The character ages/timeline of Star Wars have always bugged me. I am particularly baffled by Lucas' explaination of the crappy swordfight in Star Wars. He says it's because Vader was mostly machine and Obi Wan an old man. Well, Qui Gon was in his late 50s or early 60s, and he handled a saber well enough. Same can be said of Dooku. Going by the current timeline, Obi Wan is 56 at the time of Star Wars, so hardly past in in Jedi terms, but he looks a hell of a lot older.

Making Anakin 9 in TPM was also a huge mistake. Not just because the character was too young to be effective, but because his future love interest was almost 5 years older. I don't know many 24 year old Senators who'd fall for a bratty, whiney 20 year old boy (he must have been almost 10 in TPM, and Padme just turned 14). As for a planet 'electing' a 14 year old girl as queen...

Also, how long did Luke spend on Degobah? The film makes it seem like days, but surely he couldn't have become that good in such a short space of time. I've also often wondered how long it took the Falcon to get from Anoat to Bespin on sub-light drive. Then again, these are only films, and perhaps I think too much. Still, it would be nice if Lucas could at least attempt a bit of continuity. On that note, why the hell did it take 20 odd years to build the first Death Star, and less than 5 to build the bigger, more powerful second?