presenting: STAR WARS home video timeline -- part 1 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

Give it a look-see:
Star Wars: Episode IV Video Timeline
Let me know if you have any corrections or additions to make.
I'll be finishing up the ESB Video Timeline within the next day. (which reminds me: Does anyone have a scan of the ESB CED?)
If you want to contribute anything to the other films, I would also appreciate it!
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[Edited last by Patrick Mirza on August 16, 2001 at 09:46 PM]

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Shouldn't that be part IV?
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Link Removed | Burt Lancaster is Link Removed | dOc

 

[alan halvorson]

You might add that the original release of The Definitive Collection LD box set was missing a few seconds from Empire Strikes Back. It's at the beginning of disc 2, side 3, just before Leia calls Han a "scoundrel". The original release did not show Leia welding. Fox remastered the disc and offered it as a replacement for any who asked. I don't think many did. I own both sets and there is indeed this difference.
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They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa To the funny farm. Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!!!
- Napoleon XIV

 

[Patrick Mirza]

You're right, Alan! I have the first version myself.
Was there ever a BETA version of Star Wars back in 1982, or was it only released on VHS? Does anyone know?
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[Jesse Skeen]

I do remember it being on Beta; it wasn't til around 1986 that not every title was being issued on Beta, and even then they still put out all the 'big' titles on it. I don't know if the first Beta tapes were stereo though- the first VHS's were but they won't play in stereo on today's Hi-Fi machines, only ones that have linear stereo capability.

 

[Andrew Walsh]

There was another version of the 95 VHS widescreen box set. It came out a few months after the initial release and was quite a bit more expensive. I think it came with "SW to Jedi", a peice of film, and a book of some kind. I was really pissed off when I saw it since I had already purchased the first set, and this case was cooler. It was silver and black, with the same shot of Vader's mask and a more elaborate title. Details escape me, sorry.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

Thanks for your help!
I've updated the Star Wars timeline and finished The Empire Stirkes Back.
Star Wars Home Video Timeline
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[Edited last by Patrick Mirza on August 18, 2001 at 06:31 PM]

 

[James Reyes]

I have something to ask. Is it just me, or was the ending of Return of the Jedi changed. I could sware that when I first saw ROTJ in the theater back in 1983, during Vader's funeral pyre scene, Luke is carrying Vader's mask in his hands, looks at it and throws it in the fire. I could be wrong, after all I was only 7 years old at the time.

 

[cafink]

Pretty nice, and very helpful. Just one question…What do the blue bullets indicate?

 

[ScottR]

There were two different cases for the 1995 THX videos. I have the first one... the tapes slide out from the right side, and there is a period instead of a comma in a sentence written by George Lucas (on the back of the box.) The second version of this set featured a box that lifted up, and the box itself was made from a different material. The punctuation was (I think) corrected.

 

[Mike Gariepy]

FYI, the 1990 CBS/FOX Trilogy (with and without slipcase) was also released in Beta. Boxes were identical to the VHs release, not even cropped for size. They just plugged the hole with a piece of coloured cardboard to keep the tape at the top of the box.
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[Mike_G]

[8mm reference deleted. Just read the fine print ]
Mike
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Listen to my radio station - Starman's Neverland
[Edited last by Mike_G on August 18, 2001 at 10:19 PM]

 

[Andrew Walsh]

My bad, I must have been thinking about the SE limited edition box set.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

The blue bullets (they're actually purple, but what the hey!) are just a distinguishing or noteworthy aspect of that release version.
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[Michael Coate]

I've taken a look at the timeline you've put together and wanted to mention that I think you've done a good job. I've toyed around with the thought of putting something like this together myself having attempted to do so many times in conversation with friends, though I never managed to publish or post such a project.
Anyway, I did have a couple questions.
1) Regarding "Star Wars": You have a note in the entry for the first CED videodisc version (third entry on the list) that states "The first home version to have stereo sound." Does this imply that the two VHS (and Beta) releases listed before it were mono, or does your statement apply only to videodisc versions? I have a copy of the 1982 VHS release and it most definitely is in stereo (and even says so on the jacket...and also humorously states "mono compatible!")
2) Your fifth entry states that C-3PO's line that floats in and out of various versions has been deleted from this version, implying that it is present in the prior releases. My 1982 version DOES NOT contain the line. It IS present in my tape with a 1984 packaging copyright. However, this leads to my next question...
3) This 1984 version has a commercial at the end of the tape for all three movies. However, "Jedi" wasn't issued on tape until early 1986! Was "Star Wars" re-issued in '86 or '87 while re-using '84 jackets? (I cannot recall when I obtained the version with the '84 packaging copyright.)
4) For your "Empire" timeline, you list the first release as being in 1983, yet I seem to recall it being released in Fall 1984...and my tape does have a 1984 packaging copyright.
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