SEASON 7 SUMMARY

The shortest season of the series, Season 7 consists of only four episodes.  I am not sure why this is the case.  The four episodes weren’t anything special I would say slightly under average.  One episode “Not now, Slimer” was outright terrible.  I would have thought such a short season would mean the writers would try to go out with a bang, they didn’t.  The episodes are inconsistent and not of great quality.  Only the trip to Japan was any good.  It was quite a shame.   

SEASON 6 SUMMARY

This is it.  This is the season it started to really go downhill.  Season 4 burdened us with a new title, opening, and the dreaded Slimer subseries, but the mainstream series always continued its traditional high quality episodes.  IN Season 6 however, the quality drops in the mainstream episodes as well.

Season 6 starts strong with some decent episodes.  The first three were very good.  I really enjoyed the first episode “Janine You’ve Changed.”  Another great one was “Ghostworld.”  Yet, there are so many places were the season falls off.  Ideas are repeated but never referenced.  The show starts to sink in quality with some episodes being really weak or boring. 

                   The worst part of this season is the writers try to bring in elements from the Slimer subseries.  It was great that they had given up making more episodes of that disaster.  However you shouldn’t sink the mainstream quality with that junk.  In Season 6, we get Professor Dweeb with all his Loony Tune physics and then we also get an episode mocking that very concept. 

                Also the title sequence gets worse.  I don’t know who they had singing the classic song, but it wasn’t as good as Ray Parker.  They did thankfully restore the classic into to the end credits. The next season only had four episodes.  It’s not hard to see why.  

SEASON 5 SUMMARY

          

               So Season 5 of The Real Ghostbusters was different in many ways from the earlier seasons.  It was longer than any of the other ABC seasons with a total of 21 episodes.  They were in this season still using the one hour format from the rebranding to Slimer! And The Real Ghostbusters in the previous season.  Instead of Slimer shorts they wisely chose to simply have bonus 15-mintue extra episodes.

                One of the things I have learned from this series over all is you can do a lot of storytelling in a twenty-five minutes.  This season really shows what you can do with only fifteen minutes.   However season does have a lot of ups and downs.  There are some episodes that I could recall from childhood such as “It’s about Time” and “Venk-Man.”  There are also some lows such as “Slimer’s Curse” and “Til Death do us Part” that were terrible.  Then there is the “Halloween Door” which honestly I didn’t know what to think.

              They chose to stay with the opening theme from the previous season with exception to the Halloween special that had its own intro that you can see in the video above.  Also in these videos is the only musical numbers the Ghostbusters have ever done.  At least I don’t remember any others.

                Season 5 ranks as an overall positive for me.  The addition of Louis Tully as a continuing character is a huge plus.  If only he could be more persuasive with the Ghostbusters about their regular financial situation.  But maybe they wouldn’t be the Ghostbusters if they knew how to handle money.          

SEASON 4 SUMMARY

"Disappointment" is the word that best describes the fourth season of The Real Ghostbusters.  In an attempt to placate to concerns that show about a team that captures ghost might be a little too scary for younger audiences ABC renamed the show Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters and created Slimer shorts to air with the main Ghostbusters episodes that would be targeted for the younger audience.

                When the show starts the audience is now treated with a new opening segment where Janine barely appears but all of Slimer’s supporting cast from his 15-minute shorts do.  The Slimer series caused the show to alienate the older section of its audience and helped bring down the show's reputation.  When people discuss The Real Ghostbusters series they almost always discuss this change as the downfall.  You can see it here starting around 1:10 and here at around 17:70.

                To add insult to injury the fourth season also was significantly shorter than previous two ABC controlled seasons.  They did this because instead of making new episodes they decided just to re-air some episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 with voices from the new voice actors Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie dubbed over for their respective characters. 

                The real shame is the reputation of the show suffered because of this season but of the eight episodes that were produced continued to be of high quality and some of them such as Flip Side and Poultrygiest were some of my favorite episodes of the series.  I don’t feel that the main portion of the Season 4 deserves the juvenile reputation that it gets.  

  

                In the end we could say that Season 4 is a lesson that teaches you should always try to keep studio executives away from content decisions.  

SEASON 3 SUMMARY

               

               The third season of The Real Ghostbusters aired at the same time as the second, but it aired on ABC like the first where the second went straight to syndication.  This season is often mislabeled a ‘Season 2’ even by those making it because the first two seasons were made simultaneously.  With this season being the second to air on ABC the studio called it the second season as well.  

                What also adds to the confusion in the season number is the fact that the Season 3 is also the first follow up season.  This season often explores concepts and bad guys that were in the first season and that the syndicated season didn’t address.  We get a second encounter with the Boogieman and Pumpkin head Samhain (sorry).  We get the best episode with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and we see the return of film villain Walter Peck.  The season also introduced new threats such a Rall, the Copycat, and the Grundel.  The season also had some low points, I didn’t think the first episode was overly strong and the “Transylvania Homesick Blues” was terrible in terms of massive continuity errors. 

                This is the first season that has a different feel from its two predecessors.  A major factor to that was the change in the voice actors with Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie replacing Lorenzo Music and Laurie Summer as Peter and Janine.  It took an episode to get used to the new voices.  Janine now has let her hair grow out and gotten a new pair of glasses.  Slimer is also much easier to understand and they use him a lot more.

                The most controversial decision is the creation of the Junior Ghostbusters.   This was demanded by the executives and the writers wanted nothing to do with it and that showed.  It was a bad situation made worse by all involved and I said when reviewing their first appearance.

“Still if you had to make Junior Ghostbusters don’t’ you think you should try to do it well?  For example why create new bland characters when you already have established characters you could use?  What about Kenny from the episode Masquerade or Megan and her bother—also Kenny---from the Boogieman’s first appearance.   They helped defeat him last time wouldn’t it have been great to see them do it again? Then add a new character and there you go.

“It also might be a good idea to establish them before just announcing they exist.  You should answer the questions of, “How did they get to be Junior Ghostbusters?” “Where are they’re parents?” I also thought Catherine who dressed in a uniform similar to Egon’s and was blond might be relative, Egon’s niece perhaps?”

          In the end Season 3 continued on the work of the first two seasons in bringing a high quality show to kids every Saturday morning.  Most the episodes were great and the show was a lot of fun.   

SEASON 2 SUMMARY

Unlike the other seasons of this series that went to ABC first, these episodes all went straight to syndication.  This season was ordered and made at the same time as the first season and it aired during the same time as the third.  This extraordinary long 65 episode season created the foundation for the overall success of the cartoon.  Because of the large amount of episodes the TV producers were able to air episodes every day of the week right before school.  This amount of airtime allowed and entire generation of children, particularly young boys of the ages 8-14, to enjoy the show and become hooked on it.

Ghostbusters getting ripped off!

                The quality of the episode varied.  Season 2 produced some all-time classic episodes such as “Doctor, Doctor”, “The Man Who Could Never Reach Home”, and "Slimer, is That You.”  On the flip side the mass produce season could also produce some real duds like “The Adventures of Slime and Space” and “Cry Uncle.”

                When originally aired, like the first season of Star Trek, these episodes were aired out of order they were both created and intended. For the most part it doesn’t matter for clear majority of these episodes are self-contained.  There are however moments where it did matter.  For example the episode “Cold Cash and Hot Water” aired before “Venkman’s Ghost Repellers” and “The Spirit of Aunt Lois” despite the fact that CCHW featured characters introduced in those episodes and referenced events in them.

Big bad guy in Season 2

                Even when watched in the order they were intended, something the DVDs to this point let you do, there are still clear continuity problems.  Some of the earlier Season 2 episodes feel like they take place before the later episodes of the first season in terms of relationships and character development.   But the bigger problem can be best highlighted with how the character of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is treated.  SPMM is one of the two ghosts from the movie that make an appearance, the other being Slimer.  Slimer in the first season got an episode to explain why it is Slimer went from their first capture to their pet.  SPMM, who was destroyed in the movie, is featured on the intro (which I always saw as cannon) yet there is never any explanation in any of the episodes featuring the character to how and why he was reborn. 

When SPMM first makes an in episode appearance, not counting the dream SPMM in the first season, strange things start happening.  In “Cry Uncle” the SPMM is released when Egon’s uncle fools around with the controls of the Containment Unit.  The first season explained how the Containment Unit works, not only should Uncle Cyrus not be able to work the controller but when released the Unit opens right up and only one ghost escapes!?!  STMM starts small an immaterial but becomes solid again when outside and fully formed.  The Ghostbusters work to trap him but for some reason they need multiple traps because STMM is too big.  This has never come up as an issue before and we saw in the show's intro SPMM being trapped with company.  The issue of trap size returns sporadically in the second season depending on the writer.

Peter's Dad proved to be a cheat with these "ghost repellers" that didn't work.

In the episode “Ghost Busted” the SPMM is seen walking around randomly at the end of the episode, how he got out isn’t explained but he is apparently caught again by “Deadcon I” where Janine is made to release him by the hotel ghosts.  This also contradicts how the Containment Unit works set episodes back.  Despite their leaving him at the hotel he is back in the Containment Unit for the episode “The Revenge of Murry the Mantis.”  There his escape from the Containment Unit is when the Ghostbusters release him on purpose.  His leaving resembles the mass break out in the movie, even though it's only him.  This is the only episode where STMM's movie history is mentioned.  However now he has become an agent of the Ghostbusters, trained and directed to fight the Mantis.

Despite these flaws Season 2 is awesome with a great many adventures for the Ghostbusters.  The characterization of each Ghostbuster, plus Janine, and Slimer is spot on.  There is a lot of chemistry for the characters and great stories told with those characters.  Even though Season 1 probably produced some of the best episodes, many in Season 2 can rival them and Season 2 is the backbone of the series.         

{I realized after I first posted this that the video was from season 3, now we have a correct season 2 video}

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.