The Real Ghostbusters

[drgon78]

Since we got an announcement for a new animated series how about revisiting the first one. So who else is a fan?

I love this series...at least before it become Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters.

[Powder]

Anyone remember the user Jakesully, who got banned?

[drgon78]

No, what does that have to do with The Real Ghostbusters?

[drgon78]

I am surprised there are no fans of this one.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by drgon78

I am surprised there are no fans of this one.

The show's been over for more than 30 years and outside of the first few seasons, didn't age particularly well. The seasons with the Slimer shorts, Junior Ghostbusters and den mom Janine in particular were f*cking awful

The cartoon was at it's best when J. Michael Strazynski was working on it. At least he briefly came back to it to 'fix' everything, but I don't think that helped, as the show wasn't all that 'hot' with the kids at the time by then.

[oldmanwinters]

I am a fan.

Originally Posted by Powder

Anyone remember the user Jakesully, who got banned?

Haha, THAT guy..l

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Haha, THAT guy..l

Who was he?

[Anarchistguy]

The pre Q5 episodes, which were the first 78 episodes, were fantastic. Especially for their time.

[Sumac]

I think, I've watched only first few seasons, so I think I've seen the best this show had to offer, I think.
It was my first exposure to the Ghostbusters and I was very surprised, when almost ten years later I've discovered that cartoon series was based on the movies. And that some of it was written by the same guy who made Babylon 5, which I was big fan of.

All in all, I was very impressed by it, when I was a kid, especially since I was big fan of supernatural stuff, like ghosts, UFOs and the like. I've watched couple episodes few years ago and it was...not quite good. Maybe those were bad seasons...

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Sumac

It was my first exposure to the Ghostbusters and I was very surprised, when almost ten years later I've discovered that cartoon series was based on the movies. And that some of it was written by the same guy who made Babylon 5, which I was big fan of.

This was sort of my experience too, except I watched some of the movie on TV then caught some of the show, and also Extreme Ghostbusters later on. Then when I got older (teenager), I managed to watch the two GB movies proper followed by re-watching the cartoon(s).

All in all, I was very impressed by it, when I was a kid, especially since I was big fan of supernatural stuff, like ghosts, UFOs and the like. I've watched couple episodes few years ago and it was...not quite good. Maybe those were bad seasons...

I was a fan of the supernatural as a kid too. Ghostbusters might be a huge reason why. Well, that, and maybe Unsolved Mysteries?

And hm, you might've seen the bad episodes. I re-watched the first few seasons as an adult, and they held up. Well, for 80s/90s cartoons. I didn't re-watch the post-Strazynski stuff.

[Anarchistguy]

The post-Strazynski stuff was utter garbage

-They made Slimer the star. (he even magically started talking)
-They made Janine more family friendly/motherly. (whatever the hell that means)
-They focused more on kid characters
-They changed Peter's voice actor and made him BFFs with Slimer.
-They made Winston Ecto-1's official driver simply because he was black. (I swear I'm not making this up)
-They also tried to get rid of Ray, saying he was useless.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Anarchistguy

-They made Winston Ecto-1's official driver simply because he's black. (I swear I'm not making this up)
-They also tried to get rid of Ray, saying he was useless.

They did my two faves super dirty in those trash seasons.

[Leo656]

Janine's big transformation was the one and only time that adding Kath Soucie to a cartoon did not make things immediately better. Real shame.

The earliest Seasons were golden, though. Possibly the objective "best" of the 80s cartoons.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by superstaff

This was sort of my experience too, except I watched some of the movie on TV then caught some of the show, and also Extreme Ghostbusters later on. Then when I got older (teenager), I managed to watch the two GB movies proper followed by re-watching the cartoon(s).

I've watched Extreme Ghostbusters as well, but I don't remember whether it was before or after the movies.

Originally Posted by superstaff

And hm, you might've seen the bad episodes. I re-watched the first few seasons as an adult, and they held up. Well, for 80s/90s cartoons. I didn't re-watch the post-Strazynski stuff.

I think it was an episode, where Ghostbusters turned into musicians to defeat ghost musicians or something...animation was pretty horrible. Atrocious dub didn't help.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Sumac

I've watched Extreme Ghostbusters as well, but I don't remember whether it was before or after the movies.

Real Ghostbusters was definitely after the first movie. The first episode was about the Stay Puft goo on their movie jumpsuits possessing them, wasn't it?

Pretty sure there was stuff about Vigo and slime-blowers later on, so I think the idea was that GB2 happened somewhere in the middle of it. Somehow.

Originally Posted by Sumac

I think it was an episode, where Ghostbusters turned into musicians to defeat ghost musicians or something...animation was pretty horrible. Atrocious dub didn't help.

The one with "When the Saints Come Marching I" playing? I loved that one. One of the most memorable episodes to me, even now.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Real Ghostbusters was definitely after the first movie. The first episode was about the Stay Puft goo on their movie jumpsuits possessing them, wasn't it?

No, but it was in the first Season, Episode 11 specifically, "Citizen Ghost". I think a lot of people assume it was the first chronological episode because it deals with what technically would have been "their first post-movie adventure". But it wasn't until the end of Season 1.

I don't recall ever seeing the later episodes in question but Google does confirm that there were a few verbal references made to Vigo, the "mood slime", and digging up First Avenue in a couple of episodes, as well as Louis being added to the cartoon and being cited as a tax attorney.

The cartoon and the movies had an interesting relationship in that while "some" version of the movies' events did happen in the cartoon canon, they happened somewhat differently. For example, in the cartoon canon the Ghostbusters never went out of business after the Gozer Incident and so the Vigo incident was not their "big comeback" but instead simply one of their bigger cases. So while the "event" happened, the surrounding details differ. For example, Dana more or less "doesn't exist" in the cartoon canon, as she's never seen or referenced at all outside of the NOW Comics "Ghostbusters II" mini-series.

For the purposes of "the larger Ghostbusters canon", the cartoons and at least some of the NOW Comics were considered to be "what really happened" and the live-action films were simply Hollywood re-enactments of some of those events. But of course, as with any type of "canon" it's whatever you want it to be. But regardless, that's the "in-universe" explanation for those things.

[Coola Yagami]

That raises an interesting question. I know Walter Peck appears in the IDW Ghostbusters comics, but did Dana ever make an appearance or get a reference?

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Real Ghostbusters was definitely after the first movie. The first episode was about the Stay Puft goo on their movie jumpsuits possessing them, wasn't it?

Sorry, I've confused you: I've meant to say "I don't remember, if I watched it before or after I've watched movies".

[IMJ]

Love the show. It's just as watchable now as it was back then. If someone could just do something to enrich or deepen the color saturation, it could in many instances, look like it was made today.

It also drew a great balance of "heroic scary drama" and "slapstick comedy" across episodes. It lost a lot though when it became the "Slimer" show. When they did that it felt like they took the show away from regular kids and gave it to kids who ate paste and flicked boogers or otherwise that kind of kid who would snot out of his nose and just leave it hanging there waiting for someone to tell him to remove it.

I have a RGB set of some kind in a thicker case, but I have this nagging feeling that it's actually missing episodes or something for some reason. Loved the episode that Andrew mentioned as well - it actually gave this continuity reason why they wore colorful uniforms in the cartoon and sort of merged TRGB with the movie continuity. I don't remember any mention of Vigo or slime blowers ever though. That might've been after I got out of it as a kid if it happened....

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

That raises an interesting question. I know Walter Peck appears in the IDW Ghostbusters comics, but did Dana ever make an appearance or get a reference?

Yes, I recall a reference and appearance, but I don’t recall the issue numbers.