It’s another Nicholas Godfrey tape. This one a 1994 recording of the original Star Wars. Highlights include some casual racial homophobia from Hungry Jack’s, a highly inaccurate space-themed ad for Coca-Cola, a business update from a guy who thinks he’s reading a children’s book and watch all the way to the end for the BIG TWIST. Also, Han shoots first.
This’ll be the last one for a while. Cheers for the views.
After a 3 month sabbatical, VHS Revue is back! I acquired a couple more tapes from my good friend Nicholas Godfrey and the first of which has been combed through in Ep 9 above.
It’s the Australian television premiere of the 1990 Macaulay Culkin classic “Home Alone”, recorded on 15 August 1993.
Highlights include ads for Optus, Pascal Dipstix, Ian Berry Insurance and the Christian Television Association. Footage recorded from Channel Ten Adelaide and used here for review, parody and satirical purposes (obviously).
Plus a very special guest appearance by TV’s Mark Humphries!
We used a different VHS camera this time: a circa 1985 Hitachi belonging to my good friend Alexis Kotlowy (AKA the guy who also did all the brilliant music and graphics). It has a slightly softer look than Nick’s circa 1990 National camera we used for Eps 2-8. We had to take the side panel off because it was chewing the tape at one point, but it did make it look cooler:
Almost looks like it an old movie camera with those spools spinning around.
I made those offensive chocolate bars myself. Bit of a shame you hardly get to see them in the video. Although, it’s probably for the best. Graphic design was never my strong point. And if you could see them close up, you can clearly see I’ve just printed out some “crude” labels and stuck them onto real confectionery… If you haven’t scrolled down already, go on have a look then.
Got one more episode in the works for now, so keep track of VHS Revue on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
It’s the 8th installment of VHS Revue! Wow 8 episodes. I reckon that’s enough to call it a proper webseries now.
This week I took a look through a circa 1993 tape of an episode of the late 80s/early 90s police drama “Wiseguy” – a show I’ve never heard of.
Highlights include ads for Brunnings lawn seed, Sizzler, Link Introductions, TyreMag (which I think might now be banned?), Bob Moran used cars (who is DEFINITELY now banned), Solver Paints, and another thing. Footage recorded from Channel Nine Adelaide and used here for review, parody and satirical purposes (obviously).
This is the last episode I’ve got in the can. But they’ve been fun to make and I’ve got a few more tapes with good stuff on them. So keep your lips peeled for number 9.
Thanks for watching/liking/tweeting/subscribing/etc. It’s always a thrill.
Big thanks especially to Alexis Kotlowy for the fabulous theme music and opening title sequences. And Nicholas Godfrey for his VHS camera. Though I did spot it in Cash Converters for him, so really, it’s mostly me.
It’s a politically-themed VHS Revue this week. On a tape of the 1989 British Open, Gough Whitlam endorses a fax machine and introduces Australia to the “smart phone” and a guy who looks like a former leader of The Greens does a patriotic ad for windscreen wipers. It’s as good as it sounds.
Interesting/tedious production note: This VHS tape was actually labelled “no good” and during the digitising process, the magnetic tape inside the cassette actually snapped. I had to take it to a camera store and pay $20 to get it repaired. But it was worth it just for the Gough Whitlam ads. I do believe this is the first time anyone has uploaded them to YouTube. So if I achieve nothing else, I’ve got that.
Special thanks to Nicholas Godfrey, Adam Navarro, Matthew “Smiddy” Smith and Alexis Kotlowy. Flags and anchors provided by Tim Wray.
Oh and by the way, VHS Revue is now on FACEBOOK and TWITTER. So like and follow, if you’re into that sort of thing.
When I was back in Adelaide over Christmas, I found a box of old video tapes in my Mum’s garage. After lugging them back to Melbourne – and buying a VCR – I’ve spent the last few months going through them and boy… thank Christ no one threw these out.
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… And this stuff is way too good to keep to myself. So I’m thrilled to announce SIX brand new episodes of my webseries “VHS Revue”!
I’ll be releasing one a week for the next six weeks, starting right now. Here’s Ep 3 – The Two Mrs Grenvilles (1988):
Highlights include ads for Jeans United, Big Sister fruitcakes, pork, space-themed instant scratchies, Menage cologne and the inaugural edition of “What the hell was that?”
And a special thanks to a few fantastic people for all their help with these six episodes. Nicholas Godfrey, Adam Navarro, Matthew “Smiddy” Smith & Antonio Cafasso behind the camera; Alexis Kotlowy for his sensational music, graphics and video tape editing; Tim Wray for props, Annika Samuelsson for her voice and my sister Hannah Green for her make-up.
I’ve found some very funny stuff, and a lot of it isn’t already on YouTube. So if you love old ads and random audio-visual tidbits from 80s and early 90s Australia, this is right up your alley.
