Your Weekly 80s Cartoon Intro…

22Feb12

sorry about missing last week folks. been fighting a cold ever since coming back from vacation. so to make up for up, i’ve got a twofer for you.

this week we’ve got a ghostbusting duo. first, the one most of you are familiar with, the real ghostbusters:

then theres this:

no doubt some of you remember both, but i don’t think there’s any question that the cartoon based on the 1984 movie was the superior of the two. but as a kid, i was massively confused as to why there was a ghostbusters cartoon with a gorilla in a hat instead of slimer, and some piece of shit jalopy in place of ecto-1. thank goodness for the internet.

from that bastion of online accuracy, wikipedia:

The show is also known as The Original Ghost Busters because when Columbia Pictures released the film Ghostbusters in 1984 it neglected the fact that Filmation had already produced a live-action comedy series with that same name in 1975. Filmation sued Columbia in 1985, and as part of the out-of-court settlement the cartoon based on the Columbia Pictures property could not simply be called Ghostbusters. Columbia proceeded to name their cartoon show The Real Ghostbusters to directly distinguish it from the Filmation show.

Filmation had even gone as far as to attempt to work with Columbia Pictures and had completed initial design work for a cartoon to be based on the movie. Columbia changed its mind, deciding not to work with Filmation, and the proposed deal fell through (Columbia worked with DiC instead). Filmation’s Lou Scheimer later admitted “We should have asked for the animation rights for their (Columbia’s) Ghostbusters as part of the settlement.” This prompted Filmation to create the cartoon based on its former live-action series.

so there you have it. sadly, the real ghostbusters would fall victim to extremism, much like every other kid’s property of the 90s:

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