Ghostbusters

It's a little known fact but the characters depicted in this series were around long before the movie version was. Back in 1975 there was a short lived TV series called "The Ghost Busters" that featured ghosts being hunted by a trio armed with strange equipment. After the success of the successful film (the title of which had to be paid for by the producers to Filmation who owned the name) they brought the characters back in this series. That's not to say that this show is BETTER than the theatrical Ghost Busters, but it is interesting to note that this isn't the rip off... the theatrical Ghost Busters was the rip off (even if it was a vastly superior rip off!

On the contrary. If you would activate the comments option of the Ghostbusters DVD, you would realize that the reason producers had a lot of trouble nailing down the name "Ghostbusters." That was due to a '70s TV show of the same name.

I was living overseas at the time, so I only saw this series and not the "Real Ghostbusters." Until I came to the States, that is. Of course, I was familiar with the popular movie (and the fabulous MTV video), but I like both cartoons. I loved Lorenzo Music as the voice of Peter Venkman and Garfield, as well, but I digress.

Ironically, both were originally live-action, and Ghostbusters (with gorilla) came before Ghostbusters (with Slimer) in both instances, yet most people think that it's the other way around--or weren't aware of the '70s series at all. Like a previous user pointed out, that's the way it will be forever remembered by people.

This cartoon was something that I fondly remember from my childhood of yesteryear. It was based on an older show from the seventies long BEFORE the dan akroyd/bill murray type ghostbusters that were more popular. The only thing about this show that I hated was the talking car.

The animated television series of Filmation's Ghostbusters was very good. I'd watch it whenever I could when it was on in the 1980s. The animation was very good and clear. The voices were good for the characters including the talents of Alan Oppenheimer, Linda Gary, Pat Fraley, Peter Cullen, Susan Blu, Lou Scheimer, and Erika Scheimer. Some of these talents were the voices of other classic 1980s animated programs such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: The Princess of Power, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to name a few. The stories in the cartoons were good. It was interesting and fun to watch. If you are able to watch this on television or on tape do so because this was one of the great animated shows of the 1980s in My opinion! I recommend it!

I used to love this show when I was very very young but when I went back and saw it, I was not really that impressed. Perhaps I could only remember the best episodes. Therefore I can give a somewhat unbiased review of this series. This show actually does follow an earlier show which originally came up with the name and concept of "Ghostbusters". It thus not a ripoff at all.

This show did have a few notable strengths, namely the title song, music by Saban and some good villains. The animation is OK and strangely enough, the title sequence is indeed better animated than the technically superior "Real Ghostbusters" or RGB, as are some of the backgrounds. However, the animation standards in most episodes were'nt really that good. I would have been less harsh had this show released in the late 70s or early 80s but given that it actually did air during the same time of the other RGB series (1986), one could expect higher standards.

Unlike the other GBs, these guys had all sorts of Ghost themed merchandise and equipment which was rather nice. The characters were nice but underutilized and rather static. The biggest problem with them was that they lacked expression and emotion of any degree! That was just primitive of the animation standards being followed. Their gait, mannerisms and action were also pretty primitive and repetitive. Other characters attempt to be wacky but ended up looking lame and static. While the two main characters made their Gorilla do pretty much everything (the solutions to a problem or a situation presented by him were mostly really illogical, more akin to pulling a rabbit out of a hat), the Gorilla still felt a bit useless.

Not so with the villains. Prime Evil was a superb main villain and will grab more attention than any character from RGB. Other villains were no where as good, but were actually better than the heroes themselves. Were it not for the excellent baddies in the series, it could indeed be classified as a rather poor production.

The poorest area of this series was in the writing. Plots were excessively simple and had no twists or any real attempts at storytelling. They all revolved around some sort of moral motive which was summed up by an annoying talking bat at the end of each episode. Ghostly Aesop's fables perhaps? There were also plenty of clichés and there was really no real action or dialog (from the heros) worth mentioning or remembering. But that can be forgiven if one considers that the intended audience were just young children.

Some fans of the admittedly superior "Real Ghostbusters" cartoon series unfortunately have a filthy reputation for slandering things that are not their cup of tea, especially Filmation's GB series. Therefore, when one comes in and starts to fart about how this is a FAKE, copy, crap etc, make sure to ignore them.

Remember that even though this series is perhaps best viewed and appreciated by very young children rather than a more mature audience, the other GBs cartoon, "The Real Ghostbusters" was also quite childish, even if far superior to this series. The best of all Ghostbuster cartoons was however, Extreme Ghostbusters (XGB) which actually was mature and made for adults for a change. So if the RGB fans laugh at this series for technical reasons, lesser production values or immaturity, note that the XGB fans also retain the right to laugh at RGB for the same reasons.