27th Aug 2001
Continuity mistake: When one of the stormtroopers unties Han Solo before he is put into the carbonite, watch his wardrobe - he has a disappearing / reappearing jacket on. This is fixed to an extent on the DVD - the jacket is now lightened to almost match his shirt, but it's still shiny like leather. (01:32:05)
Continuity mistake: As already noted in another mistake, when Han is about to be frozen in carbonite, his jacket appears and disappears between shots. This jacket can also be seen when Lando says, "You're being put into carbon freeze." This shot was not fixed in the DVD. (01:35:05)
Suggested correction: That is a shadow, giving the illusion it's a jacket.
Corrected entry: In the Emperor's rewritten dialogue for the special edition in the holographic scene with Darth Vader, he tells Vader that "the young Jedi who destroyed the Death Star is the son of Anakin Skywalker," which draws disbelief from Vader - but earlier in the film Darth Vader said, "The rebels are there, and Skywalker is with them." In other words, he already knew who Luke is.
Correction: Vader has learned, courtesy of Imperial Intelligence, that the pilot who destroyed the Death Star is called Skywalker, a surname that, for all we know, may be a common one on Tatooine. It's quite a big leap between knowing the name and realising that this is actually his own son, as he believes that his child died with his mother before he could be born. Some disbelief on his part is entirely justifiable.
Also, according to issue 6 of the canon Marvel comic series "Star Wars: Darth Vader" from 2015, Vader learns the rebel pilot's name shortly after the events of the first Star Wars film. He immediately realises that Luke is his son and vows to recruit him and claim the Empire for his own. He keeps Luke's identity a secret from the Emperor, who does not find out until much later (this is revealed in the 2020 short story collection "From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back").
Corrected entry: After Luke's hand is cut off, he squeezes his forearm under his left armpit, and in the first shot of him clutching a pole, the knuckles of Mark Hamill's hand can be seen through his shirt, under his left arm. (01:46:00)
Correction: The first time I watched this, I thought so too, until I noticed that the distance between his right elbow and the supposed knuckles is far too big to be Mark Hamill's lower arm. What looks like the knuckles under his jacket are merely parts of his torn jacket; as you can see in several shots of this iconic scene, it got pretty damaged during the fight.
Suggested correction: It just looks like a jacket because it's a shadow.
That is incorrect. You can see the contrast between the jacket and the shirt, with the white collar of his shirt sticking out of the brown jacket.
Catwalk ★
The shadow isn't touching all of the shoulders, which gives the illusion that there is a jacket on him, but there isn't.
That is plain wrong. Real shadows do not look like that. They do not have that colour, and do not mould themselves around a person's neck like that. It is a jacket.
Catwalk ★