If you missed You Know Who to Call Part 2,click here.
Okay, so, shes a dog.
Yeah, but what a ride.
If it sounds crazy, maybe it was, but they were ready to believe you.
Since falling out of business, less and less may have come to believe in them.
TheGhostbusterscleaned suites and streets of paranormal activity.
The Ecto-1 may need a jumpstart, but lets take a ride down memory lane after the jump.
Its May 8, 2013, as I begin to write this.
It was based on something a little rarer: original material.
Tragedy struck early on to curtail that plan.
The news hit fans, friends and family hard.
But as always, the show must go on.
It had to go on as ideas of passion never loosen their grip.
Were ready to believe you."
- The Ghostbusters
As written by Aykroyd, his concept was different from what was eventually filmed.
The actor-to-be-known-as-Stantz pitched his story to director Ivan Reitman.
Casting had to be set.
Rising star Eddie Murphy ended up being too busy withBeverly Hills Copto put in any teamwork onGhostbusters.
But while Jovan triumphed with her figure, her voice and accent didnt cut it.
The demonic voice of Gozer was provided by Paddi Edwards in the final cut.
The changes and polishing of the plan for the movie didnt stop in the casting department.
So with all that, could anyone have confidently predicted which way the movie would go with moviegoers?
It did well with test audiences, but its always the box-office that is the final and ultimate test.
Add to that, Columbia Pictures hadnt had a hit since 1982sTootsie.
Lets visit the weekend after Ghostbusters release day: June 8, 1984.
Theaters are open and accepting patrons.
What will the weekend and beyond hold in store?
Then came a reversal of direction in the box-office race:Ghostbustersregained the top spot the following week.
That figure put it within the top ten highest-grossing films of all-time.
and, “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”
The song earned Ray Parker Jr. an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
Ghostbusterspropelled all of the films stars to a new level of fame and brought an undermined genre respect.
Yes, kids became pseudo-scientists when the details of the wondrous technology used by theGhostbustersserved to be accessible.
A particle accelerator propels said particles to high speeds and contains them in well-defined beams.
Practice makes perfect, but congratulations: youre on your way to becoming an honorary Ghostbuster.
Oh yeah, and an important safety tip: dont cross the streams.
As I said: important safety tip.
Or theyd maybe squeeze my cheek and stir the hair on my head like a pooch.
Parents are adorable that way: how little theyve always comprehended about the goings-on of an aspiring Ghostbuster.
As for the suspicious gold mine, the franchise burgeoned as a bonanza.
Columbia agreed to license the name from Filmation for $500,000 plus 1% of the profits.
After the movie came out, there was some room to reteam in the cartoon world.
The proposed deal eventually fell through and a duel began.
Columbia retaliated by proceeding to name their cartoon showThe Real Ghostbustersto directly distinguish it from the Filmation show.
Both shows premiered in September of 1986 only a few days apart.
The show had a considerable list of talent behind it who made well-known careers.
Joseph Michael Straczynski acted as writer and story editor onThe Real Ghostbustersfor a period of time.
He wrote 2009sThe Changlingstarring Angelina Jolie and directed by Clint Eastwood.
The studio went with focusing on the first three actors for posters more often than not.
Although theGhostbustersconcept was tinkered with, the finalized show did feature many tie-ins from the films.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Walter Peck made appearances with Gozer mentioned repeatedly.
At the start of the series' third season in 1988, it was re-titled toSlimer!
And the Real Ghostbusters.
The opening was completely redone to revolve around slimy apparition.
The toys were expansive and kept Ghostbusters alive.
The franchise wasnt one spawning film after film.
Its principals and creators were a little less enthusiastic at first.
This wasnt a franchise thought of from the start as a continuous stream.
The gang was back.
In 1989, audiences revisited the Ghostbusters.
Youngsters barely knew who they were.
Did the June 16threlease not do the movie, set near New Years, any favors?
They did use some shots of that driving sequence in the montage after the court scene.
Or was the franchise just naturally grinding slower after saturating the marketing for half a decade?
Then syndication took full control.
From that point on, the brand went from fading to languishing.
You’re more like a game show host.
-Dana Barrett
Merchandising and licensing has been a widespread part of the Ghostbusters franchise.
Its difficult to say what has kept the brand visible.
Maybe a little of both.
Personally, I was raised a little afterGhostbusterswas in its prime.
Im a child of the 80s who grew up in the 90s.
Its repetition that really made 1980s entertainment classic entertainment.
It had hit a mature standard in visual effects and style, and home audiences ran with it.
How ridiculous, but no, this was TV, it had to be true.
The team that helmedExtreme Ghostbustersconsisted of many producers and writers that had done work onThe Real Ghostbusters.
As a result, the show was conceptualized as an explicit sequel to its predecessor.
Rather than a series reboot, the makers opted for a realistic passage of time.
This was the genius of the show and really was a hook for old fans, bringing it credibility.
Each member had gone their separate way, except for Egon Spengler, vocally reprised by Maurive LaMarche.
When ghosts began to reappear, Egon was forced to recruit his lone four students as the new Ghostbusters.
Unlike Egon, Janine Melnitz had new voice pedigree fill her shoes.
That job was given to Pat Musick (An American Tail).
The rest of the cast was seasoned in their own regards too.
Slimer was brought vocal life by Billy West (Space Jam).
The show explicitly tied in with episodes fromThe Real Ghostbusters.
The original voice cast returned in its entirety.
But I was talking about merchandising, wasnt I?
Well, you cant talk aboutExtreme Ghostbusterswithout talking about merchandising.
The toy line from Trendmasters made this show notable.
They were expecting a heavy-hitter on their hands with this show.
While no one got that, die-hards received a respectable extension of toys.
Within the series, the tools of choice were upgraded.
A spare canister would hang from the back of the pack for such a situation.
for correlate with the augmented proton charge, the ghost trap also had to be adjusted.
What worked in the series equipment-wise didnt result in an amazing toy equivalent from Trendmasters.
The Ecto-1 was more successfully a nice throwback, but its really the action figures that were the highlight.
The wheelchair-bound character of Garrett Miller didnt make it past the prototype stage upon the first series release.
They were vibrant and substantial.
All of them, although pretty foremost, had their share of consistent design defects.
Was something bound to give if they were going to look as good as they did?
The impact of those defects on the whole was minimal.
The shooting items were too heavy and could never get major distance.
The House Ghost had an unreliable shooting eye that didnt have the problem of blasting unsuccessfully.
On the contrary, it might shoot off prematurely on its own.
The inner mechanism didnt quite latch on perfectly.
You were better off just loosely inserting the eye while on display.
On the upside, this was the only toy to come with its own bottle of ectoplasm.
They embodied the original spirit and could easily work alongside your old figures as the next generation.
As for the old team, they didnt get their shot at new casts for toys.
From series to shelf,Extreme Ghostbusterswas a lovely homage that deserved a longer run.
It would end there after 40 episodes on December 4, 1997.
The very first comic book series based on the franchise wasThe Real Ghostbusters.
The comic book division specialized in purchasing the right to publish comic books of recognized characters.
At the time, it was a virtually dead 1960s intellectual property.
NOW Comics paid $1,000 advance on royalties.
In June of 1987, the first issue ofSpeed Racersold 75,000 copies in two printings.
The company knew how to play the game it seemed.
The unknown was left to discover through story.
The souls of the characters in their individually-colored jumpsuits carried through.
By August of 1988, theReal Ghostbusterscomic entered a ruthlessly competitive battleground of dominant rivals.
That unique standard wasnt oblivious.
Not a barkers dozen, mind you: 12 countries.
Well, think of it as 3% of a billion dollars.
NOW Comics produced almost 1,000 publications since 1986 until the end.
TheGhostbusterspublishing history has been sporadic.
The company got an infusion of millions and renamed itself the NOW Entertainment Corporation.
But 88MPH Studios didnt have the same Midas touch.
Another complaint was the heavy use of variant covers.
Long enough without a single bit of news in the marketplace, it was eventually cancelled by default.
Twenty years later, the boys are back in a brand-new ONGOING comic book series.
Old foes, new enemies and trusty unlicensed nuclear accelerators, this exciting first issue has it all.
Because even after two decades, you know who to call.
And thats before things get really bad.
Where the 88MPH Studios project failed in marketing and production, it succeeded in showing what was possible.
Sure, 88MPH Studios went out of business, but so had the Ghostbusters twice before.
Look for the second part of a detailed history of the GHOSTBUSTERS in the coming days.
