Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 02, 2016

Somebody call Children Services!

Yes, children, people not only got videotapes from stores but they could rent a VCR for the night also. Remember, this is 1986.

In 1979 a friend of mine was the first person I knew of to own a VCR, and RCA VHS model with mechanical piano-keys controls and a wired remote that allowed you to pause recordings from your armchair.

There were no movies for rent yet. Buying one from Tower Records cost around $100 each because the studios weren’t really onboard yet, and the selection was extremely small. He bought “Kelly’s Heros” and “The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie”.

My kid wants to know what a VCR is.I told him what and when it was, That it was time before cell phones and ‘home PCs’He doesn’t believe me……….

I remember the first VCR I bought in 1983. It was an RCA and it was about $600 Canadian. At that time it was a toss up between VHS and beta. Sales guy advised VHS. Glad I listened.Movies for sale were around a hundred bucks and membership at rental places was anywhere between free ( very limited selection ) and I think about 60 bucks for what was called a platinum membership at one place.Can’t remember how much the rental fees were.Good memories. What a novelty to be able to rent a bunch of movies and bring them home . And actually record TV shows. :-)

In the mid 80’s, my Dad bought a VCR and used it to record cable TV shows in his office at work and brought it home for the weekend (cable was not available out at where I grew up). One of the things he recorded was The Raccoons off the Disney Channel. Lisa Raccoon was my first crush.

Attack of the Coed Cannibals would probably be worth watching.

My husband was a “Beta is Better” guy. Unfortunately, he recorded all our home movies of our kids on Beta. Once the Betamax died, that was the end of watching movies of my kids as babies and toddlers. I would love to have them converted, but try to find someone to convert Beta to digital.

Umm….how old is that kid? Isn’t it illegal to leave a child alone before a certain age?

Yep, I remember renting VCRs as well as movies from either Blockbuster or the “mom-n-pop” video store. A lot of times you would have to call ahead and reserve one, and when you got it, the VCR would be packed in a suitcase-type carrier with instructions on how to hook it up. Good times.

VCR tapes at Goodwill-50 cents to $2 DVDs <$5 Buy a used DVD player or VCR when available <$25

For a few years in the 90s, I defined my weekend with STTNG and B5. If I couldn’t sit down and watch Star Trek at 7pm on Saturday and Babylon 5 at 11pm Sunday, and do what I wanted in between, something was wrong. Then the syndication changed, or something, and I missed the last season of B5. Somehow, I never got to see Stargate SG-1 at all.

That’s a good movie; watched it last night.

I hope the house is still standing when his parents get back.

Slightly better rated than “Vampire Sorority Babes”.

I remember back in the late 70s a friend was on a game show during the day. So we could all see it, someone who worked in a department store recorded it at work, then we rented a VCR to watch it. VCRs were still expensive and none of us had one. By the mid 80s we all had one. Today we all record on a digital cable box.

Well, that will probably be on the list.

Quite a few years back I purchased a Panasonic combination DVD, VCR player with both having recording capabilities. I managed to transfer all of my home video tapes to DVDS as well as both my daughter’s and son-in-law’s tape recordings. The machine still works beautifully. Longest functioning VCR I ever owned and I’ve owned quite a few. Great hardware; lousy, terrible software (firmware?). I’d also say the same thing about a Panasonic audio deck I own.

Is that part of the “Coed” series, along with the sorority sleepover one Hobbes mentioned last week?

This was typical in the 80’s and earlier, even though there were no cell phones, internet, or offender registries. Somehow, the vast majority of us survived. Things are actually much safer now than they used to be; the only thing that’s changed for the worse is our perception of risk.

Last week it was Vampire Sorority Babes, not Attack of the Coed Cannibals? What was Watterson doing at the time??

Did they really leave a 6 year old home alone? Illegal in every state.

Rankin Bass cartoon, 1987, musical of sorts with Judy Collins singing the theme tune, can be seen parts on YouTube. Cosgrove Hall stop-frame figurine animation, feature length (ignore hideous follow-on series) 1983. Completely different approach, both very good versions.

Wet blanket here. How is Calvin going to pay for it when they deliver? He can’t use a credit card, too young. Does he even have that kind of cash?Wet blanket out!

I like Calvin’s triangle shaped mouth in the 3rd panel. A great feature by Bill Watterson!

xxx

Initially, we rented VHS tapes, and after finding one of our VCRs clogged with peanut butter and jelly, we insisted on seeing the tape before we rented, so we could flip the lid and examine the tape for evidence of what the kids were eating when the last tape was returned.

Eventually, we started just purchasing new tapes because it was cheaper than costly repairs to the VCRs. We started with the Bond films, with the last on VHS being A View To A Kill, originally released in 1985. Shortly thereafter we switched to DVD and then Blue Ray.

So far our home collection is close to 700 films and dozens of classic TV episodes. Anyone care to come over for a viewing? Just bring plenty of popcorn…

superb. very funny, I think I would do that when my parents left home in the 80s

Greatest TV series, ever, any genre, hands down, Firefly.

LeadingEdge, do you mean the two part Pilot, or the film, which came out about 3 years after the fools at Fox let the show get cancelled.

VCR? Just how long ago was this strip written?

Hmmm…seems like a good idea.

I bought my wife the full DVD set of Farscape a couple years ago, which she really liked, but I had never seen. We sat in bed to watch the first episode twice, and she fell asleep both times before it was halfway over. We’ll have to try again before dark some day.

I’m pretty sure I have a few still wrapped in the original cellophane…

I remember all of it. I still have my first VCR I ever bought and about 300 VHS video tapes. I have a working VCR and I plan on copying all the ones I can’t find on DVD to DVD’s. Up until about a year ago I was using a VCR to tape things I wanted to watch later.

Did they seriously left Calvin alone in the house? I thought they were kidding given yesterday’s strip. Man, they must be out of it! Let’s just hope the house is still in one piece once they return.