Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Widescreen Video Collector's Edition

As I've decided to dedicate the entirety of May to Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace's 25th anniversary, I figured I should first revisit what was once my most prized possession: my VHS Widescreen Collector's Edition boxset from the film. While The Phantom Menace would take a whopping nearly 2.5 years to reach DVD, it hit VHS 11 months after the film's release, on April 4, 2000. The film released on a regular old pan and scan VHS that day, but also on the fancy Widescreen Collector's Edition. I purchased the Collector's Edition the day it was released, from the local Wal-Mart where I had quit just five days earlier. While it was a bit awkward purchasing the tape from my former co-workers, it was great to finally watch the movie back at my home, over and over again...until the aforementioned DVD released, whereupon I put the VHS set in the closet, where it has gathered dust...until now. I've dusted it AND my VCR off for a little unboxing photoshoot...and a movie viewing.


After the dusting, I pop open the box to look upon goodies I haven't seen in over two decades. The star of the show here is debatable, but I find my eyes immediately going to the art book, which is a gorgeous, 48-page excerpt from the larger hardcover standalone version of The Art of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. Even though this condensed version doesn't contain all of the massive spreads from the full edition, there is still a smorgasbord of beautiful art here by Doug Chiang, the worthy successor to the original trilogy artist, Ralph McQuarrie. From the stunning alien landscapes to Chiang's terrifying original visions for the film's villains (which were rejected for being far too scary), this entire little book is a feast for the eyes.




The next winner in this box is the authentic mounted 35mm film strip, cut from an actual theatrical print of The Phantom Menace. Considering the next two prequels were shot to digital, this is a pretty cool extra, and looks fancy in the little graphic sleeve in which it's provided. I remember being disappointed that others I knew got frames from the pod race or the lightsaber battle, while I only got a static scene in Coruscant, but looking at the rich, still vivid Coruscant reds, it's tough to be disappointed with my 35mm strip now.


The other pack-in is a little coupon booklet. Unfortunately, all of the coupons are nearly 24-years expired, but I still get a kick out of them. I bought most of the toys beforehand (still in the boxes in my parents' attic), so too soon to use the coupons, and the books far afterward, too late to use the coupons. I definitely should have taken advantage of the $3 coupon on the back, though, considering I like both the Phantom Menace VHS, and Tostitos, AND Pepsi. I mean, why'd I tear the coupon book open if I was never going to use any of them? Then again, as I've said, I have a lot of fun looking at these, so I don't regret it.





And now the entree here, the widescreen VHS itself. By the spring of 2000, I was a bonafide, college-bound, film-snob, with no interest in watching a cropped, pan and scan version of a film. I had to own the widescreen version The Phantom Menace, and as a big fan of the film, I watched this tape over and over again. Thankfully, my brother got me a new VHS player a decade or so ago, so I pull that out of the closet, and hope to give my VHS tape a watch for the first time in over two decades. Fitting, as I loved the film then, felt more negative for awhile, but have recently rediscovered my love for it.

I plug in and power up the VCR, then pop in the tape, which appears to have last been watched somewhere near the end of the film and not rewound. The VCR instantly makes an awful noise, then spits out the tape, and when I try to yank it out, I find that the actual videotape is still twisted in the bowels of the VCR. I gingerly pull the videotape out, and attempt to rewind the tape neatly back in with my finger, but find to my horror that the two white spindles have now somehow jammed deep into the videocassette and won't wind. I am then hit with an inspiration I once had far more often when technology was far more analog. I grab the mini-screwdriver set I recently purchased and take the videocassette apart. It looks like the tape in the spot the VHS was last viewed is badly frayed, so I smooth it out as much as I can, then take each spindle out of the plastic shell and reset both properly back into place. I then put the whole thing back together, put the tape into the VCR, and hold my breath.


I first attempt to watch the tape on my trusty old CRT, ironically the first movie I played the VHS on 24-years ago. Let me tell you, they don't make them like they used to. I've had this CRT for almost 30 years and still play older video games on it regularly. Technology peaked with frozen pizza and CRTs. 

The VHS springs to life and suddenly I remember the tape breaking many years before. I remember I scrambled it up because I watched, rewound, and rewatched the moment where Darth Maul gets chopped in half over and over again 24-25 years ago. I watched it and rewound it so much, I wore the tape out in that spot. It's just that awesome. (Unfortunately, the old CRT has a privacy protection that makes the screen look wonky in pictures, so I then watch for a minute by directly linking from my VCR to a capture card on my PC, and take these millions of screenshots, which I include here without comment except I love the way this movie looks on VHS)







Thankfully, my tape surgery works, as a ton of noise appears onscreen near that moment of decapitation, but the tape no longer jams up and gets scrambled in the VCR. In fact, I rewind a bit and watch the entire final act of the film, the first ten minutes of it on my CRT and PC, the rest on a big 1080p plasma TV in my bedroom.




I don't think the current 4K version of The Phantom Menace that's streaming or available on disc is an ideal way to watch the film. The Phantom Menace integrates a shipload of CGI into practical settings, and the harsh clarity of the current 4K print doesn't balance this properly. The film is badly in need of a proper 4K remaster that presents it as originally visually intended. As such, I think the DVD version of The Phantom Menace on a smaller screen, but with a great sound system, is currently the best way to watch the film. Holy cow, though, is it fun to watch this movie on VHS. All of the visual noise onscreen gives me the greatest late 90s nostalgia and makes me wish I hadn't thrown out nearly all of my massive VHS collection around the time I got married in 2006. That was a mistake. As such, I'm very glad I kept this Phantom Menace VHS set. The sound for this film (and all the prequels) is mixed perfectly, so I cracked up hearing the lightsabers humming and explosions going off so clearly and beautifully as the fuzzy, analog picture rolled on. I think this Collector's Edition just might be one of my most prized possessions all over again. With a whopping 1.5 million copies of this set made back in 2000, the prices in 2024 are still fair. If you're a fan of this film or just have nostalgia for the period, you should make Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Widescreen Video Collector's Edition one of the most prized possessions in your physical media collection as well.

Just kidding, I wrote and directed this. You can see my reflection as proof!