20-02-2024, 12:09 PM
Yep, I've seen a fair few 80s VHS releases that were like that, I remember a Young Ones one, which cut off the end credits to two of the three episodes, which means you lost the final joke and punchline to Oil entirely!
Even into the 90s, I remember the Animals of Farthing Wood videos which condensed each series into 3 volumes, each of which was an omnibus edition with a fair amount of material edited out (equivalent to around an episode's worth per series), not to mention the start and end points were mid-episode so it was all very disjointed, so they were still doing it occasionally even then. They clearly couldn't even spare the extra 7 or 8 minutes per tape that would have meant they didn't need to cut anything!
Apparently the original release of the Last Of The Summer Wine series 1 DVD included the "omnibus" version of the first 3 episodes made for VHS release in the 80s rather than the individual episodes for some reason (though they did later re-release it properly).
Even into the 90s, I remember the Animals of Farthing Wood videos which condensed each series into 3 volumes, each of which was an omnibus edition with a fair amount of material edited out (equivalent to around an episode's worth per series), not to mention the start and end points were mid-episode so it was all very disjointed, so they were still doing it occasionally even then. They clearly couldn't even spare the extra 7 or 8 minutes per tape that would have meant they didn't need to cut anything!
Apparently the original release of the Last Of The Summer Wine series 1 DVD included the "omnibus" version of the first 3 episodes made for VHS release in the 80s rather than the individual episodes for some reason (though they did later re-release it properly).