118 replies to this topic

[Yellow Pinky]

Thanks so much to everyone for the great trip down memory lane. I had an extensive Bond VHS (and Laserdisc) collection with different edition duplicates, but they all ended up in thrift stores or Goodwill bins when the DVDs came along. Some of those foreign ones are really a blast, and the Casino Royale one requires a double take!

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

"El Mundo de James Bond" (The World of James Bond, 1997). That was an Argentinean documentary that "stole" (cut and paste) material of both "Happy Anniversary 007" (most of Moore footage) and "The World of 007" hosted by Liz Hurley (Interviews and GoldenEye behind the scenes stuff). It ended with the TND trailer and Sheryl Crow's Music Video.

EDIT: They cut and paste Roger's footage to make it look like if Roger was hosting the documentary.

Complete collection of Grupo Planeta's 1999 VHS Bond Collection. Unlike the European releases, you have to arrange the films in release order (not chronologically) to from the silohuette figure.

[Double-0-Seven]

The James Bond Story was indeed released on DVD. I've seen it on eBay from time to time, just never bothered to get it. I no longer have the VHS unfortunately. I also used to have a bonus VHS tape from one of the 1995 Bond collections that had the John Cork documentaries from the Goldfinger and Thunderball DVDs on them. Once I got the DVD set, I got rid of that VHS. Should have held onto it but oh well.

I really like the collection above. Very cool idea for the spines!

[Solex Agitator]

Anyone remember when there were widescreen VHS editions in the U.S.? I wish I still had mine. Those along with "The Making of Goldfinger" and "The Godfinger Phenomenon" on VHS...

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I really like the collection above. Very cool idea for the spines!

Perhaps, but it was a shame that it wasn't possibly to order the films from "Dr No" to "Tomorrow Never Dies" there. As you can see, to form the 007 figure and logo you have to put them from TND to LTK, with OHMSS, YOLT and DAF in the middle.

BTW, those VHS, as I told you, came with magazines. Here you got the magazine compendium from the Spanish edition (http://www.archivo00...d=11&Itemid=384). The Argentinean version changed the film titles (i.e. "The Living Daylights" - Spain's "Alta Tensión" for Latin America's "Su Nombre es Peligro"), but the pics remain the same.

[plankattack]

When some of those Special Edition VHS tapes were released in the late 80s-early 90s, I seem to recall that some of them came with a Pink Panther cartoon at the start.

I also remember scooping up from the "odds and sods" bin, a release of all the trailers (DN to AVTAK maybe)on one tape.

[Double-0-Seven]

I didn't even notice that - very odd indeed that to make it the films are not in order, but very neat that they came with magazines!

plankattack, you're thinking of the "Gold Classics" (I posted an example on the first page). Most of those had a Pink Panther short before the films. Kind of unusual but the first copy of Goldfinger I ever rented was from this particular run so I have fond nostalgic memories of watching the Pink Panther fist.

Anyone remember when there were widescreen VHS editions in the U.S.? I wish I still had mine. Those along with "The Making of Goldfinger" and "The Godfinger Phenomenon" on VHS...

I think 1995 or 1996. Same as "The James Bond 007 Collection" as far as the cover art went, and you did indeed get the bonus tape with the John Cork documentaries (which is the one I was referring to in my previous post). I think the only difference to the cover art was that some small text of "Deluxe Letter Box Edition" was added to the bottom of the front covers.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

When some of those Special Edition VHS tapes were released in the late 80s-early 90s, I seem to recall that some of them came with a Pink Panther cartoon at the start.

I also remember scooping up from the "odds and sods" bin, a release of all the trailers (DN to AVTAK maybe)on one tape.

"James Bond at The Movies". Got that one, will post the sleeve later.

"Dr. No" (AVH, 1995)




"Live And Let Die" (Warner Home Video, 1982)




"Moonraker" (Planeta, 1999)




"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (AVH, 1995)




"The World Is Not Enough" (Gativideo, 2000)




Bonus Track: "El Mundo de James Bond" (Planeta, 1999)

[thecasinoroyale]

Great images guys, thanks for sharing. Some covers, and video documentaries, I never knew existed!

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

video documentaries, I never knew existed!

Watch "Happy Anniversary 007" and "The World of James Bond". Now you've seen "El Mundo de James Bond"

[scissorpuppy007]

In regards to the U.S. home VHS releases. In the early 1980's FOX, CBS/FOX, MGM and all had various versions of the films available on the market. Usually designed for the rental market. In 1988 MGM retained home video rights to sell Dr. No-AVTAK (The contract with CBS/Still gave CBS/FOX first release rights to new films, Which is why Dalton's films were on CBS/FOX and didn't become apart of the MGM library until later. TLD in 92 and LTK in 95.

MGM's first release in 1989 featured the previously mentioned Pink Panther cartoons and had artwork that combined film stills and original paintings.


Then in 1992/3 for the 30th anniversary MGM released "The Gunnbarrel" collection. This collection went from Dr. No - TLD, (LTK was still under CBS/FOX rights at this time, although in in 93 MGM did release a laserdisc of LTK that featured artwork designed in the similar style as the VHS set). The covers featured original poster art, but with updated fonts, different color for some titles and the then current "fatter" 007 logo. Some of the titles featured a open fold with addtional artwork and images. These were listed as "remastered". I'm not sure how many of the films featured the remastered treatment, but all of them were released in normal cases.



Here is an image of the side view of the collection (With some other titles mixed in).


Here is a look at that LTK laserdisc that has artwork that matches the front cover art of the VHS set.


Then in 1995 with the new film Goldeneye coming MGM wanted to sell the collection again. They came out with some
revamped "Die Hard" eqse artwork (Big head with gun) and put them in stores. Some of this art is pretty creative and effective,
while some is bad. Some cases featured new images of a hand model holding a gun, some featured the actor's head pasted
on a new model's body. In 99/2000 with the release of the DVD's this artwork was used as the base of the cover design, but the
logo's were changed to gold while TMWTGG and Octopussy featured all new artwork. The concept of the original Octopussy
cover wasn't bad, but the execution was off. The neckline was poorly done and the image of Moore was from LALD, which Moore was
far older when OP was made. The new artwork was HORRID, example of a bad photoshop job. The original TMWTGG artwork wasn't
bad, but for whatever reason they wanted it changed. The new artwork isn't as bad as OP, but it isn't anything special either.
While GE and TND had separate rental/retail releases, in 1999 they also became apart of the 007 collection and featured the same banner/colored spine
and back cover layout as the 95 set. TMWTGG and OP were rereleased at this time as well. The big difference other than artwork is the Gold logos.
They all stand out against the mostly white logos of the 95 releases. Also the Goldeneye and TWINE look out of place due to the poster style design being used over the still image design the other covers use, The UK version of Goldeneye matches the front style better.

In 2000 TWINE came with the 007 collection banner and DAD was never apart of the set, it was released as "Special Edition", The DVD release of DAD didn't match the dvd sets either.



For the sake of Comparison, here is the 99/2000/2003 dvd's.


I'll try and find the a complete UK versions of the 95 releases for comparison, some of the covers are the same, some are different.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Nice essay there scissorpuppy007!

Let me know if you got this artwork bigger



As you might know, Argentina and Spain used this artwork for their releases...

[Shaun Forever]

Excellent pictures my friend! and what a great knowledge of Bond VHS history! good stuff indeed!!


I remember back when I was about 14, I would often buy my Bond videos in either Dixons or Currys, this being the
1995 'The James Bond 007 Collection' releases.

One time they had a special offer, buy one Bond film and get the other free (or half price I think), I'd always take a standard release (which was part of that deal), and a
Widescreen release (which wasn't), and see if they would notice, unfortunately they did every single time, as soon as it went through the scanner.


So I didn't own many of the Widescreen editions, not sure why I wanted those, I didn't even have a Widescreen TV, must have been
the nicely colored shades they used on the spines for the Widescreen releases.


EDIT


These were the spines for the standard releases

http://imgc.classist...8735l29_20.jpeg

And these are very similar to the Widescreen spines we had in the UK (couldn't find a picture of the exact ones)

http://img.auctiva.c...42943164_tp.jpg


Was never a fan of these:

http://fotos.marktpl...2b2596f2fff.jpg

Even when matched up correctly, they didn't look that great.

Edited by Shaun Forever, 28 November 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[Double-0-Seven]

Excellent post, scissorpuppy007! Nice little bit of history there.

[scissorpuppy007]

Thanks for reading my essay hahahaha. I don't know why, but the home video releases of Bond have always been a intrest of mine. After I finish up these 1995 style covers for dvd/blu ray I'm going to try and do something similar with the 1992 editions.

Ok, so some more info on the UK versions.

I'm not sure about the release schedule in the U.K, but in America only half of the set was released in the fall of 95, the other half was released in 1996. Probably around the same time Goldeneye was available to rent. (Sell through copies usually didn't come out to buy until 1 year after original release. Unless it was a massive summer movie. It was not until DVD that same day rental/retail copies was the norm.)

To promote the VHS releases and Goldeneye, MGM started airing this infomercial all over the states. Usually late nights on the weekends over local/regional broadcast channels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmTfo-4PxEE

The original is around 30 mins long, but this segment is all I could find. Check out the video at around the 2:30 min mark. You'll notice the second set of VHS covers (That were not due to release until 96) match or are similar to the UK versions. By the time the U.S. got the second batch, the covers and title logos looked much different. Looks like The Living Daylights is the only cover that stayed the same.

Here is a better look at the covers. Some of these were not even used in the U.K. editions to my knowledge. Thunderball and FYEO were changed before release.
This is a promo in the UK making of Goldeneye book. Up until the Grupo Planeta (What country is that from?) covers I had never seen that Thunderball image used as
anything but promo/concept art. Pretty cool that it made it on an actual cover. The FYEO seems to be a concept cover as well, I've never seen that one used anywhere but as a promo/mock up.


Here are the final covers used in the U.K., as you can see Spy's logo is a tad different. MR, OP and LTK have completely different title logos.
The covers for TMWTGG, SPY, FYEO, OP and AVTAK are different from the U.S. as well.


I think the UK got the better MWTGG, SPY and OP covers. Since the U.S. went with an alternate SPY cover that used the same image of Moore, they couldn't use U.K. TMWTGG cover image.


I actually really like the idea with the SPY cover, but there is way too much airbushing going on, especially on Barbara Bach's face!
Look closely to see Jaws in the background.


I don't really like the U.K.'s FYEO design. If you look closer on a larger version you will see that the layout just doesn't work as well as the final U.S. version. I would love to see a better quality version of the concept art used in the infomercial and promo ad.(Same goes with Thunderball)


AVTAK is pretty good, But the use of Grace Jones gives the appearance that she is floating in air, which hurts the design.


I like the LTK title font, but it's too much like Segal's Hard To Kill title image. Which is probably why it was changed in the U.S.. There is also an alernate cover around that features Cary Lowell added to the background. Anyone have any info on this one? Judging by the MGM logo used, in 1998 the dropped the MGM/UA title. So I'm guessing the top image is a re-release?



Octopussy's Title is pretty good, can't decide if I like it or the U.S. version better. But this image is much better than the others used for OP. Espcially the one created for DVD. I always wondered why they didn't use this one for the dvds if they were unhappy with the original vhs one. They probably felt Moore looked too old or something.


You can also see the U.K. Goldeneye, this design fits in with the overall style of the collection better than the U.S. version did.


Being in the U.S., I'm unfamiler with most of the U.K. releases. But I remember someone telling me that the U.K. had versions in plastic cases with reversible covers? Standard U.K. artwork on one side, alternate art similer to the U.S. on the other. Anyone care to fill me in on that?

Edited by scissorpuppy007, 28 November 2012 - 10:59 PM.

[Double-0-Seven]

Another great, informative post. One interesting point you noted that's not exclusive to Bond was that "rental" versions would be released and then a "sell copy" release would follow later. I had almost forgotten about that. Sometimes it would be nearly a year before you could buy a VHS of a movie. How things have certainly changed!

I definitely agree on the UK GoldenEye cover being a better match. I find it funny how much some of the images got swapped around, like how the Moore still on the UK Golden Gun was used for the US Spy Who Loved Me, and thus the US Golden Gun had to be changed. What a crazy complicated process just for some Bond videos.

Agree on the initial Octopussy cover too. Better than what was used for the re-release/Special Edition DVD, though the UK isn't bad either.

[scissorpuppy007]

Yeah if I remember correctly it was a 10/12 month turn around in the 90's. Goldeneye came out in Nov 95, was out to rent in May 96 and was available to buy in October 96. Usually movies would hit the HBO/Starz/Showtime channels just before or the week of the VHS release. Does anyone remember what channel premiered Goldeneye? Was is Showtime?

Goldeneye was released 3 times on VHS. The original rental copy, the sell through copy (looks exactly the same as the rental but has a THX banner) and again in 99 with The James Bond Collection Banner/layout.

Several people own the rental version, because in the Summer of 1996 Best Buy was testing the market to see if people would buy "exclusive" copies so you could get it months earlier than other stores. All they were doing was buying rental versions (not pre-viewed or used, just versions designed for the rental market) and putting them for sale. You didn't have to be a licensed store to purchase a rental copy, you just paid an insane amount for the tape (Usually around $99.00-$125.00 and that was considered the license fee to rent.) Anyways, Best Buy had Goldeneye out on the shelves in July of 1996 for the low price 84.95! Needless to say, it didn't really sell that well and when the sell copy was released in October 96, Best Buy put the rental copies on clearance. I picked one up for 5 bucks!

Edited by scissorpuppy007, 28 November 2012 - 11:43 PM.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Here is a better look at the covers. Some of these were not even used in the U.K. editions to my knowledge. Thunderball and FYEO were changed before release.
This is a promo in the UK making of Goldeneye book. Up until the Grupo Planeta (What country is that from?) covers I had never seen that Thunderball image used as
anything but promo/concept art.

Yep, I've got Garth Pearce's "The Making of GoldenEye" (as well as a site - The GoldenEye Dossier -dedicated to the film since it's my fave one). Grupo Planeta is from Spain I think, but they've reached Argentina and Latin America too. And yes, I could notice the final "Thunderball" '95 artwork shows a close up of Bond instead of that slightly different image of Connery almost diving. Got it bigger in a Spanish Bond book. I'll post it later

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Oh, look! It appears Brazil had the same Planeta release, altough the 007 logo seems reworked for better.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Well, this has nothing to do with VHS, but here's a 1998 lottery Bond commercial spoof from my country done by a very popular showman here named Silvio Soldán. Kinda funny (and bizarre, too).

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

As promised, the "Thunderball" 1995 VHS unused artwork




Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[scissorpuppy007]

Wow, that is interesting. Getting a closer look you can totally see why they didn't use it. Something looks off about it, but it's neat to see how it evolved into the final version.

Thanks so much for posting!

Being a fellow Goldeneye fan, you wouldn't happen to have a hi-rez version of the artwork used for the U.K. release would you?

Not a scan of the VHS tape, but an actual "clean" hi-rez image for printing. I'm currently recreating the 1995 VHS covers for dvd/blu covers and I would
like to use this artwork as it matches the set better. If you don't have it, would you happen to have any hi-rez images of the pics used in the cover? It's a pretty simple design and I could easily recreate it if I had the pics. Thanks again!

For those interested here is a preview of the covers I'm working on.



Spines (Yes I know, just realized some of the films are out of order.)


About 80% of the artwork itself was available in hi-rez online. So it was a case of recreating the logos and retyping everything. For TMWTGG I had to recreate the actual artwork, the artwork was replaced in 2000 and it was ugly IMO. So I was able to find images to combine the look of the 95 U.S. and U.K. artwork versions.

Octopussy was the biggest issue. The original 95 artwork was ok, but had several problems (Cut and paste neckline, Image of Moore being from LALD), The 2000 artwork is HORRID, not even an option in my mind. The 95 UK Artwork probably represents the film best of the three. Only problem is no hi-rez version exists. The actual images used in that cover were unavailable as well. So I used the tone/layout of the Uk version with the best images of the film I could find.

For Never Say Never Again, I just came up with an original layout. Found some hi rez images and the layout was kinda based on the layout to the 1995 UK AVTAK.

Edited by scissorpuppy007, 29 November 2012 - 02:23 AM.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Wow, that is interesting. Getting a closer look you can totally see why they didn't use it. Something looks off about it, but it's neat to see how it evolved into the final version.

Thanks so much for posting!

Being a fellow Goldeneye fan, you wouldn't happen to have a hi-rez version of the artwork used for the U.K. release would you?

Not a scan of the VHS tape, but an actual "clean" hi-rez image for printing. I'm currently recreating the 1995 VHS covers for dvd/blu covers and I would
like to use this artwork as it matches the set better. If you don't have it, would you happen to have any hi-rez images of the pics used in the cover? It's a pretty simple design and I could easily recreate it if I had the pics. Thanks again

Fraid not my friend. All I can offer you is a textless hi-res version of the US VHS artwork, but not that one. BTW, nice work on the Blu-ray Covers!

[Double-0-Seven]

Nice work indeed on those Blu-ray covers. I especially like The Man With The Golden Gun and your Never Say Never Again one. Good stuff! Are you making full art (back covers too) for printing purposes or is it all just for fun?

[scissorpuppy007]

Full hi-res printable covers ;o), the backs will match the style 95 video releases.

Dvd and Blu versions of Dr.No-LTK(including NSNA) should be ready by early next month. Dr.No-LTK(including NSNA), I have a lot of work ahead of me to get the Brosnan years done.

[S K Y F A L L]

Sweet history lesson and great covers. I never liked the original font for LTK, I'm glad they changed it. I like the special edition FYEO the best out of those versions.

[Double-0-Seven]

Very much looking forward to seeing the finished versions! Might I suggest, when all is said and done, that you add the Daniel Craig films to the collection too?

[Shaun Forever]

Excellent covers! loving them.


Who remembers when the 1995 'The James Bond 007 Collection' releases came out, a special box set of.................On Her Majesty's Secret Service!!?? I received the
standard version on VHS for Christmas, then went to HMV in Bath on boxing day, saw the box set and purchased that lol.

Was some set as well, had the widescreen edition of the film inside, as well as a 007 magazine, photos etc.........and was also great for hiding pages
that I had ripped out, from my friends adult magazines!

There was also a Goldeneye box set that had the pen and Tina Turner single, and a huge Tomorrow Never Dies box set, that featured an an extra VHS,
talking about the gadgets of Bond if I remember rightly.

The VHS that was in that Tomorrow Never Dies box set, was unique to that release, as far as I know that particular artwork was never available to buy separately in that
form.

Edited by Shaun Forever, 29 November 2012 - 06:50 AM.

[col_007]

Great thread crazy when you think we had the Bonds on VHS then DVD and now Blu-ray must of been bad for older fans before they started releasing the films on home formats

Edited by col_007, 29 November 2012 - 12:31 PM.

[col_007]

That Infomercial is cheesy as hell too