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To the creators' credit, they did explain the different coloured jumpsuits in an episode about how Slimer became their pet/mascot. In a flashback, we see them return to the firehouse right after their battle with Gozer in the movie. They're still wearing their grey jumpsuits, which are basically trashed (covered in StayPuft/Gozer marshmallow guts), so they swap them out for new ones (or their back-up suits, I forget) that just happen to be different colours. So at least they put some effort into it, acknowledging the costume changes, when they could just as easily ignored it in-universe.
I remember an episode where Winston is playing a baseball game for a soul. The rest of the Ghostbusters think it's Winston's soul, but we find out at the end of the episode that he was actually playing for Vinkman's soul.
I saw this as a young teen and found it to be amazing. The first 2 seasons are the best before they dumbed it down for kids. It was creepy and scary. AND the music could be epic and terrifying. The music clips are on youtube to listen to.
I credit this show for inspiring another lifelong passion: the weird tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Y'all remember the Cthulhu episode? Ray actually attended Miskatonic University.
"The Boogieman Cometh" season 1 episode 6 scared the Crap out of me as a child! He looked like my nightmares and His voice was chilling! One of the all time great episodes. He made a few return appearances as well. I don't remember the series ever featuring a ghost more than once, though I am no expert and could be mistaken.
Samhain from the first season Halloween episode made a second appearance in season 3. Ghostmaster General in season 4 makes a second appearance in season 5. That said, I love the first Boogieman episode. I wish they hadn't brought him back for a second episode - it just ruined the whole thing for me.
What I loved was the fact that the concept was so inclusive. Just about any toy, of any size or design could be re-branded as a 'ghost' for my purposes. From those wiggly little gatorish finger puppets, to Madballs to Boglins...Even my Sectors and Hordak Slime Pit got in on the action.
To be honest, when I saw this show, it never bothered me that their character designs didn't match the appearances of the actors from the film. It never entered my mind as a kid, nor do I think about it when I actually watch the episodes on DVD or RU-vid today. And my personal favorite episode was "Collect Call of Cathulhu". It paid homage to the Cthulhu Mythos.
I always wondered if I was the only one who appreciated the irony of Bill Murray playing Peter who was then voiced by the guy who voiced Garfield and then, himself, voicing Garfield!
Another great one! I was explaining to a friend recently why the show was called 'Real Ghostbusters', and how the toys weren't part of the movie merchandising but a totally separate entity. I never noticed how the sequel was made to match the cartoon a little more, but now you point it out it seems so obvious! It was a big show in the late 80's, the last gasp before the Ninja Turtles took over (followed by Simpson's related products in the early to mid nineties).
Excellent video. I remember the show from when I was a kid. I absolutely agree with you on the writing. It was a well written show (and the Saturday morning episodes were better), and pretty heavy when came to subject matter. But the episode that creeped me out as a kid was The Grundle episode.
Informative and Entertaining what more could be asked for! It's re-assuring that outtakes happen to yourselves just like us mere mortals! lol I have a love for Ghostbusters much like all of the early 80's offerings it's evocative of the time. Look forward to part 2 my compliments as ever. Cheers Fuzz.
Knock, Knock is my favorite episode of The Real Ghostbusters. At the beginning of the episode the Ghostbusters are busting ghosts who are haunting an appliance store. The guys bust the ghosts but they pretty much end up burning up the place. They walk outside and a crowd cheerfully greets them. Winston says "I think they like us!" and Egon skeptically replies saying "I don't know. It could be a trap." Later on at the end when the Doomsday door gets closed by the Ghostbusters Peters exclaims "Hey that was great! Really great! Can we do it again?" and the door tells him "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DOOMSDAY." Even as a child I could appreciate that kind of humor.
Another great vid. :D I grew up on horror. As a kid, I'd plug headphones into my old b&w television so I wouldn't get caught, and stay up all night watching shows like Sammy Terry, Elvira, Tales from the Darkside, or any other "scary" movie or show I could find. So to me, The Real Ghostbusters was THE 80's cartoon and toyline. It was the first show to answer "what if a werewolf and vampire bite eachother?", and the sheer variety of both cartoon monsters and toy accessories were beyond compare.
Another great episode Michael! Heck, now I want to watch the show! The Ghostbusters truly are my favorite comedy series of all time, and its very true what you said about them striking a balance between comedy and horror. Even several years on, the 2009 Ghostbusters videogame is one of the most memorable games I've ever played. There's just some undeniable endearing quality about Ray, Egon, Venkman, and Winston. Can't wait until pt. 2!
My favorite Real Ghostbusters episodes are "The Man Who Never Reached Home", "Ragnarok & Roll", "Who're You Calling Two Dimensional", "Janine's Day Off", "The Devil To Pay" and "Ghostbuster Of The Year".
Great job on this! Very entertaining. Did you know in one episode they explained how Janine changed her look (which happened more than one throughout the show's history) & the Ghostbusters never noticed until then?
I was certain toys would be out for Christmas. I remember being shocked when the Sears catalog arrived. The only merchandise I could find when the movie came out was a big sticker of the logo. Much to my parent's delight I stuck it on the window of our front door where it sat, all detail faded away by the sun, for the next 20 years until they moved.
I wasn't allowed to watch this show when my girl cousins were over. They were too young and it scared them. It scared me too a couple of times. Specifically "The Boogieman Cometh" and "Mrs. Robinsons Neighborhood". Great work and on a personal note, Mike knows what's going on. Why? Simply because Melinda Is proof hot women love us geeky guys. Yeah I said it.
Another excellent video and I look forward to part 2. I had no idea that Ernie Hudson was passed over as the voice of Winston, and didn't know that Arsenio Hall was his voice until I heard him say it on a local radio interview a year ago or so. Looking back, I didn't realize how dark & scary The "real" Ghostbusters was. Maybe even darker than Dungeons & Dragons? I liked Filmation's Ghostbusters better, especially since my older brother watched the 70's version and told me about it.
Good episodes all around. One of the few stand out's was the one where they traveled to the past and captured the 3 ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future from a Christmas Carol. After realizing that this would effectively destroy Christmas Egon actually goes inside the containment unit to get them out without the other trapped ghosts stopping him. Definitely a tense episode.
In Knock Knock that wasn't hell it was a nastier part of the Sumerian underworld, I'm saying this due to it being cold and gloomy not hot and fiery, and the "Can you read sumerian bits"
I loved both Ghostbuster cartoons and thank you so much for telling about the 1970's Ghost Busters TV series. I didn't know that the cartoon was based off a tv series for back then. Thank you for making this series. I eagerly await the 2nd installation of the series.
Venkman: Dad...What are you up to this time? Dad: Nothing, Pete...Just ask your buddy Egon if he's ever heard the name Hob Anagherik. Egon: *HOW did you hear about the Hob?* That legend is the rarest of the rare!
Excellent as usual gang! Really loved this one. I've always wanted to see the old TV show that Tracy & company (The Ghostbusters) was based on. Can't wait for more!
i had that video game!...had to drive around the map of the city and then position the two ghostbusters to trap the ghost, but dont cross the streams! still want that fire house playset! great video!
How about a new movie, with actors that look the same. That Ghostbusters movie they released afew years ago with the women was a horrible mistake and an insult to the series.
i love this video my favorite episode is sea fright, my favorite character was Egon, my favorite villans where the spector evil ghostbusters, but the only episodes i hate was poultrygeist and flip side.The scariest episode was the grundel!
+s bggs The Grundel episode scared my sister so bad when it first aired that whenever they would rerun it our mom would make me or my brother change the channel to something else. She is now 36 years old and to this very day if we even say the word Grundel she goes into a near panic. She's even forbade her 15 year old daughter, who loves the series, from watching it around her for fear that The Grundel episode will come on.
My favourite cartoon next to Ninja Turtles. The later seasons were a 'what if' in that it makes you wonder what other great stories they could have told on RGB had the network not messed with the show. Good video though.
Ugh. I didn't care for it either...but I watched it cos there was something on behind it I liked, and if I gave up my T.V. rights, my older sister would claim it all the way till 3 PM.
Thanks for another great vid! I never knew the story behind the 2 versions of the Ghostbusters Cartoons. I loved the "real" Ghostbusters cartoon as a kid, and always thought the other Ghostbusters cartoon was some cheap rip off. Amazing how many twists and turns the Ghostbusters franchise developed. First it was the controversy and lawsuit over the theme song being a "rip off" of Huey Lewis "I Want a New Drug". Then it went deeper with all the great info you mentioned.... wow!
I watched a documentary on the real Ghostbusters, and the reason for the characters looking nothing like the film based ones is because they wanted to add individuality to each character, because all the movie actors had same colour hair so it would be difficult for the animation team to show who was who in the scenes if they were running etc.
There were a few episodes from the syndicated run that I didn't like such as "Hanging By A Thread", "The Old College Spirit" and "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Ghost".
Being 39 yrs old now in 2018, I remember loving this cartoon when I was little just as much as I did the films. In fact, I think there was a point I loved it more than the films when I was younger. I did always wonder why they made Egon look so different from his film version. Also, remember thinking when was 7 years old that the cartoon voice of Egon was actually Harold Ramis and Pete was voiced by Murray and I equally remember arguing with my sister who believed, with good reason, that it wasn't, lmao.... (Give me a break, I was 7 years old.) Now, I found it on Netflix and watching it again from 30 years later, knowing that I was addicted as a child but yet now, actually now remembering any of these episodes, lmao... like at all... I guess in a way, it makes me feel as if I am watching it for the first time (sort of) and I have come to the conclusion that the films and the cartoon alike, for me and possibly some others, go hand in hand. I feel as if in some weird way, the show is a by-extension of the movies... Thus, I think for me and for many others the Ghostbusters in full (minus the 2016 rendition *shutters* Don't EVEN get me started on that one, that was just... ugh...) I think the 1980s movies and Cartoon are ultimately timeless for many of us...
Thanks, and have you seen the newer Ghostbusters movie figures? Mattel has a series of high-detail figures with ghosts, outfits, and accessories straight from the films, including special "ready to believe you" figures, and Neca has released Gozer and the hell hounds. Maybe not the best toys to repeatedly play with, but they'd look pretty awesome in a display case.lol :)
Tons of TOYS with Ghostbusters I had as a kid. I had a lot of Action Figures, I had the Nintendo Video Game, the Ghost Popper, Stay Puff Marshmallow man, GhostBusters Cereal. There was TONS of it in the 80's. What are you talking about not much marketing? The cartoon was awesome too. It had a tons of Ghosts..Slimer..and a lot of ghost catching.
Great job with the video, glad I'm not the only adult now that is still creep out by the episodes, mine all time favorite was ragnarock really great writing, acting and music thanks again
Thanks for doing this video. I was round when the first film came out. I also loved the cartoon version, for some reason i liked the way they all looked. Im lucky enough to have got the fire station dvd box set. The art works was really good in the first two seasons, shame it went to Slimer later on. I always see the new video game as the 3rd film and hope they do not make another film. If you have not played the game check it out, its amazing and the comics that are out now are great too.
J. Michael Straczynski was the editor and wrote many of the stories. :) Babylon 5 ;) I never had a problem with their different looks and while the characters were faithful, the cartoon story was more centered around Egon as he seemed to take charge on everything.
I never watched the cartoon past season 2 either. Last fall found the first volume of the cartoon for like 4 dollars at a Fleet Farm. Highly worth it! Better than I remember as a kid. I don't remember rewatching the episodes much then, but they stand out now as well worth watching. Lots of stuff in this video that I did not know. The side kick rank list I have to look at and analyze sometime closer. Think I'm going to pop in some of the Real Ghostbusters. Have you seen the complete series by now
Was obsessed with the toys, hated "Peter 2". Even my son now, only likes the first 2 seasons. Citizen Ghost was hands down the best episodes and I remember my 10 (or 11) year old self writing an entire fanfic novel for Ghostbusters 2 that encompassed that whole show as the first part of the story, as canon.
When Covid hit I actually went back and wanted to rewatch a bunch of the cartoons I liked as a kid mainly The Real Ghostbusters , TMNT, Garfield and friends, etc. honestly I really set the bar high when I watched The Real Ghostbusters first. By far the animated Ghostbusters series from the 80s holds up better than any of the other cartoons. I actually found myself getting more and more into the show the later I got in the seasons. I was so thrilled with it I was watching episodes I had completely forgot about it until I was watching them. Where I messed up was because Ghostbusters held up so good buy the time I got two other shows they just didn’t hold up as well. I really thought TMNT would be the show I got the most out of rewatch in them now as an adult but it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as Ghostbusters. TMNT has a great first season and the animation is good, the storytelling is good but after the first season it feels like they just didn’t put any effort into that show anymore. They kept introducing new characters for the sake of selling toys but that was about it. And the turtles by season three completely lost their “cool factor” but Ghostbusters was just awesome all the way through I thought.
I think the cartoon got their personalities spot on. We can forgive them not looking exactly like them. Ernie Hudson getting rejected is just an insult. The person who rejected him needs slapping big time.
I know it's probably because I'm biased, and I think we all have our own preference when it comes to 80's goodness, but I definitely place Ship Wreck above Orco and Snarf. But that's just me I guess. Anyway, great video. All of us 90's kids know the theme song to Ghost Busters, but I never did get to see the cartoon. I do remember a newer Ghost Busters cartoon that aired before dawn on Fox Kids back in the late 90's. I remember watching one episode while waiting for a new episode of Godzilla.
I recently rented the first season of 'TRG' and I am pretty sure the ghosts in Ghosts 'R' Us changed their color and clothing to appear human like and used their son as the bait to drive the heroes out of business. I don't think the people of NYC even knew they were ghosts.
Oh my god... I never noticed that about the second film. Also just finished watching The Real Ghostbusters for the umpteenth time, so watching this video fits xD
Excellent review here. Indeed, The Real Ghostbusters, while it did have its issues, it was one hell of a show. And now, almost 30 years after it aired on TV, I can say with absolute certainty that it has withstood the test of time. Though, on your meter of worst cartoon sidekicks, why T-Bob? I think Scott Trakker was more annoying than him. And he was certainly a lot more bratty.
