# Was Ghostbusters based on Ghost Busters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 12, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649 "2022-01-12T16:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/1 "2022-01-12T16:49:33Z")
I haven’t been able to Google anything up on this. Was the movie influenced by writers having seen the TV series from a few years earlier, or was it a big coincidence? Any official statements/evidence either way? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/2 "2022-01-12T16:56:53Z")
What, exactly, is Ghost Busters? Searching for that gives me results for Ghostbusters. The only Ghost Buster TV show result is for the cartoon that came out after the movie. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/3 "2022-01-12T16:58:05Z")
It was a live-action kids’ show in the 70s. Two guys and a gorilla busted ghosts (but also vampires, phantoms, and other creepy-crawlies). I loved it! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/4 "2022-01-12T16:58:08Z")
I’m guessing that you mean the [1975 Saturday-morning kids’ show, _The Ghost Busters_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Busters), with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch? [Wikipedia’s article on the movie _Ghostbusters_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters#Development) notes that Dan Aykroyd was inspired by several comedic “ghost hunting” movies from the 1940s and 1950s (which may well have been inspirations for the TV show, as well), but no mention of the TV show as a direct inspiration, other than Columbia Pictures reaching an arrangement with Universal (which owned the TV show) for rights to the name. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/5 "2022-01-12T17:01:18Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > The only Ghost Buster TV show result is for the cartoon that came out after the movie. The [animated show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(1986_TV_series)) was a sequel to the 1975 live-action show, done specifically to capitalize on the popularity of the movie. At the same time, there was _also_ an animated show based on the characters from the Ghostbusters movie, which was forced to use a slightly different title (“[The Real Ghostbusters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Ghostbusters)”). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/6 "2022-01-12T17:03:55Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > What, exactly, is Ghost Busters? That’s the first episode. There used to be an [archive.org](http://archive.org) link that had tge whole series, but I don’t see it now. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/7 "2022-01-12T17:10:06Z")
I knew that there were 2 different cartoons after the first movie. I did not realize that one was based on a live action show. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-ghostbusters-based-on-ghost-busters/957649/8 "2022-01-12T17:24:29Z")
Okay, Youtube still has [the whole series](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIl2eWOVM20HMp85S3KZFgftJRgwStzIv):