Talk:THX 1138

Ripoff of Logan's Run

I've often thought of this comparison and now I think it's time to add thins to Wikipedia. Logan's Run the novel was published in 1967, the same year that THX was originally made. The novel was later turned into a film in 1976. Seeing both movies, they are almost identical. I wonder if anyone else shares this same opinion with me. Given Lucas's penchant for blatantly stealing ideas for his work, I think this is a very plausible theory. Before I make the addition to the main page, I want to post here, hear some more ideas, and avoid an edit war.

Where did you read this? Recury 03:20, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

In my opinion, the primary influences are Brave New World and 1984, though it does verge on social satire. Afalbrig (talk) 03:55, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

In my opinion, it is an ecranisation of Yevgenyi Zamyatin's novel 'We' and I wonder why this writer didn't got credited. Nicolasseveryns —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.197.35.219 (talk) 11:57, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Almost identical? How?!? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.169.158.130 (talk) 12:16, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Just watched THX 1138 for the first time and through the whole second half of the film I was thinking this is just like Logan's Run, and wondering which came first and whether one ripped off the other. Dystopian, high-tech future in a contained urban environment, where religion is used in a very naked means of social control, with a protagonist running from the security agents of the system to find, ultimately his way into freedom outside the system. The plot and themes of these two works overlap enormously, though stylistically they are quite different. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.149.22.198 (talk) 18:51, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Lots of science fiction is based around dystopian/futuristic/oppressive plotlines. without impartial research to refer to or specific comments from lucas to support such a theory it is not worth mentioning. after reviewing both logans run and thx1138 my personal opinion is they are NOT the same anyway - in neither plot OR construction. Its like calling star wars and star trek the same because their both set in space.

This film strongly reminds me of Brave New World, the whole setup of the society and aspects of the plot are the same. I don't care that it wasn't credited, but maybe this (and the other books mentioned above) should be mentioned in the article as possible inspiration/sources? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.81.214.52 (talk) 12:05, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

If any of the above speculation is added to the article, without any cite to back it up, it will have to be removed again, as per WP:OR. WikiuserNI (talk) 12:26, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Yea, and ya may as well throw in Woody Allen's "Sleeper" too.. filmed around same time... same kinda story. sorrta. 2602:304:CDAF:A3D0:E523:32AB:98AC:4A49 (talk) 02:22, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

"The Machine Stops" (1909) by E.M.Forster predates all of them, and with the escape to the surface sequences as realised in the award-winning 1960s BBC adaption (in "Out of the Unknown" episode) has both visual and plot similarities. Sicne the latter was known internationally, possibly an influence on a young Lucas? ~2025-33637-37 (talk) 22:53, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Similarity to Breath of Fire?

One of the trivia points is that the plot of one of the Breath of Fire games is remarkably similar to that of this movie. If "Underground Dystopia, escape sequence to Earth's surface that is now inhabitable" is all that's the same, that is much too weak a connection to be anything other than coincidence, lacking evidence to the contrary. On the other hand, maybe there are more extensive similarities or a connection between the two. Would someone more familiar with the Breath of Fire series than I am put this one to rest one way or the other? 24.118.231.95 03:57, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I haven't seen Breath of Fire, but that bare-bones one-sentence desciption would also fit the Polish 1970s sci-fi blue comedy film Sexmania. --79.242.203.134 (talk) 04:34, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

Ununtrioctium

Why does Ununtrioctium redirect to this article? It's not mentioned in the article text. I realise that if un=1, tri=3, oct=8 you get 1138 (-ium being a common suffix for a metallic chemical element), but why is the word "Ununtrioctium" significant? --Redrose64 (talk) 19:54, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

It brings up only two pages worth of Google search results, with barely anything relating to the film itself. Could such an article be deleted even if already redirected? WikiuserNI (talk) 22:34, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

I was led here by the strange completion "ununtrioctium" when searching for element 113, "ununtrium" (in the news today, as it happens); since there's nothing about this impossible element 1138 in the article and since all other web references seem to stem from this article, it really should be deleted. 66.32.207.61 (talk) 22:28, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

It's the name of a placeholder for a very very future element. Fixed, though the redirect was kind of cute. Dreadfullyboring (talk) 16:58, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

This is purely speculative OR, but maybe ununtrioctium is the glowing radioactive element THX is handling at his job that somehow powers the cyborg cops? --79.242.203.134 (talk) 04:30, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

Use of Trademarked Coca Cola logo in original movie

I bought the DVD release specifically to see the 'spinning coca cola ' capsule of medication that the principal character draws from the talking medicine cabinet. The sequence is missing, and many other aspects of the DVD release apper to be digitally enhanced.

Does anyone else recall the spinning, airborne capsule with the Coca Cola logo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.252.191.212 (talk) 07:11, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I kept my very grainy, early 2000s recording from the Sci-fi channel just so I could enjoy the re-release and the original, guess which holds up best?

But on topic, perhaps google and check out one of those sites that compares re-releases. Only of course, if you intend to improve the article by adding pertinent information on the re-release (WP:FORUM and all that). WikiuserNI (talk) 09:12, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I have the original VHS release which I've watched at least two dozen times. I do not recall any Coca-Cola logo as you describe. None of the drugs depicted in the film were "moving" or "spinning". Obviously I may not be remembering accurately, but the portions of the original that survived into the director's cut in this area remain unchanged from the VHS release. Definitely worth chasing down if you desire.THX1136 (talk) 16:20, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

WAIT... wait..... wait........ why does the article say it wasn`t finacuialu succesfull when it made it`s budget back over 3 times?/????????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.45.130.67 (talk) 03:35, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

That's the production budget, which covers filming & editing costs. There's also the prints & advertising budget to consider, which — at this scale — would cut heavily into any box office takings. For comparison, THX's box office takings would barely cover the production costs for A Clockwork Orange, which was made in the same year and had a similar target audience. Mrstonky (talk) 01:59, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Wait if the film made it`s budget back times 3 then why was it unsuccesfull, and could the concept of it having become a cult classic be clearified, plus didn`t Lucas fully write the story and ony cpowrite the screenplay, and that cowriter only cowrite the screenplay not the whole film????????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.45.130.67 (talk) 01:13, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.

• Telotte, J. P. (2001). "The Science Fiction Film as Fantastic Text: THX 1138". Science Fiction Film. Genres in American Cinema. Cambridge University Press. pp. 123–141. ISBN 0521596475.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Erik (talk • contribs) 18:09, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens reference

[]

The newest film is Disney, not Lucasfilm. How/where should I add a reference to 1138? Dreadfullyboring (talk) 17:31, 28 January 2016 (UTC) Dreadfullyboring (talk) 17:31, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

It is indeed Lucasfilm, which still exists, now owned by Disney. Staecker (talk) 12:11, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Movie reference to THX 1138

In the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow, around the 24 minute mark, when Sky Captain and Polly go to Dr. Jennings lab, the number on the door is 1138.

IMDB has a item in the trivia for the movie that reads: Dr. Jennings' lab is suite number 1138 - an homage to George Lucas.

I will leave it to someone to decide if a main page edit is justified. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.94.21.53 (talk) 20:16, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

References

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Move all "In popular culture" items to a new page?

There are a lot of songs that have sampled THX 1138, for some reason the NIN sample is always mentioned even though it's one of the least obvious ones. Apart from audio samples, there are lots of other references in film, tv and music. A few are listed on the Lucasfilm Wiki (https://lucasfilm.fandom.com/wiki/THX_1138#In_popular_culture) and on WhoSampled (https://www.whosampled.com/movie/THX-1138/). Maybe we should leave it to those sites to collect this kind of information? Or should we create a new Wikipedia page ("THX 1138 in popular culture"?), and move it off the main page? That way we needn't restrict it to a few select items, and thus avoid the discussion on which item should be included.

— Kawayama (talk) 15:00, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

Even if the "In popular culture" section isn't split off, I'm surprised there's no mention of the music video for "The Body Electric" by Rush. ---------User:DanTD (talk) 03:56, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Producer?

The lead indicates that Francis Ford Coppola produced the film, but the sidebar indicates that Lawrence Sturhahn produced it.—Anita5192 (talk) 19:43, 7 January 2026 (UTC)