The Real Ghostbusters was an amazing show at 1st and really stood out for its quality writing and characters!
The Real Ghostbusters: The Good Episodes
The Real Ghostbusters was an amazing show at 1st and really stood out for its quality writing and characters!
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Holy crap, this is surprising!
Phelous, I feel the same way you do about the Ghostbusters cartoon. They were what I had first, before I was allowed to watch the movie. This show and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon were two shows that really got me into cartoons. I love these shows so much I started buying up cels from the cartoons!
I think the cartoon “ruined” the movie for me, because I always thought the cartoon was so great that when I finally saw the movie, I don’t think I understood why it wasn’t as “fun”. I love both now, but the cartoon will always have a really special place for me.
Great review! I love it when you talk ghostbusters. Must…resist…going on ebay…buying working prop proton pack for 2 grand….HRRGHHH
Ooh, cels are one of the best bits of paraphernalia you can get!
Can you laminate cels to protect them from damage, or would the heat from the laminator damage the cels?
i get them matted and framed. Laminating them would probably mess them up and not make them worth anything since the coolest part of having cels is seeing all the layers separated (if you wanted) and the back painted up part as well. Good framing and storage is best. I have my Aahh real monsters cels and my rocko’s modern life cels all done up nice. It’s kinda expensive but it’s worth it!
most cels from shows are pretty cheap too, unless you’re looking to buy stuff from the old batman series or animaniacs or really old looney tunes stuff. Oh and disney is mad expensive, but if you’re into weird 80s and 90s toons, its the best kinda collecting you can do!! I found out one of my animation instructors use to work on Bravestarr and I was like “dude i might have one of your cels!” Good stuff.
Most of the show was animated in Japan. Like almost all american cartoons at the time. Toei Animation, TMS worked on it to name a few.
I don’t remember watching this show too much as a kid. however, I do remember having a few of the figures, and Ecto-1 car, and the fire house which we sadly no longer have anymore. the only movie based tv series I seem to remember watching a lot as a kid was either Beetlejuice or Back To The Future The Series. but it does look like a cartoon series I want to look into. once again, well done Phelous. you never cease to impress me with these videos. ^-^
on a side note, if they plan to release the new Ghostbusters next year, then they’ve got to bring back Ecto Cooler as well. that I do remember drinking as a kid, and I agree with many people that they should bring it back. a lot of people still want Crystal Pepsi to be brought back (which a lot of people commented on through a VH1 I Love The 90’s video I posted which is still one of my more popular videos), so I can sympathize with them for wanting a revival of a classic food brand. especially one that’s tied so strongly to the Ghostbusters franchise.
I kinda want to see your thoughts on the Extreme Ghostbusters when the time comes.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch more than an episode of it anymore than I could 4kids TMNT, so I have no idea if I missed out or lucked out. I’d like to hear Phelan’s opinions because he surely saw more of it than I did.
Yes! I hope Phelous talks a bit about EG! While for me it doesn’t hold a candle to the original show I grew up with, I can’t help but be amused by EG for being so very veeery 90’s. From the ‘extreeeeme’ revamp of the show (it’s even in the title!) to the ‘let’s include EVERY MINORITY’ thing that was going on in the 90’s, Extreme Ghostbusters is a lot of fun. Plus the designs they got away with for the ghosts were just sickening at some points(in a good way)!
This is all part of your elaborate scheme to get me to buy Real Ghostbusters DVDs. Next I’ll be playing the horrible game again and digging out my skeleton-cop, tongue-monster, and eye-popping Janine toys to play in my Ghostbuster HQ playset I still have in my closet. That’s it, huh? You want me to put green food coloring in Hi-C and pretend its ecto-cooler so I can relive my childhood, don’t you? That’s strange, weird, eccentric, sick…that about covers it.
I love it when you talk about franchises you’re passionate about like this, Silent Hill and Mortal Kombat, and you’ve yet again done a great job analysing and exploring this show–and I applaud you doing that without spoiling anything significant. This is the first time I’ve been genuinely convinced that I want to watch this series–of course I’ll try to avoid the ones you mentioned were massively messed with.
Looking forward to seeing you tackle the awful half of the show too. I’m prepping for some serious anger…
Great review! It’s cool seeing you talk about a show as a whole rather than just specific episodes. It’s a nice change of pace.
It always bothered me a bit how Winston didn’t get the same attention as the other three characters, as well. I think it’s the same thing as Leonardo in TMNT: he’s playing the “straight man,” the more normal personality that balances out the other three more eccentric characters. A very integral part of a cast to keep the story and characters grounded, but unfortunately a side-effect is that the character doesn’t shine as much as the others, doesn’t capture people’s attention as much. But I think both Ghostbusters and TMNT did a great job writing plots where their ‘straight man’ can shine, where other shows of lesser quality just let them fade into the background.
Can’t wait to see the next part! 🙂
When there’s sharp glasses in your kids’ cartoon, who you gonna call?
Group Q5.
The Real Ghostbusters was a bit before my time, but I’ve heard/read a bit about it and it sounds like something I would’ve enjoyed. I just hope that the next video goes into some depth on “Janine, You’ve Changed”. The way many talk about it makes it sound like it was one of the only good episodes to come out of ABCBusters.
When there’s sharp glasses in your kids’ cartoon, who ya gonna call?
Group Q5.
The Real Ghostbusters was a bit before my time, but I’ve read/heard a lot about it and it sounds like a cartoon I really would’ve enjoyed. I just hope that in the next video you go into some depth on the episode “Janine, You’ve Changed”. The way many people talk about it sounds like it was one of the few good things to come out of ABCBusters.
Ghostbusters was my first favorites as well. In fact, I really don’t remember being into TV much prior to 1986. Then TMNT came out a year latter. The first 2 seasons were the best, but I still remember being pissed when there were no more new episodes & sad when the reruns stopped airing. Thankfully, we can watch all the low res episodes online now, or buy DVDs & watch it in decent quality.
Rewatching the series as an adult…the episodes are hit & miss, but if anyone here has young kids, you can definitely bond with them over this show. Prior to rewatching, the episode I remembered the most clearly was “Play Them Ragtime Boos.” It was my introduction to classic jazz. What episode does everyone else remember the most?
Only recently got to see the pilot…Mades a kickass music video for the theme song.
Swear to gawd Egon’s design influenced Dr. Ido (Ee,doh) from Battle Angel Alita.
I remember the first time I saw Filmation’s Ghostbusters on TV…It was the first time I ever felt like I was being trolled. XD “What is this Scooby Doo shit? Where’s Egon?”
Slimer got progressively more annoying…Right up there with Orko, Orbity, Scooby (yes, Scooby & not Shaggy), Snarf, the robot from A Robot in the Family, Wheately, & Jar Jar.
I never had good hearing, so I could barely pick up on the difference between Peter’s voices too much or Winston’s at all (& that includes listening to audio samples of both voice actors saying the same lines). Janine’s voice shift on the other hand drove me insane. I thought it was also disrespectful to change her design so much, but they just kept doing it.
When I finally saw the movies, I remember thinking that Winston was there to fill some type of gap, wasn’t fleshed out well enough, didn’t stand out at all, & barely felt like part of the team. I always thought that was the reason his character was left out of all the video games. & as many times as I’ve seen Ghostbusters 2, I still can’t remember if his character was even in it or not. The cartoon did not have this problem.
Winston’s job was pretty much to be the straight man and the guy that they could explain stuff to for the audience’s benefit. He was in Ghostbusters 2 and I think he gets some fairly good lines in.
From what I’ve seen, Ghostbusters Extreme seemed to have its moments, though I’m curious what Phelous’ thoughts are, especially for the episode where the two teams meet up.
Thanks for the explanation of the differences between the syndicated and ABC seasons. I definitely remember them being somewhat different, but liked the syndicated ones better, though I remember the animation on the Saturday Morning ones being a bit better.
I remember Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters vaguely, but by then I had mostly lost interest in the series overall…and I knew it was the “kiddy-fied” version of the show even back then as a kid.
I’m glad you went into a little detail about the Filmation Ghostbusters. I remember seeing it listed in the TV guide (that’s where we went to find out what was gonna be on TV in the days before on-screen guides for the millenials lol) and getting excited. So my brother and I are all psyched up before school to watch the Ghostbusters cartoon…and it was the Filmation one, and we hated it so much. It became a running joke at our school to hate on the “fake” Ghostbusters. None of us had ever heard of or seen the live action one from 1975, so we assumed it was a cheap rip-off.
Good times.
I was re-e-eally young when I watched the show but I loved the hell out of it, even more than the Ninja Turtles. Even at its lowest points I never felt that it was broken (VERY unlike the Turtles). Of the later episodes, I most fondly recall ‘Flip Side’ (as you might have guessed from my current avatar), ‘The Joke’s On Ray,’ ‘My Left Fang,’ ‘Something’s Going Around,’ ‘Partners In Slime,’ ‘Live From Al Capone’s Tomb,’ ‘Slimer Streak,’ and ‘Ghostworld.’ I mostly hated those Slimer shorts, but it blew my mind when Professor Dweeb got moved over to the serious part of the show, sometimes even as a real threat.
I remember this show rather well and did like the earlier episodes the best along with both movies. Was probably among my favorite shows with TMNT, Iron Man, and MMPR. Cant say I remember much of the later seasons but what I remember being rather bad was Ghostbusters Extreme along with GIJoe Extreme.
From what I’ve seen, it does seem like it has its moments, though I’m curious about Phelous’ opinion, especially for the episode where the two teams meet up. There’s a nod to the Extreme Ghostbusters in the firehouse basement in the Ghostbusters game.
From what I’ve seen, Ghostbusters Extreme seemed to have its moments, though I’m curious what Phelous’ thoughts are, especially for the episode where the two teams meet up. (This comment was meant for you. Not sure why it went to someone else)
The Ghostbusters Extreme may have had their moments, but the show itself was so 90’s that in general it was forgettable compared The Real Ghostbusters. I will admit I would like to see Phelous’s take on that series.
Random question here open to anyone who may know the answer, but does anyone know if there’s a difference between the ad revenue received from Blip vs Youtube? Meaning, do Phelous and other reviewers get more money from one website or is the amount the same? I’ve been wondering for a while if I should be making sure to watch the videos on one website or the other.
I noticed that Phelan has more patrons than last month, but is now making less. What gives? We’re never going to see “Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm” or “Halloweenie season 4” at this rate.
That was a very enjoyable episode. Thank you, Phelan.
I knew that after this “look to the good” was going to follow a “look to the bad”
i mean, how long phelous could talk about stuff that make him happy…. with out counting bootleg zone
This kind of explains why Babylon 5 ran 5 solid seasons; Straczynski got to do what he wanted.
I kept trying to figure out what quality drop you were talking about. Then you admit it was “Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters.” I don’t think I watched that more than once.
This was a very enjoyable episode!! It’s good to see you reviewing something you’re so passionate about. I’ve learned a lot more about this cartoon thanks to you. Especially the fact that the voice cast would record together in the same room and how well they worked together. It made me wish I could meet Lorenzo Music if he was still around. =’)
I’m happy to say I do own the episodes on DVD in 3 volumes. I was a 90’s baby so I don’t remember if I ever watched The Real Ghostbusters cartoon but I love watching it now! Me and a friend binge watched the series and we both agreed it was a clever and well written show.
The Extreme Ghostbusters I actually do recall seeing it on TV and although I gave it a chance, I just couldn’t get into it. As others mentioned before me, it was slathered in everything 90’s and following the trends during that time.
Thanks for this awesome review! If you are planning to review the Extreme Ghostbusters I do look forward to hearing your thoughts. =)
Glad you enjoyed it, yes, I do eventually want to talk about Extreme Ghostbusters. I’m also going to go a little more in depth on some of the Real Ghostbusters episodes in some other vids.
that confirm the ghost busters with the monkey that no body cares about too?
This was a great review! I got to see Ghostbusters when I was really young, in a theater when it first came out, and it was storming, and the back of the theater flooded. I didn’t really think too much about it til later I got the soundtrack and then finally the cartoon came out (the Filmation GB made me mad). I really enjoyed watching this with my cousin before he left for school and I left for work on weekdays. This was also the time I realized I recognized Garfield’s voice, as well as Uni the unicorn from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. Very nostalgic. Thanks!
I even did a poor audo dum spoof of a Real Ghostbuters episode, and I made a GB RPG adventure adapting Stryzinski’s Halloween episode.
Tubedub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SymuhjAPdfw
Did me other comment post? I’m new to the new WP stuff.
Holy cow! I thought I was the only person in existence that saw the cartoon long before I saw the movies! It’s strange, I hardly remember any of the show as an adult, but I do remember loving it as a kid (the same way I loved the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cartoon when I was little, but barely remember anything about it, outside killer tomatoes and the kid protagonists). In fact, the Hi-C Ecto Cooler juice box was my preferred go-to drink in elementary school (when I wasn’t guzzling Capri Sun). Outside of the Ghostbusters themselves, all I remember about the show was Slimer, and that the episodes I saw as a kid all had the original VOA for Jeanine. Heck, it wasn’t until I watched CR’s first Familiar Faces that I found out she was replaced by Kath Soucie.
Awesome! I was a big fan of the REAL Ghostbusters cartoon also. This is a great review, Phelous! Channel Awesome really blew it letting you and Allison go. I’m really looking forward to the second part of this review that covers the “Peter has the wrong voice” episodes of this series.
So just got done watching the first 13 eps of the show on youtube–ah the memories!
I’m amazed at the AWESOME soundtrack for the episodes, which even includes some boppin’ 80’s tunes with lyrics that plays during some of the fight montages. But even the instrumental background music is to die for. Does anybody know if there’s a Real Ghostbusters soundtrack floating around out there anywhere? Official or otherwise?
Lorenzo Music plays the animated version of Peter Venkman because he sounds like Bill Murray. Bill Murray plays the “live” action version of Garfield because he sounds like Lorenzo Music. Mind… blown…
So with the talk about syndicated episodes, I have to ask, which DVD sets contain them? I only have the first season on DVD, but do want to get more in the future.
Up to Volume 3 covers all the good episodes but you also start getting the network interference ones on Vol3 as well.
Now that I know your age, I’m about six years older than you. I saw ‘Ghostbusters’ SEVEN TIMES in the theaters which makes it tied with ‘Star Wars’ as my most theater viewings for any single movie.
When ‘Ghostbusters’ the animated series came out my reaction was just like every other kid at school. “Who the hell are these guys? This isn’t the cartoon version of what we saw in theaters!”
Hence, the title ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ made a lot more sense to everyone. “Yes, these are the Ghostbusters we know and love!”
For the most part I enjoyed the series as a whole, yes even the ABC dumbed down version. I will admit the pre dumbed down version was better the ABC version wasn’t as bad as Phelous makes it out to be. I also enjoyed Extreme Ghostbusters. I also like how they included the movies into their continuity and had Janine date Louis for a small while before they went back to Janine/Egon.
I swear, Laura Summer’s Janine voiceover sounds similar to Harley Quinn.
I remember reading an interview in a Garfield annual I had and it had that well known picture of Lorenzo Music with dark glasses and a trench coat peeking around a door with Garfield below.
In the interview he said he was very reluctant to show his face because he knew kids would have their own idea of what he looked like. He didn’t want to say “Hey, kids! My voice isn’t owned by Peter Venkman or Garfield or Tummy (gummybears), it’s actually owned by this old dude!”
I’m paraphrasing, obviously, but it’s that level of care towards not just the characters he portrays but his audience too that made me love him so much. It’s something you don’t think of, how the audience percieves the man behind the voice. A good example was finding out what Michael Bell really looked like after listening to him play Raziel for so long, finding out he wasn’t a 30-year old man but a long standing veteran of voice acting who’s been around for some time. Really surprised me.
*Sigh* I check every now and then to see if the box set is available to buy for a not-insane price but…I think I’m waiting in vain.
Adapting a great movie into a cartoon is a good idea as long as the staff cares, and it shows that they do care so much. I haven’t watched many episodes of The Real Ghostbusters since I was born shortly after the show ended its run. However, years later, I watched a few episodes via a friend’s podcasts, and I found them quite enjoyable. =)
I shouldn’t be talking about which pairing involving Janine I prefer (since Ghostbusters isn’t really about romance), but I know about the Egon x Janine pairing, which is more noticeable the more I watch the first movie.
Okay… now I have given this show all the chances I can. Sorry, Phelous, I can see why you liked this as a kid, but no I don’t think this has held up or aged well in the slightest.
Now, unlike the G1 Transformers, I can hear and feel the voice actors and writers really trying to make something of great quality for kids. That goes double for Lorenzo Music as Venkman, he was fantastic and I definitely agree captures Murray’s performance and wit beautifully. All the voice cast are great in the first season, all having a blast and truly getting into the characters (unlike a lot of voice actors of 70’s/80’s shows who just put on silly voices without really giving a genuine acting performance) leaving it a very well delivered show. And the dialogue definitely has its moments where it sincerely shines–that scene with the gang confronting Egon, only for their leader to leave him alone because “My daddy always told me never to mess with anyone weirder than I am.” was brilliant. Certainly I enjoyed the humour, and some of the plots/episodes. But honestly, I think you made way more of it than was really there–it was a show that was good at the time, with a lot of potential that stood out above its peers for having more care and effort put in, but had it aired today, no I don’t think it’d stand that well.
I do have significant problems with it too that kept me from liking it that much. The pacing on the episodes of the first season was all over the place, like dialogue being really oddly timed or just weird to hear. The ghosts were pretty inconsistent, with no real rules established for how any of them work. Plus the fact that a lot of them were pretty annoying, stupid and not that well thought out–especially the first episode with the bizarre family of ghosts, which seemed to forget that ghosts were supposed to be dead human beings. I often found myself sitting through crap comic relief ghosts shenanigans rather than a decent plot about the Ghostbusters. Not always, but often enough that it got tedious really quick. That’s a problem I found with a lot of 80’s shows–TMNT and Transformers G1 both had that annoying ‘we’re-not-quite-sure-how-to-transition-out-of-this-scene/moment’ feel to them that only started to get better in the 90’s with Batman The Animated Series, Animaniacs etc.
The animation constantly distracted me, it had so many errors and weird moments, from things like jump-cutting character motions, to awkward movements, to bad lip-synching, to off-model characters that I couldn’t get into the stories. Random fake pop songs kept popping up in the middle of weirdly handled action sequences that didn’t fit the tone, timing or general atmosphere of the scene they were randomly placed in. Other music would be fine, if not for the fact they played the same 6 songs over and over and over again until they became frustrating–I got so sick of hearing the damn theme tune every 10 minutes really quick. Also, Slimer was WAY to prevalent, even in the first season they did give him too much focus. The episode “Slimer come back” was frustrating on many levels to me, because I really don’t see ANY reason why any of them want Slimer back when he does nothing but make annoying noises, eat their food and shits slime on everyone/everything. I had absolutely no sympathy for it, and no connection to the events of the story because of, again, how jarring the editing was. He is and always was a pointless addition that distracted from the story, and doesn’t even fit in with the ghost we saw in the film (besides the fact he eats a lot).
Again, I am by no means saying it’s terrible, or even that bad for what it is, and absolutely understand why, for the 80’s, this was a massive step up. However, I definitely don’t think it’s the nigh-untouchable, mega-force of awesome you’re describing here. I think you over-sold the early seasons/syndicated episodes of show in this video a bit too much, and could do with taking a step back from the personal attachment you have with the show.
Cool, sorry you didn’t enjoy as much as I do. I can’t guarantee everyone will have the same opinion as me. Yes, I am attached to the show but plenty of people who have watched the show for the 1st time based on my video have felt it holds up in the beginning. I watched through the series with Allison who hadn’t seen it before and she too feels it’s a quality show in the beginning but it might not be to everyone’s taste.
For whatever reason, the episode that left the biggest impression on me was “Play Them Ragtime Boos” from season 2. Did anyone else have a favorite episode?