Continuity mistake: In the opening shot of the movie, sunlight strikes Tatooine from above, but hitting the two moons from the left. (00:02:00)
Deliberate mistake: During the scenes of the Star Destroyer attacking Tantive IV, and also when the stormtroopers board the ship, the Alderaanian consular security force are wearing helmets with an attached communications device at their left, but in a few flipped shots the devices are at their right side of the helmets. (00:02:35)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie, aboard Blockade runner, a big smudge of dirt appears on top of R2-D2, close to his square-framed lens 'eye'. This was not present a minute earlier and when the droids have landed on the desert, the smudge is gone again. (00:02:40 - 00:09:50)
Continuity mistake: In the scene after Carrie Fisher inputs the Death Star plans into R2-D2 the droid moves towards C3-PO along a corridor. As you watch you can follow R2's movements until the camera cuts away. If the shot were to continue it seems clear that R2 would have banged into a piece of set protruding from the side of the corridor. (00:05:15)
Continuity mistake: After the Stormtrooper tells Darth Vader the Death Star plans are not in the main computer, when Vader lifts the Rebel off his feet by his throat as the Rebel tells him they intercepted no transmissions, take note of the leg plates on the Stormtrooper to Vader's right. In the wide shot, the Stormtrooper's left leg armor does not have the knee protector plate (it looks as if it's at his right knee because the extra switched them), but in the next closeup the knee plate appears at his left knee, as it should be. The trooper also appears to go from right handed to left handed weapon carry. (00:05:40)
Revealing mistake: In the scene at the end of the very first battle, where Imperial troops have just taken control of Princess Leia's rebel ship, Darth Vader breaks the neck of the Captain Antilles and tosses his body to the wall. The "dead" Captain puts up both of his hands to avoid slamming his face into the wall. (00:05:40)
Continuity mistake: As C-3PO enters the escape pod and says, "I'm going to regret this", he is right in front of the round opening. In the next shot, he has already begun to walk through the opening. (00:06:35)
Revealing mistake: When the droids head towards Tatooine in their escape pod, a rotating imperial ship is shown in the pod's window, getting smaller as the pod moves away. Regrettably, the star field gets smaller at the same rate as the ship, something that would only happen if you were moving away from a photograph, painting etc. (00:06:55)
Continuity mistake: After the Stormtroopers have captured Leia aboard the Blockade Runner and are leading her to Vader, one Stormtrooper's armour is visibly damaged (http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/RoofingGuy/BrokenStormy.jpg). For the close-up of Leia, the damage has been masked with white gaffer tape (http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/RoofingGuy/FixedStormy.jpg). [Timecode from 2008 Widescreen DVD release. similar time on the "Theatrical Release" bonus disc.]. (00:07:25)
Continuity mistake: After C-3PO is separated from R2-D2 on Tatooine, when he's walking among the sand dunes, the sky alternates between being clear and cloudy. (00:10:15)
Deliberate mistake: On Tatooine, after C-3PO tells R2, "No more adventures," he walks off in the opposite direction. When C-3PO reaches the skeletal remains in the sand, and complains that the malfunctioning little twerp tricked him, the closeups of 3PO are flipped shots (also note the position/direction of the skeletal head). (00:10:50)
Continuity mistake: As R2-D2 is rolling through the canyon, he's on a smooth part of the land. He then stops and looks around. When he starts moving again, the terrain has changed and is now full of rocks and pebbles. (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: The Jawa that shoots R2D2 puts his gun in his holster twice. (00:12:40)
Continuity mistake: After Owen buys C-3PO from the Jawas, Luke says, "All Right. Come on." and R2-D2 begins to turn his head/dome. In the next shot, his head is still turning, but his dome is in a different position from the previous shot, evident from the droid's features. (00:17:45)
Audio problem: When C-3PO lowers himself into the oil tub, as Luke says, "It just isn't fair." his head is shown from the side and he then turns his head away from the camera, but the words don't match the motion of his jaw (or his lips, if you look closely). (00:19:00)
Continuity mistake: When Luke and his uncle buy C3-P0 and a white-and-red R5-D4 robot from the Jawas, the R5 unit blows up after travelling a few feet. There's a quick shot of R2-D2 back at the Jawa's transport, and behind R2 you can see the same white-and-red R5-D4 unit being worked on by the Jawas. In the next shot it is back over with Luke. (00:19:15)
Continuity mistake: When the Jawas are walking toward Luke to take the damaged droid, there's no more smoke coming from it but in the following shot, there's a lot of smoke. (00:19:18)
Continuity mistake: When Luke comes to eat dinner with his aunt and uncle, as the shot ends, he has just sat down by the table, but in the next shot, he's already helping himself to the food. (00:22:45)
Continuity mistake: When Luke and C-3PO run out of the house to find R2-D2, Luke takes out his binoculars and looks through them. The shot cuts back to Luke and C-3PO, where C-3PO has his arms are by his side, but in the next shot, C-3PO suddenly has his right arm raised almost half way. (00:26:45)
Revealing mistake: When Luke and C3PO are outside of the farm searching for R2D2, a droid passes in front of them. You can see lines in the sand, either to keep the robot in a straight line, or where the wheels of the robot have gone in earlier takes. (00:26:50)
Answer: While planning Star Wars, Lucas had a vague notion of doing a long series of movies inspired by old serials, then dropped that idea in favor of just one. When Star Wars became a phenomenon and sequels became feasible, Lucas revisited the idea. He thought of three trilogies along with some stand-alone "in-between" stories for a total of 12 films. By the time of The Empire Strikes Back's release, this was pared down to the 9 mainline films, going by interviews with Lucas and the cast at the time. By Return of the Jedi, Lucas had decided to end the saga there, with the option that he could revisit the first three at some later point. It's unclear if Lucas ever had any specific story ideas for the proposed sequel trilogy, and they never had any scripts. Producer Gary Kurtz suggested in an interview they would've been about Luke's twin sister (not Leia), though many fans are skeptical about just how much he would know about them. Of course since this question was asked a sequel trilogy was written and released.
TonyPH