The rise of Jeans Guy, a figure caught in the background of The Mandalorian's "The Siege," is a reminder that few productions make it to the finish line without a few glitches. The bigger the franchise, the longer the legacy and the greater the amount of bloopers and mistakes. Star Wars has plenty of goofs from its forty-plus years of history, and many, whether they made it into the final cut or not, are fond memories, like the ones discussed below.
6) Luke's "Floating" Landspeeder
Today, Star Wars is a massive franchise, and its sound and visual effects are benchmarks of quality. Even in its earliest days, the franchise found efficient ways to pull off amazing feats, even when its budget was minuscule compared to the money put into the more contemporary films, as was the case for A New Hope. While Episode IV was revolutionary, there were bound to be a few things missed during production and post.
One of the neatest effects is Luke Skywalker's hovering landspeeder, seen zooming across the surface of Tatooine. It was achieved with the simple use of mirrors placed under and along the sides of the vehicle, hiding its wheels during filming. Unfortunately, a savvy viewer could spot the mundane mechanics under the landspeeder during the scene where Tusken Raiders toss the vehicle for goodies.
5) Lightsabers Have Shadows
To make choreography easier and to give actors something with heft to work with, lightsaber duels in the original trilogy were filmed with poles wrapped in reflective tape. Rotoscope animation added the iconic glow of the lightsaber blades later, but some scenes lost their glow from shot to shot. The prop blades would also leave shadows behind, seen clearest during Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker's final duel in Return of the Jedi.
These blades, in universe, are made of pure plasma, and they are the brightest thing in any scene. By the rules of physics, they shouldn't cast their own shadows. However, this goof is so prevalent that it's become cheekily canon, with lightsabers casting shadows in The Clone Wars as well.
4) It's Tough Being R2-D2
Physical props and in-camera effects are key to keeping some special effects timeless, so having the saga's famous droids on set wherever possible was a big deal when filming the prequels. Unlike the original trilogy, actor Kenny Baker wasn't inside R2-D2 all the time. Instead, the astromech was piloted remotely and enhanced in post-production by CGI. The on-screen results are similar, but bloopers revealed a fragile Artoo.
During the filming of the prequels, Artoo tumbled down grassy hills, got in the way of other performers and got his rollers caught on the lip of a set, prompting Ewan McGregor to attempt to haul him the rest of the way while laughing, as seen in the behind the scenes footage. The original trilogy was no picnic for the blue bot either, with Baker himself visible through Artoo's "eye" during the Jawa sandcrawler scene in A New Hope.
3) The Last Jedi's Lost Blade
By the time of the sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm effects continued to impress; however, there's still a glitch that snuck its way into The Last Jedi. It even turned a show stopping melee in Snoke's throneroom into the subject of a continuity error.
Rey splits off from the brawl into an occasional one on one with Snoke's Royal Guards. One such enemy wields dual swords; however, at a key moment where it's certain Rey would have sustained an injury to her torso, the guard suddenly has one blade, and the young Jedi screams in pain for no apparent reason.
2) Anakin Skywalker Can't Catch a Break
While the Star Wars fandom has a range of opinions about the prequel trilogy, the eagerness and sense of fun behind the scenes is worth remembering. Hayden Christensen's Anakin may have often been angsty and gloomy on screen, but the bloopers showed a different side of Christensen, one that's more humorous and charming.
The bloopers also show the goofy side of Anakin, turning him into a Buster Keaton-like figure who's prone to falling out of one scene and into another. He even keels over mid-lightsaber duel in the reel. However, the most iconic goof features Hayden at the prop controls of his fighter, which pop off into his hands as he comically grimaces at the crew.
1) Stormtroopers Have the Worst Eyesight
George Lucas didn't need to add a sound effect to the special edition of A New Hope to make sure everyone noticed the stormtrooper who slams his head in a door frame, but it didn't make the famous goof any less funny. It's a one-off glitch that helps to codify the legend that Stormtroopers have the worst line of sight in the galaxy.
Behind the scenes footage from A New Hope also shows Stormtrooper actors having a rough time as they struggle to get through blast doors. They eventually end up sliding across the set to get their balance back in a rather comedic fashion.