18 Directors Who Sneaked In References To Their Own Movies

Adapted from a short made while George Lucas was still a film school student, THX 1138 was the director’s first feature and depicted a dystopian future in which emotions, sex and reproduction are prohibited. It wasn’t a huge hit with critics back when it was released in 1971, but thanks to the popularity of Star Wars a few years later it was re-released and gained something of a cult following.

Clearly, Lucas has a special place in his heart for his debut feature because he’s consistently referenced the movie in his career ever since. His next film, the coming-of-age nostalgia fest American Graffiti featured a character named John Milner whose car – a bright yellow, hot-rodded Deuce Coupe to be precise – featured the licence plate number ‘THX 138’.

There was another nod to his debut in the first Star Wars movie during a scene in which Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are saving Princess Leia from the Death Star disguised as Storm Troopers with Chewbacca in tow as a pretend prisoner and Luke informs an officer he’s transporting Chewie to prisoner cell block 1138.

The number 1138 appears again in The Phantom Menace, the film that kicked off the prequel trilogy, as the serial number on the body of a lifeless droid Jar Jar Binks encounters after the Battle of Naboo.