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Lucas revisited THX 1138 in 2004 and created a new Director's Cut. Using CGI techniques that weren't available in 1970 he was able to show a world that is visually expanded from the original version. This Director's Cut was released to a limited number of screens on Sept. 10, 2004 and on DVD in Region 1 on Sept. 14, 2004.
The film essentially consists of three acts.
In the first act, we are introduced to daily life in the dystopia by following around the central character, THX 1138 ( Robert Duvall), a nuclear-production-line worker who stops taking his ( soma-like) drugs. As the effects wear off, his repressed senses of sexuality and freedom become evident. He is subsequently convicted of a "sex-crime", a sexual relationship with LUH 3417, played by Maggie McOmie.
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. The outlook and content of this section of the film is somewhat reminicent of the works of Samuel Beckett. Most of the prisoners seem uninterested in escape, but eventually THX and some others decide to walk through the limbo and eventually find an exit. Upon their escape THX attempts to find LUH, learning she has been considered incurable, and killed.
The third act is a Logan's RunLogan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, published in 1967. A film version was made in 1976, directed by Michael Anderson, which was filmed mostly in a Dallas, Texas shopping mall. A television version was made from 1977 to 1 style escape (predating Logan's Run), featuring an often copied (futuristic) car-chase sequence through a tunnel network. THX is chased by robot police and eventually locates a man-hole cover which leads out into the sun-light. As the robot policeman is about to catch up with THX the budget for his capture reaches an end and the robot retreats leaving THX to climb out into the harsh surface sunlight.
The number 1138 is a recurrent Easter eggFrom the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in the U. and many parts of Europe, Easter eggs are hidden messages or features which may appear in movies, DVDs, books, on CDs, or in computer programs. Computer-related Easter eggs In computing, Easter egg in subsequent George Lucas films and LucasArtsLucasArts Entertainment Company (sometimes shortened to LEC), is a video game developer and publisher. The company was famous for its line of point-and-click adventure games and today mainly produces games based on the Star Wars franchise. The company had computer gameA computer game is any sort of game that is played using a computer. General Although often associated, computer games are not necessarily video games although all but the earliest video games (such as Pong, which used dedicated analogue circuitry) are cos. For example, 1138 is the number of a cell block on the Death StarThe Death Star is a moon-sized planetoid military space station in the fictional Star Wars universe. Description The Galactic Empire's ultimate terror weapon, the Death Stars were battle stations several hundred kilometers in diameter and mounting a direc in Star Wars Episode IV, and the number-plate of Paul Le MatPaul Le Mat (born September 22, 1952) is an actor who first came to prominence in the 1973 film American Graffiti''. He later played Melvin in Melvin and Howard and had a role in American History X. Le Mat, Paul.'s deuce coupeDeuce coupe is a slang term used to refer to a 1932 Ford automobile. In 1932, Henry Ford and Ford Motors produced the company's first V8 engine car. The flathead motor delivered more power than its older cousins. The '32 Ford instantly gained popularity d in American Graffiti is THX 138.
The cinematic sound systems company THX Ltd. is owned by Lucasfilm, and is 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. However, the true meaning of 'THX 1138' is much more mundane: it is actually George Lucas' old phone number from the apartment where he lived as a college student.
According to an interview of George Lucas on the DVD "Short 10 Chaos" 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. In this same interview Lucas states that it is just a coincidence.
The Misfits' song "We Are 138" is generally agreed to be a reference to this movie.An automotive chase scene involved the use of two San Francisco Bay Area automotive tunnels, the Caldecot 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 underwater tube, before installation of the track.
1970 films Dystopian films Science fiction films