Early 80s TOS VHS Tapes

It is a matter of scale and perception. When you look at a small box you can wonder and balk over its price. And, yes, I still sometimes see Blu-Ray as being "not worth it" yet in some cases.

It comes down to how you look at it. I've had an iPod Nano for three years. And while I don't have quite my entire music library on it it's damned close and the iPod is only a bit more over half capacity filled. When you think about the cost of an iPod you can wonder, but then I don't have to decide which tape or CD to bring with me or have to lug around a bulky player for them. I have close to my entire music library in my pocket and at my immediate disposal. That simply wasn't possible before.

 

HMV is practically a High Street monopoly in the UK, they're dying on their arse because they don't know that appendage from their elbow. They're charging £250 in store for an item with an R.R.P of £200. On their website it's £159, and looking at all the other UK e-tailers I could pick it up for £138. Considering it's a new release here, and £138 is actually cheaper than buying all three seasons individually, that is really fine value!

Of course my inner stinge has just reminded me that I waited for the Laurel & Hardy DVD boxset, released with an R.R.P of £200, but which I picked up 2 years later for £30.

 

Star Trek on Blu-ray is worth the immediate purchase.

 

I still have 'The Cage' that has the black and white workprint footage inserted (1986?) and Roddenberry's intro comments. I also have the promotional poster for it, very nice artwork.

 

I also have that VHS version of The Cage, along with a few other mid-80s video tapes (The Menagerie and Trouble with Tribbles).

 

The last time I looked Sainsbury's of all places had it cheapest online, at 119 quid.

 

I've got a regular search going on eBay, which I've just updated.

Certainly explains the mountain of Pioneer units that keep showing up...

 

I had the complete VHS Columbia House TOS and TNG: that cost a fortune. I sold them at a garage sale for something like $30 about 3 years ago. I'd already replaced them with DVDs.

 

I gave my TNG and DS9 collections (less a couple of TOS-related episodes) to the local library. They were checked out rather often, but eventually sold to raise funds for additional materials for the library. Got a nice letter from the library about it.

 

You could sell TOS VHS tapes in a yard sale for $.50...if you are lucky. Why anyone would want to play horrible quality tapes that are not even NEW is beyond me.

RAMA

 

You kill me.

 

I wouldn't even call them that! I had them and chucked them a few years back.

ETA: These were the first time I saw the "banned" episodes and they were invaluable to me at the time.

 

I have TOS on video, all in pristine condition. For years that was all the TOS I had as the DVD sets were 180.00 a season here (!!) and I collected all the other series first. Now I love having them because they aren't remastered and I will never get rid of them. I gave all my other Trek videos away but not the TOS ones, they were the first Trek I owned.

Mine have 3 eps on each video.

 

One thing I really like about the various VHS releases is that they were numbered in Production order. It's baffling that all of a sudden TPTB decided to go with air dates, which feel so wrong to me. I hate having to switch out the discs constantly to watch in production order.

I was way too young to have the money to collect the VHS releases back in those days. I did rent them every now and then from a local video shop (the owner was a massive fan, so there was actually a designated Star Trek section which was decorated with Models and standees. Although I doubt I'd pick up any of those tapes and watch them today, I imagine they look really impressive lined up on a shelf. We recently had a thread on this, but I do miss the more physical quality of VHS.

 

A few months back, I came across an old VHS of the theatrical version of TMP at the local thrift store and figured, what the hell...

 

What I don't get is this DVD collection which I believe only had one or two episodes per disc. Sounds like they were trying to rip-off the fans big-time. How many episodes per VHS tape?

 

I don't believe codec compression worked as well in the early 2000's when these were released. Even these looked a ton better than their VHS counterparts.

Plus they're in production order.

 

Very true about codec compression! I keep forgetting how much has changed in such little time!

 

Why? Just stating a fact...there is almost no demand at all for analog video tapes of just about any movie or series..even if kept in pristine condition, they deteriorate with every viewing.

RAMA

 

I had a big collection of Disney movies, probably 25 or 30, on VHS from when my kids were little. They were between 15 and 20 years old. They sold for $3.00 apiece on a rummage sale...people snatched them up so quickly I couldn't believe it.

The difference is, moms or babysitters are going to pop these Disney tapes in to keep Junior entertained for a few minutes. They're not collectible by any means, but they're cheap entertainment for kids.

If I had the entire TOS collection on VHS, I'd be inclined to hold on to them. I'm not sure why.

On the other hand, I do have the entire ScFi Channel "Special Edition" series recorded on VHS, but only for the interviews. Now those are available online too.