The Real Ghostbusters
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
After Gozer got tossed through the skyline, the franchise’s smarter move was to animate the property instead of chasing it. The Real Ghostbusters keeps the firehouse, keeps the containment units, and turns the team loose on a weekly parade of hazards that no live action budget could ever afford: giant snowmen, a devil in a crossroads bar, a dictator who won yesterday. The film was a launchpad, and everyone involved knew it.
Slimer is the reason it worked. A gluttonous green ghost who haunts restaurants is the perfect reusable character, and the best episodes understand that the team’s straight man energy needs a mascot. Egon’s technobabble is the punchline instead of the lecture, Venkman is deliberately a Bill Murray impression, and the writing gets funnier as the years go on.
Seven seasons of Filmation gives it a cheap Saturday morning texture, which is either nostalgia or a wall depending on your age. The Halloween episodes and the Stay Puft callbacks are the entry points. A movie knockoff that outlasted most of the movie knockoffs it inspired.
Our score: 7.5/10.
