Does anyone know of a list of all the THX signature clips and in which movie they were in?

July 31, 2004 9:25 AM

The THX sound system demonstration before a movie changed recently. The little repair robot is gone, replaced by a stream of sound clips from famous movies: "I will strike down upon thee," etc. Does anyone know of a list of all the clips, who said them, and in which movie? I'm trying to identify the "well well well" clip, but all would be ideal. The prominence of "thx" as an abbreviation for "thanks" is making my Google search difficult.
posted by scarabic to media & arts (18 comments total)

Is it the trailer mentioned here?
posted by gluechunk at 10:07 AM on July 31, 2004

The trailer is mentioned, but there aren't details as to which clips. I went to about the same place as glue chunk (Thanks Google) to dig out the e-mail adress of the THX Press Office: [e-mail]. Maybe we should ask them?
posted by mmahaffie at 10:51 AM on July 31, 2004

Are they all new or at least post-THX movies?

If not, the standard answer for "Well, well, well" is A Clockwork Orange.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:40 PM on July 31, 2004

They are all post-THX movies, but THX is older than you might think -- the trailer commemorates the 20th anniversary of the system.

The "well well well" clip sounds like Robert De Niro to me, but I don't know what film it would be from.
posted by jjg at 12:57 PM on July 31, 2004

Also, these trailers are constantly rotating. At one theater here in San Francisco, the clip montage has just been replaced by (what I think of as) the original THX trailer, "The Audience Is Listening". I haven't seen the repair bot in probably over a year.
posted by jjg at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2004

It seems like THX were running a competition (closed in April) for people who could answer this question. Infuriatingly, there don't seem to be any answers there, just a list of winners...
posted by reklaw at 1:31 PM on July 31, 2004

I haven't seen it, but if it's DeNiro saying "well well well," it's probably Cape Fear (in Clockwork Orange, of course, the phrase is "welly welly welly well."
posted by bingo at 2:33 PM on July 31, 2004

I'm pretty sure it's Bruce Dern in The Driver.
posted by mokujin at 3:53 PM on July 31, 2004

A friend of mine is convinced it's Johnny Depp. I thought it might also be Christian Slater. Yea? Nay?
posted by scarabic at 8:27 PM on July 31, 2004

Any links to the trailer? my google-fu is weak tonight,
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:09 PM on July 31, 2004

The thing I'm referring to isn't really a trailer per se. It's just the THX logo on-screen with an audio soundtrack of dialogue clips in rapid-fire. I guess it's a trailer, but there's no real video content, just audio. I don't have a full script of it to work with, either.
posted by scarabic at 11:25 PM on July 31, 2004

Well what movie is it showing with?
posted by bingo at 11:33 PM on July 31, 2004

The thing I'm referring to isn't really a trailer per se.

Well, THX calls them trailers. They've also got a few more not linked on that page.

Well what movie is it showing with?

Doesn't matter -- the THX trailer you get varies from theater to theater, and even from screen to screen.

I saw the anniversary trailer again tonight, and now I'm not so sure it's De Niro. For what it's worth, here are some of the other sounds I could identify:
- helicopters and explosions from Apocalypse Now (probably Redux, which was THX-ified)
- lightsabers from Star Wars
- T. Rex from Jurassic Park
- Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction ("And I will strike down upon thee with...")
- Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future ("1.21 gigawatts!")
- Jim Carrey from The Mask ("Sssmokin'!")
- a kind of "squeaky" creature noise that is either a mogwai from Gremlins or another dinosaur from Jurassic Park

As for "well well well", I'm pretty sure it's not Johnny Depp or Christian Slater. It doesn't sound anything like Bruce Dern, and The Driver is too old anyway. There's a certain sensibility revealed in the other choices in the montage -- these are iconic mainstream American movies of the last 20 years.
posted by jjg at 1:59 AM on August 1, 2004

"well, well, well" -- picture, if you will, bruce willis in the first die hard flick. at least, that's what comes to my mind or what's left of it after 20 mintute of the evil fantanas, low carb coke and a gazillion trailers.
posted by heather at 5:35 AM on August 1, 2004

That's a great chunk of the list, jjg - thanks! Is the "anniversary trailer" on their trailers page? I couldn't find it.
posted by scarabic at 11:58 AM on August 1, 2004

The trailer's not on their site. I think heather's got it though -- it sounds like Willis, and there is a "well well well" in Die Hard.
posted by jjg at 12:47 PM on August 1, 2004

Other movies with "well, well,well" in it...

Animal House
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Emma
Pretty Woman
The Graduate
American History X

And I'm sure there are plenty more, since it's not exactly an uncommon phrase. If I was able to hear see the trailer I'd probably be of more help though.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 9:38 PM on August 1, 2004

Also, while we're on this topic, I've always wondered whether there's anything interesting about the THX sound. Is it supposed to show anything about the system that plays it? Or is it just a bit of trademarking?
posted by pealco at 8:39 AM on August 2, 2004