garymey

I read Randy Miller III's DVD review of THX 1138 - The George Lucas Director's Cut (2-Disc Special Edition) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12283 and...

I was lucky enough to see this digitally projected in Telluride followed by George Lucas in conversation with Elvis Mitchell. Totally enlightening. The new crowd scene is amazing on the big screen. Originally they only had enough money to get 30 people from Synanon (a drug rehab house) to shave their heads and walk around in circles behind the camera coming back into the crowd. Now they digitally added hundreds of people.

The strange thing it that the amazing digital restoration isn't being projected that way right in Lucas' backyard. The problem with THX on film was that so much of it has stark white backgrounds that only a few passes through the projector resulted in the print showing horrible scratches. The digital was crisp and perfect and proved George's theory about the future need for digital projection.

Randy Miller III

Some of the changes were really impressive, weren't they? By the way, I did catch the bit about Synanon in the commentary (and a documentary on Disc 2), and I really found that aspect of the production to be a clever solution. It still bothers me that those "changes" weren't discussed on the DVD...heck, it'd give Lucas and Co. yet another reason to brag (and rightfully deserved, I might add). Anyway, thanks for reading and sharing your experience.

Lokimok

I'm really upset that this got 2 releases (a single & a double disc set) & neither has the original version of the movie. Why is there a single release at all? Is it really going to help sales that much? If so, why not make it pan & scan? & what am I supposed to make of the fact that the student film is untouched?

I think another unofficial disc is in my future...

OldBoy

Is this a good blind buy?

jarofclay73

Unless you are a HUGE fan of movies that really establishes mood more than plot or characters, I wouldn't really recommend this as a blind buy. Or, maybe you're a film history buff. But, if you like "Resident Evil" or "2 Fast 2 Furious," I think "THX 1138" might put you to sleep. It IS quite slow.

On another note, I really LOVE all the additions made to this film. They're nearly transparent, especially since I've never seen the film before. But, I knew some they didn't have the ability to do a lot of those shots back in 1970. At least the link in the DVD Talk review confirmed my suspicisions.

I need to watch it again though. It's hard to understand the first time through.

It was really a gritty and edgy movie by Lucas. No wonder he went in almost the opposite direction with the rest of his movies, considering the studio gave him a bad experience. I know Lucas isn't even trying to do Star Wars as seriously as he did "THX 1138." But, I want to see Lucas TRY to do another really serious movie with serious social commentary.

jarofclay73

I was also amazed at the real time bitrate which hovered between 8.0 and 9.5!

Randy Miller III

FYI, Lucas really hinted during the audio commentary that his "cinematic heart" lies in more abstract films like THX-1138, and he'd like to return to that style in the future.

TommyMc

i bought this yesterda and it looked fantastic, having seen it several times before, i was really impressed with the new transfer, and the additional CGI scene's where really breathtaking. This is a must own in my opinion if you are a sci-fi genre fan.

The quality is so good, that it looks like it could have been made this year...the only giveaway now that it wasn't is all those shots of old printers printing out text on roll-feed printer paper

OldBoy

i'm still undecided about this...i heard it was a little boring. any other movies that compare to this in terms of tone and emotion or lack thereof?

TommyMc

i would say it has about the same speed as silent running or outland (sean connery)...but totally different movies all together...maybe compare it to 2001 as well for some of the slower parts. but it's really not that slow. hard to describe maybe a little 1984ish? lol

bboisvert

Yeah, 2001 meets 1984 is probably the best description anyone could give it.

I wouldn't call it "a little boring" at all... but I suppose that depends what type of films you enjoy.

Becky J.

I'm wondering if my husband and I are the only ones who had these problems...if maybe we got a bad disc. It's definitely not our equipment, which is pretty high-end stuff and is kept clean.

On two separate occasions white text flashed on the screen in the black letterbox area under the picture, MUCH too fast for us to read but we both saw it. My husband joked about it because I had just told him I believed George Lucas puts subliminal messages in his films (he's the Lucas fan, I'm not, although this movie was pretty good). One time it was short, like perhaps just one word, and the other time it was longer, going pretty much all the way across the letterbox area. Unfortunately I don't recall what was going on in the movie either time. Anyone else have this on their copies?

Also, fairly early in the movie, and I *think* too early for it to have been caused by the layer switch, there was a brief jerky bit. All I recall is that THX was walking in a corridor, and there were overhead fluorescent lights, and after the jerky bit the lights kind of flared, which may have been a flaw as well, or may have been intentional. Anyone else notice this? If so, do you think it was the layer switch or an error?

Becky

GHackmann

I don't remember seeing anything like this. It sounds like your DVD player is choking on one of the subtitle tracks -- so if you're sure your equipment isn't at fault, you probably have a mispressed disc.

TommyMc

i didn't see this either, but the english subtitles kept turning them selves on several times through the movie. I have 2 or 3 other films that do this as well. It could be a glitch with my DVD player, but I think it used to happen on an older model/different company model as well.

theonemacduff

I think it's a combination of player and disc. My disc freezes 7 or 8 times through the movie, then when you jog it fowards, the subtitles pop up and have to be turned off by the subtitle button. I bought the disc at WalMart, so maybe their allotment of discs are the defective ones.

I phoned Warner's and after some telephone tag, got a human, who said, "I'm kind of in the middle of something here, can I call you back in a few minutes?" and then never did call back. I will call them again on Monday and see (1) if they're aware of the problme and (2) what they're going to do about it. I'll post here with the results (if I can; this is the third time I've tried to post this info).

Watch this space, I guess

theonemacduff

Warner's advised me by e-mail to exchange the disc at the store; did so; still defective. Since all my other discs play fine, this has got to be an encoding issue, i.e., it won't work on my particular player (Toshiba).

I've now e-mailed them back asking when they will fix this issue, and am awaiting a reply.

PatrickMcCart

My first exposure to the film is via the new version, but I really like this movie. It's almost like THX 1138 is George Lucas' homage to german expressionism (the movie has a LOT of Metropolis homages) and Stanley Kubrick. If Lucas wants to make more films like this, I'd really like to see them.

Great DVD, too.

More money went into the restoration/revision and DVD production than the actual film, probably... considering how cheaply it was made.