Continuity mistake: While Anakin and Palpatine are talking at the performance, in one shot of Anakin we see Palpatine turn his head side on to the camera and drop his chin to his chest. In the very next shot he's holding his head high. (00:43:25)
Continuity mistake: When Padmé is in her apartment and Anakin is in the Jedi Council chamber, they look out across the city toward each other. The position of the setting sun and the direction of its light across their locations is not consistent given what we are shown about their relative positions and the directions they are facing. (01:07:10)
Continuity mistake: When the clone troopers kill Aayla Secura, the blue-skinned Jedi, their blasters are held differently between the second and third shot. (01:18:35)
Continuity mistake: When Yoda's escape pod takes off you can see the flaps on the pod being pulled in. Two shots later they are pulled in again. (01:22:55)
Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan jumps to the high ground during the duel with Anakin, in the shot where he lands, his lightsaber is held parallel to the ground. In the next shot, it is pointing downwards, and in the following shot, it is pointing slightly upwards, and his left arm is positioned differently from the previous shot. (01:54:25)
Continuity mistake: When Padmé is waiting for Anakin by the column, and also when she's talking to him, the floor around the column keeps changing between shots. For example, when Anakin runs to her, the red area around the column is much bigger than in the previous shots. (00:24:45)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin is denied the rank of master and he replies "what?", we see a ship near the bottom of the window that has just passed the window frame. In the next Anakin shot, the same ship is once again just passing the window frame. (00:37:05)
Other mistake: In the final stages of the Obi-Wan/Anakin battle, they are fighting while floating over lava on a piece of metal. Just before Obi-Wan jumps to the high ground, we get a close-up shot of Obi-Wan (lightsaber pointing left off-screen) and then Anakin, (lightsaber pointing right off-screen) In this shot, Anakin's right hand is uncovered/real, and his left is gloved/mechanical, when it should be the opposite.
Continuity mistake: In the first shot of the scene where Anakin visits Padmé before going to Mustafar, Padmé runs past a statue on the veranda. In the following close-up, she passes it again. (01:24:20)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin goes to pick up Obi-Wan after the fight with Count Dooku, the floor is completely different from the floor seen when Obi-Wan was lying unconscious earlier in the scene - the pattern and the colours are different. (00:12:45 - 00:14:35)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin chokes Obi-Wan, the sleeves of Obi-Wan's tunic move up and down his arms between shots, especially his right arm.
Continuity mistake: In the scene following the crash landing of Grievous's flagship where the shuttle is approaching the Senate's "parking garage" (not the Senate building itself or the Jedi Temple as others have said), the shuttle is approaching a section of the landing platform that is void of any other ships. However, in the following shot, another shuttle with different coloring and larger size is in plain view. (00:23:45)
Continuity mistake: During the Sidious and Yoda battle, the number of missing pods off the wall isn't consistent between shots. Sometimes a few are missing, then a lot then back to a few.
Continuity mistake: During the Anakin vs Obi-Wan fight, there is one bit where they are balancing on a thin pole. The shot starts off above them and you can see that there is nothing underneath them. They take a few steps backwards while fighting, but then they both jump off on to one of the arms of the structure they are fighting on.
Continuity mistake: When Dooku uses the Force to throw Obi-Wan through the air, in the shot where Obi-Wan hits the ground and is knocked unconscious, he's not holding his lightsaber, nor does it land anywhere near him. When Anakin walks over to him later, it is suddenly lying next to him. (00:12:40 - 00:14:30)
Continuity mistake: When Owen and Beru are standing next to each other at the end of the movie, in the shot facing them, they are standing closer together than in the previous shot. (02:08:05)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the scene where Anakin and Yoda are talking about Anakin's premonitions the outline of Yoda's shadow change between the shots. (00:32:05)
Continuity mistake: After Sidious has killed the Jedis, he confronts Windu. Windu then starts backing out the door and Sidious follows him while pointing his light saber up. When it cuts his saber points down before striking at Windu. (01:08:45)
Continuity mistake: In the first shot of the scene Bail Organa, Yoda and Obi-Wan discuss the future of the twins, most of the holster of Bail Organa's blaster is visible, but in the next shot, most of it is covered by his cloak. (02:03:50)
Audio problem: When Padme is trying to convince Anakin to turn from the dark side on Mustafar, Anakin says "And I'm doing it for you, to protect you." If you look closely, his mouth says "And I'm doing it because I love you, to protect you."
Chosen answer: Powerful force users seem to have some degree of control over their bodies even after death. In the later series, Luke's wife Mara Jade Skywalker only allows her body to disappear when her killer, and nephew Jacen Solo arrives at her funeral as a clue. Thus it appears that a powerful force user can simply choose if they wish their body to disappear.
Darius Angel