Beavis and Butt-head - Home Releases

Home Releases

The first official home video releases of Beavis and Butt-Head were two VHS tapes titled There Goes the Neighborhood and Work Sucks!, distributed by Sony Music Video and MTV Home Video in 1996 in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Each tape contained approximately eight episodes, each selected from the first four seasons. Although most of the episodes were presented in complete form, minus the music video segments, a handful of episodes were edited for content. Eight more VHS compilations were released between 1996 and 1999 in the United States, before the final volume, Butt-O-Ween, was issued in October 1999. However, the series continued in Australia and the United Kingdom, with a further ten volumes being issued between 1999 and 2001. When the series ended in the United Kingdom, a further seven volumes were issued exclusively in Australia, meaning that over 28 volumes, all 200 episodes were released on VHS.

Prior to the release of the VHS Volumes, a laserdisc titled Beavis and Butt-Head: The Essential Collection was issued in 1994, containing sixteen episodes from the second and third seasons. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America was also issued on Laserdisc in 1997.

All of the U.S. VHS Volumes were later issued on DVD in five two-disc sets through the Time–Life organisation. The DVD releases were titled The Best of Beavis and Butt-Head. A two-disc DVD set titled The History of Beavis and Butt-Head was scheduled for release in September 2002 in the United States. However, its release was cancelled at the last moment at the demand of Judge, who owned approval rights for video releases of the series. Many copies were mistakenly put on store shelves on the scheduled release date, only to be immediately recalled. The set started selling on eBay at very high prices, sometimes over $300 USD; As well as fetching over $1000 USD in 'New' condition on websites such as "Amazon.com". According to Judge, the History set was made up of episodes that he had previously rejected for home video release and had been prepared without his knowledge or consent. In all, half of the 32 episodes on The History of Beavis and Butt-head weren't included on later releases of the series, including all but two episodes on the first disc.

On November 8, 2005, MTV and Paramount Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD compilation titled Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 1. The DVD set includes 40 episodes and 11 music video segments from the original shows. The set was followed by Volume 2 and Volume 3. On January 26, 2009, MTV and Apple made all three collections available on the iTunes Store.