Are there any other 70s SF/dystopia films that are this non-dated?
It blows my mind comparing this to everything else in the genre I can think of, all of which are hilariously dated in their visual style and/or the issues they cover.
shareI found myself asking myself the same question. I don't think there are. Even fairly sophisticated films like The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man are dated compared to this, as is Fassbinder's tv series Welt am Draht (World on a Wire). It's been a while since I saw the two early David Cronenberg films Stereo and Crimes of the Future. From my memory at least one of those may come close.
Removing the hair was a stroke of genius, because hairstyles date so easily. But the abstraction of dialogue and set design also contribute greatly.
We should keep in mind however that Lucas added some new scenes in 2003, so it's not completely 70s. I'd love see the "pure" VHS version to compare if it's just as non-dated.
It could be argued that the change of shell-dwellers to actual primates stinks of PC acquiescence, which is a sign of our times, and therefore dating.
None of the other additions really changed anything. A lot of it was Lucas' strange compulsion to endlessly cram more needless garbage into everything, like showing traffic between scenes for no reason, and adding things to the lizard.
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