Saturday 1 April 2017

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS hits Netflix

Classic 1980s cartoon The Real Ghostbusters has arrived on Netflix in the USA, UK, Ireland and quite a few other countries.


The cartoon ran for seven seasons from 1986 to 1991. Picking up after the events of the original 1984 movie, the TV show follows the continuing adventures of the Ghostbusters as they battle demons and spirits. Due to events later explained in flashback, they have been joined by Slimer, the first ghost they ever captured, as an ally. The TV show half-ignores Ghostbusters II (whose claim that the Ghostbusters were shut down for five years between the two movies is impossible to reconcile with the series), although multiple characters from the first movie such as Louis Tully, Walter Peck and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man do show up.

The series is noted for its surprisingly dark and occasionally flat-out disturbing tone, especially in the first three seasons. For Seasons 4-7 the show was renamed Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters and became aimed at a younger audience, with an accompanying sub-series expanding on Slimer's adventures in the hotel before the events of the first movie.

The series is also an early showcase for the skills of J. Michael Straczynski, who started his career in animation with this series and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe before going on to write Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Babylon 5, Crusade, Jeremiah and now Sense8.

Despite being aimed at kids, the cartoon series has quite a few excellent episodes which are comfortably superior to either Ghostbusters II or the 2016 reboot.

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