This could probably be a GQ, but since it’s about cartoons I put it here. Back when the movie Ghostbusters came out, there were two Ghostbusters cartoons. One was called “Ghostbusters” and had nothing to really do with the movie at all, and a second called “The Real Ghostbusters” which was a direct spinoff of the movie. They came out at the same time and they coexisted for quite awhile.
What’s the story behind this? Why were there two different Ghostbuster cartoons? My WAG is that for some reason someone owned the rights to the name “Ghostbusters” but not the story, and a second owned the story but not the name. They both wanted to capitalize on the movies, so the first guy made a cartoon with the name but with all new characters, and the second made a show with characters from the movie, but had to change the name. Am I close?
The 1975 Saturday morning series “Ghost Busters” (two words) that reunited “F Troop” alumni Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, and a gorilla. The opening song, sung by Tucker started out like this:
*We’re the Ghooooost Busters. He’s *Spenser. That’s **Tracy. I’m **Kong. http://us.imdb.com/Details?0072505
Well, its back anyways as Alienators: Evolution continues, complete with their own Slimer, now known as Gassy…
At least it looks and acts just like Real Ghostbusters, but with different characters. I will not insult it further, since thanks to that show, i can have a toy of a guy based on the 7-up Guy, Orlando Jones (too bad he doesn’t look like him…)
About 2 years ago, a new cartoon based on the movies came out. I’ve only seen a few episodes but-
It’s years after the last series, and the original Ghostbusters have retired. Some spooky stuff happens and who ya gonna call? Egon joins a team of new Ghostbusters including-white guy in a wheelchair, hispanic-slacker-MTV-boy, nerdy black guy, and brainy goth chick. They had new, tougher equipment because all the ghosts were somehow stronger. All in all, the show was far darker and scarier than the original. One episode featured Cenobite (The leather, S and M, piercing enthusiasts from Hell Raiser) like monsters. The theme music has been reworked from bouncy to creepy, roughly analogous to Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Sweet Dreams”.
And I agree completely about Evolution. When some alien cell starts to mutate and swell-Who Ya gonna call? A black man with street smarts, a slacker with a sense of humor, a detached emotionless white scientist, and a comical creature defected to the humans.
The Ghostbusters Cartoon (with gorilla) were the spinoff of the Storch/Tucker orginals back in the seventies. The story goes that the original teams kids inherited the family business and were using the original equipment. It was extremely campy and was put out to go on the success of the movie. It had a small cult following of the original fans of the early show but most kids were confused between the two. Don’t blame them
The Real Ghostbusters was the show based directly on the movie and featured many recognizable voices behind the cartoons (Arsenio Hall, Lorenzo Music) and some damn good plots for cartoons (from an incredible cadre of writers, including Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Strazynski, and Star Trek Tribble-meister David Gerrold). It is hailed by a lot of people as a pinnacle in american cartooning as it used a LOT of mythology and legendary works of sci fi and horror for plot basis, making for some entertaining episodes. Unfortunatly, after a few seasons it went WAY downhill with replacement voices and so-so writing.
The Third show was Extreme Ghostbusters. It tried to recapture some of the original excitment of The Real Ghostbusters with a younger cast of characters and darker plots. It did ok, the writing was not bad, but it was a bit cliched in characterizations. But it did reintroduce the original cast from the old show in the last episode.
The “Ghostbusters” cartoon came out in the 70’s and, with the 1984 release of “Ghostbusters,” columbia Pictures had to pay for the name. It wasn’t until 1986 that the “REAL Ghostbusters” came out. I can picture a bunch of execs sitting at a table saying “how can we distinguish the original ‘Ghostbusters’ cartoon from the real ones?” The Onionhead ghost (credited) also became “Slimer,” and went from a deep voiced fat blob of living puke, to a lovable, silly, high-pitched voiced friend of the team. The special effects also became substantially worse on this character for the second film.
Extreme Ghostbusters seemed to be trying to appeal to every minority possible. I didn’t mind that at all, but Slimer suddenly became smaller, less coherent, and a little more dead-looking. Each person also seemed to be a new version of one of the original team. They did have an episode where the old Ghostbusters returned for one last face-off, that episode was great.
Don’t get me started. This wasn’t the first such change. After the first season of “The Real Ghostbusters,” the producers hired a marketing research company to analyse the show’s demographic appeal. The L.A. Times did an excellent artical, which I still have somewhere, which detailed the changes. The only one I remember offhand is that Q5 claimed that the secretary’s sassy humor was intimidating to boys, recommending that she not only become a comforting maternal figure, but that she be given a breast job to make her appear more nurturing. The producers took Q5’s advice.
And the real, original ghostbusters was a really funny show.
At least to an eight-year-old.
One of the episodes of TRG had the boys fly to a space station (Venkman: Oh boy! A government contract! We’ll be rich!) and the crew of the station were parodies of the supporting characters of the original Star Trek (Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov). I don’t remember if that episode was written by Gerrold, but it seems likely.
I remember another one where some comic-book characters came to life who were parodies of Superman and Lex Luthor. Venkman scoffs at the notion that a pair of glasses and a business suit are an effective disguise for a superhero.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the show, so that’s all I remember.
Oh! Don’t forget the Slimer spinoff(s) that probably didn’t get out of Saturday Morning: “Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters” and I think there was one that was just slimer and some little kids. Might have been the same one; I’m not sure.
Thanks for the info, guys. I didn’t know about the '70’s show Ghost Busters. It was a little before my time (I was only 3 when it aired). I just took a guess based on my knowledge of how the entertainment industry works.
The Russian was aptly named Captain Keptin.
Uhura and Scotty studying Egon-“Yes, he does remind me of a certain, pointy-eared, science officer.”
Venkman “How long are you guys gonna be up here?”
Keptin “We are on 5 year mission.”
Egon “Fascinating.”
That would be Captain Steel. I remember that the villian’s tecnology ran on nucleonic energy. But, great is my shame, I can’t remember his name.
My favorite episode, “Collect Call Of Cthulhu”. Much of the Cthulhu Mythos information was true to the source. There were plenty of in jokes. Ray finds the information necessary to defeat Cthulhu in a pulp magazine.
Gee, I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembered “The Real Ghostbusters” being a terrific cartoon. I loved it. “The Pillar of New York” episode was excellent.
Tars Tarkas- I actually worked for Owlswick publishing for a while. Since my bosses were also the authors of some of the books, I have autographed copies of a few works. One is inscribed “Actually, unsigned editions are rare than signed ones.” I also met Karl Wurf, author of To Seve Man-A Cookbook For People.
Back To GhostBusters-
Lessee “Do Not Open Until Doomsday”
A boat made from some huge animal’s spine and ribs goes past, on an earthen floor. Exhausted men are shackled to the oars. A skeleton in captain’s hat stands in the bow.
“Stroke! Stroke! What’s that? Dirt! And over there? More Dirt! Don’t go so fast. We have all eternity to row.”
Winston-“Did you just see that?”
Ray-“No.”
Winston-“Neither did I.”
And I think it was “Ragnarok And Roll”
Plot-Man (Jeremy?) finds ancient manuscript, then gets a flute that can end the world. It was one of the darkest episodes, but featured some of the best acting and most fleshed out characters. D’tullio has the best speech in any of the episodes. 'I’ll have more love in my going out than…"