After my post about the VHS tapes I picked up at Goodwill the other day, I thought I would start a new series on the site dedicated to VHS Nostalgia. Besides the box art, one of the things I remember most about VHS tapes was the stuff that you’d find inside.
I remember being almost as excited about the inserts, ads, and coupons as I would be about getting to watch the movie. In the days before the Internet, Twitter, and blogs, sometimes the inserts in VHS tapes were the way you’d find out about new movies or when one of your favorite movies was coming to home video for the first time. Disney tapes in particular always had a ton of inserts.
Well, today I was at Goodwill again and I found something pretty awesome. A sealed Jurassic Park tape for fifty cents. I immediately started wondering what treasures would be inside the cardboard box besides my favorite movie of all time on an old-school tape. When I got home I took the shrink-wrap off and scanned the pages of the booklet that fell out. Other than a few superfluous Jello pages, here it is intact.
It’s kind of disappointing there’s no Jurassic Park themed cover to the insert, but oh well. If this coupon didn’t expire in 1995 I could have made a $4.50 profit on this VHS tape. Also, how brilliant was it to tie in Jello to their marketing campaign? The scene with Lex eating Jello as she sees the Raptor’s shadow is one of the most classic shots in the movie.
You knew there was going to be a Universal Studios advertisement in here somewhere…
I have a feeling I’ll be writing more about Jurassic Park toys soon. I was obsessed with these things back in the day and I had the T-Rex, a Raptor, a bunch of figures, and the Compound playset. I only have a few figures now, but I’m on a mission to get the stuff I use to have back.
I love how ridiculous the figures in this line were. Malcolm barely does anything in the movie, but in the toy line he’s portrayed as this action hero with a gun as big as he is. Most of the figures in this line came with baby dinosaurs, which I always thought was a cool touch. Also, look how pathetic that big dinosaur looks with that steel muzzle. I guess they didn’t realize they’d have the villains doing that in the sequel.
This video game ad is a perfect example of the marketing machine behind Jurassic Park. Not only are they advertising Nintendo games for three different consoles, they’re also letting you know there will be a sequel game out in the winter. And these days we can’t even get a video game for The Avengers when the movie comes out.
Oh, and they couldn’t forget the Tiger hand held market. I remember playing these a lot for five minutes, and then putting them away forever. Still, the design of that hand held is awesome.
I love how this CompuServe ad doesn’t even say the words Internet or World Wide Web at all. I would have given CompuServe bonus points if they would have used a shot of Lex at the Computer in the classic It’s a Unix System, I know this! scene.
Even thought I put it on my list of the Worst Dinosaur Movies of the 90s, I love me some We’re Back! It’s one of my favorite non-Disney animated movies, and it’ll always be super nostalgic to me. Also, damn. I don’t remember VHS tapes being that expensive back in the day.
That reminds me of a good discussion topic for the comments:
What was the last new VHS tape you bought before switching to DVD? For me, I think it was a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I had already converted to DVD, but for some reason the store only had the VHS version, so I bought it anyway because I wanted to see it real bad.
Ok, I promise I won’t write about VHS tapes for a while now.
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Wesley Hampton
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Shawn Robare
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Cody Mix
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Cody Mix
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ThrustBone