I just had a thought - wasn't beefy luke supposed to be an homage to the original movie poster?

It may have been trending upward, but I don't think the toys and book series was gaining much traction with the general public, which is why SotE was intended to be a big marketing splash. Although, I think one could also argue that all SotE did was reenergize the harder core of the old fanbase, I don't think it was as big a blip on the overall pop-culture radar as Lucasfilm hoped.


I think those came out in 1995, as I remember watching them with my then girlfriend on New Year's Eve that year.

I believe that, yes, those THX versions are from 1995, which was a big deal. '95 was also when the POTF2 line started...and before that, getting any kind of SW merchandise period was hard to do. I couldn't even find a VHS copy to rent anywhere. So I'd say 1995 was the start of the upswing.

Yep, THX'd VHS trilogy came out in 1995.

The only big VHS release in '92 was (I think) the Star Wars Collectors Edition, which was a boxed set, letterboxed, that had "From Star Wars to Jedi - The Making of a Saga" documentary. This was a VHS version of the Laserdisc release from the early 90's. There was also a VHS trilogy set released in 1990.

I grew up way the hell out in bayou country and cable providers wouldn't hook up the 30 homes within a 5 mile radius with cable, so my brother and I subsisted on a steady diet of pre-recorded movies from Showtime and Cinemax a friend of my dad made and gave to us. We watched ANH and ESB about once a week.

Yeah, not those ones. I meant the 1992 box set. I seem to recall it being slightly better quality than the existing VHS releases. But who knows.

So the ones that featured Darthvader, Storm Trooper and Yoda on the covers.

I never got the box set but I was able to obtain each on its own and that was good enough for me.

Had they released them widescreen I wouldn't have bothered with the special editions shortly after.

Those were the THX versions. And they did release them in widescreen, the only problem was that the widescreen versions were ONLY available in a box set, whereas the fullscreens were available individually and in a box set. Last time I looked for the widescreen version, it was hella-expensive on the secondary market ($100+) but this was before the OT was released on DVD, so that might have driven prices down som.

And LMH, yeah the '92 versions were better quality because they were VHS copies of the Laserdisc versions (basically analog copies of the "original versions" we just got on DVD).

No, the ones he's talking about have the old school original covers. However I thought they weren't in THX until the half head covers, but I really have no way of knowing (lousy internet!).

1992 VHS release: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trilogy-Special...s/dp/B0001KO9QA

Ah, but where's the THX certification?

I was wrong, the 1992 release was distinguished by being a <--widescreen--> release.

I miss that original poster artwork.

And calling the first film just "Star Wars".

1992 wasn't THX. this was the THX set (1995).