The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Revealing mistake: When Marge is speaking on the phone to her sisters, her sisters say something that sounds like they said that Homer is ugly. Marge then puts down the phone wire that she was curling round her finger. You can temporarily see that the phone wire disappears when Marge puts it down. It is at the very end of an early scene, because as soon as this happens it changes to another scene. (00:04:40)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Audio problem: When Homer is putting Christmas lights around the outside of the house, he falls from the roof. You can then hear Lisa and Bart sarcastically clap. But you can see they both have their hands by their side, and no-one is clapping. (00:04:55)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: During the family's breakfast, in most shots Marge sits right beside Maggie's highchair, but in certain close-ups they are quite a few feet away from one another. (00:05:25)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Marge reveals the Christmas money from her hair, her necklace changes from red to white. (00:05:30)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: While having breakfast, all of the Simpsons' glasses of orange juice keep disappearing and reappearing throughout the scene. (00:05:35)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Mr. Burns comes on the P.A. system Homer started eating a donut, he takes a bite and after that the donut stays the same size even though he takes 2 more bites. (00:06:40)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Audio problem: When Lisa and Maggie are touching Bart's surgically removed tattoo, he says "Ow", but look at the way he says it. His mouth moves when he says "O" but doesn't move when he says "w". (00:07:50)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Marge walks through the doorway from a room with a piano, beside a bare wall, and on the piano are two frames and music sheets. But when Marge turns the jar upside down, there is a large picture on the wall beside the piano, and the music sheets and frames have disappeared from the piano. (00:08:00)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Homer finds out that he has no Christmas bonus the background behind Marge is the kitchen, but then it cuts to Homer and the background behind him is the kitchen too. (00:08:20)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Homer walks up The Front drive you can see the road and there are no markings on it. But when he turns to look at his house, there are orange lines running down the road. (00:08:50)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Homer has been informed about the Christmas money being spent on Bart getting his tattoo surgically removed, he leaves the house. When he opens and closes the door to leave, the wreath on the door is white with a red bow. When Homer then turns to look his Christmas decorations, the wreath is now green. (00:08:50)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Homer walks out Circus of Values with his purchases, he bumps into Flanders, and all the presents scatter everywhere. Watch out for a red present with a green bow that goes flying near the left hand side of the screen. As soon as it hits the ground it turns into a pink box with a white bow wrapped around it, with no shot changes. (00:10:15)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Homer and Flanders drop their presents, the presents move around and change colours between shots. (00:10:20)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Lewis changes from black to yellow when Milhouse dares Bart to pull Santa's beard off. (00:14:10)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Millhouse, Bart and Lewis are talking about the fake Santa, Millhouse's eyebrows go from blue to black to blue again. (00:14:15)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Revealing mistake: After Homer brings Santa's Little Helper home, Homer and Marge hug, and if you look behind them, the background is upside down. There is a picture hanging upside down, and there is a lamp which seems to be hanging from the ceiling. Then in the next shot, the background is normal. (00:21:40)
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Bart yanks Homer's beard off in the mall, Homer then takes Bart into Santa's workshop. When they are inside Santa's workshop, Homer's beard is back on, despite the fact that he let it fall to the ground when Bart pulled it off.
The Simpsons Christmas Special: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire - S1-E1
Revealing mistake: When Homer brings Santa's Little Helper home, a single frame of Maggie falling off Marge's lap is misplaced.
Continuity mistake: When Marge is speaking to Homer during the Scrabble game at the beginning, you can see the tray in front of her is full of tiles. But when Homer takes away the book from under the settee Marge is sitting on, a piece has disappeared. (00:02:05)
Continuity mistake: When Homer picks up the yellow book from under the settee, you can see there is a white label on The Front cover. But when Lisa is reading the book, the label is now on the back cover, and when we see Lisa a few shots later, it is back on The Front again. (00:02:40)
Answer: I'm not sure if this is the one you're thinking of, but an episode of "Ray Bradbury Theatre," called "A Sound of Thunder," dealt with a similar matter: a group of hunters travel back in time to hunt dinosaurs, only to find things have changed when they get back because someone stepped on a butterfly.
Xofer