Hey everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was pretty great! I got to hang out with my sister and her partner on Saturday night, eating pizza and playing the Nintendo 64, and then Brad dropped off some comic books for me on Sunday morning. Today I'm back for The VHS Corner where I'll be taking a look at the first release for the regular retail VHS releases for Star Trek: The Next Generation. There was a Collector's Edition release as well, but I'll be talking about that another time. Right now, let's talk about the regular VHS release for the pilot episode of TNG, "Encounter at Farpoint".
Seeing this cover brings back so many memories. Unlike alot of VHS tapes that I had when I was a kid, I didn't have this tape at home. It was kept, along with three other volumes, at my grandparents's place. At least until I was in high school when I got that TV/VCR combo set from my uncle for my 16th birthday. It was added to my personal collection sometime after that. But I remember staying at my grandparents's place for a few hours while my parents ran errands or went out for date night or whatever the case may have been, and asking Nana to put the tape on for me as soon as I got there. I'm a Trekkie afterall, and apart from the Collector's Edition VHS release that I had at home at the time, this was the only way to watch "Encounter at Farpoint" in it's full form since it got split up into it's two episode form for it's repeat TV airings, which had already begun by the time I began having memories of watching TNG on TV.
I love the cover art for this tape. It's design would be retained for the rest of the season 1 releases, which came out from 1991-1993 before being changed for season 2 in 1993 and then again for each subsequent season release through season 7 from late 1998 until mid 1999. Because, yes folks, it took eight years for all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation to be released on VHS. What's interesting is that the season 1 VHS releases had the same cover art as the Collector's Edition releases, except that the spot where the screenshot from the episode in question is just an image of a planet on the cover of the Collector's Edition releases.
Season 1 had a variety of openings before the start of the episode. Because it came out in late 1991, Encounter at Farpoint, along with it's succeeding episodes, The Naked Now and Code of Honor, opens with the teaser for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which was scheduled to be released to theatres on December 6th, 1991. These three releases were the only ones to come out in 1991, so the rest of the season 1 tapes don't have the Star Trek VI teaser before the episode. I'll talk more about that when I get around to discussing the later releases that I had when I was a kid.
That's actually all I have to say about this VHS tape. Mostly because I will be doing a full review of "Encounter at Farpoint" when I get around to doing my TNG rewatch somewhere down the line. It's a pretty great tape though. Unfortunately, I don't own it anymore, but I'm hoping to get my hands on another copy at some point in the future. I've been keeping an eye out for one anytime I'm out with Brad, so my fingers are crossed.
That my friends is going to be it for me for today. I will be back tomorrow for this week's edition of The Comic Book Longbox though. So until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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