Tape side

Tape top

Tape front

The Making of Star Wars, Betamax, Magnetic Video, USA 1979, Version "A"

Magnetic Video was bought by Fox in 1979 and became 20th Century-Fox video soon after. Magnetic Video had branches in the US, UK and Australia. I have two versions of this release. This one has a white tape flap, while the other one is black. The back of the sleeve on this version lists fewer films than the other one, leading me to believe this is an earlier issue. I nicknamed this variant "Version A". (See the other one, "Version B" here.) They both have a 1979 copyright and the content of the two tapes is exactly the same, with one noticeable exception: Both programmes are watermarked "MV-GARD2" in the upper left corner, but it's worth noting that this watermark has a slightly different place and size on Version A than on Version B. This may just mean that they were duplicated at different times or at different plants. Version A Version B These watermarks would not be visible on normal playback. "MV" obviously stands for "Magnetic Video", but I can't decode the "GARD"-part. On this "Version A" after the main programme there is a copy of Hardware Wars, introduced as a "Coming Attraction". It looks like this may have been recorded onto the tape by a previous owner, as I hardly believe Magnetic Video would include it officially. On the side of the cassette, there is a "Movie Store" sticker, indicating that this may have been a rental tape at some point. It would explain why my copy has major tape wear and playback problems, as you can see from the below screenshots. This was another rare find on eBay back in 2013, sold as a sweetener along with a stack of Star Wars themed children's books. Also available on VHS. See also the UK counterpart.

Assorted screenshots:

Copyright notice	Company logo	Our hosts	Title card	The director
Sans matte painting	End credits	End credits	Company logo	Bonus programme
Bonus programme	Bonus programme	Bonus programme	Bonus programme	Bonus programme