Wow, it looks real and it's not even CGI, can you believe it?
In 1986 Star Trek was for the first time released on VHS through the CBS Video Library/Columbia House Video Club. Many a person still has the complete set of these old tapes collecting dust on some shelf! Scanned in for this post is a nice brochure made to promote the collection. As usual click on the pictures to view them full-size.
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9 comments:
It really shows how times have changed. Today, you buy whole seasons of shows at once time, in one set, often for less than thirty or forty bucks. Back then, you were paying $19.95 plus shipping for two episodes, which you only got every six weeks or so.
and BETA too, nice, you know it was a much better quality...
Yeah,
back then it was a pretty major investment, now you get a whole season for what you might pay for dinner for two at a decent restuarant.
But even then the price was better than the $79 price tag on VHS movie tapes when they first came out! Can you imagine?
I remember! By the late '80s, really successful movies, like Star Trek IV, would eventually get discounted at what I think they used to call a "sell through price" for about $24.95 - this was after the studio had already made their money selling tapes to video stores at the much higher price. But movies that did not-so-well didn't get the discount, so the Star Trek V VHS went on sale for $99.95 and that was my whole Christmas present that year. Which sounds even worse, I'm sure, given how much most people hate Star Trek V. A smarter kid might have preferred a lump of coal :)
Jay,
Well, you were young and didn't know any better. We understand now that not all Trek is great. But I'm sure the price was worth it for your happiness over getting it, and I'm sure you enjoyed it at the time!
If I ever got a Star Trek themed present from my parents I would have dropped over dead and hell would have immediately declared a snow day.
Ha!
I was very fortunate to have a mom and step-dad who were pretty tolerant of my Treskkishness and my general geekiness. My mom actually got me interested in Star Trek when I was a kid. I lived and breathed Star Wars, and so to amuse me, she would tell me about this great show she watched when she was in high school called Star Trek - so in some ways she had only herself to blame.
But, yeah, I knew Star Trek V was far from the pick of the litter at the time, but I didn't really care. I've always been interested in the Treknology side of the show, so I was happy to have the tape if for no other reason than to look at the new bridge, the new phasers, the new shuttlecraft, blah blah blah. I dunno if that was worth $99.95 but it was definitely worth owning Star Trek V for.
Thanks for posting that brochure.
Did you check out my post on the history of Trek VHS and home media releases?
www.treknostalgia.blogspot.com
I still have a lot of the TOS tapes in storage, even though I have the DVDs it's kinda cool to hold on to those old media formats. There's something magical about old VHS tapes.
"Wow, it looks real and it's not even CGI, can you believe it?"
--
It looks real *because* it's not CGI! I can believe THAT!
:-)
Just this past week, I was getting rid of (once and for all) my videotape collection, now that the technology is pretty much consigned to the dust bin of history. However, I couldn't bring myself to part with the thirteen or so episodes of Star Trek I purchased in '86. It must be the same part of me that's keeping me up waaay later than I should be reading this marvelous blog! It's a wonderful excursion into a world I used to be so passionate about in my dim and distant youth!
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