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THX-1138: The (Digitally Enhanced) Director's Cut
StefanJ writes "This is either a marvelous Photoshop hoax or something really . . . cool? Sacreligious? Unnecessary? Reportedly, George Lucas has given his first commercially released movie, THX1138, a digital workover, enhancing backgrounds and altering scenes for more eye-appeal. Here are some comparisons of original and altered scenes. For those who haven't seen the film: Without giving too much away, it's about a working stiff living in a repressive underground bomb-shelter society. Emotion-suppressing drugs are mandatory; people shuffle from work to home, pausing to buy consumer goods along the way. (The goods aren't used for anything; you just feed them into a disposal unit after you get home. Making them keeps people busy . . .) If the drugs don't work, you can vent your spleen in a confession booth manned by a really bad A.I. It's really bleak, and sometimes ugly, but worth seeing. I hope the enhancements don't add too much color: The drab, sterile, white-on-white environment of the underground city is an important mood-setter. Consume more; be happy!"
As far as first films by future 'masters' is concerned. I'd rather wait for the digitally enhanced version of John Carpenter's Dark Star to be made and released. The existing DVD already has a Director's cut included (this might be the un-enhanced student version though, I've only seen the movie on cable).
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From what I understand, THX is decent at best. It's only gained esteem due to his other titles out there.
"Here's a spoiler: You're will die alone."-Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
I saw this first on Fark quite some time ago. They even had a photoshop contest for it. After a little research, this is no hoax at all. I can't wait to see what Lucas does with this film, a film that lead to so many others like it, yet none were quite as good. Can't wait to see the final results!
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...they include the original version and include scene markers. I'm a real stickler for the originals. I love the latest Alien release. It includes the original theatrical release and then a director's cut where I can activate text scene markers and know exactly what was changed. You can choose what versions you like best and actually learn something about how the editing process can change your perception of a film.
The story line seems like a ripoff from Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World. Which happens to be a great book if you've never read it.
... if that's your best, your best won't do... - Twisted Sister
This is yet more proof that George has lost his touch as a director. The man seems completely reliant upon special effects to sell movies now. The back-end motivation seems to be: Who cares if it sucks, the special effects will make up for that.
The LoTR movies prove that special effects and good directing can coexist in a movie. The Star Wars prequals prove that you can sell movies and merchandise on special effects alone... I guess this is historical fact to game players; look at how many games sold well on eye candy alone.
Have you seen the South Park episode about Spielberg and Lucas 'improving' their films? It's excellent, recommended.
Big deal. THX has to be the most boring Sci-Fi movie ever made. Its even more boring than watching a guy race robots on an empty ship in "Silent Running." Don't see THX expecting the pacing and excitement of the first Star Wars. Its just people shuffling around in bad clothes and having pointless conversations. If I want to see that I can go to the mall on weekdays and watch old people.
The guy is out of new ideas (not that he had any of his own to begin with) and can't seem to leave well enough alone.
Can someone please force him to either make his new movies good or his old movies old?
We should have all seen GL for what he was with the Ewoks, but we were fooled anyway. The guy was watching too much scifi when he wanted to be directing the Smurfs.
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...was when those 2 guys were talking and Robert Duvall was convulsing on the floor. Just loved the technical conversation as he was suffering.
It was also Luke's ID as a stormtrooper when in disguise in star wars... Han's was TK421, not that I remember...
According to internet legend, THX-1138 was Lucas's phone number when he was in college.
References Here and
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I don't know if it's true or not, but it's at least plausible... if you want to try to track it down some more, just Google for "thx-1138 phone number".
It shows up in a few other places, such as American Graffiti (the car driven by Harrison Ford has the plate number THX 138), and the film "Dark Star" by John Carpenter (one of Lucas's classmates), one of the toilet tanks is labeled "THX 1138" (make what you will of that - Carpenter ain't talking.)
Rumor has it that it shows up (in one form or another) in every movie that Lucas has directed.
Given that Lucas's THX-1138 was an obvious and pivotal influence on the paper roleplaying game PARANOIA, it is perhaps on-topic to mention that the game of a darkly humorous future is returning to print this August in a new edition from Mongoose Publishing, as previously covered on Slashdot.
The new PARANOIA XP edition emphasizes the Alpha Complex sort-of economy and a new consumerism very much in tune with THX-1138. You can follow the development of the game on the PARANOIA development blog.
I hope they don't reduce the impact. I was blown away by THX1138 when it came out. Saw it on the tube recently and figured that the ONLY thing that needed to be done was to replace the shots of tractor-feed pages with video displays. That does need to be done. Everything else is fine. A brilliant work.
Astro