Guild Home Video

Guild Home Video

ThomasTankCollectables Archives 2012

In 1985 video cassette manufactures Guild Home Video, one of the biggest at the time, produced two "Thomas The Tank Engine" videos. These were entitled "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends Cassette 1" and "Further Adventures Of Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends Cassette 2". These videos were released in the time when VHS and Betamax where in a heated battle, of which VHS reined the winner, but in order to reach both sectors of the market Guild Home Video decided to release it’s videos in both formats. As many readers may not have even seen a Betamax video never mind owned one, I thought a little introduction might be helpful! 

Anyway the video I was going to be reviewing was originally "Cassette 2", but I think I might as well review the both in one go. So let’s start in chronological order with "Cassette 1". There is a bit of question as to whether these two cassettes were released in 1984 or 1985, but I think they were both released in 1985. Both tapes have the date "MCMLXXXV" which is 1985, this would make sense, as otherwise the videos would have been released before some episodes were even aired! The episode list for "Cassette 1" is as follows:

1.Thomas and Gordon

2. Edward and Gordon

ThomasTankCollectables Archives 2012

3. The Sad Story of Henry

4. Edward, Gordon and Henry

5. Thomas' Train

6. Thomas and the Trucks

7. Thomas and the Breakdown Train

8. James and the Coaches

9. Troublesome Trucks

10. James and the Express

11. Thomas and the Guard

12. Thomas Goes Fishing

13. Thomas, Terence and the Snow 

There were 13 episodes per tape, which is a lot better value than many of the latter tapes, in which a series was usually spread over three separate tapes. Obviously this is a good episode listing as it is the order the stories were supposed to be seen. A good thing about having the original tapes is that you will get the name-board openings, which are really nice. A great way for children and parents alike to learn character names. Another thing about the first videos, well first series really, is that Ringo Starr narrates them, this alone will have attracted a large audience when the series first aired. I like the cover design as well, it is the same picture that was used on the 1985 annual and of course the later Kaleidoscope release. I also like the stickers that show which format they are in, a nice touch. The videos are not actually Pre-certification, they have the correct age certificate printed on the back and have stickers on the spine and back. "Cassette 2" also has the certificate printed on the spine.

Now onto "Cassette 2". I have never actually been able to watch "Cassette 2" as I only have a copy in Betamax for which I don’t have a player. I expect it makes good viewing though, with the original name-boards and Guild Home Video opening logo. Here is the episode list:

1. Thomas and Bertie

2. Tenders and Turntables

ThomasTankCollectables Archives 2012

3. Trouble in the Shed

4. Percy Runs Away

5. Coal

6. The Flying Kipper

7. Whistles and Sneezes

8. Toby and the Stout Gentleman

9. Thomas in Trouble

10. Dirty Objects

11. Off the Rails

12. Down the Mine

13. Thomas' Christmas Party 

Again I do like the case design for this one. I think the big picture of Thomas on the front is great and is of course a rare picture in itself. On the back is the classic opening sequence picture, you can’t go wrong with that!

Another thing I find interesting about the Guild Home Video releases are the impact they had on the videos to come. Guild Home only released two videos and were only working with Thomas The Tank Engine for one year, but they had quite a big impact. Firstly the most obvious has got to be that the picture on "Cassette 1" is re-used by VCI with their release of "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends" later to become "Thomas and Gordon". Also the back cover of "Thomas and Gordon" is almost completely identical to "Cassette 1", same colour scheme, picture, and blurb. The three videos released at this time did actually carry a note that said "A Guild Home Video Product distributed through the Video Collection", I think this means that VCI would have been paying royalties to GHV for the use of their cover design. With the next release from VCI, there was a completely different case design with didn’t really look like the first release. The second release was of course "Troublesome Trucks and Other Stories", this did take quite a lot of influence from "Cassette 2", with the "Further Adventures of" and the font of the text, for example the writing of "Storyteller Ringo Starr", was identical except for the colour. Interestingly the three videos have an odd primitive certification logo, this was not present on the GHV releases.

Now I think I have definitely said too much! I hope you have enjoyed reading about these fantastic two videos and I hope I haven’t bored you, my passion for these videos is quite high to say the least!

Please check out the Youtube video below for pictures of the videos.

TTC 2012