While social media has been busy belly-aching over Iron Fist being not-so-Iron or whether or not 13 Reasons Why glorifies suicide, the real news has continued to go un-announced. Late last month Netflix did a stealth release of the first four seasons of The Real Ghostbusters and instead of social media erupting in song and dance, what we got was silence. And that is unacceptable.
When your friend says they’ve never seen the REAL Ghostbusters.
For the unwashed few that have never seen or (God help you) heard of The Real Ghostbusters, it was an animated cartoon show that debuted in the mid-80’s and totally kicked ass. Featuring voice acting by Arsenio Hall and that guy who did Garfield, it ran from 1986 to 1991 and was probably one of the most memorable cartoon shows of my childhood (and I watched a shit ton of cartoons).
The reason it was called the “REAL” Ghostbusters was that there was another animation studio called Filmation that came out with another cartoon called Ghostbusters at the same time. But this one consisted of two guys and a fedora-wearing gorilla. While the thought a ghost-busting gorilla dressed like Indiana Jones sounds like it would be awesome, it was the opposite of awesome. The thing is, it was based on a movie called The Ghost Busters, which actually came out before the Ghostbusters that we all know and love. Well in the world of trademarks and copyrights, there’s this thing called “brand confusion” where if an intellectual property looks or sounds too much like yours, you may have grounds to sue. And sue they did. As a result, Columbia Pictures settled out of court and agreed to change the name of their show.
So with a totally legal, corporate middle-finger, Columbia Pictures named it “The REAL Ghostbusters,” even though their Ghostbusters were not technically the “real” ones.
Something to think about, though, is that The Ghost Busters came out in 1975, and the Ghostbusters in 1984. Both Ghostbusters cartoons didn’t come out until 1986, two years after Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray made us all dress up in onesies and strap mom’s vacuum to our backs. If you ask me, it was Filmation who maybe cashed in on a little brand confusion. More than once did I scan the TV-guide, see Ghostbusters at 8:00 am, and turn the dial, only to realize it was the shitty one with the buggy and hat-wearing gorilla.
Justice prevailed though, and the original knock-off only lasted a season, while the cool Ghostbusters went on to crank out so many episodes that Arsenio Hall eventually stopped voicing Winston, and Peter Venkman sounded less like Garfield and more like the mooching uncle on Full House that wasn’t John Stamos. The show changed names, becoming “Slimer and the REAL Ghostbusters” because apparently Slimer re-negotiated his contract, and stores started selling little plastic containers of “Ectoplasm” which was only good for making it look like we blew our nose on the entire living room.
The show that ended in 1991 was very different from the one that began in 1986. It’s pretty jarring to watch them back to back now and actually be able to see the point where it all started to go south. But for a kid watching these on Saturday mornings stretched out over the course of several years, it just wasn’t as noticeable at the time. Or maybe we forgot. Or we just didn’t pay attention. Who knows, kids are dumb.
So if you’re looking for something to bing-watch, and you’re willing to put up with a little bit of 80’s cheese animation, The Real Ghostbusters is begging for your attention. At least give it the first 74 episodes. That’s season 1 in 80’s terms.
