THX 1138

THX 1138
Directed by	George Lucas
Written by	George Lucas (story/screenplay) Walter Murch (screenplay)
Produced by	Lawrence Sturhahn
Starring	Robert Duvall Donald Pleasence Don Pedro Colley Maggie McOmie Ian Wolfe
Edited by	George Lucas
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Distributed by	Warner Bros. and American Zoetrope
Release dates	March 11, 1971 (original release) September 10, 2004 (select cities re-release) September 14, 2004 (DVD releases)
Running time	86 min / USA:88 min (director's cut)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$777,000 (estimated)

THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film written and directed by George Lucas. It depicts an Orwellian future, featuring three residents of a dystopia in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through ever-present faceless, android police-officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, including sexual desire.

It was the first feature-length film directed by Lucas, and a more developed, feature-length version of his student film Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138:4EB, which he made in 1967 while attending the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It shares themes with The Machine Stops, Anthem, Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Ira Levin's This Perfect Day; bears a very strong resemblance to Yevgeny Zamyatin's We; and was inspired in part by the short film 21-87. The film was produced in a joint-venture between Warner Brothers and Francis Ford Coppola's then-new production company, American Zoetrope.

Production

In order to emphasize the dehumanizing nature of the world of THX 1138, Lucas insisted that most of the actors and actresses in the film shave their heads, with some characters going completely bald, while others were allowed to maintain a buzz cut. As a publicity stunt, Lucas arranged for several actors to get their first haircuts/shaves at unusual venues, and have this filmed for later use in a tongue-in-cheek promotional featurette entitled Bald. Robert Duvall had his head shaved while watching a baseball game, while his co-star, Maggie McOmie, had hers done at the scenic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Another actor, who would later play an insane man in the film, was allowed to cut off his own hair and was filmed doing so in a bathtub. The Bald featurette was included in the 2004 DVD release. Many of the extras seen in the film were recruited from the addiction recovery program Synanon, most of whose members had shaved heads.

The chase scene featured Lola T70 Mk.IIIs with dummy turbine engines racing through two San Francisco Bay Area automotive tunnels: the Caldecott Tunnel between Oakland and Orinda, and the underwater Posey Tube between Oakland and Alameda. The final climb out to the daylight was actually filmed, with the camera rotated 90 degrees, in the incomplete (and decidedly horizontal) BART Transbay Tube before installation of the track supports, with the characters using exposed reinforcing bars as a ladder.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler The film consists of three acts. In the first, we are introduced to daily life in the underground dystopia through the central character, THX 1138 (Robert Duvall), a nuclear-production-line worker. All emotions are suppressed in THX's world through the compulsory use of soma-like drugs. However, THX's female roommate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) has stopped taking her drugs, and secretly substitutes inactive pills for THX's medications. As the drug's effects wear off, THX finds himself experiencing authentic emotions and sexual desire for the first time. He and LUH begin a loving relationship, and plan to escape to the "superstructure", where they hope to be able to live in freedom. Before they can attempt this escape they are arrested and charged with having unauthorised sex and not taking state-prescribed drugs.

The second act sees THX incarcerated for his crimes in a white limbo world along with a collection of other prisoners, including Donald Pleasence as SEN 5241 – a sinister technician who has been using his programming skills to try to replace LUH as THX's roommate and became a "prisoner" of the limbo because THX reported him for said programming violations. Some of SEN's dialogue is taken from speeches by Richard Nixon .

File:200491623014948.jpg

Duvall, shaved head, as THX 1138.

Most of the prisoners seem uninterested in escape, but eventually THX and SEN decide to find an exit. They encounter SRT (Don Pedro Colley), who starred in the sexual holograms broadcast citywide. SRT has become disenchanted with his role in the society and is making an attempt to escape. Upon exiting the limbo, THX attempts to find LUH and learns that her identity has been reassigned to a fetus in a growth chamber. This indicates that she has been considered "incurable" and killed. Separated from the other two fugitives, SEN makes a tentative exploration of the limits of the city's underground network. Cowed by what he sees, he returns to the city and is captured by the authorities.

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THX 1138's robot cop.

The third act is an extended escape sequence, featuring a futuristic and often-copied car-chase sequence through a tunnel network. THX and SRT steal two cars, but the latter immediately crashes. It is uncertain whether SRT survives the impact, although the film's script indicates he does not. THX flees to the limits of the city's underground road network while being chased by android police, and eventually locates an access tunnel that leads up to the surface. The police pursue THX up the ladder, but the expense of his capture exceeds its budget, compelling the police to retreat, leaving THX to climb out and stand, for the first time, in the harsh surface sunlight. As THX stands before the setting sun, birds intermittently fly overhead, indicating that life is possible on the surface.

Director's Cut

The original cut of the film had been available for several years on both Laserdisc (in letterbox format) and VHS but was not immediately available on DVD. Although this was in part the result of early skepticism of the DVD format on the part of Lucas, it was also because of his desire to slightly re-work parts of the film before it was released on DVD.

Lucas finally set about getting a DVD version of the film together in early 2004, putting the film through a meticulous audio/video restoration and making use of computer-generated imagery to modify certain scenes to his liking, mostly by expanding crowds and sets. In addition, Lucas shot new footage for the film, and even went as far as to re-shoot several scenes using computer systems to insert the actors and replace existing footage. This Director's Cut was released to a limited number of digital-projection theaters on September 10, 2004 and on DVD in Region 1 on September 14. Region 2 and 4 releases came later. Fan and critical reaction to this version was mixed, although any negative commentary was far more low key than the backlash Lucas faced with altering the Star Wars films. This likely due to the relative popularity of the films.

The revised DVD version does alter the narrative of the story in subtle ways, connecting the three primary characters SEN, LUH and THX from the outset, and also shifting their percieved motivations. The best example of this is the addition of exchanged glances between SEN and LUH at their observation workstations. The editing in the same scene which shows LUH (as opposed to SEN in the theatrical release) paying more attention to a report of "illegal sexual activity".

Many of the changes are documented at the sites listed at the foot of this article.

Trivia

• George Lucas reportedly named the film after his San Francisco telephone number, 849-1138 -- the letters THX correspond to letters found on the buttons 8, 4 and 9.
• The cinematic sound systems company THX Ltd. was founded by Lucasfilm and has been thought to be named after this film. THX officially stands for "Tomlinson Holman's eXperiment". Tomlinson Holman developed the THX sound system, having been commissioned to do so by Lucas in 1982. According to Lucas' thoughts, the "X" in the sound system name THX stands for "crossover", a piece of audio processing equipment. In either case, it is not named for THX 1138 and Lucas says that the similar names are just a coincidence.
• The titles of this film begin a tradition for Lucas films in that they are colored green and set against a pitch black background. The Lucasfilm LTD. logo seen in American Graffiti and the original versions of the Star Wars trilogy use the same colors and typeface.
• In the audio commentary track on the DVD release of the film, co-writer and editor Walter Murch explains it was his belief that the names of the two main characters "THX" (pronounced "thex") and "LUH" (pronounced like the word "love" without the "v" sound) refer to their being representations of "sex" and "love", respectively.
• In an interview, Don Pedro Colley indicated that the cars were modified Chaparral racing cars. Colley is incorrect — they are cosmetically modified Lola T70 Mk.IIIs. This was verified by an article in Car & Driver magazine from the early 1980s discussing John Ward, who modified and prepared the cars for the film. This can also be verified by close inspection of the finished film.[1]
• During the chase sequence, a voice actor improvising background radio dialogue said, "I think I ran over something... I think I ran over a wookiee on the expressway." The ad-lib became the name of the race of a prominent character in the Star Wars films.
• Tamil writer Sujatha wrote a science fiction novel in two parts called En Iniya Iyandhira, based on THX-1138.
• A novelization by Ben Bova was published in 1971.
• Around minute 3 of the film, a program listing appears being written, the language is FORTRAN.
• In the movie Swingers (1996) the license plate on Jon Favreau's car reads THX 138. The license plate is identical to the one on John Milner's '32 Ford deuce coupe in American Graffiti. The license plate in Graffiti is an homage to George Lucas' first feature film, THX 1138, while the same license plate in Swingers is tribute to American Graffiti.

References in other media

• The HBO mini series Josh Kirby... Time Warrior had a number of references to THX 1138 including the names of 2 of the main characters: Dr. Zoetrope (a refrence to the production company) and Irwen 1138.
• The number 1138 is a recurrent Easter egg in subsequent George Lucas films and products of the Lucas-founded LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic. For example, 1138 is the number of the cell block Luke Skywalker claims Chewbacca is being transported to on the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope; the number-plate of Paul Le Mat's deuce coupe in American Graffiti is THX 138; in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Rogues 10 and 11 are ordered to sector 38; in Raiders of the Lost Ark the Nazi harbor loudspeaker announces "eins, eins, drei, acht" (German for one, one, three, eight); the number 1138 is printed on a battle droid's back in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; and in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Clone Trooper Commander Bacara of the Galactic Marines has the numbers "1138" as his clone registration number. The DVDs for Episodes I, II, and III all feature blooper reel Easter eggs when 1-1-38 is entered on the THX optimizer icon. In Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, the Imperial Stormtrooper unit refers to itself as THX-1138.
• A nod to the film that inspired THX-1138, 21-87 is featured in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Princess Leia's cell is number 2187.
• The android police officer is a main character in the music video for Three Days Grace's song "Just Like You"
• In the Lucasarts game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, the total of Zak's phone bill is $1,138.
• In the DVD versions of all the Star Wars episodes, highlighting the THX 'icon' and pressing 1138 (some DVD players/remotes require that you press the button '10+' then press 11 then 3 then 8 while on some DVD players/remotes you may have to press the button '10+' then press 11, then '10+' then 03 then '10+' then 08) grants access to special bonus features. For example, in the Episode III DVD, the bonus feature include Yoda dancing to some hip-hop music.
• In Star Wars: Republic Commando, the player character's designation is RC-1138.
• In the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a door leading to a scientist's lab is labelled 1138.
• Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill Volume 2 pays a similar homage to this title on the license plate of Bill's jeep. Though hard to discern through the mud on it as he leaves The Bride at Pei Mei's, it reads THX-1169.
• In the film Ocean's Eleven, Matt Damon's character enters the numbers "1-1-3-8" into the electronic lock during the vault heist segment. Damon makes reference to Lucas and the film in the DVD commentary.
• It has been said that a reference to THX 1138 appears in every subsequent film that Lucas has been involved with. Fans are still looking for some of these.
• In Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, when the Galactic Empire trooper unit is selected, one possible auditory acknowledgement is, "THX 1138 ready, sir!"
• On page 193 of the Shadows of the Empire novel (which occurs between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), the plans for the second Death Star are located in sector Tarp-Hard-Xenon (THX) on the computer the Bothans are hacking that was recovered from a freighter allegedly carrying fertilizer. Also, on page 336, in requesting that the guards in the subbasement level of Pince Xizor's castle report in, a person says over the comlink: "Come in, sector one-one-three-eight"
• A tribute to THX 1138 can be heard in the queue area of the Disneyland Star Tours attraction; a public address announcement asks the owner of a land speeder with license "THX 1138" to return to their vehicle.
• The song entitled "We Are 138," written by Glenn Danzig of The Misfits, was written in reference to the android-like state of THX-1138
• Many industrial music, noise music and synthpop artists, among them The Future Sound of London, Laibach, Front 242, Chemlab, Floater, Moev, Doubting Thomas, Alien Sex Fiend, DJ Shadow, UNKLE and Clock DVA, have utilized samples of sound effects and dialogue from the film. The track "Mr. Self Destruct" from the Nine Inch Nails' 1994 album The Downward Spiral features an excerpt from the "beating channel" watched by the title character. The track "What's Wrong" by Japanese noise artist Ryoji Ikeda makes heavy use of samples from film; including "What's Wrong" when the characters open the bathroom drug dispensers and co-ordination information during android assembly.
• The free tekno sound system Spiral Tribe sampled dialogue from the film extensively in several releases, including the track "Track 13 (Criminal Drug)" (from the "Forward the Revolution" EP) .
• In the opening title sequence for Pinky and the Brain, The Brain is seen writing THX=1138 on a blackboard.
• In episode "The Train Job" of the short-lived Fox television series Firefly, a train car can be briefly seen with the digits 1138 on the top.
• The rock band Queen's video for the song "Calling All Girls" is based on the movie.
• The Hip hop group Gang Starr's video for the song "You Know My Steez" is based on the movie.
• In issue 38 of the third incarnation of DC Comic's Teen Titans, "Titans Around The World" THX 1138 is the numberplate of a pickup truck parked outside a store that former Teen Titan Risk holds up.
• In the Smallville episode "Thirst", the name of one of LuthorCorp's projects is referred to as 'Project 1138'.
• In 3D Realms' 1996 game Duke Nukem 3D, "1138" is seen displayed on a security monitor in episode 2, level 2.
• There is notable similarity (Underground Dystopia, escape sequence to Earth's surface that is now inhabitable) in the plot of Capcom's Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter for the PlayStation 2 console.
• London (UK) dance act have the name THX1138 .. See official site.THX1138
• The song "99" from Toto's album Hydra was inspired by THX 1138. [2]
• In the John Carpenter movie Dark Star a piece of the ship is labelled "Toilet Tank THX 1138"
• Track number 7 on Jeff Beck's album "Who Else!" is titled THX138
• On the Swedish rapper Promoe's album Government Music there is a song titled THX 1138 handling the subject of a big-brother state.
• "SEN-5241", an alternative reality game (ARG), was created by the web development group at VirtuQuest. The game was a continuation of the THX story, some years after THX's adventures. This game is archived and playable in the gallery at VirtuQuest.com.
• In the online comic Freefall, "THX 1138" can be seen on Helix's "Helix Vision (v1.01)". strip #203
• In Tamil movie Thiruda Thiruda (dubbed into Telugu as Donga Donga), the stolen money from a bank is hidden inside a cargo container named "SKF 1138"
• In Rockstar Vancouver's PS2 Game, Bully, the password to the 'Nerds' base is 1138
• In the movie Swingers, Trent's (Vince Vaughn) car has the license plate THX 1138
• In the animated television series Super Bestial Machine God Dancougar, the activation code for the Cyber Beast Force's Gandor spacecraft is "THX 1138." Before this, it is also the data block that must be unlocked in order for Dancougar to combine.
• Imagery from the film influences the video for "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore" by the Pet Shop Boys.
• An episode of ReBoot makes a reference, when one character says "Proceed heading 1138"
• In an episode of Robot Chicken from season 1, there is a Bloopers skit that takes place in outer space. There is one shot in which a robot walks through a corridor in a prison; the cell behind him reads "Cell 1138".
• THX-1138 was a solar system in the computer game Escape Velocity, which also contained a planet called George's World.
• In Star Wars (episodes 2+3), THX 1138 is written in LED lights on the back of every clone trooper's helmet, but it is too small to see on screen, this is a question on Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.
• It also appears in the X-MEN cartoon, Season 4, Episode 6 "Beyond Good and Evil Pt. 2". It is on the license plate of the car in the warehouse after Arch Angel follows the thief.

See also

• 1138 (number)

External links

• Review of THX 1138 DVD
• Changes made for the DVD release
• Another page with images of the DVD changes
• Music inspired by the film