Standard & Super 8mm Home Movies Prior to video becoming a home entertainment system, the only way to enjoy fims at home were by 8mm film versions, cut down from the original version. There were two types: Standard 8mm, and Super 8mm which became available around 1965. Standard 8mm was 16mm film stock literally spliced down the middle to provide two 8mm strips with a single row of sprocket perforations each. As such, the area available for image was smaller than the Super 8mm format (4mm wide instead of 5mm) which came with smaller sprockets. This increased the image quality notably. Both versions, however, utilised a seperate magnetic soundtrack that was striped along the outer edge of the film that, in the case of the Space Patrol reels reviewed, were prone to serious deteriation in quality. Space Patrol was among the television series released, alongside Fireball XL5,Thunderbirds and others, and these were issued by Mountain Films. The episodes were cut down to approximately fifteen minutes and featured mainly the second part of each story but with the opening titles and end credits intact. The stories released were The Swamps Of Jupiter, The Robot Revolution, Mystery On The Moon & The Miracle Tree Of Saturn, all from the first production block. It is not currently known if all four were available as both Standard and Super 8mm formats - The Robot Revolution is Standard 8mm, while The Swamps Of Jupiter, The Miracle Tree Of Saturn and presumably Mystery On The Moon (from the box artwork) were available as Super 8mm. (Above left: The titles from the Standard 8mm print of The Robot Revolution and right: the box art for the films) The curious thing about the releases is that all four were apparently sold with the same picture cover with a title of Mystery On The Moon. Only a label indicating the episode's actual title differentiated them. There are two versions of this box - the actual Mystery On The Moon box has the title in speech marks, with the serial number MF313 printed alongside on the lower edge (below left). The others just have Mystery On The Moon, without speech marks or a serial number (below right) and this is presumably where the label with the actual episode title would have been stuck. Some releases came in generic replacement boxes, such as ones sold by Derann Film Services, which advertised other titles available from that dealer. (Above left: The "Mystery On The Moon" sleeve with serial number on left. Right: Alternate version sans serial number) Rumours that The Slaves Of Neptune was also released appear to have started when a 16mm print of the episode was sold by a dealer in the early 1980s. This was promptly bought, and video copies of the episode have circulated ever since. Some believed that the print was distributed by Mountain Films, who also occasionally sold 16mm versions, and if they had released The Slaves Of Neptune in this format then an 8mm version must also be available. Regrettably, neither speculation has any foundation and the four titles given above are the only episodes that were released. Many thanks to Tim Beddows of Network/Sound & Media, Simon Coward of Kaleidoscope, Mike Noon, and Ken Dines of Reprovision, for updating and correcting the information. If you have any of the home movie versions of Space Patrol, or documented details, please do contact us and we will add them in an update.