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Something to consider...

THX-1138 had more than just a clean-up job done to it for its limited theatrical and DVD release that is upcoming. It spent a decent amount of time at the Ranch and George revisited it with new scenes and special f/x.

Considering the darker and harsher tone of this film, it is interesting to note that this was all worked on, and fresh in the brain of George right before and during development on Ep 3.

Let's see:

Episode 3
The OT DVDs- new CG FX
THX-1138-new CG FX

Lucas and ILM have been some seriously busy mofo's this year!

THX-1138 was already in the animatics stage when the earliest work on Episode 3 had barely started. So definitely no ILM overlap in any way. Work on this has been done for quite some time now.

THX was being done at the point when the artists for Ep 3 were still doing pictures like "Yoda's last stand at the Jedi Temple" with him using the force to try and slow the descent of a burning Star Destroyer headed straight for a crash with the temple. Just random cool images before George had anything for them to go on yet. (although typing that out, I now see how ideas like that turned into the Seperatist cruiser flaming down in the atmosphere to crash on Coruscant came to being..)

"Yoda's last stand at the Jedi Temple"

I really hope Lucas was in some way influenced by his first, great, film while working on Episode III, in any fashion.

I really can't wait to check out THX 1138 on the big screen for the first time, that ought to be a real trip. I hope they include the student short as a sort-of prelude to the main feature in theaters.

Didn't the THX-1138 cops get around on stilts and use shock baton-kinda things?

Sounds like a few loose descriptions of various people and weapons I've heard for Ep3 already

I'm sure if the kids see Grevious' henchbots swinging lightsaber resistant staves similar to the THX one and notice other consistancies between Ep3 and that old gem, that DVD will be flying off the shelf. Clever marketing.

You can see the trailer for it with some of the new CG here:

http://www.thx1138movie.com/trailers/1/thx480dd3a.mov

Also, random note: If you go to www.ryanchurch.com and check out the image there on the front page....that was obviously the inspiration for the "bridge world" planet that I'm 90% sure ended up getting cut from Ep 3. The basic idea was that the structures were built hanging down with ships flying up to them and the "towers" connected by bridges and such.

Despite Lucas having a reputation for not being able to do dark movies, and only being interested in kiddie films, I think THX and Episode III are more in line with what Lucas actually prefer's to do, than the really light stuff like TPM. When Lucas goes dark, it's nearly ALWAYS good. Think of THX, think of ESB (which Lucas was heavily involved in, whatever his detratcors think) think the the Tatooine sequence of AOTC and the Vader/Emporer/Luke confrontation during ROTJ.

Lucas has often spoken about how Episode III will sit well in the 21st Century, because of it's depressing tone, and how it will be his personal favourite because of all the betrayal. All this leads me to the shocking conclussion that rather than being a happy go lucky multi millionare-George Lucas is actually a pesemistic manic depressive!

GFett, I agree, and lets not forget Temple of Doom. That was done while he was going through a divorce. I think in the end, this trilogy will work well. It a way, he is catering to both the hard core fans and the new fanbase that was aquired when TPM came out. Think about it, if a 6 year old saw TPM when it was released, they are now 12, and would be more captivated by a darker movie. For us hardcore fans in our late 20's and 30's, it is finally getting to see Anakin snap and tying the 2 trilogies together. This is what makes this movie almost impossible to screw up, unless it ends with the Empire invading Kashyyyk on Life Day while Bea Arthur is singing another crappy song to lead us into the Holiday special instead on A New Hope.

E-P, any idea what the "F" planet is all about that Amy Allen mentioned in her chat?

hopefully they aint f*cked up 1138, though i havent seen it since the late 80's i remember it being great and alot more "directorial" than SW, in the new trailer i noticed the CG cops and the cop manufqacturing plant, were there any other new bits in the trailer? if so they must have been pretty good CG as it didnt stand out a mile like the cops! i do hope lucas has revisited his filmaking talents that he showed on 1138 as he wasalot more of a risk taker back then! (though jar jar was probably one of the biggest risks in film history! )

Ewok_Pudu, this is good news

Benovolite,

The 1138 is being touted as the "George Lucas Director's Cut". Does this mean the Universal cuts have been eliminated and it's been restored to GL's original cut?

Like PJ, I haven't seen this since the late 80's when I was in High School. With all the new promotional material, I'm getting pretty revved up to see it again. Any word on how wide a theatrical release it's going to get?

Any word on how wide a theatrical release it's going to get?

From the official site:

Preceding the DVD release, on September 10, a 20-city theatrical release of the film is planned, including Ann Arbor, MI; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR, and others.

OR, represent!

That's true, especially when you look at some of his other student films; Freiheit comes to mind.

This was visual effects supervisor John Berton's(The Mummy,MIB2) last project at ILM before he left for down under to work on I, Robot.

The work was completed about a year ago.