Post OT movie mistakes

[Isaac Clarke]

Allright, post any movie mistakes you've found in Ep. 4, 5, and 6 here. Just in case...

[HockeyGoalie35]

Do you mean like Bloopers?

[◄|Darth Tyranus|►]

In episode IV, when luke is blocking shots with his saber at the milenium falcon it is green...

but when he first try it on tatooine, it is blue/white

[Kurgan]

ANY movie mistakes... whoa, there are a ton of them. You can finds lists of hundreds of them all over the internet (usually responded to by somebody saying how they aren't REALLY mistakes, because somehow... blah blah blah nonsense sci fi rationalization retcons, hehe).

 

Probably the classic is the taller Stormtrooper banging his head on the low door in the original Star Wars (which Lucas added a "bong" sound effect to in 2004 because it had become so famous by then). The first time I noticed it (which was years after I'd first seen the movie) I cracked up, and could watch it on a loop!

 

Another mistake is where Obi-Wan and Luke are talking before they go into the Mos Eisley cantina, and an (African American) extra walks past the camera behind them as they are talking FOUR TIMES. I bet somewhere somebody is writing a novel or there's a comic book short about these "four identical brothers" who were on their way to the cantina on that day or something (and how they gloriously died fighting the Empire or something).

 

There are tons of mistakes in the original Star Wars and the sequels, just from special effects errors, editing errors, etc. there are also science errors in every movie. The Prequels have their own internal errors and then continuity glitches with the original movies, etc.

 

Some people get mad when you point out mistakes and try to "explain them away" with suspension of disbelief (you know like saying "well Han says parsecs but he means you have to fly the kessel run past black holes that distort time and space") but you know that we're talking about the movie as a story itself, not as some part of a research project where you have every script, novel, comic book, video game, and official fan page explaining every minute detail of the movie for you (with explanations invented sometimes years after the movie was made, by people with way too much time on their hands).

 

Probably the most annoying continuity error for me in the Prequels is where Padme dies in childbirth, yet in Return of the Jedi we're lead to believe that Leia (who doesn't know the Force) remembers her "real mother" somehow but Luke (who is practically a Jedi Knight) doesn't. And I know people try to say that Leia saw her mom through the Force, but then we must wonder why Luke wasn't able to do that, and if Leia had such a special gift, and why nobody noticed it (Vader didn't get suspicious even though he was interrogating her on the death star, but Luke he only saw from a distance and sensed the force right away; Obi-Wan never thought to train her even though she was already an important rebel leader and being chased by Vader, etc). That's not so much a "favorite" as one that stands out to me as a very annoying and avoidable mistake. It's like he just really wanted to give Natalie Portman's character a death scene in the third prequel and didn't care about the consequences. At least he could have had Yoda look into the future and see her dying years later in hiding on Alderaan with a little girl by her side or something, then looking sad to himself and it wouldn't have broken previously established continuity.

 

Sorry to get off topic... you really wanted to know about mistakes IN the OT.

[Pho3nix]

I usually don't like to nitpick movies...I try not to notice that stuff unless it's blatantly obvious, like the Storm Trooper "bump"

[urluckyday]

I usually don't like to nitpick movies...I try not to notice that stuff unless it's blatantly obvious, like the Storm Trooper "bump"

 

I STILL have never seen it...when does it happen?!

 

EDIT: Nevermind lol. Just looked for it on youtube...I had really never seen that before...that's sooooo funny!

[Bokken]

In episode VI, during the speederbike chase, Luke's glove changes hands from one shot to another.

[urluckyday]

I can only speak for this in the 2004 DVD release...but when Luke is running from the Wampa after he cuts its arm off, you can clearly hear his lightsaber turn-off even though the lightsaber is definitely still on.

[Antares Navaar]

I don't know if it was so much a mistake, or a perfect opportunity for a nice meme, 'Scumbag Calrissian' but when Lando takes over the Falcon, he is shown wearing Han's clothing.

[Kurgan]

This is nowhere near complete, but a bunch of them I remember:

 

Episode IV:

 

There's at least one shot where you can see a pink thing (Kenny Baker Jr's human face) through the glass "eye" of R2D2's dome. This might have been fixed in one of the special editions, but it's defiantly there in the original. Can't remember precisely where it is, but I think it's one of the "Jawa Sandcrawler" scenes.

 

If you pause the movie, you can see that the actor in the Greedo costume is replaced by a cheaper looking dummy (with different hands) right before the explosion. This is in the original, mind you, since the scene has been tampered with a lot in the Special Editions.

 

Obi-wan's lightsaber "fizzles out" at one point during his duel with Vader. In reality the post-production department forgot to color-in a few frames as the saber prop was pointing towards the camera. This was partially fixed in 2004, but I'm pretty sure it's not totally fixed in 2011. There are also a couple of frames from far away where Vader's saber was uncolored (until 2004) and at least one shot which I think is still uncolored in 2004 of the two of them crossing blades, but it might have been fixed in 2011 (not sure, since I don't have that release).

 

I forget the precise shot (or even what movie, but I think Episode IV), but in some of the external shots of R2D2 in the "socket" of Luke's X-Wing his panels are black (monochrome) instead of blue.

 

In Ben's Hut when C3PO is supposedly "switched off" you can see Anthony Daniels (the actor in the suit) breathing if you look carefully.

 

The 2011 edition creates a brand new gaffe by putting a bunch of extra rocks in front of R2D2 when he's "hiding" in that small cave from the sand people. The rocks only appear in closeup, but are suddenly gone again when he leaves the cave.

 

I believe during the Vader/Obi-Wan saber fight some of the background wobbles.

 

This is a censorship gaffe. In 1997, Lucas apparently decided that the squib explosions on the chests of the Imperial Officers and commandos that Luke and Han shoot on the death star were too violent, so he censored several of them (deleting frames where you actually see a burst of flame on their clothing from the shot), but he missed one. Watch the scene for yourself and you'll see. Not sure if this has changed a bit since then.

 

Luke's lightsaber is inconsistent. In the scene on the Falcon it appears as white, while it's blue in the rest of the film. Apparently there were some inconsistencies originally, and the Special Editions have just made it worse and worse. By the latest edition it changes from green to blue and back again several times. It also wobbles off of its handle slightly.

 

The computer readout "Death Star plans" are clearly flawed, as they show the "dish" along the equatorial trench, whereas in closeups of the Death Star model in space clearly show the dish and the equator are separate.

 

Several shots of obvious "garbage mattes" (square boxes around space ships that are darker than the space background) appear throughout the film. Some were corrected in the special editions but many remain, though they can be "hidden" if you mess with the contrast/brightness controls on your screen/projector enough. This is true of all three films, though in ROTJ they are mostly green mattes so the brightness/contrast trick won't help you there.

 

Another 1997 Special Edition gaffe is that all of the added CGI X-Wings we see have the same markings on them (two red stripes on the wings, indicating "Red 2" even when its clearly someone else like Luke, who would be Red 5 and thus should have five red ticks on his wings).

 

A Special Edition gaffe was introduced in 2004 when the color was sucked out of the Death Star explosion and a blue-screen artifact was added. This was partially corrected in 2011 (the blue effect removed, but the color still nearly monochromatic from how it looked in 1997, and recall that the Death Star explosion in the special editions of ROTJ looks just as colorful as ever).

 

 

In the 1997 Special Edition, the scene of Luke and Biggs talking to Red Leader was inserted. Though this was footage from 1977, there was a new "cut" added. To remove a bit of a line about Red Leader meeting Luke's father when he was just a boy, a wipe was created using the passing by of an extra in the foreground. You can see that there was a cut by looking at the "hose" lowering the R2 unit in the upper right corner, as he "jumps" during the cut.

 

In the 1997 Special Edition a bunch of extra moisture vaporator ("antenna") were added to those that were visible in the 1977 version of the scene where Luke is going to meet Owen with the droid sellers on Tatooine. These CG vaporators are suddenly gone later. I'm sure some fanboy will say that they retracted into the ground or something (but not the other ones), right?

 

When Vader is talking to Tarkin in the conference room about Leia, Vader finishes his line and yet continues to gesture with his hand, as if still talking. This is because of a difference in the timing of Dave Prowse's original voice acting compared to the dubbing of James Earl Jones.

 

You might not call this a gaffe or close to it, but since 1997 when the new Jabba footage was inserted, there are a couple of odd things: The dialogue is almost verbatim what we saw just a short time ago in the same movie during Han and Greedo's confrontation.

Jabba looks like he does in Episode I with different coloring, not ROTJ (since 2004 when it was changed from the awful CGI in 1997 that looked nothing like Jabba). He certainly acts out of character but you might be able to explain that away based on the scene as it was originally written (though Jabba was not a slug creature and had no tail to get stepped on). Boba Fett was also added in 1997 (the character didn't exist until 1978) and lacks his familiar "mandalorian" symbol on his shoulder armor.

 

These aren't true gaffes: The stormtroopers have different voices and different heights throughout the movie, though one should remember that the idea that they were all clones came later. Vader's voice sounds different in ANH than in the others as the modulation effect was done differently (this was altered in 1997 to make it sound the same). Also the TIE Fighter models were originally blue, but because of blue-screen problems they were re-painted gray for ANH. As they use improved techniques like green screen in the later movies, the TIEs are blue for the rest of the series, but in many shots blue filters are used to make them seem even more blue, but not always consistently. Vader's helmet and armor is different in every single movie it appears. The laser bolts in ANH look different than the other films, they're usually solid red lines rather than the thicker bolts with orange/yellow cores as later. The lightsaber blades are also slightly different in every film. In ANH they cast bright glows into the face of the actors but not in ESB or ROTJ (due to the techniques used).

 

Episode V:

 

When Han Solo is "weak" after his torture and being supported by the two stormtroopers, you can see his arm knocks one of the helmets loose on the actor and he can barely keep it on his head before the scene ends (making it obvious that this isn't a sealed spacesuit as the EU would lead us to believe).

 

When C3PO interrupts Han and Leia's kiss on the falcon, some metal bits on his arms (that normally attach to his chest) are swinging loose.

 

When Leia is close to Han Solo (I think it might be the "being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited" scene), Harrison Ford mouths Carrie Fisher's line to her before she says it.

 

I still laugh when I see this one... when Vader says "General Veers" (like he's yelling to him across the hall), and whirls around to find the actor standing DIRECTLY behind him, I guess so he can stay in the shot.

 

After Vader says "apology accepted, Captain Needa" and passes by the supposedly dead officer, his cape brushes past the actor's face and he blinks.

 

Vader's helmet (the top piece) wobbles like crazy in the wind during the "I am your Father" scene.

 

Mark Hamill is quite clearly just holding his arm in his sleeve in several shots both on Cloud City and later on the Falcon.

 

Mark Hamill hops off of the carbon freeze chamber after Vader and it's clear that he lands on a trampoline to break his fall.

 

At least one shot of the Executor (Vader's Super Star Destroyer) lacks its usual blue/purple coloration and it looks gray/white like the other smaller ships. I'm not sure if this was a Special Edition added shot or not.

 

The Snowspeeders when they take off vs. when they are flying are inconsistent. Sometimes they have orange racing stripes on them, other times they are just plain metal.

 

The scale of the AT-AT walker "foot" that stomps on Luke and Dac's crashed Speeder is different (it should be bigger).

 

Looking at the backs of the heads of the AT-AT drivers, you can see in some shots they have extra decals on their helmets, other times not.

 

One AT-AT has an external cockpit that is red, but only in one shot.

 

Not really gaffes: There are two shots of AT-ST's walking towards Echo base during the battle. It's true we never see what happens to them or how they got there, but neither do we see that for the other vehicles, we don't see how the troops got off of the walkers, etc.

 

Episode VI:

 

The "Emperor's Slugs." Various parts of the mask or makeup that apparently didn't look good during filming were hastily covered over with some black paint or something on the camera lens or film frames in a really shabby manner. This was "fixed" in the 2011 edition.

 

Earlier in the movie during the Tatooine scenes you can see something similar was done to R2D2's glass "eye" probably because you could see Kenny Baker Jr's face through it again. It's shoddily plastered over with some dark brown/black paint that wobbles.

 

There is at least one shot (possibly others) of a Stormtrooper who has his white armor cracked BEFORE he's hit by attacking Ewoks.

 

A couple of Ewoks (I believe during the "they discover C3PO" scene) are clearly wearing cheap masks that lack the fake eyeballs like Wicket and Chief Chirpa. Yes, I know that some of the Ewoks blink in the 2011 edition, but I don't think this was ever fixed.

 

As Luke is walking into Jabba's throne room if you listen in the background you can hear Greedo's lines from Episode IV being repeated in the background!

 

Even though the Special Edition replaced Sy Snootles (the yellowish alien singer) with a CGI creature, the original puppet is still present in the film. As the camera pans around before the dance number you can see her off to the left, and you can tell the difference because she has a flapper style feather on her head (why didn't the CGI version have that, anyway?).

 

Vader's saber changes all sorts of colors in ROTJ. This was actually present in the theatrical version of the film (or at least the first home video versions), but it has only gotten worse with each new special edition. This is true of the entire Trilogy since 1997 as well.

 

You can see obvious matte lines and Luke is a blue tint next to the Rancor in the pit under Jabba's throne. This was finally cleaned up and corrected in the 2004 edition.

 

The 2011 edition creates a brand new gaffe by expanding the size of the door on the front of Jabba's Palace when the droids approach it. It looks impressive, but you can see that the size is back to normal (much smaller) later on, especially when the door opens and you see the doorway from the other side.

 

Vader's forearm suddenly gets a lot longer after his hand is supposedly "cut off" by Luke. Also the railing that gets severed when Vader's hand is cut off is actually cut before the saber hits it.

 

Obvious (if you're looking at the lower right corner of the screen instead of focusing on Luke leaping) cardboard cutout of Lando hanging from the small skiff during the Sarlaac battle.

 

Continuity: How did those ropes suddenly get around Han's legs as he hangs from the skiff in the 1997 special edition?

 

Han's shirt is different when he's unfrozen from carbonite, vs. the one he had on when he was first frozen at the end of ESB.

 

When Han pulls Leia back after she's wounded in the bunker, Harrison Ford accidentally grabs Carrie Fisher's breast.

 

Speaking of breasts (you can stop giggling now), the actress playing the slave girl "Oola" (twi'lek dancer) has one of her breasts flop out of her costume as Jabba is pulling her closer to him. The 1997 edition supposedly digitally erased her nipple, but the 2004 edition has no trace of this. I'm not sure how this got by the censors unless it was just too fast, or they decided that it wasn't "really" nudity because the actress was covered in green paint. The 2004 restoration actually removed natural film grain, making the image sharper than it was in the theater, making her nipples visible even through her costume in 2004. George!

[Mandalore5]

An Imperial officer (I think it may have actually been Tarkin, but I haven't seen it for ages) speaks of Vader using the Force as if it's a ridiculous statement, even though it was only 19 years ago that the Jedi were wiped out.

[Kurgan]

Another old time gaffe from ANH:

 

Captain Antilles' body goes limp and we hear a crackling sound as if he throat has been crushed and he's dead from Vader's choking... but then he clearly raises his hands to protect his face as he's thrown into the set background.

 

Which reminds me when the Admiral is choked by Vader in ESB, and he's picked up by some guards to be carried off, he appears to help himself up like he's still conscious and very much alive.

 

Not a gaffe: Lando bumps his head and adjusts his helmet in Jabba's palace near the beginning of ROTJ. It's a really forced way for him to open his mask and say "see audience, it's me, one of the good guys!"

 

A lot of people have criticized the subtitles for "Boushe" basically making two sounds that somehow mean all that stuff (cliched foreign language joke?).

 

In the cantina scene of ANH two aliens are having an animated discussion and one of them has one hand that's "human" in a glove and the other is an "alien" hand. Some have rationalized that perhaps it's an artificial arm (like Luke has in ESB). Good save...

 

Obviously "parsecs" are a measure of distance, not time, so Han Solo's bragging in ANH makes little sense (and if it was an obvious lie, why did Obi-Wan still trust him?). Lots of EU rationalizations have been made to cover for this, but it seems like an honest technobabble mistake from 1977.

 

In ESB there's supposedly a snowflake on Chewbacca's foot that never seems to melt indoors, but I can't be bothered to look for it.

 

When the Wampa chokes Luke's Taun Taun, in the left corner you can see a bit of black where the puppeteer's arm peeks out. This was reduced to a spec in the 2011 version.

 

When Hayden Christiansen was CGIed in to replace Sebastian Shaw for the ghost of Anakin at the end of ROTJ, they quite clearly hastily pasted in an outtake over the original actor's face. The "collar" of his outfit changes but the body stays the same and his expression seems out of place for the scene.

 

A shot of Vader turning his head (from the back) while looking out a Star Destroyer window was recycled in the Special Edition of ESB. A shot of a shuttle flying towards the camera was also recycled for the "Extended" bring my shuttle scene.

 

Not really a gaffe but an unused shot of TIE Pilots hurrying to their ships (from 1977) was used in the escape from the Death Star footage in ROTJ.

 

I swear the Death Star countdown and firing scene in ROTJ was just reversed footage from ANH.

 

There are two "Biggs" actors in ANH. One was later renamed "JohnJ" if I recall. "That's impossible, even for a computer" guy in the briefing scene is supposed to be Wedge.

 

Multiple versions of the soundtrack means that in ANH, sometimes Luke says "Blast it Biggs where are you" and other times he says "Blast it Wedge where are you." Originally he was asking for Biggs but Wedge came instead.

 

Aunt Beru's lines are dubbed in ANH in the version of the soundtrack most of us remember, and you can see that her lines don't quite match her lips.

 

Do lightsabers make you bleed or not? Do they cut off limbs or not? This varies by film.

 

Not really a gaffe, but interesting that Stormtroopers have side holsters for their carbines in ANH, but not in any other film.

 

It's also interesting about the TIE fighters. We know why the colors changed, but it's interesting that in the wider mythos, it was always assumed that the "gray" TIE Fighter was the standard color and we barely ever see blue ones (seems it was only the early toy lines that remembered they were blue in most of the movies), even though blue was the originally intended color for ALL TIEs in the movies. It would seem logical that from the movies, the gray TIEs were just a special color for the Death Star complement of fighters (and if we assume the Star two Destroyers sent by Vader to find the Droids on Tatooine were also part of that complement). We might imagine that the rest of the TIEs in the galaxy were a standard blue. Then again, for all we know the blue TIEs were part of the Death Star II's complement, but then it was nowhere near finished at that time and supposedly a secret, so I don't buy that was the original intention either. Anyway, too much time on my hands to think about this stuff, right?