098: “Why aren’t you at your post?”
Thanks Tom L!
c.1981?|age 12 or 13? I was trying to be a bit clever putting in the THX-1138 bit. In fact until a few years ago, I believed that this is what he said in the film. He actually says “TK-421”. My friend Thomas L lent me the novel of THX-1138 when I was in secondary school, and I read it a few times. I really enjoyed it. It might have been my first ever dystopian-future novel.
When I finally rented the film on Betamax video—I loved it too, despite its bleakness, and its almost total lack of humanity or warmth. The people in it are almost like automatons, reciting a script—or CGI characters. Probably the dream of many a director! Unfortunately our George has lately fecked about with this film via CGI too, just like he did with Star Wars. The resulting additions look out-of step with the original footage and add nothing of any worth. When the car chase exits the tunnel and takes off through the night-time city—which appears to be outside by the way—I almost thought someone had switched channels!
PLEASE—STOP—IT
(Update! “THX-1138” is actually spoken in the Star Wars <novelisation of ’77)
Art Notes
Panels 2 and 3 are lifted from Chaykin’s version. You can see how much better the brown gloved fingers are drawn than I could have done from my imagination. I wonder what the officer’s face in the bottom panel looked like before I revised it with black marker?
The gantry officer’s face registers fear! But more of that later ––
Howard Chaykin’s blatant rip-off of my own treatment, 1977. And let’s confuse things still further: the officer says TX-421!
Film Notes: the Forgotten Cast member
Clint in his 2 other non-Star Wars age 9 roles. Above: as himself Below: as a terrified NASA guy
Recognise the chap in the bottom panel? That’s right, it’s one of the lesser known actors in Star Wars age 9: Clint Howard.
Brother of talented director, actor and famous-ginger: Ron Howard, he provided the inspiration to a Mr. and Mrs. Eastwood all those decades ago when they struggled to choose a manly name for their newborn. He too, rose to stardom. (I have a thing for red-heads: I even married one).
“No… not another giant space teddy-bear!”
Clint has appeared in a couple of works other than this one, but he fought long and hard to break out of the SWa9 role which typecast him for so much of his younger acting career as “Nazi character who gets pounded by a giant space teddy-bear”.
Perhaps to make amends, when I tweak the following scene for my own Special Edition, I’ll remove the blaster shot to his chest—like George did—thus making it more child-friendly and less upsetting for Clint’s parents.
This page is for you Clint! You’re an SWa9 legend!
In the early cut of 1977 Star Wars, Lt Tredium actually does say, on camera, “THX 1138, Why aren’t you at your post?”.
This line was removed in subsequent reprints of ANH. This had to be changed because ZOETROPE Studios actually owned the film rights to THX 1138, which Lucas sold them. The line change was documented, and even became a newsworthy paragraph headline, because it showed how even in Hollywood, film rights, and Lawyers, still ruled the business, and even the guy who actually wrote the line some times can’t reuse it. The newsblurb was carried by several newswires when people were talking about the changes made to ANH when it was rereleased.
Hi David,
Thanks for dropping by, and contributing!
That’s interesting info. It’s a pity that it was removed. It’s quite fun the way Lucas and Spielberg movies affectionately refer to one-another. Yoda Halloween costume in E.T., Star Wars toys in Poltergeist, R2 and 3PO hieroglyphs in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, Club Obi-Wan in Temple of Doom, and on and on. Star Wars references to itself can be irritating though—the so-called Rhyming technique.
Thanks again 😉