SEASON 1 SUMMARY

The first season of The Real Ghostbusters is very enjoyable indeed.  It starts off a little weak it takes a few episodes for the writers and the artists to get their feet wet, but once they did they would continue to produce episodes of very high quality.  When I first started reviewing these episodes I think I may have ranked the first two episodes a grade higher than I should have, I was going through some serious nostalgia.  However I was suffering from nostalgia for a reason for many of these episodes were absolute masterpieces.  Episodes such as “Mrs.Rogers’s Neighborhood,”  “Slimer, ComeHome,” “The Boogieman Cometh,” “ Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream,” “WhenHalloween Was Forever,” and “X-mas Marks the Spot” were some of the best Ghostbusters adventures of all.

(Best TV intro ever! As a kid on weekday mornings before school you knew the day was going to be awesome!)

                To the writing all the writers are very talented.   J. Michael Straczynski emerges as a strong favorite when I see his name on the title card I know I’m about to watch something good.  Despite the fact that Straczynski became a clear favorite it was actually Michael Reaves who wrote my favorite episode, “The Boogieman Cometh.” Len Janson and Chuck Menville can write some good stories but often when they write too many cartoony elements make their way in.  And yes, I realize that is a cartoon but I still find it a tad bit irritating.

                 (I always felt that the intro on the cartoon was based on this scene from the film.)

                As to the Ghostbusters themselves it is interesting the way the show chose to portray them.  They don’t physically resemble the actors who played the characters in the film.  According to the interviews in the DVD bonus features this was done for three reasons.  The first was they didn’t want to get involved with legal entanglements of actor’s likenesses despite the support they were getting from Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis.  The second was they selling toys and wanted each toy to be unique not three toys of white guys with brown hair in beige outfits.  The third was with cartoons its better if each of the characters were easily recognizable.  Yet, even with the physical differences the characters translate very well, I have an easy time seeing the ones from the movie and the ones from the cartoon as being the same people.

                                              (A favorite scene from a favorite episode)

                Despite what I just said in the previous paragraph there are some things the cartoon does to the characters that is noticeable besides their looks.  Cartoons in the 1980s were aimed at rather specific target audiences.  In the case of The Real Ghostbusters the audience was young boys between the ages of 6-12.  Because of this the Ghostbusters would often act like with the maturity of a boy in that age group.  The Ghostbusters have no adult responsibilities: they don’t pay rent; they hang out only with their friends etc.  The whole thing is one adolescent fantasy.  As an adult it is kind or strange to watch four adult men live and sleep in a bunk house together.  I am serious, all four Ghostbusters each have a bed all the same room.  Like their life is one big little kid sleep over.  In movie makes more sense: in order to create the Ghostbusters Ray, Egon, and Peter spend all their money on their new operation.  They didn’t have anywhere else to sleep.  After a while, especially once their movie was made, and they must have collected licensing fees, you would think they would get their own apartments.  Sure one would occasionally have to pull a night shift to make sure nothing happens to the Containment Unit, but that should be it.  Then there is the character of Janine, the only girl in their group.  Janine plays multiple roles depending on the episode.  She can be the group’s younger or older sister, she also often acts as their den mother.  In addition, she dresses rather attractively in wearing primarily a short skirt, tank top, and glasses.  This directly appeals to the budding sexuality of the majority of their older audience.   The Ghostbusters all really like Janine and are often doing things to try to please her.  This ranges from giving her gifts, letting her tag along when she gets bored at the station, or being over protective of her (such as when she is attacked by Pumkinhead’s goons and they all come running after the goons in such a hurry they  forget to take the Ecto-1).  Even her attraction to Egon and his inability to express affection plays into the 12-year-old mindset, such as not knowing how to react to one’s feelings or positive attention from another person.

                Lastly I also like the use of Slimer.  I mentioned in several reviews I think it was a smart idea to make the Ghostbusters have a pet ghost who allows them to study him up close.  After all not all ghosts are evil and deserve to be put in a Containment Unit.