Changes to DVD Version - Detailed w/ Images

[OMM0000]

Thanks to Umberto Calonaci for this amazing look at just a bit of what's changed in the DVD version.  I've put the images he sent me in right after the description he gave.  He compared the shots from the new trailer w/ shots from his laserdisc copy.  All I can say is, Wow.  I didn't notice all of these...  A *lot* of work went into this.  More than I figured. Anyway: (message follows)

hi chris,i send for you this photos taken from an old laserdisc and the new trailer.
bye
umberto.

001a-001b:this is one of the opening shots of the film.The mosaic now has been color graded and treated with scan lines to make it look like a bank of monitors.




002-003:Here are a two examples of completely new computer-generated environments.The wide shots of the robot factory add new scale to the operations.




006:a newly-created underground cityscape with trains and turbolifts.There is no equivalent to this shot in the original.



007a-007b:This is an incredible example of CG frame recomposition.The obvious difference is that the concourse has been expanded to the right-hand side of the frame. What isn't readily           apparent though is that the shot also has been lengthened in the Z-axis. A few new pedestrians have been added and the door on the left removed (no escape!). Even cooler, this shot now pans left to reveal...




010a-010b:THX walking home after a long and miserable day at the lines.Other drones, along with wall structures,have been added into the
background of this hallway.




011a-011b:THX under the effects of a mind-lock.Background replacement along with a very creepy new eye-roll.




012a-012b:THX, SEN and SRT escape from containment and soon find themselves in a crush of humanity.Digital background and crowd extension do wonders.




013a-013b:Swimming upstream.Another brilliantly recomposed shot by
ILM.Newly-filmed crowd footage now surrounds the original plate (at bottom right of shot) with overhead metal grating layered on top of it all. Simply incredible.




014a-014b:Same scene...New background environment.




015a-015b:Completely new CG shot not present in the original version. Once again, one of those fixes that opens up the cramped editing of
the original.The closest equivalent shot in the original is this outside view.




016:the police station.never seen in the original version,this is new cg
shot.marvelous!



017a-017b:THX makes a run for it.Here's a new scene that's also a
noodle-scratcher. Everything about this shot is new: lighting, other cars, pylons, hell... everything. Is it an unused outtake? CGI? Newly filmed for the DVD? Whatever it is, this seems to replace other shot.




018a-018b:the chase continues out into the restricted zone.THX now crashes through new digital barricades in this view from the dashboard.




020a-020b:A jaw-dropping motorcycle stunt now is placed in geographic continuity with a previous shot of THX demolishing some
scaffolding.




022a-022b:Freedom.This up-angle shot of THX climbing a shaft now reveals a dramatic cloudscape. The original shot featured a drab white sky that didn't match in any way,shape or form to the FINAL shot of
the film (if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about).




(end message)

So there you have it!  Is this even the same movie any more? I wonder what is being done to the Star Wars Trilogy for its DVD release if this is what they've done to a "little-known" like THX?

[Julien Dupire]

ILM may be thankful to have ALWAYS an occupation to fullfill..  

They did an incredible work again. I thought the shot with the police station was a cut from 1970...  :shock:

[TUX8527]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the scenes have been seriously altered hav'nt they??!!

I am in 2 minds about this. I like the idea of CGI, but I also think that 2 versions of the DVD should be made available.

The Original Screen Print Version and the new CGI Version. So that we can have the original print on DVD, which is what I want.

So, I think that doing this to the Film and Releasing it only this way on DVD is very wrong. You can't mess about with history like this!!

It reminds me of what I have been hearing about Ozzy Osbourne lately. He has Re-Released all his Solo Albums Digitally Remastered with new overdubs!! He has basically re-recorded lots of parts and released it as the original Album!! Mind you, I think that what Ozzy had done is worse than what George has done with the CGI.

I will still be buying the Film when it comes out on DVD, but I sincerely hope that it eventually gets a release in it's original print.[/b]

[POP-0334]

well i'm glad i'm not the only one who's upset that lucas is up to his revisionistic crap again!  i recently bought the thx special edition of the Star Wars IV-VI on laserdisc (12 2 sided discs) as these will be the best quality original versions of the film ever.  lucas has said that there will never be official original versions of the film on dvd :(

i cannot believe he's doing the same thing to thx-1138.  to me one of the greatest things about that film is how well it was made AT THE TIME.  it doesn't need these "touches" and extra scenes.

why does lucas have to ruin everything he does without respecting his own past...  without respecting art for what it is.  lucas is like those idiots who used to try to colorize black and white film for re-release.

i've had the dvd on pre-order since it was announced but now i'm not so sure i want it :(

[TUX8527]

Hiya POP-0334,

I just don't understand people's needs to change things!!

Like you, I love THX for what it is, I love the way it was made, it has a very surrealistic quality to it, which I love. Doing this to my all time favourite Film is just criminal I think!!!!!!!

I also think it's criminal that George is doing this to Star Wars as well, why can't we have both? The original Print, just cleaned up for DVD Release and a Directors Cut, which is what these versions basically are! You don't make a film and then change it 30 years or so later, just cause the technology is better!!!!! It's just not right!!!!!

Saying that though, as a THX fanatic I will have to buy the DVD, but I bet I will still prefer to watch my original Video of it instead.

[POP-0334]

thing is if you buy it, well, lucas got what he wanted.  i can sort of understand updating star wars.  he knew he'd piss off a bunch of die hards, but the majority of star wars fans WILL buy the new dvds (not me tho).

the thx-1138 audience is quite different.  most people have never even heard of the film.  so those who have, and who would buy it, are probably more likely to be upset about the changes.

a big enough boycott of the dvd could be just the thing to get the man to stop the madness.

this really really saddens me.  especially that shot of robert duvall's eyes.  lucas has changed the way the actor acted the scene decades after accepting the cut and showing it to audiences!!!  in an artistic sense, that is morally wrong.

i think i'm going to get a good laser disc copy of thx-1138 and burn a dvd.

or maybe a raid of lucas' farm is in order.  i'm sure they have all the digital media to allow some bootlegger to release high quality versions of Star Wars and THX-1138 in their original form...

[TUX8527]

Hiya again POP-0334,

I totally agree with you that us THX Fans are totally different to the Star Wars fans. I do like Star Wars, don't get me wrong, but it is'nt one of my favourite films.

I just love surrealistic films about controlled societies and the rebellion again'st them.

Have you ever seen the original 3 hour TV Film from 1978 based on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Novel? I find this very similar to THX. I also love Logans Run, 1984 and The Matrix.

Brave New World was remade in 1998, but cut to a 90 minute film and the ending was changed. But at least it was a new version, it was'nt released as the original!! It was totally remade with new actors.

This is what George Lucas should've considered I think, if he had remade the Film with new Actors and used CGI, us fans would'nt be complaining, because it would'nt be being marketed as the original, and we could have both versions on DVD.

I don't think a boycott of the DVD would make any difference to George's ways at all, it would need to take virtually the whole of the THX Fanbase to boycott it to make it work, and this just is'nt viable. And I am a completist for my few favourite things, I have had similar conversations over ELectric Light Orchestra CD's, but to me, to boycott buying them, would be like stabbing myself in the back!! I have a moral dilemma, as I need to have everything, regardless of my opinion on the way it came about.

Mind you, fortunately, Jeff Lynne (ELO) has never done anything like this though, I would be totally disgusted in him if he did, and so would thousands of other fans.

THX is a very arty film and has a very small fanbase. In fact, before I got on the internet I had only ever met two other people who had even heard of it!!!! I have known Star Wars Fans who have never heard of THX!!!! Believe that??!!!!!!

The scene with Robert's rolling eyes is also one that bothered me a lot too, it is morally wrong to do that! Why does George feel the need to do that to Robert's eyes??!!!!! The other scene's that really bother me are the shot from up above where the new one has had a grill added and more people. Why the grill? It does'nt need to be there! And the escape shot, why is the sky orange all of a sudden??!! Like it is full of radiation!! This shot makes you think that he will never survive out there!

[POP-0334]

Have you ever seen the original 3 hour TV Film from 1978 based on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Novel? I find this very similar to THX. I also love Logans Run, 1984 and The Matrix.

yeah, i like all those movies too :)

Brave New World was remade in 1998, but cut to a 90 minute film and the ending was changed. But at least it was a new version, it was'nt released as the original!! It was totally remade with new actors.

i have no qualms with remakes.  'cause i don't have to watch them.  i have the original planet of the apes on dvd and the tim burton version can rot for all i care :)

And the escape shot, why is the sky orange all of a sudden??!! Like it is full of radiation!! This shot makes you think that he will never survive out there!

well that one i think is okay.  that's just a continuity thing.  if you remember, when he comes out the sun is setting and it's huge and red as is the sky.  you almost have to wonder if he walked out into a nuclear wasteland of some sort.

i still think lucas should leave it completely alone tho.

[TUX8527]

Hi POP-0334,

Cool you like all the films I do! Not many people I know have heard of Brave New World either.

We have the original Planet Of The Apes, but we also have the remake too, but it is shallow in comparison to the original film. I definately prefer the originals, they have an air of nostalgia to them. These days everything is about Special Effects, where as back in the 60's and 70's, writers concentrated more on the storyline.

Yes I do remember that when THX comes out you see the Sun setting in the sky, it's just that this new scene does'nt look like a proper sunset, it looks like the sky is a weird orange colour, due to radiation, maybe when I see the Film it won't look as bad as the still that we have been provided with here.

Well yes, George should leave it alone, but sadly he won't, he can't just be happy with his past work, he's gotta mess about with it, which is ashame.

[Julien Dupire]

I'm a huge fan of THX AND Star Wars. And American Graffiti. I'm a fan of George Lucas. All his work.

For me the Star Wars Special Edition is definitely far superior to the Original Edition - but a few defaults not yet suppressed.
If George Lucas wants to show us the underground city, the robot factory, making some new effets like the grid on THX and SRT, upgrading the chase - which looks like 10 mph speed cars with much noise - I DON'T SAY NO.

And if you think it'll be worse, juste bring the original film when it's time and write it on a disc. Or buy the VHS on the Net.

[TUX8527]

Hi Julien,

Nice to meet you.

Yes, I will watch the original THX ,more than the new Version, I just know it! I actually have the VHS of it, have had it for years!

When I finally get the software to make DVD's, I will make a DVD Copy from my VHS Tape.

I don't actually disagree with George giving us more, I disagree with him changing the original Film. He should make a Directors Cut and add these bits to that, then everyone will be happy, as both versions will be available.

The thing that bugs me the most with George changing the Film like this is, in years to come VHS will die out and the future generations will be left with DVD's and whatever other formats that come about. Therefore, these future generations will think that THX was always this way, when it was'nt. Therefore changing history.

[SEN5241]

OK...Listen Up;

I see the new version of THX a good thing. Basically what we are now seeing is hopefully GL's real vision of what he wanted to do in the original. I have been a fan since I was in 8th grade and saw this for the first time after reading B. Bova's book.

Think about creating something in any medium and once it was completed you thought... Wow.. I wish I could of done that, or would it be nice if I have the resources to do this better...
Well, GL has waited 30 years to actually make THX how he really wanted it. So we should embrace the new version since it is actually (hopefully) what GL originally intended.

I am very excited about the new release and wish the other trailers would be loaded on the thx1138movie web site.

Awesome work by  Umberto Calonaci for posting the photos and comparisons. :wink:

Well, I am not trying to cause a big debate, I just thought I would through in my thoughts. I love this Forum!


Later

SEN

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[reddeth]

The real shame with Georges obsession with updating his earlier work is his apparent desire to deny the existence of the originals.

I expect many of you have seen the Alien saga DVDs that allow you to watch the original edit or the new edit from the same disc.

In my opinion George really should have used this technique on both the THX-1138 DVD and the imminent Starwars trilogy DVDs.

I for one wont be buying either of these DVDs on the pretence that George _will_ take my advice eventual but wont send me complimentary copies.. so I am saving my money.

[TUX8527]

Hi Reddeth,

Yes, this is what George should've done.

I'm not saying that I don't want the CGI Version of THX, I am saying that I want a choice, and if George Released the DVD with a choice of either the new or the original Films like the Alien Trilogy, I would be over the moon.

Shame George does'nt put his head in this forum, see what the Fans are thinking, maybe then we'd get what we wanted.

[SEN5241]

OK....
I see many of you are huge THX/GL fans. I agree the original films are very important and most likely gives us all a feeling of excitement. Hey, that was our first look at it. I know watching the original the first time really made an impact on me. But you must appreciate the fact that GL & Zeotrope are even releasing the DVD. I really cannot see them making huge profits from the release.  Honestly, I know very few people who #1 have seen THX or #2 even liked it " a little" . We are all a minority in the grand picture of this movie.

The reason GL is doing this is to give us his Final Film in the way he wanted it all along. Think of it as a continuing project.... He started it in College with THX-1138 4EB: Electronic Labyrinth, then the THX-1138 motion picture... Now the Final Project... the DVD.

I think we should all be thankful we have a new THX element on the way, thankful for the website, and  be happy  :wink:

Does anyone know the real DVD release date? Has it been changed from Sept. 14th ?


SEN