I’m a new fan who has recently discovered the Ghostbusters cartoons. I’ve started watching the Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters series and I’m thoroughly enjoying them.First of all...
I’m particularly fascinated by the unique blend of humor, action, and supernatural elements in these shows. The character development is also quite impressive. I find myself drawn to the complexity of the characters and their interactions.Those are just the sort of things that I would say drew me in. Especially for a cartoon marketed mostly at young boys in 1986. As someone who was 15 in 1986, I know what a wasteland cartoons were for all of those things. Don't get me wrong, there were quite watchable cartoons in that era, but the only thing I found besides RGB that scratched those itches were when I discovered anime.
However, as a newcomer, I’m sure there are many aspects of these series that I’m not fully appreciating or understanding. I would love to hear from long-time fans about what makes these cartoons special to you. Are there any specific episodes, story arcs, or character moments that stand out? Any hidden gems that a new viewer might overlook?The main mission statement of J. Micheal Straczynski, the original story editor (who went on to create Babylon 5 and write comic books) was along the lines of "Write it exactly like you would of it were Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis etc." and don't talk down to the audience. Again, I was alive in 1986. I remember what formulaic crap most cartoons of that day were.
As some of the long time members of the GB boards know, one area that really got my interest was the surprisingly deep portrayal of Egon Spengler; they gave the guy one of the best voice actors in the industry (Maurice LaMarche) and a dynamic, eccentric character design. JMS seemed to latch onto the character as well, and built on the broad strokes of the first movie to really flesh him out. This was especially evident in the slow burn over the course of the series in his relationship with Janine; first he was more annoyed by her than anything else, then we see him start to associate with her after work ("Janine's Day Off", "Roller Ghoster"), have the flash realization when he thought he was about to die that he loved her ("Ragnarok and Roll"), a delightul moment of snotty jealously when she dated some other guy ("Robo-Buster") and of course the crescendo, admitting he loves her ("Janine, You've Changed")
And I can't forget that Janine herself was something we didn't see a lot in American cartoons of the time. She was gutsy, abrasive, and didn't take crap from anyone. (Sigh) And then starting in 1987 various dumbasses with stupid agendas started treating her like crap, by turns either making her a bland, dime a dozen Mommy Figure, or throwing her at lesser men. They haven't completely stopped, either--Ghostbusters Afterlife was awful to watch as a Janine fan, seeing her screwed over again. (Not saying I hated the movie, I didn't, but as a Janine fan, an Egon fan, and an Egon/Janine fan, seeing Egon turned into a crook and a deadbeat Dad who had a kid with some nameless person and not even letting Janine say something to Callie like "I guess I'm your stepmother" was the biggest blight in it to me)
Also, I’m curious about the Ghostbusters comic books. How do they compare to the cartoons? Would you recommend them to a fan of the series?Well, depends on which ones. I'm assuming that you probably mean the more recent IDW run; the artist on most of them, Dan Schoening, is a big RGB fan and packed them with injokes and Easter eggs in the background. The Ghostbusters themselves are caricatures of the movie actors, but there's one significant character who bears a distinct resemblance to the EGB version of one of the Ghostbusters, IDW versions of two other EGB characters, and there's a miniseries called "Get Real" that basically crosses over the IDW Ghostbusters with the Real Ghostbusters. The stories are very good, and the enthusiasm of the creative team shows, but it did get a little overdone the constant crossovers with other versions of the Ghostbusters, the Ninja Turtles, and the Transformers, for example.
Now Comics also did a comic series from 1988-1992 based on the cartoon; I quite enjoyed it. In the opinions of many, it was basically carrying the early show's torch during the "Slimer! And..." era. It's available to read right here on GBFans:
https://www.gbfans.com/wiki/Real_Ghostb ... ics_Series
https://www.gbfans.com/wiki/Ghostbusters_II:_NOW_Comics
There was also a longrunning Marvel UK comic around the same time, but it was a lot more juvenile
Thank you in advance for your insights. I’m excited to delve deeper into the Ghostbusters universe and engage with this community.Well, this is the place!
Statistics: Posted by Fritz — February 13th, 2024, 4:33 pm