The Ectozone: The Ghostbusters Universe At Your Fingertips

One of the greatest movies of all time was Ghostbusters. It was followed up with one of the greatest cartoons of all time, The Real Ghostbusters (one of the most successful Movie-to-TV translations EVER). The mix of comedy, horror, and weird science was white-hot in the Eighties, and still maintains a loyal fan following to this day!!!

September 13, 2006

On September 13, 1986, ABC aired the first episode of a cartoon called The Real Ghostbusters. It was based off the hit movie from two years before, Ghostbusters.

It couldn't even call itself Ghostbusters because of an obscure Filmation show in the 1970's, Ghost Busters, and a battle for the name. Columbia got to keep the name, but Filmation retained the rights to do a Ghost Busters cartoon (starring a monkey) to cash in on the name Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray made popular.

Top it off, due to likeness issues, none of the Ghostbusters looked like the movie actors. Ray Stantz became pudgy and redheaded. Venkman became younger looking. Winston lost his mustache. Egon became tall, lanky, and with weird blond hair. Bookish secretary Janine got a bit sexier.

Could this work?

You bet your ass it could.

ABC and DiC studios (the company that actually produced the show) hired sci-fi writer J. Micheal Straczynski to be Story Editor, and he kept the staff from cliche's and formulaic storytelling as much as possible in Saturday Morning TV in 1986. JMS himself wrote several scripts for the show, pointing the way to a greater sense of drama, intensity, and intelligence, a sensability never seen in the Saturday Morning ghetto. It was unprecedented, it was groundbreaking. And it was a ratings smash.

To be sure, it didn't last. ABC hired a bunch of "experts" who clearly don't believe in "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It" and ordered the show dumbed down for it's second season. Venkman lost half his IQ, and due to Bill Murray's whining about the voice Lorenzo "Garfield" Music was replaced by a lame Murray impersonation performed by Dave ("That Dumb Guy From Full House"*) Coulier. Even worse was the personality lobotomy performed on Janine, turning a gutsy, abraisive, take-no-crap character into just another meek, passive, perky Mommy Figure. And don't get me started on their insistance on centering the show on mascot ghost Slimer...

Straczynski quit the show because of this. Still, what JMS built was strong enough to last six years on ABC and sixty five episodes of first-run syndication, making it not only the most successful cartoon based off a movie ever, but one of the most successful shows in all of television history based off a movie. It was so successful that a generation of kids grew up confused thinking the movies were based off the show! There are still many people who, to this day, regard The Real Ghostbusters as an equal, or even a greater, part of the Ghostbusters phenomenon as the two movies.

It is as part of this celebration I release my eightieth fan fic, Ghostbusters: Gemini Rising, Part Six; the penultimate (I hope...) chapter of this epic, bringing into focus, once and for all, exactly how I see the movies, the cartoons, and their relationship.

So Happy Birthday, RGB. You may be gone from our TVs, but you're far from forgotten.

--Fritz

*--That description courtesy of The Bondo Bandit :)

The Ectozone is a member of GBComm, the Ghostbusters community! Created by Brian Reilly, a contributor to the Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline. Check it out!!!

Everything you didn't even know you were afraid to ask. Click HERE to enter the Ghostbusters Reference Omnibus!

My alter ego, Dr. Fritz V. Baugh, is a member of the Ghostbusters West Coast,a franchise of Ghostbusters International. Click on the logo below to visit the GBWC web site!!!

My own take on the Ghostbusters. Some of my own creations aren't this much fun to write! Click HERE to see the stuff...

Five newest stories (newest on top)

Ghostbusters: Gemini Rising, Part Six
June 13, 1999--Timeline Y//---error---error---error--- //
In the Null Zone, two teams of Ghostbusters each encounter each other, convinced the other is some sort of bizarre parody. Romulus and Pollux's secret is exposed, and only half as many Ghostbusters as before walk away from the ramifications...

Ghostbusters West Coast: Union of the Snake
2005--Timeline Year Twenty Three
Oscar Wallance is in LA, where he spent part of his childhood...but Peter Venkman's stepson isn't going to be able to lounge at the beach...someone is looking for the young man once coveted by Vigo the Carpathian...

Slimer! And The Extreme Ghostbusters: Gemini Rising, Part Five
June 13, 1999--Timeline Y//---error---error---error--- //
Romulus and the Five Who Are One--the original Ghostbusters and Janine--confront Nodus. But it's not the Nodus they were expecting...instead, it's a blonde woman that Romulus finds unnervingly familiar. And if they defeat her, they will have to face the most unexpected group of enemies yet!

Ghostbusters 2000: Gemini Rising, Part Four
June 13, 1999--Timeline Y//---error---error---error--- //
Pollux and the Five Who Are One--the original Ghostbusters and Janine--confront Nodus. But it's not the Nodus they were expecting...instead, it's a redheaded man that Pollux finds unnervingly familiar. And if they defeat him, they will have to face the most unexpected group of enemies yet!

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Four
By Bo Holbrook, Ben King, and Fritz Baugh
2003--Timeline Year Twenty One
It's the final showdown between Nightsquad, their allies, and the Hain Witch. The fate of the world is at stake (again), and even if the Ghostbusters are victorious they will pay a price in dearest blood...

"Oh, God, he draws too..." A gallery of profile pictures of numerous teams comprising Ghostbusters International...Click HERE if you dare...

There are other great Ghostbuster sites on the web!!! Click HERE to check out some of them!!!

Do we really need another message board? Probably not. But as you can see here I made one anyway...