Star Trek : The Original Series ( VHS ) Star Trek : The Original Series has been released on VHS in multiple countries since the technology was developed . US releases . In early 1980 , directly pursuant the premiere of , Paramount Home Entertainment ( then known as Paramount Home Video ) released ten selected episodes on the new VHS and Betamax home media formats in the United States , in five volumes of two episodes each as part of their " Television Classics " collection : / , / , / , / , and / . Released in conjuncture , or rather as appetizers for the in October released " The Motion Picture " videotape formats , they together are as such the earliest known " official " ( thereby discounting any and all possible previous and illegal so - called " s " , the " Original Series " " blooper reels " being a prime example , and including the prior Super 8 releases ) " Star Trek " releases in either format , or in any home media format for that matter . A bit puzzling was , that unlike its " Motion Picture " releases , Paramount did not endow the " Original Series " releases with catalog numbers or rating indicators . It were these tapes that very shortly thereafter turned up as the first " Star Trek " productions in the VHS / Betamax rental circuit . In mid - 1979 , Paramount Home Video hammered out a deal with photo developer / video rental outlet to release 36 titles of their backlog catalog on the new home media formats for the rental circuit , who started to do so from December 1979 onward , thereby becoming one of the very first such rental companies . From March 1980 onward , Paramount gradually expanded the original agreement to 131 titles , and it was only after that occasion that all six available " Star Trek " videotape titles were added to Fotomat ' s rental catalog . Fotomat had the Paramount introductory logos , disclaimers and credits on the rental tapes , the ones habitually seen prior to the feature presentation , replaced with their own . The tapes were additionally packaged in simple die - cut silver cases with black markings and the Fotomat logo on the case . The labels were black with white text . At the time a tape could be either be rented for US $ 12 , or , at a later point in time – for those customers who had missed out on the initial chance to acquire the Paramount tapes – bought for a price in the US $ 40 - $ 70 range , both rather steep for that era . Ever since , " Star Trek " has been a staple in the rental circuit , until VHS tapes were phased out of existence in the early - to - mid 2000s , preceded previously by their Betamax counterparts over a decade earlier . A special one - off release of ( Paramount Gateway Video VHS 60040 ) occurred in 1982 to tie in with the premiere of . Starting in February 1985 , the complete series was finally released in groups of ten over the course of the second half of the 1980s . Both tape formats were released in near simultaneous conjuncture with the US , sharing similarly designed " transporter platform " cover art , though it should be noted that the tapes were one episode per tape releases as opposed to the two episodes per disc LaserDiscs , they therefore released in groups of five . Included were both versions of , first with a hybrid of Gene Roddenberry ' s work print version and footage from " The Menagerie " , along with an introduction by Roddenberry produced especially for the VHS release in 1986 , and the " All - Color Collector ' s Edition " of the episode in 1991 . The workprint version , complete with Roddenberry intro is available on Volume 40 of the original DVD releases and the TOS Season 3 DVD set . The full color version was also released in 1995 on a tape by Paramount with , as part of a four - tape boxed set featuring the pilots for the first four series . Paramount reissued the VHS tapes in 1993 with new packaging and collectible SkyBox International trading cards for each episode . CBS Video Library / Columbia House also issued tapes of the series in 1986 , featuring two episodes per tape . For most of the run of the library releases , the introductory volume was and . Paramount fully phased out releases of the series on VHS by the end of the 1990s - early 2000s . UK releases . Specific episodes of " The Original Series " were first released by CIC - Arena Video in the early 1980s . The series in its entirety was released twice in the UK by CIC Video - a two - episode - per - tape release from - , and a three - episode - per - tape release from - . With the exception of a handful early tape releases by Mountain Video and EVC , typically for the rental outlet market , the UK , as had indeed the rest of Western Europe , adhered to the ( at least ) two episodes per tape format , as opposed to the US where the one episode per tape format was adhered to for " all " " Star Trek " television series for the better part of two decades . For American customers this became a source of chagrin when they became aware of the market discrimination , courtesy the advent of the internet in the early to mid - 1990s , especially since American tape prices were at the time on par with their European counterparts . The predominantly one episode per tape releases from Mountain Video and EVC were the earliest known VHS / Betamax releases outside the US . However , lack of any mention of the legal owner of " Star Trek " , Paramount Pictures ( the aforementioned Fotomat , when it started to disseminate the " Star Trek " tapes , had Paramount emphatically stated as legal owner on its casings and tapes ) , as well as the fact that the cover art had all the appearances of being " fan - produced " , the ones from EVC in particular , seemed to indicate that legalities surrounding copyright and licensing issues were not quite hammered out according to the rule book . This impression is further reinforced by the fact that there were titles included , Paramount itself had not selected for official release in the US , but there was a large overlap with titles as released the previous decade by Canterbury Films on Super 8 , which " were " unlicensed . Canterbury Films had made use of a contemporary loophole in the then - applicable copyright laws when it discovered that some episodes of the " Star Trek " television show did not contain a copyright in the credits and released duplicates to collectors , and a similar scenario is conceivable for the earliest British releases . CIC Video , on the other hand , was co - owned by Paramount . Original complete release . Release dates for the first original twenty - one releases are not known . But since these releases are based on the 1985 US release , as is indicated by the similar cover art , it is fair to assume that releases started sometimes thereafter , considering that foreign dissemination of American produced home media formats habitually lagged behind US distribution at the time for legal as well as practical reasons , translation being the most obvious reason in the latter case . Dates in italics are approximations based on release frequency , where no exact date is available . UK products were normally released on a Monday . These CIC Video UK releases served from 1988 onward as the basis for not only the " Original Series " , but " all " subsequent " Star Trek " tape releases for the rest of Europe , with local branches of CIC Video responsible for either subtitling or dubbing in the language of the target market , as well as optionally adapting cover art to local tastes . The video casing cover art for the Netherlands and Flanders for example , were nearly indistinguishable from their UK counterparts , save for the text imprint language of the episode summaries and disclaimers on the back cover art , whereas German or Italian releases featured radically redesigned cover art . The original CIC Video release was continuous , and did not separate out seasons . Consequently , the volume containing the final episode of a season will also have the first episode of the next season . The original releases were deleted on . Re - release . Each episode in the series features an introduction by either James Doohan , George Takei , or Walter Koenig . With the exception of the below - mentioned DVD / magazine partwork publication , these specially - produced introductions have not been included in any of the later home media formats and are therefore exclusive for this edition . This 1996 three episodes per tape edition – a format hitherto unheard of for the Ametican home market – made use of new transfers of color corrected and cleaned - up footage , at the time called " " , originally done four years earlier for the Japanese LaserDisc editions " Star Trek : Log 1 " - " Log 3 " . Released at the beginning of the DVD age this edition only saw a limited production run , in anticipation of the first DVD release of the " Original Series " . Picture quality wise , it has been the best edition of the " Original Series " ever to be released on VHS , actually even outperforming the initial DVD releases of the " Original Series " , as explained below . A relatively uncommon one , this particular release has seen at least one international variant . In the Netherlands and Flanders the ( sub - titled ) series was offered for a limited time in 1997 as three - season collector ' s box set editions . This entailed that the tapes were packaged in carton slipcases with otherwise unaltered cover art , they themselves collected in a box on a per season basis . The season two box set incorporated as an extra , a copy of " William Shatner ' s Star Trek Memories " , whereas the season three box contained copies of " " and " From Here to Infinity : The Ultimate Voyage " – the 1994 space documentary presented by Patrick Stewart – as extra bonus . The UK tapes were packaged in the standard plastic VHS snap cases . In the US , this version has never seen the day of light , neither in format nor in its use of the " remastered " transfers . US customers had to wait until the 2007 TOS - R Season 1 HD DVD release to enjoy for themselves improved picture quality , previous DVD releases – for all territories – having only made use of the worn - out original masters , the same ones they had already used for their VHS releases . In the UK itself the re - release edition served as the basis for the 2007 - 2008 " " DVD / magazine partwork publication of GE Fabbri .