CT 1995 VHS Original Trilogy

I'm almost certain this was my introduction to the series ... a 3 VHS set at one point or another.

 

I'm not quite old enough to have seen the OT in theaters until the SE, but I'm old enough that my intro was taped-off-tv Betamax

 

Yes, I do own a copy of the original, unrevised editions of the original trilogy in VHS format. And yes, I've got the Lucas comments at the beginning, also.

 

The fact that Leonard Maltin inquires about the reaction of who Darth Vader "really is" to Lucas, Lucas says he was disappointed that people didn't debate it enough. The fact that that interview was on TESB's tape caused me to believe Vader after I questioned what he said. But I don't mind. I was only nine years old when I initially watched the film, and so I did not see the twist coming.

 

Watched the 1995 version of Empire on VHS last night and it was a lot of fun and great to see the film again without all the changes after a long time.
I enjoy all the versions, but that original version of Empire is just so good; hope they release an HD version someday.

 

I think I own almost every version there is. The original VHS release, the THX '95 version, the special edition VHS, the DVD version, and the Bluray. The only version I don't own is the Laserdisc version, which is the only digital version of the theatrical OT.

 

I have all the original VHS tapes on CBS FOX video. They're old and I haven't watched them in a long time, but they're special to me. I have quite a few different tapes and discs, but the originals are my favorites.

 

I have those. In case you want them, please contact me by PM. However, LaserDiscs are not digital, the picture is always analog while the soundtrack is digital. Earlier LDs even had analog sound. The SW discs however all have uncompressed digital sound, unlike DVDs. I'm not sure about BRs though.

 

My parents still have my original VHS tapes back home in Benbrook. Thankfully, they still have a VHS player someplace. I'll have to watch these again during Christmas. I have the 2011 Blu-ray discs of the classic and prequel trilogies up here with me. I gotta say I liked the special edition changes back in 1997, but now I only like half of them. I have no problem with changes like adding the Sarlacc beak and stuff like that. The audio changes to TESB are good, and adding McDiarmid to TESB was a good idea. But adding Jabba to ANH was a mistake. And don't get me started about that ridiculous song in ROTJ. The original song was much better. I think it's cool that Lando is just standing there like a boss as Sy Snootles sings.



Man, I feel bad for Oola. But she defied the sicko in the end.

 

Jabba in ANH was unnecessary. The Greedo dialogue explained it all. They just repeated the same lines. Then Greedo shoots first. But I did like the other changes to ANH, mostly in the effects on the Death Star run. Didn't like the new Boba Fett voice or that ridiculous song in ROTJ. Did like the celebrations at the end.

 

These are the Star Wars films I own, first time I saw ANH and TESB was around 81 on Betamax before seeing ROTJ in the cinema as a 4 year old.

From Betamax to 4K

 

Not to mention that after his death, Greedo shows up with Jabba in the hangar.


About the VHS, it was either this edition or 1992 through which I first saw Star Wars. I'd never seen some of the old covers in @Viper78 's photo, very fascinating. My uncle owns the exact same 1997 SE VHS copies as in the photo, while I have the same DVDs of the PT and OT in the above post. One thing I appreciate about that release is that includes the OOT as a bonus disc, which I can watch even though I no longer possess the 80s-90s VHS tapes

 

As somebody from a different soft-SF series might say, it was nice of Jabba to give dead Greedo a second chance.

 

Owned the early 1980s Betamax pan & scan (ex-rental) videotapes for STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and a dubbed copy of RETURN OF THE JEDI on VHS.

1980s off-air television recordings of the original trilogy.

VHS pan & scan reissues for STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1991.

Bought the 1995 THX remastered VHS widescreen trilogy (with the 3-part Lucas interview).

Got the original trilogy VHS boxed-set (pan & scan), second-hand from a flea market.

Had the 1997 SPECIAL EDITION TRILOGY widescreen VHS boxed-set.

The above was binned years ago.

I now own:

The 2004 DVD boxed-set SPECIAL EDITION TRILOGY with the lengthy Empire of Dreams documentary.

The 2006 2-disc SPECIAL EDITION DVD set (with the original theatrical versions as bonus discs).

The 2011 Blu-ray STAR WARS THE COMPLETE SAGA boxed-set.

YouTube download of the 1978 THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL in 4K.

That’s it for me - unless the original versions get a 4K restoration & release (on discs).

 

This thread makes me feel old, really old, and funny that I think of the 1995 box set as recent since SW had been around like a hundred years before that set came out.
Most of the original movies memories for me weren’t from rewatching them because that was impossible. Saw SW in a drive in when I was 2, and Empire when I was five, and stood in line for Jedi for over four hours when I was eight. Rewatching or more apt reliving them was done through the storybook with the movie stills and the comic books, and of course through the action figures. Then there was the library showing SW and Emoire in those condensed thirty minute versions!
I remember seeing commercial of those movie machines rich peo0le could own, vee cede something or laser records, and thinking wow!!! And those movies were like eighty nine bucks or basically a million dollars to a kid. Not to mention the trillion dollar machine to play it on.
Then a glorious thing happened in 1983... HBO announced SW was finally coming! And it was an event. You would take your guide and try to catch it anything it was on. (I think this was just before Jedi opened).
Then in a ‘85 a glorious event happened in my life... my mother bought a VCR! Christmas 1985. And Empire premiered on HBO New Years Day 1986 at 8am and then 8pm. And I recorded it first thing in the morning. It was mine, all mine!!!
Then Return of the Jedi finally came out in 1987 to videotape, and you would run and run hoping to get the copy before anyone else. Can you imagine over three years later? Unheard of these days where they are released practically by the time you get home from the theater. We had neighbors all working together to get the rented tape, and then a genius father had a two VCR setup to make copies! Voila! I had it!

 

Same here. I still have the tape. The label just has ROTJ written on it because my Dad didn't want to make it obvious on first sight that it was an illegal recording.

 

Oh yeah, I remember that panic too! And I think taping it off of HBO was illegal too. Oh well, I think the statutes have expired. I think ours was taped on LP (four hour speed, kids) to make the movie fit.

 

those were the days.

 

That wasn't Greedo, it was his identical cousin, Guido the Killer Pimpian

 

I owned both the 1992 trilogy box set and the 1995 THX remastered trilogy box set. I had seen the movies years earlier either from rental or on t.v. But 1992 was the first time I bought them on VHS. I forget what happened to the 1992 box set but I am fairly certain I sold the 1995 THX box set to a used dvd store.

 

I had the gold one. Was that the SE? Before that Ithink I had the original versions on VHS.

 

I have fond memories of those

 

Seeing as my other photos disappeared when I got rid of photobucket I’ll upload them again. I have such fond memories of watching these at home on VHS. As discussed in a previous post it was so hard to get them back in the 80s, and when they were eventually broadcast on tv you’d had 3 years of only your memories of seeing them on the cinema to see you through that time. I can guarantee that when people saw them on TV again that they had forgotten some stuff and it was like rediscovering them again. We take it for granted now but to see these at home was unbelievable back then. I used to get one VHS a week on rental in the mid - late 80s as a treat from my dad and I just rotated it between one of the SW films, Raiders, Krull, Temple of Doom, Gremlins, Back to the Future, Goonies or Ghostbusters. Once we got a VHS recorder that was like another world, I could watch them when I wanted because we taped them off the TV. (Does anyone still say taped? I still do to this day when I record something off the TV). VHS originals were very expensive to buy back then, even my widescreen copy from the early 90s I think (the picture is below) cost me a lot. But even now the pride of my collection is the 95 Executor box set, I love it (some pics of that below too).

 

The 1995 VHS edition's of the OT holds a special place in my heart as that's where I was first introduced to the universe as a kid. I remember distinctly going to the library and seeing the VHS tapes in wonder as I never see anything quite like it before, the ESB box art in particularly for whatever reason stood out the most to me.

 

Mine disappeared after a particularly contentious move from a crappy rental in Brooklyn back in the day. I'd give my left pinkie just to see the Mos Eisley scene without expanded city and goofy kiddy stuff.