The Real Ghostbusters

[Trekker4747]

I've said time and time again:

The Real Ghostbusters is the best cartoon from the 1980s (well, to a point. The later seasons get... dicey.) The earliest episodes have nice "darkness" and tone to them that jives well in a balance between the tone of the original movie and it being a cartoon meant for kids on Saturday mornings (or syndicated repeats after school.)

There's entire episodes of this series that'll go on record saying are better than the second, actual, Ghostbusters movie.

I've been watching through the series on DVD lately (I bought the boxed set when it came out a few years ago in a case that looks like the Ghostbusters firehouse, issued by Time Life) and, it just brings back so much childhood and enjoyment.

Yeah, it's a cartoon so there's a lot you have to just sort of accept with it (I don't mind Slimer that much (again in the "official"/real show and mostly in the earlier seasons. He gets to be much later on and especially in his own spin-off segments when the cartoon became Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters.)

Great moments in the first season include action/chase scenes set to the most '80s music this side of 1985 by a band/group that near as I can tell only did this show and literally nothing else.

It's wild fun, and for me a nice way to just geek out.

An episode/story that I think qualifies as what could have been a great sequel (obviously if expanded from the 20-something minute cartoon to a 90-minute movie) is the "Second Season" episode "Knock, Knock."

With the Ghostbusters encountering a doomsday-like scenario.... Something they did quite often through the series.

It's so strange that the lightness of the second movie is most blamed on them trying to appeal more to kids because of the cartoon when the cartoon was cranking out episodes like that, and this.

"Ragnarok and Roll"

"Janine..."

Damn, gives one chills.

(Episode links removed as they're very likely not "official" uploads. Seek the episodes out on Netflix or something, they're around.)

 

[JD]

I watched a few episodes a while back after they added it to Netflix, and while it might be up to the level of stuff like Batman: The Animated Series, I did start to really enjoy it after a few episodes.
I'm not sure if you should be posting those episodes, since I'm pretty sure those were probably posted illegally.

 

[Trekker4747]

I watched a few episodes a while back after they added it to Netflix, and while it might be up to the level of stuff like Batman: The Animated Series, I did start to really enjoy it after a few episodes.
I'm not sure if you should be posting those episodes, since I'm pretty sure those were probably posted illegally.

Yeah, I guess it's not quite up there with Batman:TAS, but certainly ranked. (I'm guessing that's what you meant, the sentence is missing a "not.")

There's some rough stuff in it for sure, but it's overall enjoyable with some good voice work. (Mostly in the early episodes with Arsenol Hall as Winston and the voice of Garfield from his animated series as Peter.)

 

[Christopher]

Great moments in the first season include action/chase scenes set to the most '80s music this side of 1985 by a band/group that near as I can tell only did this show and literally nothing else.

I guess you're talking about the pop songs that were in some of the early episodes. I'm indifferent to those, but I loved The Real Ghostbusters' incidental music overall, composed by Shuki Levy & Haim Saban, who scored countless '80s and '90s animated series (indeed, there were very few US cartoons in the '80s that they didn't score). But their work for RGB was probably my favorite of their scores, since it had such a range of different musical styles -- rock, jazz, Motown, Dixieland, eerie mystery music, intense adventure cues, really a remarkable diversity.

It's so strange that the lightness of the second movie is most blamed on them trying to appeal more to kids because of the cartoon when the cartoon was cranking out episodes like that, and this.

Really, though, RGB was one of the first animated series that elevated its writing beyond the typical kid stuff, with story editor J. Michael Straczynski bringing in top-notch writers to tell sophisticated stories that didn't talk down to the audience. It was mainly in the 65 first-run syndicated episodes (released between the first and second Saturday-morning network seasons) that the show was able to reach its highest quality, and the later network seasons got increasingly dumbed down, but I feel it paved the way for the animation renaissance of the '90s.

Seek the episodes out on Netflix or something, they're around.

Unfortunately, they're only on Netflix until March 31. Although they may come back again at some point. They've gone away and come back once already since I first added them to my streaming queue a few years ago.

 

[Trekker4747]

I guess you're talking about the pop songs that were in some of the early episodes. I'm indifferent to those, but I loved The Real Ghostbusters' incidental music overall, composed by Shuki Levy & Haim Saban, who scored countless '80s and '90s animated series (indeed, there were very few US cartoons in the '80s that they didn't score). But their work for RGB was probably my favorite of their scores, since it had such a range of different musical styles -- rock, jazz, Motown, Dixieland, eerie mystery music, intense adventure cues, really a remarkable diversity.

Yeah, the pop songs. They're just so '80s it just, for me, gives the show so much more character and feeling from that era. But the incidental composed music is also very good.

 

[Admiral2]

An episode/story that I think qualifies as what could have been a great sequel (obviously if expanded from the 20-something minute cartoon to a 90-minute movie) is the "Second Season" episode "Knock, Knock."

With the Ghostbusters encountering a doomsday-like scenario.... Something they did quite often through the series.

Absolutely my favorite episode of the series. My favorite part is when Egon tells them what they have to do to stop it and when asked why he waited to tell them he admits thinking if he'd told them before hand they wouldn't do it.

"Egon, that's a terrible thing to say," Peter says. "You're right, of course, but it's still terrible."

That said, on a season by season basis nothing beats that first one. And you're absolutely right about the pop music, and it's one of the reasons why the first season stands out, because that sort of disappeared as the show progressed. What stands out for me are the villains like Killerwatt, Samhein, and The Boogeyman.

 

[Trekker4747]

A few years ago a book was published called "Tobin's Spirit Guide" that containers "profiles" of various ghosts seen through out the animated series, as well as the video game "sequel" that came out a few years ago and an entire section on the beings centered around Gozer.

https://www.amazon.com/Tobins-Spiri...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=67RYCVZG8N8G1HTTHJPM

 

[Teelie]

I really liked The Real Ghostbusters but I don't think it was the best of the 80's (TMNT would top my list, Batman: TAS was 90's). I only saw the occasional episode during it's original run but I have seen all of them in recent years. Even the semi-sequel Extreme Ghostbusters.

 

[Trekker4747]

The humor in the series, for me, continues to be on point with the original movie and subtle enough to go over a kid's head and appeal to a watching adult.

In one episode the Ghostbusters are tasked by some [angels] to recover some magical shears that've been stolen by demons and taken to Damnation to give to Satan, which them he can take over the world. (Or something)

Upon arriving in the Underworld, Peter says, "This is great! People are always telling me I should go here!"

 

[Unicron]

One of my personal favorites is "Bustman's Holiday" when the group goes to Scotland. I liked that, in part, the episode paid attention to Ray's skill with engineering and technology to solve a problem the team wasn't expecting to face (having to capture nearly 800 ghosts after being tricked into catching the "keystone" ghost that haunts so they can stay at rest). There's also a couple of episodes I liked that focus on ghosts who weren't inherently malicious, but simply lost or trapped souls looking to move on.

 

[Christopher]

There's also a couple of episodes I liked that focus on ghosts who weren't inherently malicious, but simply lost or trapped souls looking to move on.

"The Man Who Never Reached Home" is surprisingly poignant.

 

[Unicron]

I agree, along with the "Long etc. Goodbye." I admit I've always been a little confused about what happened to Blackie with the curse, but he's one of my favorite supernatural designs.

 

[Random_Spock]

I really liked The Real Ghostbusters but I don't think it was the best of the 80's (TMNT would top my list, Batman: TAS was 90's). I only saw the occasional episode during it's original run but I have seen all of them in recent years. Even the semi-sequel Extreme Ghostbusters.

I did as well. Loved watching that, TMNT and Garfield and Friends. Three of my favorite cartoons as I was growing up. I think I've seen it for sale at Walmart before, I'll have to check again sometime.

 

[Marsden]

The humor in the series, for me, continues to be on point with the original movie and subtle enough to go over a kid's head and appeal to a watching adult.

In one episode the Ghostbusters are tasked by some [angels] to recover some magical shears that've been stolen by demons and taken to Damnation to give to Satan, which them he can take over the world. (Or something)

Upon arriving in the Underworld, Peter says, "This is great! People are always telling me I should go here!"

They were the Fates, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fate-Greek-and-Roman-mythology

There was also a Norse analog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norns


I really liked the episode when Marduk, the Babylonian god of the city, showed up and he was a good guy

When the Four Horsemen were released from the Codex of Saint Theophilus they had to seal them in a trap with wax and the saint's seal impression on the wax, Egon yells down to Peter, "The seal impression" and Peter yells 'York York" like a seal.

 

[Saul]

Didn't we have a RGB thread a few weeks ago?

A few years ago a book was published called "Tobin's Spirit Guide" that containers "profiles" of various ghosts seen through out the animated series, as well as the video game "sequel" that came out a few years ago and an entire section on the beings centered around Gozer.

https://www.amazon.com/Tobins-Spiri...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=67RYCVZG8N8G1HTTHJPM

Unfortunately it seems to not go into as much detail as fans hoped and much information is based on episode details. Shame really, I thought we would get a thick book on ghosts with extra background details but this seems fairly light.

 

[Trekker4747]

"The Man Who Never Reached Home" is surprisingly poignant.

Watched that one last night, another good one.

 

[matthunter]

The Collect Call of Cathulhu (sic) was pretty damn good as well, though the ending is a bit naff - the proton packs should be putting out about the same as a lightning bolt all on their own, but hey. Lots of nice nods to Lovecraft and his literary pals, especially Professor Alice Derileth and Clark Ashton. And I think that's the first time I've ever actually heard the Ia! Ia! Cthulhu f'thagn! chant vocalised and it's pretty chilling!

Any Egon vs the Boogeyman ep is cool too. As is Citizen Ghost for explaining what happened after the Gozer incident and why Slimer came to live with the guys.

 

[Admiral2]

There's an interesting one from the later seasons called "Janine, You've Changed." Apparently, it was a way to give in-universe context for the changes made to the character design of Janine Melnitz over the course of the show. It turns out after initial investigation by Slimer the guys finally notice how many ways Janine had changed since they first hired her. The culprit is an entity playing on Janine's insecurities. It was one of the handful of episodes JMS wrote when the network lured him back to the show.

 

[matthunter]

There's an interesting one from the later seasons called "Janine, You've Changed." Apparently, it was a way to give in-universe context for the changes made to the character design of Janine Melnitz over the course of the show. It turns out after initial investigation by Slimer the guys finally notice how many ways Janine had changed since they first hired her. The culprit is an entity playing on Janine's insecurities. It was one of the handful of episodes JMS wrote when the network lured him back to the show.

Yeah, JMS wasn't happy with the network changes to Janine - softening her accent, making her more "conventionally" attractive (S1 Janine is a fox, WTF were they thinking?!).

It ends up being a pretty good aesop on not changing who you are to fit others' expectations, even if in this case Janine changed to what she THOUGHT a certain person wanted and didn't.

 

[Marsden]

I just watched The Devil to Pay last night. I think that "cartoon" is better than a lot of the horror shows that are supposed to be serious.

• Winston: "I have sold my soul to the Devil. I have sold my soul to the Devil. I have sold my soul to the Devil."
  Ray: "Actually, Winston, Dyb is just a minor demon, not the Devil, per se."
  Winston: "I have sold my soul to a minor demon. I have sold my soul to a minor demon."