Continuity mistake: During McCoy's struggle with the orderly, only half of the plastic colored bottles strewn on the table are knocked off onto the floor. But when Nurse Chapel hurries over to tranquilize the orderly, the rest of the bottles vanish, leaving the table completely clear. (00:19:10)
Revealing mistake: McCoy's stunt double's face is visible several times during the fight with the berserk orderly in the sickbay lab. (00:19:15)
Visible crew/equipment: After Uhura asks McCoy if she'll become like Chekov, McCoy reassures her about finding an antidote. Then, when it cuts to Engineering, there's an actor's black tape mark and a chalk T-mark visible on the floor. (00:38:10)
Audio problem: Spock uses the intercom to call Mr. Scott who is in engineering. As the shot cuts to a side view of Scotty standing at the controls, he answers "Scott here" but his mouth or lips never move. (00:44:24)
Continuity mistake: When Kirk is being beamed aboard near the end, the crewman operating the transporter has a single lieutenant's stripe. But in the close-up of his hands on the controls, the stripe changes into the braid of a lieutenant commander. (00:46:40)
Continuity mistake: After Spock nerve pinches Chekov when he goes mad and he is taken to Sickbay, the Tholian ship appears and hails the Enterprise. When Spock says "on main viewer," the shot of Loskene is on the screen, but the back of Chekov's head can be seen when it should be in Sickbay.
Continuity mistake: When Checkov turns on the viewer in the transporter room, the Defiant is seen directly from the starboard side, when it should have been seen from the quarter profile port side, as it was drifting to the Enterprise's port side.
Audio problem: When Chekov goes berserk on the bridge, he emits a scream and shoves Spock. When Spock holds Chekov's face, the closeup on Chekov shows a scared look, and the original scream is played again, but Checkov's mouth doesn't match.
Continuity mistake: When Kirk, Bones, Chekov, and Spock go over to the Defiant, the suits they have on have a black support bar in the left side of the headpiece. When the camera looks down at the dead men and back to Kirk, you see the bar is on the right, and his hair is parted on the right. The very next look at Kirk, the bar and the part of his hair is back on the left.
Continuity mistake: The shards of the goblet Spock breaks change quantity and position on the table with the fruit bowl on it. (00:28:30 - 00:31:30)
Continuity mistake: Just before Parmen starts mind-controlling Kirk, McCoy and Spock, he presents them with three gifts. Kirk receives a large, gold Greek shield, which the captain holds with both hands, in front of him, as the lengthy scene continues. In the wide shot, Kirk is holding the shield high up on his chest, completely obscuring his Federation insignia. In subsequent close-ups, Kirk is holding the shield down low, around waist-level, fully exposing his chest and insignia. Every time the camera cuts back to wide-shot, Kirk is again holding the shield up high on his chest.
Revealing mistake: At the end, a special effects matte flaw causes the rear tip of the starboard side nacelle to vanish briefly as the Enterprise orbits Scallos. (00:45:50)
Continuity mistake: In the 40th Anniversary release of the complete original series, this episode opens with Scotty at the conn, making an extended log entry, wearing his third-season swept-back hairstyle, and it is very obvious that he is visually mouthing several completely different sentences than we hear in the audio. After the opening credits roll, we next see Scotty wearing his more typical relaxed hairstyle with slight bangs. It is apparent that, in remastering and editing this episode, they inserted footage of Scotty from another episode altogether. For whatever reason, it is a glaring mistake of both continuity and audio editing.
Revealing mistake: In the Enterprise lab, as a sped up Spock goes to move away from McCoy and Chapel, McCoy's eyes follow his movements rather than looking at where Spock was supposed to be after he "disappeared."
The Empath - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene inside the underground station, the bright blue mat under the viewer desk chair disappears. (00:00:55 - 00:02:30)
The Empath - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: The bruises on McCoy's face change configuration, color and texture between the time Kirk and Spock first find him and the scene where Gem heals him. (00:34:15 - 00:40:30)
The Empath - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: Gem's left hand is cupped around McCoy's right ear as she begins to heal him, but her hand keeps changing positions as the camera angles switch. (00:44:20)
The Empath - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: After partially healing him, Gem falls away from McCoy and lands, unconscious, perpendicular to the dais he's lying on. When Kirk and Spock rush over, however, she's suddenly moved several feet away and is now lying parallel to the dais. (00:44:50 - 00:45:35)
The Empath - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: During Kirk's torture scenes, the back shots have Kirk's arms stretched wide apart and yanked straight - the front shots have the chains going overhead and his arms are bent at the elbows.
Chosen answer: If they're in orbit, they're being pulled along by the planet's gravity well, therefore, impulse engines would only be used for minor corrections and would be "on standby" while in orbit, but not active. (Like keeping your car idling without revving the engine and creating plumes of exhaust).
Captain Defenestrator
Thank you for the info.
Movie Nut