Unreleased Red Dwarf VHS Covers

[Jimboid]

Hello, loves.

I mentioned these in another thread and some folks were interested in having a goosie at them. Afraid my scanner is all to cock so had to take piccies. Excuse the backing of my “lovely” puce bed sheets.

Bought them several years ago from eBay. They’re mock-ups of video covers for an unreleased line of “complete series” double video box sets, i.e. combining Bytes 1 and 2 of each series into one big brick of analogue entertainment.

They’re rather nice because they have been rejected by Doug Naylor’s own critical hand, as evidenced by the marker pen scrawl over each.

I seem to remember reading a little piece by Doug (possibly somewhere in the hardback making of series VIII book…maybe someone can confirm??) that he’d spent the morning rejecting a bunch of video covers as they had pictures from the wrong series on them (i.e. Series 1 on Series 2 cover)….so thinking that these may well be them as the cock-ups on the covers are aplenty.

Anyway, they may be of interest to you. Well, some of you. Well, one of you. Maybe.

“Backward”?


“Polymorph II: Emo”?

[Kris Carter]

Ha! You can almost hear Doug’s eyes rolling.

[si]

Brilliantly awful. Thanks, Jimboid.

Thimboid. ;)

[Pete Part Three]

Thanks for posting this, Jimboid. Fascinating.

It is quite an achievement that they managed to fuck up the spines with an incorrect picture on 5/6 of those covers. Interesting that they’re all PG, but I guess the cert is just a placeholder.

I assume Doug (/Rob) didn’t vet the original video covers. They were a complete mess in terms of consistent packaging.

[ori-STUDFARM]

Great item to own. Even greater that they never got released. They’re awful in design!!

[Ben Paddon]

Did those full-series VHS sets ever get released, in the end? Not with these covers, obviously, but sort-of generally?

Edit: Ah, no, they didn’t. Thanks, Ben.

[HelloMabel]

>They’re awful in design!!

They were obviously reaching out to the Charles in Charge demographic.

[Pete Part Three]

This double-video nonsense was just a way of grabbing more cash. 6 episodes could fit comfortably onto a VHS without compromising quality. I owned Blackaddder II with six episodes on one BBC tape, for one example.

[ori-STUDFARM]

But what about the Easter Eggs!

[MANI506]

Ouch! Not pretty but very interesting to see. Double pack releases seemed inevitable back then – I remember thinking it was only a matter of time before these showed up!

[JamesTC]

I do have the double tape of Smeg Ups/Outs. Don’t understand why they didn’t put it on one tape though. Only 50 minutes each (if memory serves me).

[ori-STUDFARM]

I’ve got the double VHS’s for both series of the Young Ones and for Hitchhikers Guide. I seem to remember them being of a better value at the time.

[si]

I’ve got The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer series two (‘Red’ and ‘Blue’) in a double pack. I just hope you’re as thrilled to know that as I was to tell you.

[locusceruleus]

[deleted – double post]

[locusceruleus]

Thanks for the pics – interesting indeed!

I find it odd that Red Dwarf III has a PG rating on this set, as opposed to the original Bytes I and II (one of which was a 12/15 – I don’t remember which, but I’m sure someone else will).

>>I’ve got the double VHS’s for both series of the Young Ones and for Hitchhikers Guide. I seem to remember them being of a better value at the time.

About 17 quid for the 2 VHS sets as opposed to 10-12 each I think.

[locusceruleus]

Quick question – what does it say after Polymorph 2? Looks like Emo or Emmo, but certainly not Emohawk.

[Pete Part Three]

>I find it odd that Red Dwarf III has a PG rating on this set, as opposed to the original Bytes I and II (one of which was a 12/15 – I don’t remember which, but I’m sure someone else will).

Just a placeholder, I think. Same as why the BBCV number for all six is 1234. Giving them the combined name of the two “Bytes” would also, hopefully, be temporary. It made little sense for the single releases, it makes even less sense here.

[Jimboid]

> Quick question – what does it say after Polymorph 2? Looks like Emo or Emmo, but certainly not Emohawk.

It says “Polymorph II: Emo”.

Also, “Backwards” is called “Backward”.

Attention to detail.

[Ridley]

The “hawk” is in the border, I believe.

[Jimboid]

Do you know what, it ruddy well is. Never once noticed that in all the times i’ve masturbated over that cover.

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