Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Continuity mistake: In the beginning of Luke and Yoda's conversation, there's a cauldron hanging over the flames in the fireplace. In the shots facing Yoda, it is hanging higher up than in the previous shots. (00:28:30)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jabba pulls Leia's chain, there is a long shot as she leaps up onto his throne, and he is holding his wine goblet in his left hand, and pulling her chain with his right. However, in the very next shot (in which he says "Soon you will learn to appreciate me"), the entire frame is reversed. This is evident in Jabba's holding the wine in his "right" hand, his higher-placed nostril (which is normally on the left on his face) is now on the "right," Leia's reversal of her armlet, etc. (00:29:20)

redbaron2000

Continuity mistake: When Luke is to be executed, he walks to the edge of the plank, and his feet are side by side as he stops walking. But in the beginning of the next shot, one of his feet is behind the other and we see him take another step. (00:30:55)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Luke is prodded out to 'walk the plank', into the Sarlaac pit, he jumps off the board and springs himself back up. If you watch this carefully, you can see that only one hand catches the board and that just by the fingertips, but in the next shot both hands are springing him upwards. (00:31:20)

Continuity mistake: When the prisoner skiff is struck by laserfire, Han Solo is knocked overboard. A long shot shows him falling over sideways, yet when it changes to above the Sarlacc he is pointing straight downwards with his feet caught in the metalwork. (00:33:10)

Continuity mistake: When Boba Fett falls into the mouth of the Sarlaac, he disappears just before the beak touches him. (00:33:45)

Continuity mistake: When the Sarlacc tries to drag Lando into the pit, the tentacle is grabbing his ankle in some shots. In other shots, it is wrapped around his thigh as well. (00:33:50)

Continuity mistake: When Luke and Leia land on the skiff after swinging on the rope, Luke's facial hair is much darker than in the rest of the scene. (00:35:00)

Continuity mistake: On Jabba's sail barge, Luke gets shot in his mechanical hand. This leaves a large burn mark on the back of the hand, but when he swings to the skiff on the rope with Leia, the burn is gone. (00:36:00)

Continuity mistake: At the end of the scene when the Emperor and Darth Vader walks through the Death Star's hangar, you can see that the Emperor walks past a squad of grey suited commanders. But in the next shot there are only white dressed storm troopers and scout troopers on the right side of the Emperor. And if you compare the last shot in the scene with the earlier shots you can see differences in the soldiers' placements. (00:37:45)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Han tells Lando that he can fly the Millennium Falcon during the battle, when Lando says, "Would you get going, you pirate", his entire outfit is reversed - his shoulder holster strap goes the other way, and his rank insignia changes side too. (00:50:00)

Continuity mistake: When Han enters the cockpit of the shuttle Tyderium, as the shot ends, he is about to walk past Luke. In the next shot, he has already walked past him and has begun to sit down. (00:50:25)

Continuity mistake: When Lando says goodbye to Han, after Ackbar's speech, Lando's lapel pin/medal swiches shoulders several times. (00:51:40)

Continuity mistake: After the Death Star explodes, in the first shot of the Ewoks, a grey one is standing next to Chewbacca (who can be seen on the extreme right). In the next shot, this Ewok has disappeared, and another one is standing next to C-3PO. This Ewok has disappeared in the following shot, and a third one, who was nowhere to be seen in the previous shot, is now standing in front of Chewbacca. Also, C-3PO, Chewbacca and the Rebel next to him are standing in different positions between shots. (00:58:15)

Continuity mistake: When Leia wakes up in the woods, she sits straight up. In the next shot, she is still lying on the ground. This is best seen in the widescreen version. (01:00:25)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Leia offers the Ewok food, she holds it out in her left hand, but from a different angle it's in her right. (01:01:15)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Luke is riding the speeder bike against the trooper, the black glove on his right hand jumps to his left and then back again. (01:01:15)

ozwal13

Continuity mistake: When Wicket sits down next to Leia on the log, he's holding his spear straight up. In the next shot, it is pointing downwards. (01:01:35)

Continuity mistake: After Vader enters the Emperor's throne room to tell him that Luke is one of the Rebels landing on Endor, as the shot ends, he is just about to walk up the stairs. In the next shot, he has already walked up the stairs. (01:03:50)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Luke and the others are trapped in the net, the dead animal changes appearance (both injuries and actual appearance) and position several times. For example, the animal seen when they are in the net has a different mouth and a bigger area of white fur from the one seen a few shots earlier. (01:08:35)

Revealing mistake: When Luke is being fed to the Rancor, in Jabba the Hutt's dungeon, there are black outlines around the beast's legs, from the composite's blue screen special effect. This was edited out in the special edition rerelease.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This was not a "mistake". The outlines showing around the beast's leg were due to the limited CGI technology at the time the film was made. With advances in special effects in the following decades, the filmmakers were able to enhance the CGI quality in later releases.

raywest

But it is a mistake to show that the Rancor is not real, and the outlines show that. It's certainly not intentional.

lionhead

Not sure what you mean that the rancor is not real. Of course it's not real. The issue is, at that time, it was not technically possible to show the beastie without the lines showing. I classify a mistake as something that was not intentional. In this case, it was, due to the limitations of CGI in the 1980s.

raywest

More mistakes in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Darth Vader: Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side.

More quotes from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Trivia: When they were filming the scenes on Endor, Peter Mayhew was told to stay close to the set so no one would mistake him for Big Foot and attempt to shoot him.

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Question: How come this movie barely showed anything about Luke and Leia's mother? Luke doesn't even ask anyone what her name was (maybe that was hidden from Leia, but he can probably guess that Yoda or Obi-wan would know). I know we can assume that she was discussed off-screen, but they could have revealed a little more about her.

Answer: The Jedi are shown to have something of a blind spot in regards to matters of the heart. Note that when Luke confronts Obi-Wan over lying to him about his father's fate, Obi-Wan's response is haughty and defensive, and gives Luke nothing in terms of regret or apology. They're focused on their mission, not on how Luke feels. Why waste time, in their eyes, telling Luke about his mother? If they had their way, he wouldn't even know about his father. The prequels would make this more explicit, showing that the Jedi are conditioned from the beginning to let go of all "passions" because they could so easily be corrupted, and their inability to understand Anakin's emotions just contributes to his downfall.

TonyPH

Answer: Why can we assume that she was discussed off-screen? Luke's got more important things to talk about than who his mother was. Yoda dies shortly afterwards and Luke's understandably more interested in how Darth Vader, given that he's got to go up against him, can be his father when talking to Obi-wan's ghost shortly after. Not a lot of time for general chit-chat. Behind the scenes, at that point, very little would have been decided about their mother, as it would be irrelevant to the plot of the trilogy and to discuss her on-screen would have wasted time and slowed everything down.

Tailkinker

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