Difference between the theatrical versions and the first VHS home releases?

Hey guys! I’ve been lurking for a bit and joined today because I really, really like this site and get a kick out of it.
Now to get to the topic, was there a difference between the theatrical releases and the original home releases? I’ve been watching the Silver Screen and despecialized editions lately and I can’t recall if there was a difference for nothing! I scoured the web but found nothing that answered my question.

Pics for reference of the VHS releases I’m referring to:
http://dkkdolls.com/store/media/movies/vhs0010a.jpg

http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/11/Original-2.jpg

I would just watch them again, but my VCR is…in an inoperable status at the moment lol

Thanks in advance!

All VHS editions use the 1981 A New Hope crawl and opening shot instead of the 1977 version, and there’s some debate about whether the Artoo canyon sequence was brightened for home video or not.

Can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.

Different sound mix for ANH with different content also depending on which release.

ESB and ROTJ also had different sound mixes but were mostly the same content just with improved quality on the remixes. 1993 and onward got a new uniformed sound mix for all 3 which was the best they would sound until the special editions came out. (Speaking purely of audio quality and not content of course).

The 93 mixes are quite good, almost as good of quality as the SEs but with the original content except some additions to ANH. (The score still sounds very aged and sort of tinny/muffled in ANH though, that wouldn’t be fixed until 1997)

Ah yeah, forgot to point out the sound mixes. ANH got a remix for home video in 1985 (mostly the same as theatrical stereo but with a wider stereo field and an added Threepio line), and as Possessed said, all three got brand new mixes in 1993.

Ah, okay! That makes a lot of sense now. The one thing I do remember now that ChainsawAsh mentioned it, is the “New Hope” crawl.
I remember reading about the different sound mixes along the way too and the canyon scene debate. There’s been so many releases of each movie in the OT that it’s hard to recall and which release is up for debate about what.
I think I originally watched the 1993 VHS releases the most and then I bought the VHS releases seen in the links from the 80s at a garage sale like almost 10 years ago AND NOW come to think of it I grew up watching those too as the library had both sets, probably maybe before the 1993 releases??
I love my options, but holy crap lol

ANYWAY

Thanks guys!

ChainsawAsh said:

Ah yeah, forgot to point out the sound mixes. ANH got a remix for home video in 1985 (mostly the same as theatrical stereo but with a wider stereo field and an added Threepio line), and as Possessed said, all three got brand new mixes in 1993.

The 85 remix also has reduced dynamic range to account for home television sets.

Pre-1985 VHS tapes of ANH use the theatrical stereo mix. I’m unsure about the sound mixes in pre-DC/Faces releases of ESB and ROTJ.

I believe it has been established by some of the users here (like hairy_hen) going through all the home video mixes and comparing them that ESB and ROTJ use the same mix on all pre-1993 releases, which is assumed to be their theatrical mixes. I think there was also some debate about whether the 1993 ROTJ is a different mix or not, but that the consensus ended up being that it was a new mix.

I could be mistaken, a lot of that happened while I was gone and just lurked occasionally.

I’m almost sure I remember reading an interview from Ben Burtt where he was talking about how they remixed the films in 93 and that he said ROTJ was the easiest because they had more of the separate stems to go by than they did the other two where many had been combined already.

Slightly off-topic here, but were the 70mm prints of ESB and RotJ 5.1 or were they still configured for the 4.2 arrangement that Star Wars used in ‘77?

I don’t know if it was the same for all regions but while the rest of the film was pan and scanned the crawl and opening shot where squished to fit the television aspect. I thought it was kind of cool because I thought this was part of the language of spaghetti westerns and not part of the tradition of adapting wide-screen titles to fit on television sets of the day. Squishyvision still give me a wave of nostalgia.

I think the old UK VHS of ANH had that effect although all the releases over here did not. The pre-1995 VHS releases of ESB and ROTJ had the squished in crawls though the opening shots were pan and scanned correctly.

I don’t remember any of my US sets having squished crawls they were all P&S. I had the late 80s/early 90s set with the yellow logos, and then the 95 Faces set after that.

ANH did not have the squished titles (aside from a squished LFL text and asquished ‘A long time ago…’). Also note that the pre-1995 P&S releases of ANH had the 1980s Fox logo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hChR9-naU

ESB and ROTJ had the squished logos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzaqlNQzmpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K_Uk7ty5yc

oojason said:

ChainsawAsh said:

I don’t remember any of my US sets having squished crawls they were all P&S. I had the late 80s/early 90s set with the yellow logos, and then the 95 Faces set after that.

This set?:-

Absolutely love the artwork used on that - think I must have worn those tapes out constantly playing them back then 😃

I think the above set came out in 1990, with a Letterbox Edition set released 2/3 years later - with some different artwork/colouring of text on the back covers.

Yes that set was from 1990. It was repackaged in 1992 with different back covers and was released under Fox Video as opposed to CBS/FOX. A letterbox set of the 1992 set including From SW to Jedi was also released in '92.

oojason said:

ChainsawAsh said:

I don’t remember any of my US sets having squished crawls they were all P&S. I had the late 80s/early 90s set with the yellow logos, and then the 95 Faces set after that.

This set?:-

Absolutely love the artwork used on that - think I must have worn those tapes out constantly playing them back then 😃

I think the above set came out in 1990, with a Letterbox Edition set released 2/3 years later - with some different artwork/colouring of text on the back covers.

Yep! That’s the one I grew up with! We didn’t get the Faces set until I wore out both ESB and ROTJ (I think that was 96ish, I remember seeing the SE in theaters not long after we got the new set).

I made a DVD cover set based on those tapes ages so (actually, custom DVD art is where I started out on this forum back when I was, what, 14? 😛) but I don’t know if I still have it. I’d like to make a Blu-Ray set for all the films based on those tapes, actually…I might start working on that this weekend actually…

Holy shit, I’ve never seen that TFA art before, that’s awesome!

ChainsawAsh said:

Holy shit, I’ve never seen that TFA art before, that’s awesome!

This.