The Real Ghostbusters -First time watching since childhood

[JD]

A couple weeks ago I decided to watch The Real Ghostbusters animated series and got the first DVD available from Netflix. Since they don't have Volume 1, I had to start with Vol. 2 and "Chicken, He Clucked" the 18th episode of the first syndicated season.
So far I've watch Chicken....., Ragnarok and Roll, and Don't Forget the Motor City. Overall I've enjoyed them, but I haven't been totally blown away. Most of the animated stuff I've watched lately has been more recent stuff, like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, the DCAU series, Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice, and compared to those these have seemed rather simplistic.
I was actually kind of disappointed in Ragnarok, since I was expecting it to get more into Norse mythology, but they never really even mentioned any of the gods or the specific elements of the Norse Ragnarok, and pretty much seemed to do it as a fairly generic apocalypse.

 

[Admiral2]

The best of Real Ghostbusters was in the first and second network seasons. It was downhill after that, and most of the syndicated episodes were pedestrian at best.

My favorite episode of all time is "Knock, knock."

 

[JD]

I'm getting them from Netflix, and I'm not even sure if they have all the rest. I'm honestly not even sure if I am going to do any more after I finish this disc. I was just curious to check out a few episodes for nostalgia's sake, and because I'm a big Ghostbusters fan and I didn't remember the cartoon at all.

 

[Disco]

I remember enjoying the episodes when I was young, I don't the series was a stand out to me at the time though.

 

[Trekker4747]

I may have to give it a re-watch sometime in the near future. I have the entire series on DVD that came in a box-replica of the Firehouse.

I watched it when I first got the DVD a few years a go and for most of it was surprised how well it held up.

 

[martok2112]

Wasn't there an episode of TRG where one of the 'Busters got demonically possessed?
If so, it actually looked pretty ferocious for an animated series of the time, if indeed I recalled it correctly.

 

[Christopher]

Overall I've enjoyed them, but I haven't been totally blown away. Most of the animated stuff I've watched lately has been more recent stuff, like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, the DCAU series, Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice, and compared to those these have seemed rather simplistic.

But that's largely because those later shows built on the foundations that The Real Ghostbusters laid down. It basically started the trend of adding greater sophistication and intelligence to kids' animation. Story editor J. Michael Straczynski brought in top-notch fantasy and SF writers to do scripts for the show, bringing more depth than the usual kids' stuff of the era. I remember a Starlog interview where JMS actually apologized for the first couple of episodes of season 1, which were much more simplistic and typical of Saturday morning writing, because they hadn't yet figured out how far they could push the envelope. Once TRG proved that kids' animation could be smarter, it opened the door for later shows that pushed even farther. Its writing staff initially included Michael Reaves, who would go on to be a staffer on Batman: TAS and one of the head writers on Gargoyles.

Although it didn't last. The show was best in its second season, the only one aired in daily strip syndication rather than on Saturday mornings, and was thus able to be more mature and push the envelope further. The subsequent seasons, like the first, were all aired on ABC Saturday mornings and were thus under constant pressure to be more dumbed-down and kid-friendly. Also JMS left after the second season, although he came back for the fifth and sixth, apparently. So it wasn't as good after the first couple of years.

 

[Marsden]

Wasn't there an episode of TRG where one of the 'Busters got demonically possessed?
If so, it actually looked pretty ferocious for an animated series of the time, if indeed I recalled it correctly.

Egon did, I remember the demon yelling "Free to destroy!" because that's one of those quotes that no one gets that I like to say for no reason.

 

[martok2112]

Wasn't there an episode of TRG where one of the 'Busters got demonically possessed?
If so, it actually looked pretty ferocious for an animated series of the time, if indeed I recalled it correctly.

Egon did, I remember the demon yelling "Free to destroy!" because that's one of those quotes that no one gets that I like to say for no reason.

Say it with joyous abandon!

 

[Hound of UIster]

You should also try the Extreme Ghostbusters. It has a more SJW typish cast, but the writing and overall direction is pretty good.

 

[JD]

I watched Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie today, and I actually really enjoyed this one. I think I just came in with my expectations to high, and now that I know what it is I'm able to enjoy it more. I didn't mention it in my last post, but I did enjoy Don't Forget the Motor City quite a bit too.

I do like the fact they they are using "real" monsters, and legends in some of these episodes instead of just making up generic monsters.

 

[Trekker4747]

You should also try the Extreme Ghostbusters. It has a more SJW typish cast, but the writing and overall direction is pretty good.

Did you seriously need to freakin' use the loaded "SJW" term?

XGB gets dragged on a lot by the greater GB fan community but I myself enjoyed it quite a bit. There's even a good episode later in the series that reunites the orginal/"real" Ghostbusters (Peter, Ray and Winston) who're overwhelmed by the more powerful equipment and things faced by the XGB team.

 

[Hound of UIster]

You should also try the Extreme Ghostbusters. It has a more SJW typish cast, but the writing and overall direction is pretty good.

Did you seriously need to freakin' use the loaded "SJW" term?

It is almost always the primary chief complaint (amazing that no one complains about the typical Sony style animation) that you hear from people who don't like the show

 

[Christopher]

It is almost always the primary chief complaint (amazing that no one complains about the typical 90s Sony playdoo people animation) that you hear from people who don't like the show

And if the only reason they didn't like the show was because it wasn't exclusively about white men, that tells you just how worthless their opinions are. 'Nuff said.


Extreme Ghostbusters wasn't as good as RGB, but I liked it. I wished it had been truer to the continuity of the old show; it often rehashed RGB monsters and treated them as if they'd never been encountered before, and it reset Egon to not knowing that Janine was interested in him. But it was fun, it had relatively good writing and character designs, and it had good characters and a good cast. It was great that they brought Maurice LaMarche back as Egon, and the new cast had a couple of the greats in it, Tara Strong and Jason Marsden. Kylie was one of the roles that first made me aware of Tara Strong's name (though it was Tara Charendoff at the time) and impressed with her as a voice actress; Batgirl in the contemporary New Batman Adventures was the other. Strong has done so very many unforgettable characters since, but I still remember Kylie.

I also like Jim Latham's XGB arrangement of the Ghostbusters theme song much better than the original. The instrumentals are intriguing, and I like the way the question "Who you gonna call?" initially goes unanswered, giving it more impact when you finally hear "Ghostbusters" -- in an eerie whisper which is a lot more effective than the cheerleader cry of the original.

 

[Timby]

Oh, my God, that theme is just the absolute pinnacle of awful '90s buttrock.

Seriously, this sounds like one of the endless Nirvana / Pearl Jam / Soundgarden knock-off bands that were on the radio for like a decade.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEpCUB8IjzM[/yt]

 

[Christopher]

Oh, my God, that theme is just the absolute pinnacle of awful '90s buttrock.

Seriously, this sounds like one of the endless Nirvana / Pearl Jam / Soundgarden knock-off bands that were on the radio for like a decade.

I know little about popular music styles or genres or periods. I have no familiarity with any of the things you're talking about. All I know is that I think Jim Latham's music for the '90s Sony animated shows was pretty interesting in its way. It's not the style I typically like, but I found it creative.

The '90s Sony shows had pretty terrific main-title sequences too, imaginatively designed and well-animated. That one's quite well done, as were the titles for Men in Black: The Series and Godzilla: The Series.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Oh, my God, that theme is just the absolute pinnacle of awful '90s buttrock.

Seriously, this sounds like one of the endless Nirvana / Pearl Jam / Soundgarden knock-off bands that were on the radio for like a decade.

The Batman Beyond theme is still the worst of the 90s imo.

 

[Saga]

Oh, my God, that theme is just the absolute pinnacle of awful '90s buttrock.

Seriously, this sounds like one of the endless Nirvana / Pearl Jam / Soundgarden knock-off bands that were on the radio for like a decade.

i liked it then, i still like it.

The Batman Beyond theme is still the worst of the 90s imo.

...i like that one too.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^Batman Beyond was bad? I thought it was awesome!
ETA: Extreme Ghostbusters... the theme was jarring initially... it's not so bad now.

 

[kirk55555]

Batman Beyond's theme was atrocious, but (listening to the posted video) the Extreme Ghostbusters theme sounds decent to me. Its nothing mind blowing, but nothing really bad, either.