10 Greatest Directorial Debut Sci-Fi Movies

Only six years before George Lucas became synonymous with the science fiction genre with the release of Star Wars, the young filmmaker created a very different kind of sci-fi movie with THX 1138 (1971).

Based on an earlier student film he'd made titled Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, THX 1138 was co-written with Walter Murch, and painted a unique and dystopian vision of life in the 25th century.

Bearing similarities to literary sci-fi classics such as 1984 and Brave New World, THX 1338 stars Robert Duvall as the eponymous protagonist, a member of an underground society where intercourse and reproduction are outlawed, and people are forced to take psychoactive drugs in order to enforce compliance. When Duvall's character decides to stop taking the mind-controlling drugs, he ends up falling in love and becoming a threat to the very stability of society.

The film's brutalist visuals and haunting sound design create a perfect marriage to complement the the bleak and oppressive world that the narrative takes place in. You can even spot elements that would inspire Lucas' work on Star Wars, especially when it comes to the cold, clinical interior design of the Empire's Star Destroyers.