I know my family got its first VCR in the middle of 1985. (The layout of buttons on that remote is fairly similar to that of our first, although I *think* our brand was "Sylvania"...)

"VCR prices as of 1985" is something I'll have to look up; I admit I can also suppose "prerecorded tapes" wouldn't have delved into serialized TV shows with dozens of episodes at that point, at least not in a way that was easy to buy...

My set arrived later than a lot of other people's (it had to ship across the border), so I'm not too exercised about my own wait yet.

It feels somehow unfortunate I'm able to suppose this an adaptation of A.E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer"...

The "unfortunate" part, I suppose, is recollections of a generally smug anti-Lucas cast to the book somewhat in advance of The Force Awakens's premiere.

Unfortunately, now I'm remembering a book that tried to argue that since we don't see "books" in the Star Wars movies, everyone in them is "functionally illiterate": krpalmer.dreamwidth.org/288320.html