History Film / THX1138

* AffablyEvil: The mechanical police apparently are programmed to be remarkably polite at all times. Even when arresting people and jabbing them with electric prods, they're always calmly insisting they're just there to help. In one scene, one of them even lets a group of curious kids handle his baton while warning them to be careful with it because it's heavy.

** THX [[spoiler:makes it out of the confines, only to find a desert world and with no idea where to go next. Also, LUH 3417 was apparently terminated according to information presented on one of the terminals.]]
** [[spoiler: The same terminal indicates that apparently she had a baby with THX, to which her name/number has now been transferred; which may or may not be a good thing, considering how children are raised in the city.]]

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: [[spoiler:The robotic police are not crazy, they just break down too easily.]]

* {{Hologram}}: SRT, maybe. Considering he was in the WhiteVoidRoom, he may just ''think'' he is.
** Also, the TV shows THX watches are projected holographicaly in the room.

* ShoutOut: [[StarWars Chewbacca's]] species name is first heard here. Doubles as HilariousInHindsight.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It is set in the year [[ArcNumber 2187]]

* Main/{{Zeerust}}: Strangely, the year [[ArcNumber 2187]] has tech that looks a lot like the late 1960s or early 1970s.

* Zeerust: Strangely, the year 2187 has tech that looks a lot like the late 1960s or early 1970s.

This 1971 science fiction film was Creator/GeorgeLucas' feature directorial debut, and started his rapid ascent in Hollywood. You may be more familiar with this film from the sound system company Lucas named in its honor, or from the fact that the number 1138 shows up ''everywhere'' in ''Franchise/StarWars'' and [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse related products]] in reference to it. It is also a remake of his USC student film project, "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB".

* BittersweetEnding: THX [[spoiler:makes it out of the confines, only to find a desert world and with no idea where to go next. Also, LUH 3417 was apparently terminated according to information presented on one of the terminals.]]

* [[spoiler:FirstTimeInTheSun]]: A somewhat dark version in the ending.

* BigBrotherIsWatching: The residents' lives are constantly monitored through cameras.

* {{Dystopia}}: Let's see... we have an antiseptic future that seems to have combined the most self-destructive tendencies of both socialism and capitalism. Religion is illegal except for worship of the Almighty State, and the residents are all constantly monitored and work [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou for the government]], in one capacity or another, and are expected to inform on their neighbors for crimes such as computer hacking or refusing to take their medication; at the same time, though, they are encouraged to work long hours, make money, and buy as much material property as they can. (We see THX himself buying a red ''thing'' at a store that sells nothing but different-colored ''things''; he takes it home and promptly throws it down the garbage disposal, which is what you're apparently supposed to do with them.)

* GovermentDrugEnforcement: Usage of emotion-suppressing drugs are mandatory for the residents.

* BigBrotherIsWatching: The residents' life are constantly monitored through cameras.

* {{Confessional}}: The robotic confession booth, also known as a unichapel, is played on a tape. When THX-1138 later sees the same picture in a room, he starts confessing to it as if it were in a booth.
* CoolCar: The Lola T-70 Mk3 race cars used as police cruisers.

* {{Dystopia}}: Let's see... we have an antiseptic future that seems to have combined the most self-destructive tendencies of both socialism and capitalism. Religion is illegal except for worship of the Almighty State, and the residents ''all'' work for the government, in one capacity or another, and are expected to inform on their neighbors for crimes such as computer hacking or refusing to take their medication; at the same time, though, they are encouraged to work long hours, make money, and buy as much material property as they can. (We see THX himself buying a red ''thing'' at a store that sells nothing but different-colored ''things''; he takes it home and promptly throws it down the garbage disposal, which is what you're apparently supposed to do with them.)
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For George Lucas movies; contrasted to his more well known Star Wars films, THX is a very bleak, down to earth, slow paced film.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Released in the wake of the original StarWars trilogy being remastered with added CGI. Some of the alterations are understandable: making some rooms bigger, adding more people, or generally giving the story a larger sense of scale. Others scenes are augmented with far less defensible uses of CGI, such as the car chase which now looks like it came from an actual animated movie, or [[spoiler: most of the strange men on the outskirts of civilization being changed to primates.]] The addition of a seconds-brief changing room scene for the mechanical droid cops actually imbues them with humanity, instead of leaving them as sterile, hard authority figures.

This is GeorgeLucas' first feature film, which started his rapid ascent in Hollywood. You may be more familiar with this film from the sound system company Lucas named in its honor, or from the fact that the number 1138 shows up ''everywhere'' in ''Franchise/StarWars'' and [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse related products]] in reference to it. It is also a remake of his USC student film project, "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB".

[[quoteright:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thx_1138_ver2_8129.jpg]]

Which, sadly, they are. Once arrested THX is sent to a strange WhiteVoidRoom to receive "treatment" for his deviance. He recruits fellow inmates SRT (Don Pedro Colley) and SEN (Creator/DonaldPleasance) in an attempt to escape and rescue LUH. However, the escape won't be easy, and in their strange world, nothing is guaranteed.

Which, sadly, they are. Once arrested THX is sent to a strange WhiteVoidRoom to receive "treatment" for his deviance. He recruits fellow inmates SRT (Don Pedro Colley) and SEN (Creator/DonaldPleasence) in an attempt to escape and rescue LUH. However, the escape won't be easy, and in their strange world, nothing is guaranteed.

* FascistButInefficient: Enforcement is actually pretty lax, and every operation that involves apprehending law-breakers comes with a budget and has to be shut down if that budget is greatly exceeded.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Released in the wake of the original StarWars trilogy being remastered with added CGI. Some of the alterations are understandable, like making some rooms bigger, or adding more people, or generally giving the story a larger sense of scale. Others scenes are augmented with far less defensible uses of CGI, such as the car chase which now looks like it came from an actual animated movie, or most of the strange men on the outskirts of civilization being changed to primates

* {{Thoughtcrime}}

* {{Dystopia}}: Let's see... we have antiseptic future that seems to have combined the most self-destructive tendencies of both socialism and capitalism. Religion is illegal except for worship of the Almighty State, and the residents ''all'' work for the government, in one capacity or another, and are expected to inform on their neighbors for crimes such as computer hacking or refusing to take their medication; at the same time, though, they are encouraged to work long hours, make money, and buy as much material property as they can. (We see THX himself buying a red ''thing'' at a store that sells nothing but different-colored ''things''; he takes it home and promptly throws it down the garbage disposal, which is what you're apparently supposed to do with them.)

* {{Dystopia}}

* PlatonicCave: The entire city is one.

This is one of GeorgeLucas' earliest works, which started his rapid ascent in Hollywood. You may be more familiar with this film from the sound system company Lucas named in its honor, or from the fact that the number 1138 shows up ''everywhere'' in ''Franchise/StarWars'' and [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse related products]] in reference to it. It is also a remake of his USC student film project, "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB".

This is one of GeorgeLucas' earliest works, which started his rapid ascent in Hollywood. You may be more familiar with this film from the sound system company Lucas named in its honor, or from the fact that the number 1138 shows up ''everywhere'' in ''StarWars'' and [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse related products]]. It is also a remake of his USC student film project, "Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB".

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: [[spoiler:The robotic police are not crazy, they just break down too easy.]]

[[YouAreNumberSix THX 1138]] (Robert Duvall) would be a happy worker drone, if the pills he takes let him feel anything. He 'lives' in a windowless industrial/commercial/dormitory along with other shaved-head people in a chemically induced haze until the day his roommate, LUH (Maggie [=McOmie=]), sabotages his daily dose of pills in order to make him feel. They both fall madly in love, but their bliss is short lived since the pills gave THX a vaunted steady hand in his industrial job, and without it they may be discovered.

[[YouAreNumberSix THX 1138]] (Robert Duvall) would be a happy worker drone, if the pills he takes let him feel anything. He 'lives' in a windowless industrial/commercial/dormitory along with other shaved-head people in a chemically induced haze. Until the day his roommate, LUH (Maggie [=McOmie=]), sabotages his daily dose of pills in order to make him feel. They both fall madly in love, but their bliss is short lived since the pills gave THX a vaunted steady hand in his industrial job, and without it they may be discovered.

[[YouAreNumberSix THX 1138]] (Robert Duvall) would be a happy worker drone, if the pills he takes let him feel anything. He 'lives' in a windowless industrial/commercial/dormitory along with other shaved-head people in a chemically induced haze. Until the day his roommate, LUH (Maggie [=McOmie=], sabotages his daily dose of pills in order to make him feel. They both fall madly in love, but their bliss is short lived since the pills gave THX a vaunted steady hand in his industrial job, and without it they may be discovered.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic:
** LUH gives THX the gift of [[strike:knowledge]] emotion by [[strike: [[Literature/TheBible giving him an apple]]]] switching his meds.
** The repeated use a Christ-like face as the icon of their "perfect" society. Particularly obvious when THX is in one the confession boxes. The confession box tells him "buy and be happy".

[[YouAreNumberSix THX 1138]] would be a happy worker drone, if the pills he takes let him feel anything. He 'lives' in a windowless industrial/commercial/dormitory along with other shaved-head people in a chemically induced haze. Until the day his roommate, LUH, sabotages his daily dose of pills in order to make him feel. They both fall madly in love, but their bliss is short lived since the pills gave THX a vaunted steady hand in his industrial job, and without it they may be discovered.

Which, sadly, they are. Once arrested THX is sent to a strange WhiteVoidRoom to receive "treatment" for his deviance. He recruits fellow inmates SRT and SEN in an attempt to escape and rescue LUH. However, the escape won't be easy, and in their strange world, nothing is guaranteed.

* YouAreNumberSix: Everyone has a license plate name.