Why has THX-1138 never been on DVD(or even VHS for all I know)?

Is George Lucas embaressed by the corniness?
Is it too old to be made on public release? Did it not do well enough to even get a DVD? Is there any rumors or threads regarding its potential release date?

Perhaps the film negative is lost...

I'm sure it will get there eventually, but as I understand it George & the rest of Lucasfilm have been a bit bust of late with some space movie serial or something...

Bought it on video for $5.05. Must say, I'm glad I didn't pay too much more for it.

Is it true that this was once thought to be Episode I or something? Sounds a laff.

Never seen the movie at my local stores. I've always wanted to see it. Is the film any good?

I like it and thinks it's very good. But as always it depends on your tastes. It's not your typical movie or scifi thing. If you can apperciate something like independent or small dramatic films you'll probably like it. It's more about the ideas, not about action or special effects.

Would you mind elaborating? I'm not exactly arguing with you but surely a better explanation or arguments can help a case eiter way. It's certainly not a movie I would recommend to everybody. Certainly I didn't find it boring, even slow movies can be fascinating and action packed movies can be boring.

besides citing books isn't fair, different media. If we wanted good culture and visions, forget about movies and only stick to books. I mostly dislike the argument about any book being better than it's movie. What should really matter is if it's a good adaptation, or if the movie presented something fresh or a new twist on the screen. Futuristic dystopias have been a prevalent feature in many scifi films, from Metropolis to Soylent Green and Blade Runner and beyond.

But indeed there is almost no indie scifi films because most scifi films would require at least some budget to even do the cheasiest effects. Would all the B-movies and the straight out to video would count? There was one non-mainstream studio one last year that I loved, Equilibrium. Sure it borrowed from quite a bit of movies but it had flair. Maybe Dark Star could be considered too. Many of John Carpenter's films were sort of done independently even though they received some studio distribution, like They Live. Maybe Roger Corman or Terry Gilliam too.

Anyway what I was trying to say is that I liked it ;-).

Hey guys, head on over to TheDigitalBits.com

They've posted a transcript of a chat with Warner executives, and they say to expect THX-1138 on DVD in 2004.

That's good news even though it'll probably be a simple release. I found interesting some of the other films they will bring, some really old like Modern Times, to claasics like Casablanca.

I'm still pissed at WB, the extras for the Harry Potter films are pathetic. Mindless games instead of production documentaries.

That's because the Potter DVDs are aimed at kids, who will appreciate mindless games more than documentaries.

Well I beg to differ. As someone said (maybe Hitchcock or someone very big in film) "forget (or f..) the kids they will eventually grow.

For one thing why do I need to play the games to see the extra scenes. Do them separate or as a web feture. Second I doubt there is much replay value for the games after the first time.

Besides the Potter films are much more mature and intelligent that what passes for kids entertainment nowadays. Many adults like the books and films as well (my mom demanded that I buy her her own copy of the DVD ;-). And as I said kids will grow one day and then probably be interested in the actual production.

Heck take a look at other so called "kids films": the Tow Story and Shrek DVD contain a good amount of production documentaries, from not produced shots, the storyboarding and voice acting and several aspects of the CG. Leave it to WB marketing to pull the wool over parents eye to sell more units.

Well THX-1138 is very George Lucas, in the sense of the style is almost like a documentry. I am a big fan of this style. American Grafitti, and all of the Star Wars films he directed are like this as well. I imagine he will oversee the transfer for the DVD like he did for AG. I would like a documentry like that DVD had, if not a audio commentry. One easy feature would be the original THX-1138 short film he made.

I'm shocked that someone would hate THX-1138. I thought it was great. Sure, it's not as emotionally engaging as Star Wars, and maybe the story is boring, but it has great visuals(especially considering it's budget, and how long ago it was released), and it's very atmospheric. He really creates a whole other world here, and it's fascinating to watch.

I've only seen it in crappy full-screen VHS. I can't wait for the DVD release.

If it wasn't done by Lucas, and I wasn't moderator of this board, I doubt I could have sat all the way through it. (the sacrifices we make )

I'm curious to see the original short, because much of the movie version is tedious and nothing at all happens.

I have a feeling the original will be much more concise, without all the dross & padding.

I'll definitely pick up the THX-1138 DVD when it comes out.

Lucas' Student Film of THX (Electronic Labyrinth) was released way back before TPM on dvd.

~PAd

thx 1138 is a great movie, no doubt about that.

i thought some of you might be interested in the 1983 queen video for the song "calling all girls". it's obviously been inspired by THX 1138. brian may, the guitarist from queen, has always been a big star wars fan, i guess he came up with the idea for this video.

you can download it there:
http://www.queenzone.com/multimedia/video/default.asp

the song itself isn't very good, it must be said.