The Menagerie, Part I (Super 8)

Real world article
(written from a production point of view)

"The Menagerie, Part I" was an unlicensed Super 8 home video format release of the Star Trek: The Original Series season one episode "The Menagerie, Part I". Released in the 1970s, it, together with its contemporary Super 8 Original Series releases, ranks among the very first Star Trek home video format releases.

Background information

  • The release was produced and distributed by New York City based company Canterbury Films.
  • The episode was spread over three 400 feet, 7-inch film reels, packaged together in a single cardboard box endowed with photocopied imagery (the lower right picture also shows the three reels from Part II), glued on the box as cover art with a typed – not printed as on other Canterbury releases – additional episode title glued on the cover art and on top of the box.
  • The same cover art was also used for the "Space Seed" Super 8 release, indicative of a concurrent release.
  • Not being an official Star Trek franchise release, Canterbury Films had, according to author Richard W. Haines, made use of a contemporary loophole in the then applicable copyright laws: "Canterbury discovered that some episodes of the Star Trek TV show did not contain a copyright in the credits and released dupes to collectors." (The Moviegoing Experience, 1968-2001, February 2003, p. 183)
Previous release:
"The Man Trap" 		Star Trek: The Original Series
Super 8 		Next release:
"The Menagerie, Part II"


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