Continuity mistake: When Sarah and friends are confronted by the massive metal robot, smoke drifts out from behind it. Then in the next shot, the smoke has totally disappeared, and more smoke then starts to drift out once again. (01:12:50)
Continuity mistake: When Sarah is in Jareth's 'glass' bubble, as she lifts the chair in order to break the glass, the blue cushion has a perfectly straight seam, the cushion ties are tied to the back of the chair, and the wood underside of the chair is visible surrounded by the tubular frame. However, in the next shot as the chair goes through the glass, the blue cushion seam at the back is very crooked, the cushion tie is gone and the underside of the chair is completely different. (01:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Sarah initially takes a bite out of the peach, the bite is completely different when she is lying on the trash heap and then in the following close-up when she sees the worm. (01:04:25 - 01:09:55)
Continuity mistake: As Hoggle pushes the head of the big metallic robot off, it lands close to the left foot of the robot. But when the goblin is thrown out of the robot, the metal head is now by the right foot, nearer to the spikes. (01:13:55)
Continuity mistake: Sir Didymus (riding Ambrosius) is in front of the building with the hammer sign in Goblin City, when he quickly rides away shouting, "No. Not that way!" He is at least three houses away from the building with the hanging hammer sign, when it cuts to the many Goblin guards chasing him. Then, in the third overhead shot, Sir Did rides past that same building with the hammer sign - and now things like the sharpening stone table, the cart with baskets, etc., differ. (01:20:40)
Continuity mistake: When Sarah is dropped down by the hands, just after a pair said 'Would you like us to let go?' you can see some hands by the left of Sarah mouthing words but with nothing actaully being said. (00:28:05)
Continuity mistake: When the old hag hands Sarah her lipstick, the actual lipstick is sticking out of the tube. We see that it still is in the mirror shot too, but when it cuts back to Sarah the lipstick is no longer sticking out the end of the tube. (01:10:00)
Continuity mistake: Through the song "Chilly Down," a tree branch is seen, as one of the Fireys hangs on it. This branch is short in close ups, but much longer in wide shots. (00:49:10)
Continuity mistake: During the Magic dance scene Jareth throws the baby up in the air but when he lands he's turned 180ยบ.
Continuity mistake: When Sir Didymus threatens Ambrosius with no food to stop his retreat, as the dog walks back into the shot you can see the gray and white mixture on his head. In the close up, the dog's head is all white.
Continuity mistake: The two-headed axe the gate guardian grabs wasn't there when the gate closed.
Continuity mistake: As Ambrosius goes to cross the rocks, he switches from having gray and white on his head to all white, then back.
Continuity mistake: As the white owl flies in and around the room, it is flapping wildly, but the owl's shadow is flapping at a considerably slower speed. (00:11:50)
Continuity mistake: When Sarah and her stepmother are arguing at the start of the film, Sarah's hair is completely soaked from the rainstorm, but a few minutes later, when she's at her vanity table and her dad is talking to her, her hair is completely dry, and there's no way she could have dried it that quickly, even if she used a hairdryer.
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the "Chilly Down" scene, the firey with the long thin mouth and ponytail on the top of his head jumps on Sarah. The others gather around her. Then the chubby firey says, "Come on, Come on!" calling over another firey; however, all five fireys are in the shot around Sarah. The following shot is of the top half of a firey bouncing over on his hands, but this is the same firey that already jumped on Sarah and is still on her. (00:53:10)
Continuity mistake: When Sarah kisses Hoggle, they fall through a hole and end up in the Bog of Eternal Stench. They walk the narrow cliff for a while and then Sarah falls onto solid ground and finds Luto right there next to her. Then Hoggle falls. Somehow, without Luto moving, Hoggle ends up under Luto. Luto never sits down. He is pushed to the ground when Hoggle falls on top of him. His butt is on the floor before Hoggle lands.
Continuity mistake: As Ludo pops up in the tower of the house in Goblin City, the roof goes over behind him and stops as if on a hinge. A moment later as he calls the rocks, the roof is missing.
Answer: They are real. This is seen when Jareth turns into an owl and Sarah sees him fly out of the house. Further proof of this is when everybody that Sarah met were in her room and Jareth was looking into her room before flying off.