Thanks for taking the time to do that, erri_wan. I will read it over the weekend.
I don't have the novel, but at least one ebay auction mentions it goes on a bit after THX escapes into the outside world. I'm curious about that!
As far as I know, Lucas always intended it to be set in the 25th century, hence the Buck Rogers clip at the beginning. Either the makers of the Italian dub got a little too creative, or Warner's really mangled the premise in their revisions.
I came across an Italian poster on Ebay. The cop cycles look more like California Highway Patrol than the far future!