# Anybody find the 1138 reference in AOTC yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357 "2002-09-06T22:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/1 "2002-09-06T22:48:07Z")
I tried wading through the morass that is [theforce.net](http://theforce.net), (searching on 1138 wasn’t much help :)), but I didn’t see where anyone has found the 1138 reference in Attack of the Clones. Anybody got the scoop? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/2 "2002-09-06T22:54:01Z")
Isn’t that on the back of a Storm Trooper or something? ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/3 "2002-09-06T23:14:21Z")
The what with the who? ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/4 "2002-09-06T23:21:06Z")
I’ve heard the stormtrooper back as well (or clonetrooper, or pooperscooper, or whatever…) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/5 "2002-09-06T23:25:07Z")
Just to be clear - it _was_ on the back of one of the droid army clones at the end of **Phantom Menace** - but I’m sure you guys aren’t talking about that - although I hope you are. If not, it would suck that he didn’t find a different way to work it into AOTC. Surely Lucas wouldn’t recycle the same thing he’d already done, would he? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/6 "2002-09-06T23:38:13Z")
I still feel sure it must’ve been in the bar scene what with all those lovely screens and flashing details, but I haven’t been able to find it since we only saw it 5 or 6 times and it goes by fast. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Green\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mr.Green\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Green_Fool)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/7 "2002-09-06T23:41:30Z")
It’s actually roughly seen in the sand after Padme falls out of the Gunship. As she rolls down the hill you can sort of see 1138 in the sand where her body hits and rolls. It’s like cloud watching but it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/8 "2002-09-07T00:02:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SNenc \* > \*\*The what with the who? \*\* Ditto. Can someone enlighten me? ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/9 "2002-09-07T00:03:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SNenc \* > \*\*The what with the who? \*\* \*\* SNenc,\*\* ``` **THX1138** was Lucas' first film, I think (may have been a student film). He usually works the number somehow into his movies. IIRC in Star Wars Luke and Han rescue Leia from the Death Star brig. She was in cell 1138. ``` ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/10 "2002-09-07T07:27:25Z")
more specifically THX1138 was the liscence plate of his car in college. He uses THX and 1138 in everything because like anyone who “tries” to be creative he imagines that if he acts idiosynchratic then he’ll be a better artist. Like being a shitty writer one day and deciding to do tons of dope because Thompson did it with success. Lucas is a whore. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/11 "2002-09-07T08:01:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Lucas is a whore. Yes, but a whore that gives us plenty of explosions. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/12 "2002-09-07T10:17:02Z")
Exploding whores? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/13 "2002-09-07T11:24:41Z")
1,138 exploding whores, to be more precise. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/14 "2002-09-07T11:49:09Z")
So, out of curiosity, where was the reference in ESB and ROTJ? ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/15 "2002-09-07T11:51:36Z")
**zen101** , was that the very car that Lucas wrapped around a tree, sending him to the hospital, and causing him to abandon the misspent ways of his youth? Maybe we should find him another tree… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/16 "2002-09-07T14:50:09Z")
> [@](#): > > more specifically THX1138 was the liscence plate of his car in college. Is that true? Up until the 1980s standard California license plates only had six characters separated by a space. For example, my first car that I got in 1979 was my mom’s 1966 MGB. The licence plate was “TAA 951”. When they changed from the yellow-on-black plates to the yellow-on-blue plates in (I think around 1970) the alphas and numerals were reversed – e.g., “123 ABC”. Since _THX 1138_ came out in 1971, if Lucas drove a car licensed in California it must have had a six-character license plate (“ABC 123”). (Unless he had a vanity plate. Did they exist back then? If so, why would he choose “THX1138”?) ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/17 "2002-09-07T15:03:34Z")
[This site](http://www.thx-1138.org/html/trivia.html) claims it was Lucas’ phone number as a student in San Fransisco. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/18 "2002-09-07T17:25:34Z")
Does George Lucas really want to remind people that he once made movies for grownups? ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/19 "2002-09-07T21:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zen101 \* > \*\*Lucas is a whore. \*\* Exactly, how is George Lucas a “whore?” A whore is one who provides services for money, usually of the pleasurable kind. According to the majority of Star Wars geeks, Lucas apparently utterly failed to provide “pleasurable services,” with the last 2 SW movies, therefore your analogy is stupid, meaningless \*and \* pointless. Congrats on hitting the trifecta. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Green\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mr.Green\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Green_Fool)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357/20 "2002-09-07T22:21:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flyboy88 \* > \*\*So, out of curiosity, where was the reference in ESB and ROTJ? \*\* In Empire: On Hoth, General Rieekan says “Send Rogues 10 and 11 to sector 38,” a veiled reference to _THX 1138 (1970)_ . In Return: …ummmm… I cant remember. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-find-the-1138-reference-in-aotc-yet/127357.md?page=2)