Woolworths' (empty) gift box with Irish VHS tape releases
One year after its launch in 2001, Star Trek: Enterprise became released on VHS by Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE, the recent replacement for CIC Video as the international home video format distributor), albeit in a handful of PAL television system utilizing countries only. No VHS releases of the series are known for North America (or any other NTSC region for that matter), it instead being directly released in 2005 on the then-new DVD home video format in that market.
Only the first season of Enterprise was released on VHS due to the dwindling demand for the video tape format and the rise of the DVD format. PHE chose to focus exclusively on DVD releases from 2003 onward, with the sole exception of Star Trek Nemesis.
For the European Star Trek fans, this constituted a rare occasion where it were they who for once found themselves on the receiving end of what Trekdom itself had coined the "double-dipping" phenomenon for those fans who had bought the VHS releases, having to pay for it again if they wanted the far superior DVD version, issued only three years afterwards; usually it was American fans who habitually kept falling prey to "double-dipping", not only in the VHS era, but in the early stages of the DVD era as well. "Double-dipping" became an issue again for all fans worldwide, when the even more superior Blu-ray versions were released in 2013-2014.
The VHS tapes were aside from several European countries also released in Australia, it being a PAL region as well.
European releases[]
While also released in Australia, it was in Europe that the VHS releases of Enterprise's first season gained the most traction.
UK releases[]
Enterprise was released in the UK in a two-episode-per-tape format by PHE in 2002. This was the only season of Enterprise released on VHS in the UK – as it was anywhere else in the EU or in Australia for that matter.
A special Season One collector's box was given away free with Volume 1.1 by retailer Woolworths in the UK (and Ireland via Ulster). The box was an empty open-ended cardboard slipcase which fit all thirteen Season One tapes as individually released.
Other European releases[]
The UK PHE-releases served as the basis for the other European 2002 releases. Five such known releases concerned the Irish and the, language text imprint adapted, subtitled Benelux, Norwegian, and Swedish versions, as well as the in German dubbed version for that country, all released in a similar fashion as the UK version. The Swedish releases lacked Paramount Pictures' 90th anniversary logo, contrary to the other European (and Australian) releases which had it prominently featured on either the spine, the back cover, or both. The German releases had the anniversary logo even printed on the front cover.
Additionally, both Germany and the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) saw "retailer exclusive" box sets released, the former through Amazon.de and the latter through the now-defunct Dutch Free Record Shop retail chain store. Subtitled "Die Zukunft ist näher als Du denkst" ("The future is closer than you think"), the German exclusive season ("Staffel") release was split up in two demi-season cardboard slipcase boxes – at the time a common marketing practice in Germany for the older, contemporary (exclusive) TV series season home video format releases, including those from the other Star Trek series. When put together, the two German box back covers formed into the back cover of the Woolworths single season box, albeit with the series' logo duplicated.
Unlike Germany however, the Dutch exclusive came as a limited complete season one boxed release instead, packaged in the same cardboard slipcase as gifted by Woolworths in the UK with only minor text imprint differences, pertaining to the Dutch release information, which included the relevant rating. The box was in the Benelux released for sale first, before the tapes themselves became also offered individually elsewhere at retail afterwards. [1]
In all cases, each individual tape came within their own standard plastic snapcase, like it had with the UK release.
- Note: With the exception of the box set collections, all other dates are those of the UK releases which were normally released on a Monday. Catalog numbers and rating certificates also include others as attributed outside the UK.
| Volume/Set | Catalogue Numbers | Cover | Episodes | Certificate[1] | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | VHR 5325 (UK) P 404000/01 (DE) 09678 (NL[2]) VSP 2137 (AU) 1096785 (SE[3]) |
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1 April 2002 | ||
| 1.2 | VHR 5326 (UK) P 404002/03 (DE) 09679 (NL) VSP 2138 (AU) 1096795 (SE) |
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6 May 2002 | ||
| 1.3 | VHR 5327 (UK) P 404004/05 (DE) 09680 (NL) VSP 2139 (AU) 1096803 (SE) |
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10 June 2002 | |
| 1.4 | VHR 5328 (UK) P 404006/07 (DE) 09681 (NL) VSP 2140 (AU) |
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24 June 2002 | ||
| 1.5 | VHR 5329 (UK) P 404008/09 (DE) 09682 (NL) VSP 2141 (AU) |
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1 July 2002 | ||
| 1.6 | VHR 5330 (UK) P 404010/11 (DE) 09683 (NL) 1096835 (SE) VSP 2142 (AU) |
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22 July 2002 | ||
| 1.7 | VHR 5331 (UK) P 404012/13 (DE) 09684 (NL) VSP 2143 (AU) 1096845 (SE) |
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5 August 2002 | ||
| 1.8 | VHR 5332 (UK) P 404014/15 (DE) 09685 (NL) VSP 2144 (AU) 1096855 (SE) |
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19 August 2002 | ||
| 1.9 | VHR 5333 (UK) P 404016/17 (DE) 09686 (NL) VSP 2188 (AU) |
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2 September 2002 | |
| 1.10 | VHR 5334 (UK) P 404018/19 (DE) 09506 (NL) 1096875 (SE) |
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23 September 2002 | |
| 1.11 | VHR 5335 (UK) P 404020/21 (DE) 09507 (NL) 1096885 (SE) |
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7 October 2002 | |||
| 1.12 | VHR 5336 (UK) P 404022/23 (DE) 09508 (NL) 1096895 (SE) |
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21 October 2002 | ||
| 1.13 | VHR 5352 (UK) P 404024/25 (DE) 09509 (NL) 1098715 (SE) |
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18 November 2002 | |||
| Other releases featuring ENT episodes | ||||||
| Collectors Edition[4] | VHR 5359 (UK) | 
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19 August 2002 | ||
| Season 1 box set collections | ||||||
| The First Season (Benelux) | EAN-13 8714865096789 | 
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2002 | |
| The First Season – Box 1 (German) | 
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| The First Season – Box 2 (German) |
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- ↑ In the case of sets, the certificate is over the set as a whole (unless stated otherwise). Certificates and catalog numbers verified by way of the various eBay site listings.
- ↑ "NL" stands for the Netherlands, but is here also used to indicate the Benelux in its entirety.
- ↑ Norwegian releases carried the same catalog numbers.
- ↑ A special "trial pack" containing volumes 1.1-1.3. and exclusive to the UK alone.
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