Visible crew/equipment: After the Klingon vessel's attack on the Enterprise, while returning fire just as Kirk orders to maintain firing range at 100% dispersal pattern, the set's unfinished wood plank with grey paint drip marks can be seen at the bottom of the screen. Additionally, at the end when Spock goes to stand beside Kirk's chair (also when he walks away) the actor's mark can be seen on the floor by Spock's feet.
Visible crew/equipment: When Kirk is thrown into jail with Spock you can see the movement of the entire blue crash mat used to break his fall.
Continuity mistake: The Organians cause all the weapons to overheat, and everyone drops them to the floor. When Kor moves to the desk to call his ship, though, he's wearing his disruptor. It's gone again when he returns. (00:41:45)
Continuity mistake: When Kirk orders the crew to fire phasers; the exterior shots show the ship firing torpedoes, and torpedo explosions flashing out in space.
Factual error: When Kirk/Spock enter/leave the Council Chamber, the doors quietly open unaided (as though there were motion detectors in operation), yet the Organian culture - determined by Spock to be approximately Class D minus on Richter Scale of Cultures - would not have had such technology. A fact overlooked by Kirk and more importantly, Spock.
Character mistake: When Kor describes the effects of the mind-sifter to Kirk (who is still in disguise as an Organian), he says the machine would leave him "more vegetable than human." There is no reason a Klingon would reference humans while speaking to a person he believed to be Organian.
Other mistake: Kirk and Spock stun two Klingon guards, yet despite being unconscious, the guard on the left jumps from the balcony and lands feet first on the ground. If he were really unconscious he would have simply tumbled down. (00:36:20)
Other mistake: When Kirk is lecturing Ayelborne in the council chamber, the actor behind him is mouthing Kirk's dialogue.
Continuity mistake: Kirk has a sunburn on his face and chest (it appears to end partway down his chest-most noticeable in the scene shortly after his identity is revealed to the Klingons). First of all, how does one get a sunburn while flying through space (and one that does not match the pattern of the uniform). If one wants to explain it away as being from a recent Shore Leave or Enterprise tanning bed, the issue still remains that the intensity of the sunburn changes as the episode continues.
Deliberate mistake: When the Klingons post signs for their rules, they're printed in English. The Klingons have their own language, and people on Organia most certainly aren't English speakers. Even if the Universal Translator allows Kirk and Spock to hear in English, it wouldn't change the look of a sign.
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