Continuity mistake: Kirk and the others are beamed down to the planet, and when the Enterprise crew are led into Mudd's throne room by two Alice androids (the Alice series are 500 identical androids) they are wearing the usual metallic, backless, kitten heel slip-ons, but in the next shot android Alice at the left is now wearing altogether different shoes - cream color with ankle-straps. (00:09:30)
Visible crew/equipment: While Kirk and Spock are being chased, McCoy hears the gunfire so he stands up and walks away from the rock, then just as McCoy stops to use his communicator to contact Enterprise, the ground microphone is visible at the bottom, left corner of the screen. (00:02:30)
Visible crew/equipment: After Kirk hits Kras with an arrow Spock's arrow hits a Capellan on the cliff, and when the Capellan falls into the bush, a crew member wearing sunglasses and a white T-shirt is visible at the left side of the screen. (00:43:50)
Visible crew/equipment: After Garrovick is relieved of his duties, Kirk tells McCoy and Spock to make comments and recommendations in their reports, then Garrovick returns to his quarters. Just as Kirk exits the turbo lift on the bridge, the boom mic is visible at the top, left side of the screen. Then when Kirk apologizes to Scotty, in the next wide shot two pieces of filming equipment are visible at the top of the screen. (00:17:20)
Where No Man Has Gone Before - S1-E4
Character mistake: When Sulu is explaining the mathematics of Gary Mitchell's powers getting stronger, he says they are increasing "Geometrically", and then uses the popular example of doubling a penny every day for a month. What Sulu is describing would actually be exponentially. (00:24:14)
Operation -- Annihilate! - S1-E30
Revealing mistake: While Spock and Kirk discuss the phaser resistant creatures, Kirk declares that it may be a trap and to move out. When one of the flying parasitic creatures attacks Spock, in his first closeup just as Spock turns around we can see the thin wire leading from the creature to the right side of the screen, and the wire also casts a shadow on Spock's uniform. (00:18:10)
A Piece of the Action - S2-E17
Visible crew/equipment: After the Krako drive-by shooting, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are forced to walk down the street, and when a woman asks about the crummy street lights, multiple chalk T-marks are visible on the ground. (00:06:20)
Factual error: Trelane has been watching Earth as it was 900 years ago (14th century in the film), but his style is more 17th century, and he mentions Napoleon who lived in the 19th century.
This Side of Paradise - S1-E25
Continuity mistake: When Kirk and Spock successfully activate a subsonic transmitter, it cuts to a closeup of a spade's metal blade breaking the soil ground, but in the next wide shot Sulu and DeSalle are using two spades made entirely of wood. (00:44:45)
Visible crew/equipment: When McCoy gives the guard a shot and he and Scotty break into Engineering, you can see a crew member's hand holding a red handle and their bare arm (it's not Scotty), who apparently is helping to open the door. (00:23:00)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning Chekov disappears off the bridge for a moment and is replaced by a blond haired crew member, then he returns.
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - S3-E15
Revealing mistake: When Lokai leaves the bridge near the end of the episode, when he goes into the turbolift on the bridge he heads right as soon as he enters, giving away the fact that this is not a small enclosed area. (00:45:45)
Other mistake: After Chekov goes beserk on the bridge and Dr McCoy and Scotty restrain him, Spock enters the scene and grabs Chekov by the sides of his face. His hands are close together as a human's face is around eight inches wide. When the camera cuts to Chekov's perspective view of Spock, Spock's arms are spread way far apart. Either Chekov's face has ballooned to over two feet wide or Spock is grasping the Panavision camera by its two sides. (00:14:34)
Revealing mistake: When Kirk and Miri are in the kid's hideout, Kirk is attacked by Louise, the wild woman. After Kirk knocks her off his back, she falls to the ground and tries to get up again, Kirk has to resort to stunning her with his phaser. The blue beam starts coming out then starts coming back towards the phaser before going back out again. (00:26:12)
Tomorrow is Yesterday - S1-E20
Revealing mistake: Traveling towards the Sun and away from the Earth, parts of the Enterprise are missing due to superimposing the model into the current shot. As the Enterprise goes by, one of the warp engines seems to be disintegrating at the rear. (00:42:05)
Continuity mistake: While Flavius guides Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to the city to find Merik, the foursome stop behind a group of trees. In the first wide shot, as Flavius explains they'll wait until dark, there are no red marks on the tree trunks, but in their closeups there are a few red marks (presumably from squibs), before the gunfire has even occurred. At the start of the second wide shot the tree trunks are still void of those marks, and when the police shoot at them that's when the red marks appear. (00:15:15)
Visible crew/equipment: After Kirk tells the policeman that he wants to see Merikus and "perhaps" he's a friend, the policemen lock the cell then leave, and when it cuts to a view of the cell from the side as Spock walks over to the steel bars, the overhead boom mic is visible inside the cell, over Spock. It's visible again, with a better view, when McCoy walks over to Spock beside the bars. (00:18:15)
Is There in Truth No Beauty? - S3-E5
Deliberate mistake: While Miranda is with Kollos, McCoy tells Kirk that he didn't reveal her secret because he respects her privacy, then when Miranda steps out of the room and concedes to obey, the next closeup of Kirk is a flipped shot. (00:34:05)
Shore Leave - S1-E16
Visible crew/equipment: While Kirk is with Spock, when Finnegan shows up again Jimmy boy gives in to the chase, then as Finnegan runs and shouts, "Here I am," the shadow of the camera equipment is visible at the bottom right side of the screen, as it follows Finnegan. (00:35:55)
The Gamesters of Triskelion - S2-E16
Other mistake: When Kirk agrees to fight in the arena at the end of the episode, he and the thralls are warned that touching an opponent's color will result in the loss of a weapon. Kirk does this several times during the fight, but isn't penalized in any way.
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