Continuity mistake: Gandalf and Bilbo sit on the bench outside of Bag End smoking and in the distance is the Party Tree, the tents and party lights, etc. from Bilbo's party. During the party, Bilbo is speaking with the lights above him and the position of various tents are shown during the entire celebration. Later, invisible Bilbo comes to the gate at Bag End and the Party Tree with all the tents surrounding it are seen (minus the tent that the rocket took and the tent that the 'dragon' burned). The position and arrangement of some tents, lights, etc. are different in all of these shots. (00:19:25)
Continuity mistake: The Fellowship stand at the ready at Balin's Tomb, looking towards the door that is barred with the axes. There are also two spears, but nothing else is leaning on the two doors. In the shot right after Gimli says, "Let them come," this shot shows them all from behind. As Legolas and Aragorn step away from each other, the door is seen and leaning on the door to the left is Boromir's shield, who is standing to the left of the screen minus a shield. Boromir does not move. In the next shot of the door the shield isn't there and in the next shot of Boromir, he's holding his shield. (00:28:40)
Continuity mistake: At the Council of Elrond, the first time Frodo says, "I will take it," in the back shot of Gandalf as he argues with Boromir there is a grey cloaked Elf behind him. In the next front wide shot of Gandalf, the green cloaked Elf stands behind him to his right. As Frodo repeats, "I will take it," then says, "I will take the Ring to Mordor," Gandalf turns around and the grey cloaked Elf is behind him. The Council scene took five days to shoot and there were many different variations of the same shots. (01:43:20)
Continuity mistake: At Bag End while speaking with Gandalf, Bilbo packs his bag and he puts his pipe into it. The mouthpiece goes into the bag with the bowl part sticking out of the bag. Yet, when Gandalf asks, "Is that so hard?" the mouthpiece is now sticking out of the bag and the bowl part is in the bag. (00:26:35)
Continuity mistake: Frodo is in the boat and Sam yells out, "And I'm coming with you!" in the far wide shot, Frodo is not holding the oar in his hands, as he does in the close-up shot before and after. (01:30:20)
Continuity mistake: Boromir is blowing the Horn of Gondor, Aragorn is running to him, fighting Uruk-Hai on the way. At one point he stabs one through the stomach and is chased closely by three Uruk-Hai. When he slices another in the leg and then the neck, the three chasing closely behind him aren't in these two shots. They were too close to Aragorn not to be seen in those two shots. (01:22:05)
Revealing mistake: In the first wide shot of Aragorn taking the Hobbits "into the wild" they are cresting a hill and the village of Bree is visible behind them. This is obviously a backdrop because the smoke coming out of the chimneys doesn't move at all. (01:05:25)
Continuity mistake: Pippin causes the skeletal body to fall into the well at Balin's Tomb. When the head falls in, Pippin spins around and behind him we see the body start to fall in and the pail is right next to the body. In the close-up shot of the body falling into the well the pail is not on the well. Then in the next few shots the pail is yet again sitting on the stone well showing the chain and pail falling into the well. (00:26:50)
Revealing mistake: Gandalf and Bilbo sit on the bench outside of Bag End smoking their pipes with the party area in the distance. The tree, the water, Hobbit home (future home of Sam and Rosie) to the right and party area is extremely different in dimensions and aspect ratio, compared to the background that's seen when invisible Bilbo comes through the gate at Bag End. It's also very apparent, because of the hair, that it's Bilbo's scale double in the back shots on the bench. (00:19:25 - 00:25:25)
Revealing mistake: At Bag End, Gandalf is leaning on the fireplace talking to Bilbo. Then, just as Bilbo says, "It was just a bit of fun," Gandalf's eye contact does not quite line up with Bilbo. This is because they were shot individually and placed together in editing. (00:26:00)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, in the first shot of Sauron's dismembered finger with the Ring on the ground next to Isildur, the bottom of the letters are facing the remaining finger. It is the line, "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them." In the next close-up of the dismembered finger, when Isildur picks it up, the Ring is now on the finger upside down from the previous shot, with the bottom of the letters facing the cut side of the finger. The words, "One Ring to find them," can be seen in this shot. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene in Isengard, when the Orcs are digging the Uruk-Hai out of the mud, it shows a Uruk-Hai grabbing the throat of an Orc. When he first grabs him, and it shows the Uruk-Hai, its got relatively clean shoulders. When it shows him again, there are piles of mud on his shoulders and chest. Than when it shows him standing up, there is no mud on his shoulders or chest, but he is covered in slime. (01:14:05)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf says, "Mellon," the doors to Moria open and they all go in. Legolas soon picks up an arrow and says, "Goblins!" When he does so, we see the left long braid is loose at the end and coming undone. After Boromir shouts, "Legolas!" in the close-up we see the perfectly made long braid hanging down. (00:16:55)
Revealing mistake: When Gandalf is revealing Bilbo's ring as the One Ring to Frodo, he pulls Sam in through the window and onto a table. When it shows Gandalf looking at Sam, you can see that Sam's hand moves and is positioned in a rather odd way. This is because Sam in this shot is actually the rubber hand of a remote control dummy that they used instead of the actor. In the behind the scenes footage on the DVD you can see other shots of the dummy and Gandalf during this scene.
Continuity mistake: During Bilbo's party, in the first shot, as Merry boosts Pip onto the back of the wagon, on the table in front of the tent there are pears, oranges and apples on it. Once Pippin is in the wagon, seen behind Merry, there is one red apple that has appeared at the front of the table to the left of the other fruit that wasn't there before. (00:21:20)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Elrond are talking about Frodo and his ability to withstand the power of the Ring, when the camera is in wide view you can see Gandalf holding his pipe in his hand with the stem near his chin, when the camera angle changes to a close up view of Gandalf the stem is nowhere to been seen. It happens about 4 times during the entire scene as the camera angle changes. (01:19:21)
Continuity mistake: At the well near Balin's Tomb there is a shot from above and it shows the body falling along with some chain, but some chain still remains on top. In the next close-up of the chain there is much more chain sitting on top of the well that has yet to fall in. The amount and position of the chain sitting on the well in these two shots differ greatly. Also in the second shot from inside the well looking up a good amount of pail should be seen over the ledge of the well, but it is not. (00:26:55)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo rescues Sam he grabs hold of his wrist and pulls him into the boat. In the shot in which Frodo grabs hold of the side of the boat with his left hand while pulling Sam into the boat with his right hand, we see the large brown mat on the floor of the boat. In this shot the mat is under Frodo's legs and Sam's sword is not at all under his cloak. In the following shot behind Frodo as Sam is trying to sit up the mat is not under Frodo's legs but only under Sam, and Sam's sword is now entirely under his cloak. (01:31:10)
Continuity mistake: At the Council of Elrond, when Merry and Pippin run up and yell, "We're coming too. You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Elrond's eye contact does not line up with the Hobbits, as they run past him towards Frodo. Then in the Hobbits' close-up, their height reaches just under Gandalf's and Legolas' shoulders, but in the wide shot the Hobbits are much, much, shorter. (01:44:50)
Continuity mistake: In Farmer Maggot's field, when Merry and Pippin drop in on Frodo, in the first shot, as they are bending down lifting the vegetables off the ground, Merry and Pip are standing side by side, Merry on Pippin's right. Opposite them are Frodo and Sam, with Sam on Frodo's right. In the next shot, when they're upright, Frodo and Sam are across from each other, as are Merry and Pippin, with Pippin on Sam's left. In the next shot, Pippin is now on Sam's right. The change in positions has nothing to do with Merry and Pippin lifting the vegetables off the ground. (00:52:00)
Answer: "Fly, you fools"