The Ghostbusters Thread
 

just really REALLY want to talk about Ghostbusters.

So c'mon. Talk about ANYTHING Ghostbusters-related. Do it for Spengler.

My thoughts on various parts of Ghostbusters Media...

The Real Ghostbusters: One of the best cartoons hows ever. What made it so good? Lots of factors. For one thing, they had some of the best writers on staff, including likes of J. Michael Straczynski and Michael Reaves.

Another factor was that the Ghostbusters had a new villain every week, unlike GI Joe, Transformers, He-Man, Thundercats, etc...who had to fight the same battle over and over and over again. This format kept the show consistently fresh. Of course, the more popular villains like Samhaine, the Boogeyman and Stay-Puft made come-backs and cameos every now and then.

Also, the show was really dark (especially in the first season) and really pretty edgey for the time period. In the first episode-alone ("Knock Knock, written by Straczynski) an entire train-load of people DIE and come back later in the episode as zombies.

All that, great animation (for seasons 1-3) and some awesome humor. UNFORTUNATELY, good things never last. After the first season outraged parents and celebrities forced the show to undergo some serious retooling. For one thing, parents were apalled at the violence, occult undertones and biblical references. So the intensity of the show was toned down and Slimer was placed in everysingle episode to lighten the mood.

Then Bill Murray complained that Lorenzo Music (Garfield) didn't sound enough like him. So they FIRED Music and hired Dave Coulier (Uncle Joey) to do a Bill Murray impression. Ech.

And then they butchered Janine. In the first season Janine was an empowered woman who could take care of herself and stand up to the forces of darkness. Oh, and she wore pointy glasses. The execs at ABC didn't like this interpretation of the character so they redesigned her to be more "Appealing" to children, gave her circular glasses because pointy object scared children (apparantly) and recast her character (formerly voiced by Laura Summer) with Kath Soucie and her high-pitched squealing.

That last one is what made Straczynski quit the show, since Janine was his favorite character to write for. The show still managed to have good episodes, and Straczynski even returned in season 4, but nothing was as consistently good as the first season. Then when they switched from Toei Studios to Wang Films after season 3, the show didn't eve LOOK good.


Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters: Season 3 marked the next revamp of the series. Arsenio Hall left to do his talk show so they recast Winston with Buster Jones (Blaster). They also changed the format to 1-hour. The first half hour contained 2 god awful Slimer! shorts; exploring his cliched cartoon life outside of the firehouse. He hung-out with an extended cast including ice cream woman Chilly Cooper, pizza chef Luigi, and the evil mad scientist Professor Dweeb (voiced by Late Show comedian Jeff Altman) who was always trying to disect him.

The show was geared for little kids, understandably. But even when I WAS a little kid I still hated it. Just stupid. And even worse, characters from the Slimer! shorts started having cameos in the Real Ghosbusters segments. Professor Dweeb showed up three times, I think. Now this is a show I don't particularly miss.


The Extreme Ghostbusters: Now before you all jump on the Hate-Train, hear me out. The show wasn't very good, but in retrospect it wasn't terrible, either. The scripts and bad guys were dark. Way darker than most of the Real Ghostbusters villains. My favorite was the ancient Chinese Bone Demon who sucked the bones out of people's bodies but left them alive as crippled sacks of skin and organs. Damn.

The show also kept continuity with the Real Ghostbusters. Villains like the Grundel made come backs, references to the show wereoften made, and the Real Ghostbusters themselves showe dup for the series finale.

The reason the show hurt to watch was the Extreme Ghostbusters-themselves. All politically correct stereotypes. Kylie was the feminazi goth chick, Garret was the cripple in a wheelchair who also had the brightest attitude and best upper body srength, Roland was the black guy who also happened to be smartest of the bunch, and Eduardo was...um, the sleazey Mexican guy.

The new characters were utterly unlikeable despite some really clever writing the show had. Looking back, I don't hate them nearly as much as I used to, but at the time they felt like sacraligious..

The show also had a damn good 2-part series finale. The Real Ghostbusters returned (voice actors and all) to help the Extreme Ghostbusters battle a mobile Bermuda Triangle. They were portrayed as old men at first, which REALLY bugged me, but once they got out and did some busting they were their themselves again. It was a good series finale.


88MPH's Ghostbusters Comic: Wow, have I got some hate brewing in me over THIS little comic. For one thing, if you're going to make a comic at least TRY to stick to a coherent release schedule. That's a LOT more important thatn 30 varient covers for one issue. Issue #1 got delayed FOUR months, #2 and #3 got delayed just as long. And #4 had the shipping screwed up and got released on different dates all over the country. Next they go and print a limited run of the TPB so that it can only be purchased from their website. And after ALL that the ongoing series gets "delayed". That's their pussy-talk for "it's been canceled because we can't get a book out on time to save our lives".

That aside, the book showed some real promise. Good art and some clever writing. However, the imbeciles at 88MPH couldn't do the job like professionals, so now I'm just waiting anxiously for their contract to end so that a COMPETANT company can get a hold of the license.


There, just some stuff on my mind.

All the 80ies season were made to one show over here. I still like that show, sometimes I even think it to be better than the movies, which sounds like bullsh*t other times. Well, I guess that's just me.

Extreme Ghostbusters: Well, it wasn't that bad. Sure, the characters were sort of lame, but whatever, it was the Ghostbusters. Egon was good, being together with Janine and stuff. Also, I remember having Eduardo and Kylie having good dialogues, but nothing more stuck.

That's that from me...

Extreme Ghostbusters I did'nt particulary like, even if it could be good at times, examples being the first two episodes, and the finale that aired out of order, "Back In The Saddle", reuniting some of the original cartoon voice actors.

Some people tend to thrash Ghosbusters II a lot, but overall, it's a damn decent movie, the only regret being Vigo's character could have been given a better script

so Dr Spengler, you remember me a little while ago asking if the real ghostbusters were comign to dvd..

Well anyways, for now, I want to talk about the cartoon itself.

I only remembered bits and pieces of the cartoons however the cartoon was really good and I was wondering, with all the changes that the writers and people who worked on the show, I was wondering if the show was still good all the way through? I mean did all the seasons have great epsiodes that would make it worth buying if it ever came on dvd?

Do you even have episodes that you can say are the best.


I actually never seen this show extreme ghostbusters but I heard so much about it and how it was not that good of a cartoon like the real ghostbusters were.

Well, the Real GHostbusters ARE coming to DVD...sorta. The upcoming Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters 2 box set being released in August is going to come with a collectable scrapbook, new special features and 2 episodes of the Real Ghostbusters. Don't know which 2, however. And in England there have been 2 "Best of" DVDs released containing 5 episodes each. Decent selectionof episodes, too (though "Adventures in Slime and Space" is best left forgotten).

The first season of the show contains pretty much all the most memorable episodes. It's also unnaturally long; 78-episodes (the series had a total of 140 episodes throughout the 6 season run).

After the revamp the series began to slide, dramatically. Season 2 had an alright selection. "The Boogeyman is Back", "Halloween 2 1/2", "The Copycat", "The Grundel" (awesome), "It's a Jungle Out There", "Big Trouble With Little Slimer" (return of Walter Peck), and "Sticky Business" are all excellent episodes. Unfortunately, the rest of the season is just terrible. I never want to sit through "Baby Spookums" or "Once Upon a Slime" again for as long as I live.

Season 3 is a short season (only 8 episodes), due mostly to the addition of the Slimer! shorts making it an hour in length. Season 3 only had 8 episodes but pretty much all of them were good. Some, like "Standing Room Only", were fantastic. This was also the last season done by Toei Studios, so say good bye to purdy animation and say hello to...

Season 4. This is the season things started to go bad. Halfway through the season they tried to mimic the format of the Slimer! shorts and began having 15-minute episodes. Save for "Revenge of the Ghostmaster" all those short pisodes are absolute garbage. The show is aimmed directly at children at this point and as an adult I find the episodes hard to watch. They also decided to introduce Louis Tully back into the fold at the beginning of this season. "Something's Going Around" is a pretty good episode in itself, but his character never became likeable. And they only introduced him into the cartoon because he played such a big role in Ghostbusters II. This season did have a few good episodes, though. "Jailbusters" was...okay (and it featured a guest voice over by James Avery) but the real highlight of this season was "Partners in Slime". That one featured surprisingly decent animation and makes several nods to the events of Ghostbusters II. The rest of the season...blech.

Season 5 saw the return of Straczynski to the staff, but it was too little too late. His episodes "Janine You've Changed" (which actually tries to give an in-canon explaination for her massive character overhaul between seasons 1 and 2) and "Russian About" (a sequel to the season 1 episode "The Collect Call of Cthulhu", and it also features a guest appearance from The-Guy-Who-Played-Chekhov-On-Star-Trek) are without a doubt the best episodes of the season. However, the rest of the season is virtually unwatchable. A couple episodes have merit; "Mean Green Teen Machines" is memorable for spoofing the TMNT and "Guess What's Coming to Dinner" spoofs the Simpsons (All be it, the first season of the Simpsons when they weren't really the Simpsons we all recognize). However, "Stay Tooned" has my vote for WORST EPISODE EVER and this season also features 2 episodes in a row containing the god awful Professor Dweeb ("The Slob" and "Deja Boo"). Not a pretty sight.

Season 6 is actually just left-overs from season 5, containing only 4 episodes. No grand finale either, the show just wasted away on a low note. "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale" features the return of Peter's con artist father (who was a returning character in season 1) and is the only watchable episode of the "season". "Not Now Slimer" is yet another Professor Dweeb episode and is better left unwatched.


So to answer your question, no. The show didn't remain consistent through-out the whole run. Season 3 is the last truely good episode. However, seasons 4 and 5 have their gems and those specific episodes are worth checking out, particularly "Partners in Slime", "Janine, You've Changed", and "Russian About". "Revenge of the Ghostmaster" is worth a look, too, in case you want closure on the events from "Short Stuff" in season 3.

Now, as for the episodes I really liked? They're mostly in season 1. Season 1 was just awesome.

"Ragnarok And Roll" is considered by most to be the most character-driven, darkest and, in some ways, "moving" episode of the series. Basically, a guy who feels hurt by the world gets a flute from the Spirits of Ragnarok and uses it to bring worldwide destruction. You get a good look at the destruction, too. Entire cities are flooded and ravaged by earthquakes. It really is armageddon. Fantastic episode (also available on the English DVD).
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"Knock Knock" is my personal favorite episode from the whole series. Basically, the Doomsday Door gets opened early the Ghostbusters have to find a way to close it before Hell takes over the Earth. There's a scene where these people are coming out of Hell, rowing a boat for all eternity. Death is acting as the Captain of the ship, laughing at their suffering. They beg him for release and he just laughs some more. It's done really creepily, as you never see their lips moving, you just hear these disembodied voices. I think this episode is also on one of the DVDs. Damn good.

There's also quite a bit of continuity in the episodes. Returning characters like Mr. Venkman (Peter's Dad, obviously), Detective Frump, Dr. Basingame, and even Lenny the Mayor. Unfortunately, all these returning characters got he axe when the show was retooled (save for Mr. Venkman, but he only showed up in one episode in the last season).

"Venkman's Ghost Repellers", "The Spirit of Aunt Lois" and "Cold Cash, Hot Water" give you a good look at Mr. Venkman and Dr. Basingame. They also contain some of the best animation in the whole series. Hob Anagarak, the fire demon in "Cold Cash Hot Water" is freaking awesome.
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"The Collect Call of Cthulhu" is known as the infamous "Banned Episode". It was banned from being rerun for a very long time because parents complained about the occult undertones in the episode. The heavy ties to the Lovecraftian Mythos didn't help, either. The episode was eventually rerun when USA picked it up in the mid 90's but got banned again whenthe show got rerun on Fox Family. A good episode, though as a Lovecraft fan I noticed several things they got wrong. Still, very dark.
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"The Headless Motorcyclist" is one of the more underated episodes. A really cool concept (stolen from an episode of Kolchak the Nightstalker, I might add) and the Headless Motorcyclist himself is one of the cooler villains on teh show. They give him this really weird, echoing laugh and hurls flaming motorcycle helmets at people. Awesome.
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"The Night Halloween was Forever", "The Boogieman Cometh", "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream" and "Slimer Come Home" are all essentials. Particularly the first one as it introduces the Ghostbusters most recognizeable nemesis, Samhaine (although he didn't get a toy until the Extreme Ghostbusters line, and he only showed up in the opening credits of that show!).
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"Ghostfight at the OK Corral" has hands down the BEST fight scene in the entire series. Not to mention plenty of memorable lines and scenes. Easily in my top 5.
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There's way too many awesome episodes in season 1 to list. It's just one of those great moments in tv history. You were pretty much guaranteed a good episode every day after school.

Gawd, I miss 80's animation. :cry:

Moden animation is pathetic in comparison. Thanks to American government standards you can't do anything dramatic, let alone god forbid anything character driven.

People wonder why all animation comes from Japan now? Blame the government. They ruined it by forcing studios to make everything more moral friendly and have a learning aspect to it rather than just tell a good story.

This show told a good story, but it, just like the original TMNT, fell victim to government interference in animation because they see it, and will always see it as a kid's medium, and as a result, shows like this will never be allowed to exist again.

It's so damn sad.

I used to watch this series alot when I was young, especially when USA Cartoon Express ran it. I too liked the early episodes the best. Some of my favorites were the ones with the boogie man and the grundel. I recently "obtained" the first couple seasons of this show and have yet to watch season 2, though season 1 brought back alot of memories and the show still holds up pretty well. I vaguely remember the later slimer episodes and they were really bad. Haven't seen them since I was a young lad, but even then I didn't like 'em.

I used to watch Extreme Ghostbusters every saturday morning (they played it on saturdays here, and weekdays everywhere else). This was a show I really liked and I don't think it deserves all the negative talk it gets. I do agree though, that the new Ghostbuster characters are the weakest point of the show. I guess I just enjoyed the continuity and interesting stories.

AHHHHHHhhhhh!!! Ghostbusters, one of the only series I like as much as TMNT. Although, I have to admit that the SYNDICATED RGB episodes (Seasons 1 and 2) scared the LIVING HELL out of me as a kid :D . One scene that traumatized me was in Egon on the Rampage, when Egon traded his soul with a demon's. That and Mrs. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Oh, and DrSpengler, Do you know ANYTHING about that Real Ghostbusters pilot clip in which the GBs had their movie uniforms and Slimer was evil?

I have both clips on tape, so I know plenty! :)

It wasn't really a "pilot" clip, since they weren't taken from any episodes. There were just two promotional clips made, one for television and one that was seen at the beginning of home videos.

They're both a random assortment of scenes, animated really well. A portion of the promo clip was used in the opening sequence of the tv series. At the end of the clip the Ghostbusters get ready to blast a hoard of ghosts, including Stay Puft and an evil Slimer. They erased Slimer from the hoard of ghosts and used a part of that clip in the intro.

http://www.spookcentral.tk/

They have screenshots. UNFORTUNATELY, right-clicking has been disabled AND you can't link to the page they're on.

So go to "TV Series", and under the Real Ghostbusters collumn click on "Original RGB" (at the very bottom of the list). There'll be plenty of pictures.

In regards to Slimer, the promo clips were done before the episodes were even animated. Slimer (originally called "Onionhead") was going to be evil but they chose to switch him over to mascot-status. They also streamlined the character designs a bit, making Peter a little less "chubby" and giving the Ghostbsuters multi-colored jumpsuits so that kids could tell them apart more easily (not unlike the TMNT's bandanas).

Me too, but that's one of the reasons why I liked it so much as a kid. :)

The Real Ghostbusters had some genuinely freaky moments.

http://www.sylak.com/xragnarok.jpg

When they're defeating the spirit of Ragnarok. In half a second his face is going to slipt in two. Half of it twists one way and the other half twists in a different direction. Freaky-looking.

And who could forget The Boogieman?

http://www.ecto-web.org/~spookcentra...85_image04.jpg
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When I was a kid he scared the mortal Hell out of me.

The other one that freaked me out was "The Thing in Mrs. Faversham's Attic", with all the possessed junk.

http://www.ecto-web.org/~spookcentra...31_image04.jpg

I just saw the ABC promo and I think Slimer should've stayed Onionhead. He seemed A LOT LESS annoying. Also it was a lot more action oriented. The Ecto-1 busted through a window. I've never seen that in the show.

And I might be wrong, but TOEI animated this, right?

Toei animated seasons 2-3. I'm not sure about season 1, as it was animated by several studios, some Japanese and some Korean.

Slimer...well...

When used in moderation Slimer isn't such a bad character. When written well he was like the Ghostbusters guide god, informant and guinea pig. They sent him into the Containment Unit on repeat occasions to find ghosts they needed to bring back, they used him to search out ghosts when their equipment was busted and they used him as an "insider", so to speak. In the first season he was pretty enjoyable. He wasn't in every episode, he couldn't talk, and he was only the central character of a few episodes that relied on him story-wise. After the show got retooled and he was required to be in every episode, things went sour.

However, had things been different he might have made a good nemesis. Hard to picutre him as something evil, but you never know.

Hey Dr. Spengler.. it's me again..

I just checked up on hmv.ca and searched for ghostbusters on dvd and I found the Ghostbusters/ghostbusters2 box set. .Exactly like you said..

I wonder what episodes are going to be in it too?

It's too bad. I really want to se this cartoon again.

BTW, how many episodes did you see and did you ever get to see the last episode of the real ghostbusters?

The advertisement in Video Store magazine (a magazine sent out to video stores, obviously) said that it would contain "2 episodes of Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters".

If that's any clue, then it looks like we're going to wind-up with season 3 episodes or later. If that's the case then damn, that sucks. It could just be a mis-type and we'll can still get season 1 episodes.

Personally, I've seen all 140 episodes over the course of my 20 years. Some I remember more vividly than others (I own about 110 of the episodes on tape). The last episode, where the Ghostbuster battle giant underground insects, was another lame-o episode better left forgotten. A shame, the Real Ghostbusters never got a genuine series finale. Had Straczynski stayed with the staff not only would the episode quality have remained excellent, but there'd have been actual continuity in the series and we probably would've gotten that series finale.

Straczynski kept excellent cotninuity between the tv series episodes and with the movie itself. "Citizen Ghost" in the first season features Peter retelling the story of what happened after their battle with Gozer to a tv reporter, Cynthia Crawford (returning character).
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Great episode.

Another one he did was "Take Two". Basically, this episode reveals that, while the events of Ghostbusters happened exactly as they did in the movie. Ghostbusters was just that; a movie. They break that 4th wall and go to Hollywood to watch the production of Ghostbusters. Tons of injokes and they even show footage of the movie at the very end.
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If you have a universal DVD player you can always pick up the two British DVDs. They have a healthy selection of season 1 episodes that should tide you over.

Even if the 2 episodes of the animated series is from slimer and the real ghosbtuster.. you can always just skip it and just watch the 2 movies because I don't even own both on dvd.. I just have the 2nd one on vhs.

I don't buy alot of dvds but when I do, I get good ones..