Continuity mistake: As Garth brings in the chair and orders the governor's torture, the pedestal fruit bowl on the table in front of Kirk keeps moving back and forth in relation to him and to the wine pitcher. (00:22:40)
Revealing mistake: When Marta kisses Kirk, her hands leave green make-up smeared all over the left shoulder and back of his uniform tunic. (00:22:05)
Continuity mistake: In Kirk's log entry, which he somehow makes from jail without a tricorder, he states that 5 witnesses heard him speak to the "spirits." This isn't true, and Kirk ought to know it. The crowd rushed in through an archway after he spoke to Spock and McCoy, and they were all too far away before to hear him. (00:10:50 - 00:26:00)
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - S3-E15
Revealing mistake: Due to the use of stock footage once again, Sulu's console viewer appears and disappears repeatedly throughout the episode. (00:08:45)
Visible crew/equipment: In the very beginning, the boom shadow is visible at the top of the screen as Kirk walks to Spock's station on the bridge. (00:00:30)
Continuity mistake: When Losira comes for Kirk, he's holding Sulu's tricorder with both hands. When the angle changes to include her, he has it in one hand with his right hand at his side. Cut back to a three shot of Sulu, Kirk and McCoy, and Kirk has the tricorder in both hands again. (00:36:55)
Continuity mistake: After Marta's dance, Kirk and Spock are sitting an inch apart behind the table, then a foot apart, then an inch again and so forth every time the shot changes. (00:16:25)
Visible crew/equipment: When Kirk is agonizing over the sound of Surak's supposed cries for help, an equipment shadow, possibly from a boom mike, skates across the rocks behind his left shoulder. (00:40:00)
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - S3-E15
Continuity mistake: The planet Cheron is blue the first two times we see it on the view screen, but when the Enterprise enters orbit, and every time we see it thereafter, the planet has mysteriously turned red. (00:44:05 - 00:46:00)
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)
And the Children Shall Lead - S3-E4
Other mistake: At the end of the episode, Kirk commands the Enterprise to Star Base 4. Earlier in the episode, there was an unsuccessful attempt to beam up two crewmen left on the planet Triacus. They evidently remain there to this day.
The Enterprise Incident - S3-E2
Plot hole: In the conference room, Spock informs Kirk that his theory of a Romulan cloaking device kept the sensors from detecting the ships. However, in S1:E14, "Balance of Terror", they figured out the cloaking device, and how it worked. Unless he was feeding into the deception, Spock shouldn't have had any theory when it was a fact.
The Enterprise Incident - S3-E2
Audio problem: During the scene where Kirk is talking in the briefing room, the director was obviously not pleased with how James Doohan said his lines. Due to budget constraints, instead of re shooting the scene, they simply replaced Mr Scotts dialogue with another one. You can see it since at one point his lips are completely out of sync, even on the remastered edition. (00:06:40)
Continuity mistake: On Memory Alpha, the viewer beside the dead man in the purple jumpsuit keeps moving from his left side to his right and back again between shots. (00:09:10 - 00:10:10)
Plot hole: The law officer who arrests Kirk recalls hearing Kirk call the "spirit" Bones. But he wasn't there when Kirk spoke to McCoy. He rushed into the scene several minutes later. If he's lying, how would he know that Kirk used the name Bones? He wasn't there to hear it. Even if he had been, Kirk did not refer to McCoy as Bones in that conversation. (00:10:50 - 00:19:50)
The Enterprise Incident - S3-E2
Plot hole: Despite the Romulan ships keeping a close watch on the Enterprise, when they beam the disguised Cpt Kirk over to the Romulan vessel it goes undetected.
Character mistake: Elaan says "If I have to stay here for ten light-years..." A light year is a measure of distance. (00:24:03)
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)
Continuity mistake: When Kirk beams down to the planet, he selects the front transporter pad next to the steps, and closest to the door. When he materialises in the replica transporter room, he is on the same pad. When the scene cuts to a view of the empty transporter room, Kirk is no longer on the front pad. The scene cuts again, and Kirk steps off the front pad to walk to the control panel. (00:00:30 - 00:01:30)
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