Obscure Video 1
Woodsy Collection
TIME WARP 1981
Big Box VHS PAL
Pre-Cert [i.e before 1984 Video Recordings Act in UK which 'rated' videos for the first time]
Starring Chip Johnson and Adam West [aka Batman!].
Written and Produced by Anne Spielberg [Steven's sister!]
It casts him into a frightening dimension...Earth. The terrifying truth is he cannot be seen by the inhabitants.
Reveiwed on IMDB [not good!]
I collect big box [large case] videos and bought this yesterday for 25p at the local boot sale along with three others. Most interestingly it's pre-certification [pre-cert] as it was made in those wild west years at the start of the video boom between the late 1970's and 1984 when countless independent video companies bought the rights to and distributed obscure movies like this. Being pre-cert it hasn't any rating on it like the later PG, 18 etc. Nor has it any later rating stickers stuck on - PG, 18 etc - which means it was either rented from a corner shop between 1981- 84, which is unlikely as there are none of the tell-tale signs of being rented like shop number stickers. More likely, it was probably bought from a shop in the early Eighties and has collected dust ever since, which was itself unusual as video's were hellishly expensive back then costing well in excess of £30 each!
PS. Local charity shops here are no longer accepting or selling Video Cassettes as they do not sell and take up too much space. It really is the final death throws on our High Streets of a once-beloved and ubiquitous technology. Collecting video can only get harder as a result and boot sales will become their final dusty stand.
I have mixed feelings about this. But even so, it IS sad.
ReplyDeleteI do much prefer the "random access" of DVDs as opposed to the "sequential access" of videos (that could be SO annoying). But on the other hand, I do wonder how playable the average DVD is going to be in 10 or 20 years time.
Weren't they promised as a long-life recording medium when they first came out? Yet I've head stories that the chemicals used in their manufacture degrade a lot sooner than was promised. (Hope I am wrong about that ... someone tell me I am, please).
And there is the storage benefit - if my home-made recordings were on video cassettes instead of DVD, I'd need another room built onto the house!
But even so .... it's sad in some ways. Sigh.
Personally I'm still waiting for a recording medium like those cute plastic blocks they use in Original Star Trek (which I always imagined recorded the data at a molecular level). Not so keen on those later data crystals though - they always seemed a little dull.
I agree Toad, it is sad. Each generation is associated with a particular media technology. My parents had Super 8 and watching King Kong om Cine Film projector at a party was the bees knees. But like audei cassettes before, Video revolutionised home viewing. Suddenly everyone could watch whatnthey wanted in theor front rooms. TV choice was stuck in the dark ages really compared to what came ca. 1980. In terms of social importance Video is up there with the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI've been talking with my wife about the very same subject. When we go into the local Goodwill (a national chain of thrift stores/charity shops), there is now a 4-foot high wire mesh bin with literally hundreds of VHS tapes tossed in, in their cases, for 99 cents each (probably about 1/2 £ each).
ReplyDeleteToad, I have heard that comment as well about tape degradation. The material isn't that different from audiotapes, so they can degrade as well as warp. I much prefer the ability to jump about as you wish vs. the sequential forced watching. I'd rather see the preview trailer first, but most of the time when I saw a movie's trailer on its VHS tape, it followed the movie. Rarely was the trailer for movie in front of it. Always hated that. However, I was okay with the features following the film. But there rarely were any features except on notable pieces like the gold-and-black case Star Wars Original Trilogy set from the mid-90s...just before DVDs hit. Also agree with your storage comment (although I do prefer the 'solid feeling' of the VHS tape vs the 'be careful with it' sensation I get from handling dvds...).
When I was a kid and I'd see the projector toys like View-Masters or Super8 (by the late 70s Super8 was starting to be considered a toy when I became a teenager), I always thought they were really cool and wanted to get a projector. Obviously the VCR made a huge difference in my viewing tastes since then, although we didn't own a VCR until August 1990.
I agree with you, too, Woodsy, about the social importance of the addition of the home movie in our lives in North America and Europe after 1980. It seems like a million years ago when I'd watch a movie only on television, chopped up for broadcast on commercial television. Now I hardly watch anything EXCEPT dvds unless I go to someone's house. (But if this rumored new Star Trek series gets made, I'll finally watch television at home for the first time since the digital switch a couple of years ago.)
Gordon Long
Gordon, I'd forgotten about the absence of "extras" from videos. I now take them so much for granted that it was almost a shock to be reminded videos so often didn't have them. In fact ... I can barely think of any that did. Astonishing how we get used to things.
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally agree with you about the tactile aspect. There was something very satisfying about the chunkiness of video cassettes .... LOL, I'm talking as as I'm never going to see one ever again. (smiles)