Yeah I know VHS is going the way of the Silent Film,And I do have a DVD Player but I still collect VHS Tapes especially Older ones.So I'm at my local Pawn Shop (a Fantastic place to find Rare Tapes Dirt Cheap!) Anyhoo I Picked up A Creature From The Black Lagoon (ACTUALLY IN 3-D!) for a BUCK no less!! And So Here is my Question: I own a VHS of Star Trek The Motion Picture the Earliest one Availible All of these have a Slip out Container(Box) that has the Poster Art by Peak (the Rainbow Image) and the side of the Boxes are White then I have the ones that all go together to form a Picture of the Refit Enterprise. Well Today I found this STTMP in an All Black Box,Tape Still Slips out from the bottom.The thing that made this Tape interesting is instead of the Usual Poster Art Box this one has a Small Pic of Kirk & Co. On the V'ger Probe/Planet ? And also this Box Features Embossed Gold Foil Lettering and Trim. Also IIRC it mentions being a "Special Edition" Well Can anybody tell me how this might differ from any of the Previous Versions? I really appreciate it. Heck I guess for Three Bucks I should go ahead and Snag it anyway,but I'd still be interested in knowing more about the Various Editions of this Film that are Floating around. Thanks again

JOHN/LONFAN

The early edition you already have - does it have an annoying yellow blob at the top obscuring the artwork? Says "Special Longer Version"? I have that, don't know if it's the first version released but I've always thought so - that the theatrical edit was not released on VHS until the the letterbox edition in the maroon box with the side art that formed a tableaux if you put all the films together on your shelf.


Here's the thing, I remember Paramount released a number of their movies in that black-and-gold-foil type box. There was no difference between those and the same films in the standard boxes - just a different box with foil trim to look as if it were a special edition. Check the running length to be sure, but it's almost certainly the same one you already have. "Special Edition" meant it had the extra footage that was added for the television run.

If there were more releases on VHS, I don't know of them.

The black and gold foild boxes were indeed nothing but a marketing issue for Paramount. Of the three Trek movies available on tape at the time only TMP was released in this form. Flashdance is another tape I rmember in this form. They were done that way for Paramounts anniversary.

TMP and the other Trek films were released on tapeseveral times, but the packaging changed three time. The last version, red boxes with poster art and the image of the refit on the side were also the only versions to be released in widescreen.

However, ST4 was released seperately in a "Directors Series" version. The box was white, with poster art on the cover, a gold band going down the side with Leonard Nimoys signature within it, and a heftier price tag. At the time, it was considered a high def tranfer and was the first Trek film released in widescreen on VHS.

Thanks Guys, Glad you understood what I ment by the "Refit Side Puzzle" Also Dreamer- Yes mine has the BIG Yellow Blurb on it! Ah well I'm gonna grab it for the Archives. lol

JON/LON