Star Wars, VHS, 20th Century Fox Video UK, 1982

1982 saw the first release of Star Wars on home video in various formats (VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, V2000) on both sides of the Atlantic. As in the US, the 1982 UK tape was labelled "Rental Library" initially. One year later, in 1983, this tape was reissued under the CBS/Fox label after CBS and 20th Century Fox Video merged. As with the first US release from 1982, this UK tape also opens on the 20th Century Fox logo and goes straight into the film. On the UK version however, there is a British sounding male voice over the fanfare proclaiming: "20th Century Fox Video presents..." Against popular belief, even these early versions of Star Wars featured the "Episode IV" title. Unlike the US, this release squeezes the opening crawl and Star Destroyer shots to fit them in the 4x3 frame, whereas the US cropped the image instead. I picked up my copy from eBay in 2005. They've gone up in price since then.

Assorted screenshots:

Opening logo	Squeezed title card	Squeezed opening crawl with "Episode IV	Squeezed Star Destroyer
Cropped binoculars	Greedo subtitles	End credits	Copyright info