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THX-1138 Finally Coming to DVD
OMM0000 writes "George Lucas' first film, THX 1138 is finally coming to DVD. They've also launched a new site, as USA Today reports. As webmaster of a certain THX-1138 fan site (which will remain nameless to avoid slashdotting), this is excellent news. For all of you lamenting the Star Wars prequels, be sure to see where Lucas' roots in filmmaking are."
In this version Greedo shoots first.
THX 1138: The Special Expanded Director's Cut, with better special effects and a new ending I will be very happy.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
Saw it once ages ago, had to fight to stay awake.
Now I can FINALLY get a film to help me during my bouts of insomnia! Huzzah!
Sorry...but the way it was worded, I took it as a personal challenge.
Maybe you shouldn't have posted this as OMM0000 if you really wanted to prevent a Slashdotting.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Finally? This is one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. I only watched the whole thing all the way through because it was made by the guy that created Star Wars. Probably the same reason people watched Episodes I and II.
While a bit slow moving, THX-1138 does actually explore something interesting. It is, with the exception of Empire, Lucas' best film. All films since have all slowly (Or not so slowly) deteriorated into the mess we now call the Star Wars prequels.
This was made before he realized that you can't make a living as a cult filmmaker.
Linux: Free if your time is worthless.
I hope this has Lucas' student short of THX (which was then remade into a feature length). I really preferred it honestly, and I haven't been able to find it in any consumer-oriented format previously.
Considering how much dead space the feature length had, 15 minutes was a nice compression that still managed to capture the atmosphere of a dystopian future.
It's one of those 70s dytopian scifi films with that really weird clinical view of the terrible future. However, I have a little story about actually watching it. I admit it. I'm one of those people that likes long and slow movies that require lots of concentration. I only know a few people like me. When I decided to rent this one, I was with my girlfriend and a couple of her friends (male and female). There were about eight of us and we popped the tape in on a Friday night at about 7:30PM. As I was watching it, I was engrossed in the film. I hadn't noticed until I heard some snoring that my girlfriend had fallen asleep! Going beyond that I looked around the room and realized I was the ONLY person awake. I have to say, that's when I realized that I have a very different perspective on moveis from most people. Since then, I'm less likely to ask people to watch something I'm interested in because it's likely going to bore them. So... it makes me feel good to know I'm not completely alone in my love for THX1138.
Un-news
So what's your favorite retro sci-fi movie? Not because it's campy, but because it's good.
What was that one with the ships orbiting Earth, with all the plants, animals, etc., and those cute robots? (Not that it was good.)
While it's a very interesting film from an experimental point of view, THX 1138 is not something that's likely to appeal to too many Star Wars fans, apart from the George Lucas connection. It's set in a dystopian future where everything is run by machines, and there is very little interpersonal dialogue or human interaction. Like I said, it's interesting from an experimental point of view to see how Lucas uses film to tell a story in a very non-conventional way, but it's clearly not aimed at mass audiences.
If you want to watch an early George Lucas film, most people will be better off with "American Graffiti", which got a pretty good DVD release a few years back, and is a very entertaining film.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a totalitarian society in which:
A drug violation means being under-medicated.
Most identity is removed, people don't have names, only prefix-suffix designations.
Sex is illegal
You confess your sins in booths to a recording of a Jesus-like picture of Ohm
It's weirer than can be described.
It's a definite must see for sci-fi fans.
AccountKiller
Calm down everyone, it's his director's cut, not the original. Another classic ruined...
"This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
That's the important question.
Am I the only one that wondered why Thex went to all that trouble just to starve to death on the surface?
--fatboy
There's still no DVD version in sight of one of the greatest movies ever made. Yep, I'm talking about Yellowbeard. Why? Why???? *shakes fist*
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
When you talk about George Lucas, don't forget "American Graffiti." Not only does it document his roots as a filmmaker, it documents his personal roots, as it is semi auto-biographical.
Sure THX1138 is good, but don't forget the Lucas masterpiece: AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
There's some hidden stuff on that page, I found a trailer in pretty decent resolution.
Link-city
So it's a bad film how?
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
This is one of the most boring movies I've ever seen.Well, perhaps you're not "into" science fiction. Star Wars and simular ilk are really streatching to be called "science fiction", they are more "fantasy / action". Of course, THX is a total rip-off of Brave New Worlds...
which will remain nameless
thx-1138.org, anyone?
# THX 1138 was based on a student film Lucas made while attending USC.
# The original title was Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB
# The stars of the film were Robert Duvall as THX 1138 (yes it's a name!), Donald Pleasence as SEN 5241, and Maggie McOmie as LUH 3417
# THX 1138 was not only ahead of its time in sound effects, but also in the themes which it portrayes, such as the loss of individuals for the good of the group, the self-corruption of the human spirit, racism in science fiction, and yes, even channel-surfing
# The film was produced by American Zoetrope Studios, then co-owned by Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola
# The extras used in the film came from a drug rehabilitation center called Delancey Street Foundation. The only way to enter Delancey Street was to have your head shaved. (Thanks to donasso@pacbell.net)
# When George Lucas lived in the San Francisco Bay area, where the tunnel scenes in THX were filmed, one of his phone numbers was 849-1138, or as a mnemonic, THX-1138. (Thanks to nbeckett@gte.net)
# The "shell dwellers" in THX served as the basis for the Jawas in Star Wars.
# The sound made by the staves which the robots use to condition prisoners are remarkably similar to the lightsaber sound effect.
# Star Wars was, at one point, going to be a prequel to THX, with the character who would become Luke Skywalker conceived as a young THX.
# The licence plate number on Milner's deuce coupe in American Graffiti was THX 138.
# In Star Wars, Luke says "Prisoner transfer from cell block 1138."
# During the car chase scene, someone can be heard over the intercom saying "I think I ran over a Wookiee back there on the expressway." As any good Star Wars fan can tell you, Chewbacca is a Wookiee.
# In The Empire Strikes Back, General Rieekan says, "Send Rogues ten and eleven to station three-eight."
# Not from a Lucas movie, but in The Lawnmower Man, the experimental chimp is named Rosco 1138.
# This is unconfirmed (I'll confirm it as soon as I can get to the theatre again!) but a reliable source told me that the battle droid who loses it's head in The Phantom Menace has the number "1138" on its back.
shamelessly stolen from this site (it's geocities, so go easy)
Frankly, I thought the pacing was fine. I like films that are not typical slapdash hollywood speed flicks. I prefer films that are slower and more elegant. I am convinced that THX1138 is one of Lucas's best films.
People who whinge about the pacing are just typical speed junkies - everything has to match their hamster sized attention spans and monkey brained prurience - very similar to the sadistic crap THX watches on TV in the movie.
I see THX1138 as prophetic: a puritanical (NO SEX!!!) consumerist capitalist totalitarian technological nightmare - all the tendencies we see about us today, only amplified in the worst possible way. And the surface of the earth? A beautiful wasteland.
THX1138 is magnificent. My only complaint is the audio is kind of noisy, and the voices weren't mixed well, and it all sounds kind of "canned". Murch is normally a genius, but this was not his best effort. My guess is the budget didn't permit anything better.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
THX-1138 is so much better than Star Warts. I wish he would have made more films like it. This is definently going in my DVD collection. I don't even have the old Star Warts let alone the new one.
SW is one of those kinds of films that I usually wait for them to put on broadcast TV as a sunday night movie.
Man was that ever cheesy. Ewoks? Jar Jar? Clones? If I wanted to watch a kids movie I'd have gone to Shrek. Actually I did go to Shrek and it at least made me laugh.
Anyways, bring on the THX-1138. It's about damn time.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Not knowing what THX-1138 was, first glance of the article title resulted in the reply: "Sonofa! I have to upgrade my home theater for *another* audio format!?"
I heard he's adding in a drug-evasion induced paranoid dream sequences with Jar Jar Binks and Jabba the Ashcroft that he could not afford to film at the time.
And remember drug evasion is a crime.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Now Dark Star is really really bad. SO bad it is all the way back around to good.
Seeing the trailer on the site, it lok s like they might have done couple of CG pan clips showing part of the city from far away.
In my opinion this is the best film Lucas ever made. A classic. About time.
I hope he hasn't done a StarWars on this one, there do seem to be some new scenes in the trailer.
It stars a young Don Johnson
This from IMDB...
A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex..
As webmaster of a certain THX-1138 fan site (which will remain nameless to avoid slashdotting), this is excellent news
how arrogant to assume that i would visit your website.
Yes, the vocal effects, like speech over radios, must have been done with the same technique used for the stormtroopers in the original trilogy.
Also a lot of music takes samples from this movie. Nine Inch Nails' Mr. Self Destruct starts with the sound of the guy being beaten on a TV show, was one I noticed right away.
One, your description does not even "vaguely" describe this film.
Second, THX-1138 is best film that George Lucas ever directed, with American Graffiti being almost as good. It is intelligent, literate, funny, with brilliant performances by the actors, wonderful, minimalist dialogue, and the single best example of what can be accomplished on limited budget that I have ever seen, Blair Witch not excepted.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
American Grafiti
Pretty dark, Orwellian film. Its VERY different from the SW films. You can see Lucas a young serious film maker with a dire outlook of the future in this film. The reviews of this movie are all over the place; some see it as an undestated masterpiece, others view it as boring pretentious crap. IMO, it was ok, but not great. Here the reviews listed on the IMDB.
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
Sucks real hard.
Not only that, but if you spin up the flash plugin, all you get is a set of links that then cause more flash loads.
In summary, a very lame site. I aborted after clicking the first link and seeing the "Transferring data..." status line.
I've seen the movie(in theater no less). I liked it, but I'm not going to torture myself trying to find my way through a website about it.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
That's the problem with yesterday's generation. You are so frightened of technology and changing ideas that you attack new ideas with Luddite fervor, banging on the machinery of modern life with oak clubs.
THX1138 is totally about YOU, huddling in your cave, doing manual labor that WE have designed machines to do for us. You have refused to learn the lessons that the industrial revolution should have tought you, with redundant repetitivity. You have no concept of what the word "progress" means, and you have yet to realize that true education does not (and should not) take place in schools, but in the home, on the playground, and in the burning desire to better yourself and your progeny (not everyone has that last one, by the way).
The parallels between THX1138 and today are mildly interesting, but hardly prescient. It's easy to look 30 years into the future. Lao Tsu wrote more insightful warnings thousands of years ago. HG Wells did a better job of it over a hundred years ago.
You've convinced nobody.
Silent Running, IMDB.
Neat movie, very thought provoking and thoroughly creepy.
Weaselmancer
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Bald guy with rat-tail: "You're making me uncomfortable."
sulli
RTFJ.
While on Tattooine, I believe in Mos Eisly, one Stormtrooper says something and refers to another stormtrooper with a serial identification. It's THX 1138.
I'm such a bad fan for not remembering the quote but it's used as a serial identifcation for a stormtrooper at some point.
I'm shocked the list missed this its the most obvious reference and really the only one I knew.
No not on the death star. Thats when an officer says "T8247 what is your position" during the scene when the Millenium Falcon is captured and the gang sneak off to find a way to disable the tractor beam.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
I don't even have the old Star Warts let alone the new one.
I'm sure that there's some kind of cream you can get from your doctor for that.
Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
It introduced the concept of modern phone tech support. Whenever someone has a problem, they open their medicine cabinet and look into a lens, and a concerned voice says "what's wrong?". Later, you see the call center, where someone listens to the complaints and pushes a button to send out the appropriate canned response.
The chase scene's ending (this is a spoiler) is unique. The chase ends because the people chasing the escaped guy have reached their budget limit and chasing him is no longer cost-effective. So they let him go.
Lucas went on to do some more commercially successful work later, but THX-1138 represents his most original thinking.
Why can't this egotistical bastard ever release his earlier works with their original content. Why must he always try and change, modify, (attempt to improve but usually fail miserably) his works. Can he not show pride in his work or does he look back and only see failure. I mean please these are the films that allowed him to create his empire.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
....as thousands of slashdotters google "thx-1138 fansite" and slashdot all of the fan sites on the net...
The1Genius - Littera Scripta Manet
My favorite part of the site is the Legal Terms of Servce with its light gray on white text
Yup. You can dry hump a crucifix on network TV, but god help you if you flash some nipple.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
I only saw it once, long ago, but as I recall, my favorite aspect of the movie was something no one's commented on yet: the plot's postmodern commentary on the process of making the movie itself.
There is a chase scene where the pursuers have a certain budget. Each time a major accident (which is an expensive special effect) happens, an expense is charged to their budget. THX needs to keep in front of them until their budget's used up.
THX 1138 is alright. Yeah, there are alot a paralells. No, yelling at folks won't make it alright. Calling people sheep won't help much either.
Yeah, the world seems to be headed in the sci-fi nightmare direction.
It's worth seeing if for no other reason than to point out the dramatic difference between Lucas then and Lucas now. THX 1138 is a very minimalist movie. Little use of color, very simple sets, and a depressing but interesting premise. Compare this to say, Episode 1, where it's so overdone with special effects and it's all candy coated.
The other thing to note is the depth of the characters in THX 1138 versus the newest SW movies. Everybody in SW is so seemingly detached, from everything, so little emotion. In THX 1138, it's all about letting the emotion come out of that cold rigorously controlled world.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
are detailed here...
As Roger Ebert says, a good movie can never be too long.
Great movie introducing the first possible flight to the moon (with its own "Woody Woodpecker Cartoon" to help explain space flight).
Too bad there isn't a DVD version of the movie that used a high quality/remastered print.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Didn't I just say I don't have them? You need to read more than one word per sentence.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
This anti-climax has always stood out in my mind a lot more than anything else in the movie.
It's probably a central concept in the 15 minute short the film was based on, but I seem to remember that it only gained prominance in the last ten minutes or so of the movie.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Worst website ever!
"That's not ironic, it's just mean!" - Bender
They add Muppets, and it all goes to hell.
Sorry for the spoiler.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
Actually, it is a mid-Cold War era nuclaer apocalypse movie about a society that has to survive by living underground and tightly controlling resources.
My other first post is car post.
Okay, I am a fan of Space 1999 ( season 1 only ) which is also goofy and as old as dust.
However there is enough material there for several DVD box sets.
How can there be a web site for a single movie that has to be more then 30 years old?
How much of a single film is there to talk about?
Steve
Those who hated THX1138 probabaly hated films like Gattaca as well. Which I thought, like THX1138 had some interesting "deep" overtones as well.
If you want a popcorn and soda movie...go see one. Just because you hate movies that make you think does not mean they are bad!
I have been waiting for this for a long time. I wish more student films were put out on DVD. This along with "Dark Star" by John Carpenter(Halloween,Escape from New York, The Thing, etc) and Dan O'Bannon (Alien and Heavy Metal plus more) are my favorites. When these guys are young and they have no pressure for a commercial product they do their best or most weird and interesting work, hopefully both versions will be included on the DVD. WOO HOO!!!
I finally get to try out my new kick ass sound system! Woot.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Francis Ford Coppola produced THX-1138. In return for Warner Brothers distributing the film, Coppola agreed to direct a certain film project. Coppola didn't think this project would end up being successful, but directed it anyway in return for Warner Brothers distributing and funding THX.
That film was The Godfather
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I watched this not to long ago and I can only say that it is a work of great vision. The parallels to todays world are striking, we can see many aspects of the society portrayed in the film in our own. For example, the channel that shows a cop beating someone over and over again is a lot like the show COPS. Many people and children take drugs like prozac, xanax, and ritalin in order to cope with society, which was required in the world of THX-1138. Today, people are designated by social security numbers, and forced to wear ID badges at work. The confession booths with the pre-recorded soothing phrases and phony religion shows the ultimate emptiness of the society. Today, pre-recorded self -help tapes are hawked relentlessly by charlatans on TV. In short, so many elements of THX-1138 are relflected in our own society that it almost seems like its just a matter of time before we reach the extreme limit portrayed.
To be honest, I read that you didn't have them, but I just couldn't resist.
Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
When is your true masterpiece going to be released?
Sailors. Oh man!
There have been rumors going around that Lucas has added up to 100 new visual FX shots to this version of THX-1138. He also added that sunset to the American Graffiti DVD.
Is there any truth to the rumors of these added shots? I wouldn't put it past Lucas.
You're forgetting the part where George Lucas made it.
*yawn*
The nasty decor has been replaced and it is probably illegal to film there now (to prevent "terrorists" from making student films).
Yeah, right.
Yes, acutally. The idea in both movies was the same. The visual aesthetic was different, obviously. There were other differences as well. In Logan's Run, the population was oblivious to how the system worked (except for the Sandmen). Most of the population seemed to not even have jobs. In THX 1138, the population was intimately involved in the workings of society (i.e., they had to work). The endings were different in both too. In THX 1138, THX escapes to the surface to find a radioactive wasteland (that's how I read it at least). In Logan's Run, the ending is happy and hopeful.
In both movies the people all had the same haircuts, the same clothes, and the same type of apartments (except in Logan's Run, Logan's apartment was nicer because he was a Sandman). In both movies, consumption was standardized. If anything, I would relate this more to a ridigly rationing, communist system than to a capitalist system. In a capitalist system demand drives production. In a communist system, production is controlled by the government and is limited to the needs of the populace, regardless of want.
My other first post is car post.
I think my memory of THX 1138 is a little flawed. I just watched the preview on the new THX 1138 site, and there's a bit about "buy more, consume more" messages. So I guess that blows out the communist idea.
It's still the best thing George Lucas ever made.
Uh oh. I think I just caught a glimpse of some added CG in the preview... George can't resist screwing with his old movies, it seems.
My other first post is car post.
"Never heard of it"
It's never heard of you, either.
SO dull! Like, there was only one car chase, and it wasn't even that long! Plus the guy has car trouble in the middle of it -- totally lame! No space shootouts, no karate, no hot sex scenes, nothin'!
Signed,
Phil I. Stine
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Impenetrable is more like it.
Impenetrable movie = good for repeated viewings.
Impenetrable web site = unfit for a single use.
NTK has a word for it -- "usecrime".
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Was that THX-1178 or THX-1138? I forget which.. But I recall havign the DVD, seeing it, and then seeing the original movie he released in grad school.
Just say no to license servers!!
In THX-1138 sex IS illegal, but there is entertainment of wriggling/dancing naked bodies for the masses to watch.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
I thought it sucked, but I'm also one not to live in the past thinking that time period was the greatest of all.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
WTF?
It's too bad the price of crack isn't tied to the price of oil. There'd be a lot less strange moderation going on around here if it were.
--
E_NOSIG