Ewoks - The battle for Endor, VHS, Esselte Video, Norway 1986
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This is the Norwegian rental tape for Battle for Endor, released in 1986. The picture is the orginial 4x3 Telefilm format, with original English sound and Norwegian subtitles. The title is translated as "Escape from Endor" and they spelled Wicket's name wrong on the back. The Norwegian rental tapes came in big clamshell boxes, much like the UK.
Norwegian distributor Esselte Video had the rights to the MGM/UA library (among others). Their rental tapes all had this distinctive, yellow colour on the boxes. The branding even extendet to the yellow tape flap with their logo on the rear. This was the only Star Wars related title Esselte Video had the rights to, as the feature films, the first Ewoks TV special and the animated Ewoks series were handled by competitor Mayco. Though the copyright is dated 1986, there is a rental store label on the inside of the cover indicating that the tape was registered in their systems as early as Dec. 15, 1985. In such a small market as Norway, it is very difficult to find anything like these old rental tapes. Since the 2020s, collecting these so-called "Bigbox" releases has had somewhat of a renaissance in Norway, and several Facebook groups have cropped up. The members are few, but enthusiastic, and with the scarcity of some of these tapes, the bidding gets heated. I found my first copy of this tape back in 2007 at a Norwegian site specializing in online classifieds. The seller specialized in 80's rental tapes and in a picture showing stacks of tapes I spotted this Ewoks tape. When I contacted him, he even had an old Betamax of Return of the Jedi. |
Tape top
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Tape front
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Tape rear flap
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Countdown and test tone
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Copyright notice
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Orange tapes only for closed circuit use
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Esselte Video intro
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MGM/UA Home Video intro
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Spaceballs trailer
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Bobo trailer
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Lucasfilm credit
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Title card
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In the woods
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Blurrgs
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Aerial rescue
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Terak's court
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Terak's demise
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End credits
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End credits
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