Regarding all the different versions, besides the extended SEN footage, I forgot to mention the different order of scenes on the previous page.
Scene order in Italian and German TV-broadcast and SilverWook's English 16mm print:
Drug evasion arrest --> LUH visits THX --> Medical examinations --> Trial & "pain prods" (electro-shock batons) scene --> THX is being monitored & researched --> THX put in prison
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=709625
^ link to the comparison of the German TV version.
Scene order in English home video versions and 2004 Cut:
Drug evasion arrest --> Trial & "pain prods" (electro-shock batons) scene --> THX gets medical examinations --> THX is being monitored & researched --> LUH visits THX --> THX put in prison
If this odd re-ordering and the extended SEN footage is a TV-version thing or not, we don't know. I did watch the Italian broadcast again for the first time from beginning to the end since I made a DVD out of it, and I have to say I have an entirely different view of things now. First a little breakdown on what little info we do have;
The book "Skywalking" by Dale Pollock says on p.97 how Warner turned the film over to in-house editor Rudi Fehr:
"Fehr cut only four minutes from THX, mostly scenes in the White Limbo and some of George's bizarre attempts at humor."
George Lucas on the issue in "Maker of Films" from '71:
"Walter Murch did most of the soundwork, montages, what have you. The one problem is, that's one of the things Warner Brothers altered considerably, it was much more abstract and much more musical. The film was designed as a kind of opera you know, kind of a musical sience fiction film. And the soundtrack was composed under purely musical concepts and they didn't quite understand that, they thought they all had to tell the story. So essentially the biggest change is that they have injected more story, what they thought was the story, that's the story of... they took out all of the humor and the happiness and people laughing and stuff because they didn't..." (the interviewer interrupts him)
The original theatrical 1971 cut did also open with the Buck Rogers segment despite what is said on IMDB, a '71 review:
Back to the Italian broadcast, the 81 minutes duration match the US original threatrical cut yes, and there's many cuts throughout this version but the segments missing in the white limbo are few (one jarring cut when they monitor THX and another of a short monologue by SEN) and are very short in duration and everytime there is a cut in this version there's very rough splicing, there's also a jump in the audio at all these points, on some places the splicing actually causes the audio out of sync for a while, I recall I had to fix the sync on the intro when I made this DVD, maybe I should've preserved it as is. I wonder why there is such rough splicing, one of the first occur when it goes from opening titles to the first scene in the film, (many scenes from the english version went missing here) but here we still have the ongoing narration with a slight jump in the audio.
An example of the crude splicing...
^ after this scene where LUH and THX have an argument about SEN wanting to see her, it abruptly cuts to SEN's apartment.
But look what I found:
^ one single frame left of the following scene that got cut. ;)
The only thing that differs in this version besides the unique intro and missing footage that I think can maybe be attributed to Warner Brothers are those scenes I mentioned that got shifted around, as there's no splicing/jump in audio going on there.
However, right after the robot guards take THX away after LUH's visit, there's this little mystery that suddenly appears:
it then fades to black and medical examinations begin. Seems to me like a remnant from when THX is lying on the floor in the white limbo, (I believe it is his head we're seeing in the left upper corner) there's no visible or audible splice as seen elsewhere in this version, just a straight cut from the white room to this frame that fades away, very awkward and weird. This does seem to lend credence to this being something else than WB in-house editor's work, would be interesting to know if it is like that on your 16mm print as well SilverWook? maybe you can check that when you come back from your vacation.
Btw, here's how the cue marks look on this print if that can tell us anything?
Three white dots...