The history of Robin Hood on VHS starts with the series of VHS releases most people are familiar with;
the Walt Disney Classics line of tapes. The Classics series was not Disney's first venture into home media
releases for their animated films, but it was the turning point. The old guard at the Disney Company were
concerned with releasing their films on VHS, since people would now be able to watch a specific film
whenever they please, instead of waiting for a rerelease at the theater. Eventually, the popularity of home
video showed the Disney Company that it was a good idea to start releasing more of their animated films.
To test the waters, they decided to release Robin Hood as their first film in the line. The film was never overly
popular, (and much to my chagrin, it still isn't) so if the home video release didn't fare well, it would not be
too much of a loss. Needless to say, it never became a loss for the company. Released on December 3rd, 1984,
Robin Hood became a moderate success for the Disney Company, becoming one of the best selling home video
titles of the year. The Disney Company decided to release Robin Hood at the start of December in order to catch
the Chirstmas cash flow customers were bound to bring to their local stores. The tape was even part of a
promotion in which it was already prewrapped and ready to give as a gift for the holiday season. As one can infer,
the release of Robin Hood went well enough that the Disney Company decided to keep releasing other animated
classic films on home video under the Classics series name. These tapes are the most well known to the general
public these days, even if most of the attention is misguided. Thanks to eBay listings, and news sites reporting on
said listings, people began to assume that these VHS tapes were worth a lot of money. The tapes in this orginal
series of home video releases are known as the "Black Diamond" tapes, (in reference to the Walt Disney Classics
logo present on all of the packaging of the tapes) and they are absolutely not rare in any way, shape, or form,
save for a few recalled tapes that are mildly harder to find, yet still quite easy in contrast to some other
companies' tapes. It's worthy of note that there were second releases for a number of tapes in the Walt Disney
Classics line with updated packaging, of which Robin Hood is one of them. The second release of Robin Hood
in the Walt Disney Classics line released on July 12th, 1991. The Walt Disney Classics line lasted until 1994,
where it was replaced with the Masterpiece Collection line of tapes.
Several films were introduced into the Masterpiece Collection, but a number of films released in that line were
also released as a part of the Walt Disney Classics line of tapes. Of course, Robin Hood was one of them.
The first release of Robin Hood in the Masterpiece Collection took place October 28th, 1994. The film was rereleased
once again, this time rereleasing within the Masterpiece Collection, on July 13th, 1999. As the new millennium came
about, the Disney Company decided to start anew as well, with a series of home video releases. At the turn of the new
millennium, DVDs were beginning to become popular, and Disney was not going to be late to this party this time.
They released the Gold Classic Collection at the start of the year 2000, where they planned to move from VHS onto DVD.
Because of this, many classic Disney films at that time saw an all new DVD release, but they also received a swansong-esque
VHS release. In case you couldn't infer from the topic of this fansite, there was yet another home video release for Robin Hood.
On the 4th of July, in the year 2000, Robin Hood would receive its final release on the platform. This release received some
special features after the feature presentation. Robin Hood essentially became the catalyst for the many and multitudinous
home video releases that the Disney Company ended up releasing, and it's safe to say that without the intial Robin Hood
release, Disney may not have shown up on home video for quite some time, if at all. Plus, it meant that more people got to
see the film, which is always much appreciated. The film is still golden, and it more than deserved to be released to the public, first and foremost :)