Sunday, July 28, 2024

The History of the Star Wars Trilogy on VHS

 



It all began a long time ago in 1982. This (above) is the only version that was never available for purchase, rather it was purely a rental tape back when VHS tapes were very expensive and not common to own.
However, the rental copy is the only version of the film that exists in its original unaltered form as it was shown in its theatrical release. 
Future releases would have minor tweaks like "Episode 4 - A New Hope" added to the title crawl that for the most part, unless you were there in the beginning, you might not even notice.



Between 1984 to 1986 all three films were released individually, not as a set. Known as the CBS Red Corner Releases due to the red triangle on the corner of each box. (above)



1988 was the first time all three films were available together in a boxed set (above). Still with CBS/Fox on each cassette. I see this set a lot for sale as individual cassettes missing the box. The telltale giveaway is the white CBS/Fox logo, but no red triangle Hi-Fi mark on the box art.


1990 Saw a new boxed set (above). The movies were the same as before, but the box itself had some minor changes. The CBS/Fox logo changed from white to red.





The 1990 set was released again in 1992 (above), this time CBS/Fox was replaced with the new "Fox Video" logo. A much larger collector edition also came out the same year.




1995 would be the last time the original unaltered films would be released (above). However, they had enhanced THX audio and video quality. A long box Widescreen edition was also released.




1997 was the 20th anniversary of the original film and as such Lucasfilm made several additions and changes to the trilogy and released them as the "Special Edition", In both the gold (full screen) and silver (widescreen) versions (above).



2000 would be the final time the original trilogy (special editions) would be released on VHS. The only difference however was the box art was altered in order to match the packaging for Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, released in 1999, and its upcoming sequel in 2002 (above).

It should be noted that this list is entirely for the NTSC releases of the Star Wars Trilogy on VHS only. There are many more releases on multiple formats including but not limited to DVD and Laserdisc. Also, the box art and release order are completely different in PAL regions.

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