[dc]I[/dc] planned another Disney World honeymoon post for today, but after reading about Blockbuster closing its remaining stores on /Film, I decided my photos of Disney World trash cans could wait another day. You see, I worked at a Blockbuster Video store, off and on, for about five years during college (roughly 2000 through 2005)—and I have a few stories worth sharing. Travel back with me, to the early 2000s: VHS was still popular, DVD was the new kid on the block, and online streaming video was the stuff of Star Trek.
The Force will be with you, but only if you Rewind. Photo by me.
Blockbuster Subterfuge: I Didn’t Check Your Movie in Late
I can’t tell you how many times a customer, angry about a late fee, accused me of ‘hiding’ their tape and purposely checking it in a few minutes late. Here’s a secret: the due time was a hoax. Our computer didn’t start checking movies in late until an hour (if not longer) after the posted due time.
So, if your local Blockbuster Video said that copy of MVP: Most Valuable Primate was due at noon, the computer didn’t count it in late until at least 1 o’clock PM.
“I Don’t Want to Read.”
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received a lot of attention when it came out on home video, and my Blockbuster had many VHS copies for rent. There was one snag though: all the VHS copies featured subtitles.
To put this into context: DVDs were a high-end novelty at this time (DVD players at this time were still close to $200). VHS was still the go-to home viewing medium—but didn’t have the English dubbing option like the handful of DVDs in the store.
Subtitles aren’t a problem for me, but they sure were for most of our customers—who ignored the ‘Subtitles’ sticker on the box. “I don’t want to read,” became a constant excuse for angry customers returning copies an hour, or less, later for a different rental.
“I don’t want to read,” and refunds became so frequent, my store made cashiers tell every customer who approached the counter with a VHS copy of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon about the subtitles. Despite the film receiving all kinds of awards, most customers quickly changed their mind and rented a different film.
Blockbuster Logic: Less Is More and People Want What They Can’t Have
Not all films on the Blockbuster wall were equal: some films had more rental copies than others. Time and time again, I noticed something: to customers, a new release’s lack of rental copies equaled quality or importance. If all the copies were gone, the film HAD to be good, right?
Customers walked past a wall FULL of The Royal Tenenbaums, to fight over the single copy of Eye See You starring Sylvester Stallone. Customers asked when Eye See You was coming back, and if we could hold it for them. Or, “Can you check the drop box for Eye See You?” Seriously. They knew nothing about the film, but it was always gone, so it HAD to be good.
I Want Something Funny, But Only in Color
My favorite part of working at Blockbuster Video was recommending films. Granted, my taste in movies skews a bit away from that of Average Joe Renter, but I do what I can.
One night, a young man asked me to recommend a funny movie or two. “Sure,” I said, “How about Ed Wood or Clerks?”
He rolled his eyes, “No way, those are black and white!”
“So? They’re still funny.”
“Black and white sucks!”
It was at that moment, when I first learned the joy of loathing The Young.
Widescreen, Also Known As, “My Movie is Broken.”
In the early 2000s, widescreen TVs were not common like today. 4×3 TVs still ruled the roost back then, which meant most of Blockbuster’s VHS tapes were the dreaded Pan and Scan (the film image was altered to fill a 4×3 screen. Yuck).
However, there were exceptions.
My store’s copies of The Insider were all letterbox, meaning, the image was shrunk down to maintain the film’s original aspect ratio, and mimic what you would see in the theater—the snag is, the image doesn’t fill the TV screen. As a fan of widescreen (see this example in one of my comics), I had no problem with letterbox.
The phone rings. The voice on the other end says, “My movie is broken.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, knowing that faulty tapes were not uncommon. Wear and tear, y’know (children’s tapes were the WORST). “What is the problem?”
“The image is all weird.”
“Weird, how?”
“I’m only seeing half the movie.”
“Did you adjust your tracking?” I said.
“Yeah, but these black bars are still on the top and bottom.”
“…What’s the movie?” I said, even though I knew the answer.
“The Insider.”
Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this complaint became such an issue, we had to, again, warn customers. On one occasion, I drew pictures explaining the difference between Pan and Scan and Letterbox to a customer.
“Letterbox is better,” I said. “You’re seeing the whole movie.”
“But it doesn’t fill the screen.”
“Well, because movie theater screens aren’t a square like your TV. Films are an oblong shape, like a rectangle.”
Crickets. Every time.
I never worked for a video rental store (thank goodness, I would have gone postal) but I sure rented from them a lot (heck I still do…) We used to go into Blockbuster a couple times a week, renting movie after movie. We had memberships in at least 3 different “brands” of rental stores that I can remember. Eventually that boiled down to just one, and it wasn’t Blockbuster. Maybe that’s one of the things that led to Blockbusters demise, they were no longer the rental store of choice. I had not rented from Blockbuster much in the last 10 years really. Family Video took over for us, when we first switched it was because Blockbuster was FAR more expensive than Family Video, and the free kids movies were a happy bonus. Now Blockbuster may have lowered prices over the years, but that reputation of being the Starbucks of video rentals. ($6.00 for a coffee? $5.00 for a movie, outrageous). That said however I am sorry to see them go. I am not a fan of renting streaming video, it just seems too much like tossing money out the front door and I can’t afford to purchase every movie I want to see. Renting is a great option and between RedBox and Family Video we still rent a lot of movies and video games.
I remember folks complaining about the prices, even all the way back in the early 2000s–especially late fees. My ‘video store’ as of late is mainly my local library (although there is a local ‘mom and pop’ place, Video to Go, I use from time to time). I think video stores, in some form, will survive–especially if they cater to the niche audiences.