Continuity mistake: When Anakin tells Obi-Wan, "I was arrogant, and I apologize." his hair is combed a certain way. As the conversation continues, his hair changes. (00:48:40)
Continuity mistake: In the speech hall when Yoda fights Darth Sidious, when Yoda falls down grabbing onto a panel, he holds on while sliding down, leaving scrape marks with his nails. When it cuts you can see the scrape marks have changed. (01:49:25)
Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan and Yoda arrive at the Jedi temple to find all the slain Jedi, there is a wide shot showing Obi-Wan walking several feet ahead of Yoda. Obi-Wan then raises his hands and is about to remove his hood when it cuts and now Yoda is suddenly right next to Obi-Wan. (01:30:40)
Continuity mistake: When the Jedi Council discuss about Grievous being on Utapau and Yoda says "Act on this we must" Windu is sitting with his hands down. When it cuts he has his right hand to his face. (00:46:40)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin cuts off Count Dooku's head we see him putting his arms down. When it cuts to Dooku falling Anakin is standing with both arms stretched out. (00:13:50)
Continuity mistake: After Anakin chokes Padmé, her right arm lies in front of her as she collapses, but in the next shot of her, her arm is resting across her stomach. (01:42:10)
Continuity mistake: Just before leaving in his spacecraft to go and fight against general Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi is seen being briefed by Clone Commander Cody. During the briefing, you can see that at least one of the clone troopers on the right does not have the same head as the Clone Commander. But, when Obi-Wan climbs onto the wing of his spacecraft and enters it, the clone troopers on the right suddenly all have the same head as the Clone Commander.
Continuity mistake: When Anakin wakes up after his nightmare look closely at the design of their bed on Padme's side. In the close-up scenes of Padme sleeping the purple, brown and metal part of the bed is much thinner than in the wideshots. (00:29:30)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin and Padmé's son, Luke, is born, the baby is swabbed clean as the midwife droid hands him to Obi-Wan. But in the shot where Padmé says, "Oh, Luke." there's blood on the baby's head and chest. (02:00:45)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin and Obi-Wan are on their way to find Palpatine, destroyers appears shooting at them. In the shot behind the destroyers while they are shooting we can see the door behind Anakin and Obi-Wan are closed. When it cuts to a shot of them the door has suddenly opened a foot in a second. (00:08:35)
Continuity mistake: Yoda sends Darth Sidious flying over the table knocking down his chair. But when Darth Sidious jumps back over the table the chair is up again. (01:45:35)
Continuity mistake: When Yoda enters to confront Sidious he wipes out the two red guards. The guard on the right side moves a feet away from the entrance between the shots. (01:44:10)
Continuity mistake: When Bail Organa is at the Jedi Temple when the young Jedi start fighting the troops, the Jedi chops off a trooper's foot. When Organa takes off, the foot is gone. (01:21:25)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning, when Obi-Wan and Anakin are returning after saving Palpatine, you can see their ship approaching the platform is about to go under a large shadow. But in the next shot, it takes quite a while for the shadow to even touch the ship, and the shadow is of a different position/size. (The shadow is from an over-hang above them, for other ships I assume).
Continuity mistake: In the Palpatine/Yoda lightsaber duel, during the second time they lock sabers, Palpatine's blade is pointed down, then in a closeup of his face, his blade is at an upward angle. Then when it cuts back to Yoda, his blade is pointed down again even though blades were constantly locked. This may only be noticeable in widescreen.
Continuity mistake: When Anakin is at the Mustafar system wiping out everyone, before he kills the last droid, he kills someone near the panels. When he falls dead to the ground his scarf is lying on his back. When it cuts the scarf is hanging down over his arm. (01:31:40)
Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan and Yoda are about to leave the Jedi Temple and Obi-Wan says "Wait, Master, there is something I must know", Yoda stops. Notice the pattern on the floor under Yoda. When it cuts you can see from the pattern on the floor that Yoda has moved. (01:33:10)
Continuity mistake: When Anakin is talking to Bail Organa after rescuing the chancellor, the distance between them and the column that Padmé is standing by is inconsistent between shots. (00:24:40)
Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan and Yoda find the dead Jedi, some of the dead children lying on the floor where Obi-Wan and Yoda are standing are lying in a different position between shots. For example, watch the brown cloak of one of the Padawans near Obi-Wan. (01:30:40)
Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan and Yoda find the dead Jedi in the Jedi Temple, in the first shot, there are several bodies on the floor in front of them. In the next shot, there are different bodies. (01:30:40)
Chosen answer: Powerful force users seem to have some degree of control over their bodies even after death. In the later series, Luke's wife Mara Jade Skywalker only allows her body to disappear when her killer, and nephew Jacen Solo arrives at her funeral as a clue. Thus it appears that a powerful force user can simply choose if they wish their body to disappear.
Darius Angel