The Three Episode format was unusual for the run. All the previous tapes had included two episodes (which roughly equate, duration-wise, to a short movie) but, because of the odd number of episodes in the original series (79), they either had to chance releasing a tape with just one episode (although surely they could have padded it out with some documentaries or other filler from the vaults) or chuck three episodes onto a longer tape. I don't recall whether they bumped up the price for this one... maybe by a couple of quid.
Prior to the coming of Amazon, Play.com and others, shops needed a lot of shelf space to carry a long-running series like this (which must have amounted to roughly 39-40 tapes). Long-runners must have also tied up a lot of capital to keep a deep inventory on the off-chance that someone would want to pick up - say - tape 23 in the run. Our Price even set up a chain of stores just selling tapes... although they didn't last for more than a few years
I remember renting this and being blown away by not just the picture quality but also that these were the full , uncut versions. It was a revelation to say the least.
ReplyDeleteSKY ONE had previously broadcast the entire series in 1990 but the third season episodes had been edited for syndication. However, they did become the first uk channel to screen the infamous ' banned by the bbc ' stories.
When BBC2 subsequently screened the series later in the 90's, the episodes were uncut.
Looking back now, it seems crazy that we spent so much for a few episodes per tape but at the time, it was a very welcome stop-gap between the repeats on sky one and bbc2.
turnabout intruder is always good for a laugh largely due to Shatner's typically OTT scenery chewing.
although I've since upgraded to dvd, I still have many of those tapes plus a very nice booklet used to promote the VHS release at that time.
ReplyDeletethe new issue of JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE has a nice wrap-around cover plus an article on ONE-EYED JACK.
ReplyDelete