The original 1984 Ghostbusters film is one of the best and most influential comedies of all time, and was an enormous pop culture sensation upon release. But it also launched a very successful animated series, which premiered just two years later. Called The Real Ghostbusters, the show ran for seven seasons and 140 episodes, and launched a popular toy line and all kinds of other merch. This might be a controversial opinion, but it is just as responsible for the Ghostbusters brand being as iconic and perennial as it remains today as any of the movies.
According to Roberts, this stop motion tribute video took over two months of work to complete, and some 2,500 individual pictures were used. Artist Nathan Poppe created over 30 hand-drawn images to create the backdrop element. Many different kinds of Ghostbusters toys from the past thirty years were used to make this video. Among these were the original 1980s Kenner figures, to the more recent collector’s figures from Diamond Select line. But for the giant walking/dancing ghost from the beginning of the video, they created their own clay puppet from scratch.
Although there were many animated spin-offs to successful live-action properties, almost none were as popular as The Real Ghostbusters. But the series had an uphill battle to even get on the air. For starters, the reason the show is even called “The Real” Ghostbusters and not just Ghostbusters is because there was another animated series on the air called The Ghost Busters. This cartoon was based on a short-lived live-action show for kids from the ’70s. To avoid brand confusion (and probably lawsuits), the cartoon based on the movie had the “Real” brand added in, and it was allowed to go forward.
Despite being “the real” versions of the characters, the show had other odd differences from the movie. The main characters were almost all given make-overs, as to not look too much like their live-action counterparts. Egon was suddenly blonde, and none of the other Ghostbusters looked anything like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, or Ernie Hudson. Ironically, Hudson was the only original cast member to audition for the animated series, and lost out on getting a chance to reprise his role when Arsenio Hall got the job instead! Now that seems unfair. Despite all the weird little changes, The Real Ghostbusters was beloved by kids back in the day, and remains an iconic part of the franchise.
Images: Sony Pictures
