Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Continuity mistake: When Vader's shuttle exits the Star Destroyer in the beginning of the film, it is followed by two TIE fighters. The TIE fighters are far apart, but in the next shot, they're close together. (00:02:15)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Vader's shuttle is approaching the Death Star, the crew in the control room of the Death Star are wearing black gloves. One of them then reaches forward to press a button, but in the close-up of his hand pressing the button, the hand is not wearing gloves at all. This can only be seen in the widescreen version. (00:02:25)

Continuity mistake: When Vader's shuttle has landed inside the Death Star, behind the stormtroopers on the left side, there is a large structure. But when Vader and Jerjerrod, the Death Star commander, pass these stormtroopers, the structure is no longer there. (00:03:20 - 00:04:05)

Continuity mistake: When Bib Fortuna attempts to persuade R2-D2 to show him the message to Jabba, his hands keep changing position between shots. (00:07:20)

Continuity mistake: As C-3PO and R2-D2 enter Jabba's throne room, C-3PO is walking down a small set of stairs with R2-D2 not following after him. When C-3PO again can be seen after the pillar blocking the camera's view, R2-D2 shows up behind him shortly after. (00:07:55)

Rassdyt

Continuity mistake: When the droids enter Jabba's throne room, in the shot facing the droids, they are not standing on the same part of the floor as in the previous shot. Also, R2-D2 is facing Jabba, but in the previous shot, he was facing C-3PO. (00:08:15)

Continuity mistake: When R2-D2 is assigned to his duties in Jabba's palace, another droid (EV-9D9) says, "But you'll soon learn some respect." and her arm is in a different position from the previous shot. In the following shot, her arm is in its original position. (00:11:10)

Continuity mistake: In the Special Edition, Sy Snootles (the lead singer of Jabba's band) is CGI, but in the original version, she was a puppet, looking a bit differently. In the first shot of the band sequence, you can see the old puppet singing on the stage. (00:11:50)

Continuity mistake: When Boussh (Leia in disguise) is about to enter Jabba's throne room, there's a shot of Jabba where his arm is down by his side. In the next shot, on the left side of the screen, his arm is up by his head. (00:13:50)

Continuity mistake: When the guards take Chewie to his cell, you can plainly see that when the guard closes the door you only hear it close. You can see that it is still open. (00:17:15)

Continuity mistake: When the carbonite block begins to lower to the ground, Leia is standing in a corner. In the next shot, she is much closer to the corner. (00:17:40)

Continuity mistake: After Leia frees Han from the carbonite, she begins to put her hand on his face as she kisses him. As the first shot ends, her hand is on his jaw, but in the next shot, her hand is on his cheek. (00:19:10)

Continuity mistake: When Leia gets shoved on Jabba's belly upon her capture, watch carefully - in the side shot of her being pressed against him, we see her arching back from her master-to-be as he talks. Their faces are a good foot or so apart. However, in the next shot of her, we see her face is mere inches away from him as he licks his lips in horny anticipation. (00:19:54)

Continuity mistake: In the first shot of Chewbacca when he is in Jabba's dungeon with Han, his bandoleer is on the wrong side. (00:21:25)

Continuity mistake: When Luke confronts Jabba the Hutt, Jabba says to Bib Fortuna, "You weak-minded fool." In the next shot, Jabba's tail has switched position. (00:22:55)

Continuity mistake: When the Rancour grabs Luke, as the shot ends, Luke is holding the bone with two hands. In the next shot, he's holding it with only one hand. (00:25:20)

Continuity mistake: When Luke wedges the bone into the Rancour's mouth, in the first shoot from behind, he holds the bone horizontally. In the beginning of the next shot, it is pointing upwards. (00:25:25)

Continuity mistake: In the Rancor pit, watch as the Rancor starts to pick up the pig guard. The Rancor starts to grab the pig guard with its left hand. But while being eaten the pig guard is held in the Rancor's right hand. (00:25:40)

Continuity mistake: When Luke and Vader enter the Emperor's throne room, they walk towards the stairs, and as the shot ends, Luke put his foot on the first step. In the next shot, they have suddenly moved further up the stairs. (00:26:45)

Continuity mistake: After Luke kills the Rancour, Jabba says, "Bring me Solo and the Wookiee", and Lando is nowhere to be seen. In the next shot, he is suddenly standing in front of Jabba's platform, and some of the other people have changed position. (00:27:00)

Revealing mistake: When Luke is being fed to the Rancor, in Jabba the Hutt's dungeon, there are black outlines around the beast's legs, from the composite's blue screen special effect. This was edited out in the special edition rerelease.

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Suggested correction: This was not a "mistake". The outlines showing around the beast's leg were due to the limited CGI technology at the time the film was made. With advances in special effects in the following decades, the filmmakers were able to enhance the CGI quality in later releases.

raywest

But it is a mistake to show that the Rancor is not real, and the outlines show that. It's certainly not intentional.

lionhead

Not sure what you mean that the rancor is not real. Of course it's not real. The issue is, at that time, it was not technically possible to show the beastie without the lines showing. I classify a mistake as something that was not intentional. In this case, it was, due to the limitations of CGI in the 1980s.

raywest

More mistakes in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Darth Vader: If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny!

More quotes from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Trivia: When Oola the dancing girl (with those two things growing out of the back of her head) is trying to get away from Jabba, she briefly falls out of the top of her costume. It isn't as visible in the letterbox version, but quite visible in the regular version.

More trivia for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Question: Who is Luke talking about when he covers up his hand and says that he has a promise to keep to an old friend? Who is the old friend?

Tyler R

Answer: Yoda. When he was departing for Cloud City to save his friends in the previous film, he promised Yoda that he would return to Dagobah to complete his training.

Phaneron

OK. But I thought he was talking about the holeish thing in his hand since he covered it up when he said it. I must have misunderstood it.

The hole in Luke's robotic hand reminds him that he got that robotic hand in the first place because he lost his duel with Darth Vader at Cloud City - a confrontation Yoda warned him he was not ready for.

TonyPH

More questions & answers from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

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