical order. And it's completely unbelievable that at least once, two of them weren't trying to talk at the same time.
When the Millennium Falcon comes out of light-speed, he runs in to a small, short range tie-fighter. As they chase it, Luke says that it is heading to the small moon. However, in order for the object to be a moon, it would have to be in orbit of a planet, which Luke should have seen from that distance.
Throughout most of the film, the lightsaber is shown to slowly ignite for dramatic purposes, generally at stand-offs. However, for a Jedi's primary weapon for defence, and using light, it should in reality always ignite instantly, as evident in the Mos Eisley canteen scene, and earlier prequels.
After the Millennium Falcon lands on the death star,the stormtrooper stood on the left that goes to help the scanning crew is missing the thermal detonator at the small of his back.
When the group comes out of light-speed and they encounter the short ranged Tie Fighter, no one bothers to go man the guns to shoot it.
Han appears to suddenly switch from a DLT-19 Heavy Blaster Rifle to a smaller E-11 blaster rifle during the Detention Block Ambush. However, the E-11 is visible in a holster on his left hip as he exits the turbolift, and a closeup shot of him as the firefight starts shows him passing the DLT-19 to Chewbacca before reaching for his holster.
After Luke is attacked by one of the sand people, on the ground his head is tilted fully towards the right, however when Obi Wan comes to check on him, Lukes head is looking straight up.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
When Vader is in his TIE Fighter in the Battle of Yavin, more than once you can see the eyes and eyebrows of David Prowse through the visors on Vader's mask. This is not an error because Darth Vader has fully functional eyes, which could understandably be revealed through his mask. In this film the lenses of Vader's mask are a deep red color which is not visible through most of the film -- the lighting requirements in this scene are likely what made the lenses more transparent. In the subsequent films, the lenses were probably changed to a black color to compensate.
During the final Death Star battle, Red Leader says, "Stay there, I just lost my starboard engine" shortly before we see his fighter get hit. However, he may not have lost it due to a hit; it may have had a mechanical failure that just came at a really bad time.
Considering what we now know from Star Wars 1-3, why doesn't Obi-Wan remember R2D2 and C3PO? We know C3PO's memory was wiped, so he wouldn't remember Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan should remember R2D2, and vice-versa. However, there's no indication that he doesn't remember R2D2, he only says that he doesn't remember "owning a droid", which is actually true to some extent. (See also the FAQ entry about this issue.)
After Greedo is killed in the Cantina we see him again crossing a street in the distance as Han and Luke are walking down the street. However, it's probably another alien of the same species, and they just look alike.
C3PO has been with Princess Leia's family since her childhood according to his back story established in later movies. During the skirmish at the beginning of the movie, C3PO says to R2D2 "there will be no escape for the Princess this time." (The script reads "There'll be no escape for the Captain this time," foreshadowing the next scene where Vader strangles the Captain.) Later, C3PO sees a picture of the Princess and claims not to know who she is. It's likely that it was programmed not to divulge any important information that may endanger the mission of the Princess, and the radio adaptation strongly implies this.
During the Death Star battle, you hear: "Red 6, can you see Red 5?" and a voice seems to answer. This is after Tono Porkins, who was Red 6, has been destroyed. But there is a hectic space battle going on with tons of Rebel and Imperial ships - and as a result, tons of radio calls. The response was likely an irrelevant call that just happened to get picked up at an odd moment.
Some viewers have noted that the Jawas' eyes are obviously just light bulbs. However, in this fictional universe it is possible that Jawas' eyes have coincidentally evolved to look like light-bulbs.
Although Tatooine has two suns, the angular distance between them is quite small, so only very large objects would cast two distinct shadows.
When first questioned by Tarkin, Princess Leia speaks using a "British" accent. She abandons this for the rest of the film. This is not an error, Leia was deliberately mocking the way Tarkin speaks as a way of insulting him.
In the lightsaber fight between Vader and Obi Wan, David Prowse's eyes are visible through the Darth Vader helmet lenses. However, this is not an error because Darth Vader is a man with fully functional eyes, which could understandably be revealed through his mask.
When Han jumps into the garbage chute it takes about 5 seconds until he lands. A simple physics calculation, distance=1/2 * acceleration * time-squared (for initial velocity zero), shows that this would indicate a fall of about 400 feet, which would have certainly killed them all. However, this does not mean it was a sheer drop and the group probably slid down a shaft (or series of shafts) which would break their fall before ending up in the compactor room.
When Obi-Wan talks to Luke about the force for the first time, there's no mention of "midichlorians" because they didn't exist back in 1977, when this movie first came out. It's clear George Lucas had a good overall idea of where he wanted his story to go, however it's also clear that many little details, including midichlorians, were added later on. Obi-Wan doesn't mention them here because Lucas hadn't thought them up yet. From the character's point of view, midichlorians are trivial and not significant enough to mention.
Han Solo is in debt to Jabba the Hutt for dumping spice into space when boarded by the Empire. When boarded by the Empire on board the Death Star, this time he hides his cargo under the floor boards. Why could he not have done the same with the spice? We don't know how big of a spice shipment Han had when this happened; it could have been far too big to fit in the relatively small hidden compartments.
Vader has Force Telepathy and so does Leia, so why does he need to inject her with a drug to interrogate her? Firstly, the Force only works on the weak-minded. Secondly, Leia's Force abilities were untapped at this time.
Plot holes
Luke and Han steal the stormtroopers' outfits, which fit surprisingly well and change on board the Falcon, but after escaping the trash compacter, they change back into their regular clothes, belts, boots, weapons and all before they make it back to the ship! How did they get their clothes back?
After blasting a hole in the wall Leia says, "Into the garbage chute, fly boy." At this point she has never met Han and couldn't possibly know he's a pilot. Although it is possible that he was pretty fly for a white guy.
When Princess Leia's ship is captured at the beginning of the film, it is established that the surviving crew and soldiers of her ship are taken prisoner along with Leia. From that point on, there is no indication, either by scene or by dialogue, as to what happened to the Rebels afterward. While it could be assumed that they were executed, there is no indication as to their final fate. However, they were presumably held prisoner on the same Star Destroyer that transports Leia to the Death Star and might have presumably been transferred to the prison on the Death Star, there is no further mention of them after the scene of them being marched away by the Storm Troopers. For the rest of the movie, only Leia's fate is known."
Given the knowledge of the technology in the story, when Star Destroyers are chasing smaller ships, ducking in to the atmosphere of a planet and making dramatic turns would be logical escape navigation patterns. The larger Star Destroyers can't travel in an atmosphere and in outer space they can not turn quickly.
Revealing mistakes
The arm of the crane supporting the floating torture device is visible for a second or two when it enters Leia's cell. The needle on the device bears the letters "British Made".
Vader kills Captain Raymus Antilles, and throws his body into a wall. The "dead" man puts his hands out to protect himself from the impact.
(Special Edition) On the morning after R2's escape the image fades up to reveal the deserted courtyard of the homestead. Uncle Owen is heard calling for Luke who, as we find out a few seconds later, has already left with his Landspeeder in order to look for the missing droid. However, a close inspection of the courtyard shot reveals a ghost-like image of Luke in a doorway to the right. He seems frozen in mid-stride and has been slightly blended into the surrounding set, thereby turning somewhat transparent. This strange cameo is not featured in the original release.
When R2 is being picked up by the Jawas after he is stunned and has fallen onto his face, a Jawa's sleeve pulls up revealing a portion of the actor's bare forearm.
Rubber sole of Chewbacca's foot visible as he follows Han Solo in the Death Star.
When Darth Vader releases Admiral Motti and he slumps on the desk, the force of the impact makes the whole set wobble.
At the end of the movie, many of the gathered soldiers are plainly cardboard cutouts.
Just before Leia and Luke swing across the chasm in the Death Star (and at other times), the "blasters" they are shooting are seen to eject shell casings. This is because the guns used in the movie are just dressed-up blank-firing prop guns.
The technical data that R2D2 uploads to the Rebels shows a schematic image of the Death Star with at the "laser divot" along the equator of the Death Star, not off-center like it was constructed. This is because the schematics were from different concept art of the Death Star not used in the final movie version.
When Luke tries to put the handcuffs on Chewie in the Death Star control room, you can see two holes in Chewie's mouth that let Peter Mayhew breathe through the costume.
Most of the times, when Luke or Ben ignite or deactivate a lightsaber, the saber is not shown igniting or deactivating; just the sound effect his heard. And the times when it IS shown, even though it is supposed to be one shot, the character or his/her body part is in a slightly different location after the weapon is ignited than before the weapon is ignited, indicating two separate shots.
After Vader strikes down Obi-Wan by the hangar door inside the Death Star, Vader's lightsaber is revealed only as a white stick. The lightsaber's red glow is gone and you can clearly see the white pole as the actors used it on the set. This mistake has been corrected for the CGI-enhanced special edition and DVD edition, but is still visible in the old VHS and Laser Disc versions.
In the Special Edition, as a figure passes in front of Luke and Biggs in the rebel hangar, R2D2's position jumps as he is being lifted up to the top of the X-Wing fighter (right side of the frame). This is a result of editing out a section of the scene where Red Leader mentions having known Luke's father. The passing figure is intended to mask the edit, but the jump in R2's position reveals the edit. This is mainly evident in the widescreen format.
During Kenobi's final lightsaber battle with Vader, Kenobi tips his lightsaber downwards, right before a scene change. The white "glow" that should be there isn't, showing the stick-like prop the actors used in filming. There is a small white light at the tip, too. This was not fixed in the Special Edition, but it was finally fixed on the 2004 DVD.
During a gun battle just before Luke and Han Solo escape down the garbage chute, some close-ups of Luke and Han show flesh-colored make-up smeared from under their chins onto the white plastic Imperial armor they are wearing. These makeup smears do not appear in longer shots, but show up in a couple of close shots during the scene.
When Princess Leia grabs the bar to stop the compactor, her hand puts a dent in the bar itself.
When Han puts his feet on the control board where Kenobi leaves them you can see that the boots of his storm trooper armor are really just normal leather work boots painted white.You can see the elastic fabric on the sides of the boots are still there.
The shot of Darth Vader dueling Ben and saying "You should not have come back" is a mirror image - the three silver buttons on his chest plate are on the right instead of the left.
When Luke first lifts-off in the X-wing inside the temple on Yavin, he hears Ben's voice telling him that the Force will be with him, always. The angle of the two upper engines is in the attack position. They did not lock the S-foils in attack position until they reached space.
One scene in the hangar on Yavin shows a technician assisting a pilot in a Y-Wing in the cockpit and then closing the cockpit canopy. As he does the the laser cannons in the nose roll back and forth slightly, revealing that they are not attached to anything.
When Obi-Wan activates his lightsaber to fight Vader, he is clearly just holding the saber so the long end points directly at the camera, and rotating it slowly to create the illusion of the blade appearing.
At the start of the Vader vs. Ben lightsaber battle, when Ben turns his on, a cord can be seen that runs up Ben's sleeve.
When Luke is searching for the runaway R2D2, a rope can be seen dragging a droid that passes in the foreground from right to left.
Leia blasts a hole in the wall to escape the detention level, leaving the remains of bars at the top of the hole. When Luke jumps down the garbage chute, his feet hit the bars lightly, making them shake, since they are made of foam.
In the Special Edition, when Luke and Obi-Wan first enter Mos Eisley, the shadows (real and CGI) indicate the sun is near overhead. However, the large CGI beast that is passed has a shadow that indicates it is several hours later. Shadows appear consistent after that.
Shot of Princess Leia and C-3PO monitoring the Rebels' attack on the Death Star has been reversed.
When Luke, Ben, and the droids are in the landspeeder approaching the stormtroopers at Mos Eisley just prior to the famous scene "These aren't the droids you're looking for" the starboard engine cover is clearly empty.
Upon their arrival at the Yavin Base, we see Luke, Leia, and Han Solo get off of the little car. Han Solo's gun is now strapped to his left leg, thus indicating a reverse shot.
During the raid on the rebel ship there's a brief shot that shows the rebel troops with the small radio attachment on the right hand side of their helmets, where else it is on the left hand side (indicating flopped shot).
When Obi-Wan and Vader's sabers hit each other, you can see dust coming from the poles they are using that are serving as the sabers. This is most noticeable in the Blu-ray release.
When Luke activates his light saber after Obi Wan gives it to him, the reflection on C3P0 only shows the hilt, not the blue blade
After C-3PO and R2-D2 split up on Tatooine, C-3PO has an oil streak down his right side. When he comes across the large skeleton in the sand, the oil streak has switched to the left (film was flipped). When he is calling and waving to the Sandcrawler, the oil is back on the right side.
Near the opening scene, when C-3P0 and R2-D2 cross the corridor barely missing fire from the stormtroopers, all portals of that type are not level with the deck. However RD-D2 rolls across as if they were level.
The shot of R2-D2 being prepped for reading the Death Star plans is a mirror image.
When Red 10 is destroyed, it's a different character with a different helmet. As he's covering Red Leader in the trench run, he states "I can't hold them", looks left and the camera cuts to the tie-fighter firing on him. As the camera cuts back to Red 10 just as he starts to burn up and explode, the pilot and the helmet he's wearing are completely different than that of Red 10.
During the Death Star battle, when Vader is in his ship, towards the end, the top part of his helmet, which is supposed to be attached to the mask part, clearly isn't on all the way.
A character at the bar in the Mos Eisley Cantina (a non-human called a 'Chadra-Fan') is seen grabbing a drink. It is possible to see through one of its eyes completely to the other side.
When the Jawas have captured R2D2 on Tatooine, and are about to vacuum him up into their Trawler, one of them attaches a security bolt to his torso (with a shower of sparks), and as the tool that was used to attach it becomes visible in the Jawas hand, it's obvious that it's a common 2 cylinder Microflame welding torch, formally sold (for many years) at Radio Shack, in the USA. No such tool should exist in the Star Wars canon.
The torch appears @ approximately 13:11.
During the Death Star battle, several times a space ship is seen "being locked on" in the sight device, whereupon the pilot starts to shoot. However, when the camera cuts to the outside, it always takes several salvos until the ship is finally hit.
In the 2004 edition, in the duel between Vader and Ben, Vader's bright red lightsaber is not reflected on his mask.
When Han Solo answers the communications link after killing the detention center guards, wood grain panel texture is seen on the side of the console.
You can see Darth Vader's/ David Prowse's' eyes during the trench run through the red lens on Vader's helmet. This happens when he gets behind the 2nd wave of fighters entering the trench with Luke.
When Obi-Wan turns off the tractor beam, there is an overhead shot showing the bridge he has the cross, the tractor beam platform, and the chasm below. The chasm was created by a glass matte painting. Obi-Wan's robes billow out over the lip of the platform that he was standing on, so this part is not covered by the matte painting. As a result, you can see the concrete floor of the set.
The Death Star control panel is actually a contemporary television studio production switcher. The lever used to activate the Death Star beam is one of the switcher's "fader" handles.
When the Millennium Falcon is on the Death Star and everyone is hiding under the floor in the smuggling compartment, there are two stormtroopers standing outside guarding the Falcon. Han yells down and asks for assistance and the two stormtroopers leave their posts and go running up the ramp inside the ship to help. Several blaster shots are heard and then Luke and Han change into the stormtrooper uniforms. However, once Luke and Han are wearing the stormtrooper uniforms afterwards, there are no visible blaster damage on either uniform.
Spoilers
Audio/visual unsynchronised
The visuals in both the Rebel and Imperial command centers during the final battle differ from the voice overs, for example when "the rebel base will be in firing range in seven minutes" is said, the on screen timer shows 20 seconds (and counting), and on the rebel side, the "five minutes" voice over is accompanied by a timer running at 16 seconds.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Luke and the other Rebel pilots have to fly down the Death Star's equatorial trench in order to fire proton torpedoes into the exhaust port. This is because the heavy concentration of turbo lasers will rip them to shreds if they fly above the trench walls. Yet Han Solo is able to fly to the rescue in a much larger ship, and the turbo lasers don't even shoot at him.
Plot holes
In the final trench run, only Han Solo thinks about taking out the chasing Vader and the other two Imperial fighters, Red Leader never gets this idea, even though he has three ships (Luke, Biggs & Wedge) doing nothing at the moment. Gold Leader and his crew could also ask for help from Red Squadron, who at that time have at least six fighters available.
