I have been suspicious all along about Lucas’ claims that WB ruined THX, which was why I have been so keen on finding the 1971 prints, as no one , including Lucas has ever stated exactly what the changes were. Having no record of what was changed, when the story has become such a big part of film-making folklore always really bugged me. I often wondered if the changes were small, but Lucas blew them up a bit after the film was not a success, or if the changes really did make the movie different enough that it wrecked the entire narrative.

It looks like they were small after all, maybe the proposed changes were a lot greater, but the theatrical releases look like they were only slightly different to his later Director’s Cut release after Star Wars. I guess we won’t know until I get the other reels, but going on the 16mm and the first two reels of the 35mm it certainly looks that way.

So the scene of THX being messed with by the doctors and convulsing is not in the 35mm but is in the home releases? Supposedly that scene was Lucas expressing his horror at the doctors who treated him after his near-fatal car crash as a youth, so I imagine he would have hated taking that out.