• Title: X-Men: Night of the Sentinels
• Format: VHS
• Release: 1992
• Country: UK / PAL
• Certificate: PG
• Running time: 44 mins (approx)

Shortly after the debut of the 1992 X-Men animated series (aka X-Men: The Animated Series), Polygram Video in association with Marvel Comics and Saban International released a series of X-Men VHS cassettes. The first release in the collection was X-Men: Night of the Sentinels (Vol 1).

The release contained one VHS cassette comprising two episodes of the animated show: Night of the Sentinels Part One and Night of the Sentinels Part Two.

The front cover of the VHS release featured seven members of the X-Men, including Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Cyclops, Rogue, Jubilee, and Professor Charles Xavier. The cover also included the text titles for the release (‘X-Men‘/’Night of the Sentinels‘), along with the British Board of Film Classification certificate (PG), and a corner image featuring the Marvel Comics logo.

On the reverse, was a comic book-inspired design featuring a mix of comic book imagery and text. The main text read as follows:

“When a pretty young mutant named Jubilee is attacked by huge search-and-destroy robots known as Sentinels, Rogue, Storm and Gambit unleash all their X-Men super powers to rescue her. With Professor Xavier’s help, they discover the Sentinel assault is part of a sinister program designed to exterminate all known mutants!

“Can the awesome, combined might of the X-Men withstand the merciless onslaught of a lethally equipped army of mutant mauling Sentinels? Find out – as you team up with the coolest mutant crusaders in the known universe in X-Men: Night of the Sentinels.”

The interior of the VHS release featured more X-Men-related artwork, along with cross sell for other titles in the collection, including Vol 2: Enter: Magneto! & Deadly Reunions (pictured below); Vol 3: Captive Hearts & Cold Vengeance (also pictured below); Vol 4: Slave Island & The Unstoppable Juggernaut; and Vol 5: The Cure! & Come the Apocalypse.

It’s worth noting that while the X-Men are hugely popular today, back in 1992 they were not so famous, and not well-known outside of comic book circles. However, the animated series proved to be a big hit with audiences and this elevated the characters to a new level.

Due to the continued popularity of X-Men: The Animated Series, more VHS releases eventually followed. However, the later releases featured redesigned packaging and were themed around specific characters (Gambit, Cable, Apocalypse, etc).

In my opinion the cover artwork for the later releases did not look as eye-catching as this first run of VHS titles. However it was good for X-Men fans to have access to more episodes during an era when catch-up television and streaming was not a thing.

Select episodes would eventually be released on DVD, but not for some time and to begin with it was only a five-episode set featuring fan-favourite story, The Phoenix Saga. For a while the VHS releases championed the show on the home video market, and gave fans the opportunity to revisit their favourite stories.

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