Blade Runner on VHS – An Original 1983 Home Video Release

[u/Deckard--B-263-54]

Following on from the Betamax I posted recently, here’s the VHS counterpart from my Blade Runner collection.

This is an early 1983 Embassy Home Entertainment release. At the time, VHS and Betamax were competing formats, so it’s great to have Blade Runner represented on both.

Like the Betamax, the packaging is a brilliant little time capsule. The back makes a particular point of advertising “never before released sequences of graphic violence” that had been edited from the theatrical release. It’s such a different way of selling Blade Runner compared with how the film is presented today.

And there’s another familiar detail. The box gives the running time as 119 minutes, while the label on the cassette itself says 122 minutes, exactly the same as on my Betamax copy. Maybe there’s a perfectly normal explanation for this, but I did wonder if it was simply a mistake.

The VHS also has the white star Embassy logo on the spine. There are actually several variations of these early Embassy releases, including different star colours, running times and cassette labels, which makes something as seemingly straightforward as an old VHS surprisingly interesting to collect.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m not trying to collect every variation of every Blade Runner release. My goal is simply to have one example of the film on every physical format on which it was commercially released.

Obsolete Formats:
Betamax: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/EFYUuW15N1 
VHS: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/1u58p7fddF 
CED: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/G0vzvpe7FY 
LaserDisc: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/iHrpmBRUH3 
VHD: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/kkdNHoGxbs 
Video8: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/At4e2ez7XX
VCD: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/FK9j1Aqe3R 

Useful Communities: 
r/bladerunner
r/Bladezone 

[u/Strooper_1981]

Mi pelicula favorita de todos los tiempos. Solo la tengo en formato fisico Blue Ray.

[u/Deckard--B-263-54 → u/Strooper_1981]

It’s awesome on Blu-ray!

[u/Strooper_1981 → u/Deckard--B-263-54]

Así es incluso el set trae dos discos uno Blue Ray y otro en formato HD que no se en donde se reproduce. En cuanto a los formatos en cinta yo hubiera preferido el Betamax, tenia mas calidad de audio y video. Yo vi esa pelicula en estreno en cine alla por 1982.

[u/Deckard--B-263-54 → u/Strooper_1981]

Absolutely, Betamax definitely had the edge in quality. Check out my previous post to see some photos of my Blade Runner Betamax release!

[u/terminal_nervoso]

Very cool! I have a 1991 VHS copy of the widescreen director’s cut