For all of you who have pre-ordered the Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection DVD set from Time Life, check your email.  Many of those who placed pre-orders are receiving notifications that their sets have shipped, while others received a pleasant surprise in their mailbox this afternoon.

I received my advance copy of the DVD set on Friday and it is simply outstanding.  I’m working on my extensive review, which will be published here by the end of the week.  Until then, please check out the following hands on reports.

• Proton Charging
• Spook Central
• RealGhostbusters.com
• CinemaBlend

For the curious who are waiting for their DVD sets to arrive, head over to the Official Real Ghostbusters DVD Q&A Thread at the Ghostbusters Message Board.

Time-Life was kind enough to send the final Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection firehouse packaging today.  The box, which will house the steel case DVD set, is amazingly detailed and includes two holograph-like images.  Please watch the video below for more detail.

In related news, The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection ship date has slipped a little due to the complications in making the firehouse.  Just one look at the video above and you will appreciate the effort put forth into the packaging.

The DVD set was set to ship on November 15 via USPS (7 - 10 days).  Instead of shipping on the 15th, Time-Life will ship on November 25 via Fed-Ex (1 - 2 days).  Most people will not notice a difference and Time-Life is absorbing the significant cost difference in shipping.  

If you order your DVD set before November 15, your set will ship on the 25th along with the pre-orders.  Don’t wait, order today!

Time Life recently unveiled the Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection DVD set packaging, which was nothing short of phenomenal.

Many ghostheads have asked for a more detailed look, and we’re giving it to you.  Check out the 360 degree view of the steel case DVD packaging, as well as our Flickr gallery filled with high resolution images of the Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection DVD set.

Time Life was kind enough to send an exclusive clip to Ghostbusters.net, and the websites below, from The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection which will be shipping next month!

Our exclusive clip was from Laura Summer, who was the voice of Janine Melnitz. Laura talks about finding the voice and personality behind Janine and how her character had a strong impact on the Ghostbusters team dynamic. The Ghostbusters, in many ways, were dependent on Janine, and that didn’t always come out in a not so subtle nature.

Be sure to check out the other exclusive clips on Ghostbusters sites around the web.  The list below will be updated as they roll in, check back soon.

* David Jerrold & Kathryn M. Drennan - Real Ghostbusters Writers @ Spook Central

* Len Janson - Real Ghostbusters Writer & Story Editor @ GB Fans

* Michael C. Gross - Executive Producer @ Proton Charging

You can also pre-order the Real Ghostbusters Complete DVD set now and get 10% off by entering the discount code “SLIMMER”.  Yes, that is Slimer misspelled, but it will do the job.

RSVP on Myspace or Facebook.

Ghostbusters.net and Graham Crackers of Wheaton, Illinois — part of the greater Chicagoland area — are excited to inform you that on October 15th we will host a Ghostbusters event in honor of the Graham Crackers Comics Exclusive cover to Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1 and the long-awaited return of Ghostbusters to the world of comics!

This day long event will begin with a midnight opening for the impatient masses, as the store will be open from midnight until 1 am in the morning Wednesday, Oct. 15.  The day events listed below will take place between 11 am - 8 pm at night on Wednesday, Oct 15 at the Graham Crackers in Wheaton.

• Ghostbusters: The Other Side artist Tom Nguyen will be here doing an in-store signing!
• Exclusive screening of The Real Ghostbusters DVD Collection sponsored by Ghostbusters.net, including special features never before seen and fully restored episodes of The Collect Call of Cathulhu and Take Two.
• Ghostbusters.net / 80’s Tees, Cereal Geek Magazine w/ The Real Ghostbusters on the cover, and The Real Ghostbusters Promo DVD in-store giveaways.
• Day long Ghostbusters movie marathon-including episodes of the Real Ghostbusters.
• A Classic Ghostbusters video game tournament.
• Coloring contest for kids of all ages-including prizes
• Replica of the Ghostbusters Headquarters being built in store

For all of those in Chicagoland looking to sample The Real Ghostbusters DVD special features, pick up the first edition of Ghostbusters: The Other Side and meet the artist behind the comic, this is the event to attend.  Who knows, you might even come home with some great Ghostbusters swag in the process.

RSVP on Myspace or Facebook now!

For more on Ghostbusters: The Other side, check out Newsarama’s exclusive first look at the new comic series.

Our friends at Time Life were kind enough to send us an exclusive clip from the Real Ghostbusters DVD collection, which will be available in just 7 weeks.  The clip below features Marc Scott Zicree who wrote some classic Real Ghostbusters episodes including Station Identification, Egon on the Rampage, Lights! Camera! Haunting!, and Look Homeward, Ray.

Be sure to check out the other exclusive clips from the Real Ghostbusters DVD collection posted around the web.

• J. Michael Straczynski @ Spook Central
• Len Janson @ Proton Charging
• Marc Scott Zicree @ RGB Online
• Laura Summer @ GB Fans
• J. Michael Straczynski @ TV Shows on DVD

Some exciting details are beginning to emerge regarding The Real Ghostbusters DVD collection from Time Life.

Let’s talk packaging, shall we?  The Real Ghostbusters DVD collection will use Steelbook packaging for the DVDs.  The Real Ghostbusters DVDs will be housed in 5 separate Steelbook cases, which will then be put in the Firehouse box.   Images for this box set will be coming soon.

Listed below is a complete list of the 21 commentaries and 88 introductions included in the Real Ghostbusters DVD collection.

Disc 1

#1 Visual Commentary Track “GHOSTS R US” with Len Janson (writer & story editor), Kevin Alteri (director & storyboard supervisor), Dan Riba (storyboard artist), hosted by Andy Mangels [23:38]

#4 Visual Commentary Track “SLIMER, COME HOME” with Dan Riba (storyboard artist) and Gabi Payn (character designer), hosted by Andy Mangels [23:44]

Disc 2

#10 Visual Commentary Track “TAKE TWO” with J. Michael Straczynski (writer & story editor), Joe Medjuck (executive producer), and Michael C. Gross (executive producer), hosted by Andy Mangels [23:45]

Disc 3

#20 Visual Commentary Track “ADVENTURES IN SLIME AND SPACE” with David Gerrold (writer), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:22]

Disc 4

#22 Visual Commentary Track “VENKMAN’S GHOST REPELLERS” with Richard Mueller (writer) and James Eatock (publisher of cereal: geek magazine) [22:22]

Disc 6

#33 Visual Commentary Track ” DON’T FORGET THE MOTOR CITY” with Dennys McCoy & Pam Hickey (writers) [22:22]

Disc 7

#41 Visual Commentary Track “THE COLLECT CALL OF CATHULHU” with Marsha Goodman (voice director & voice casting) and James Eatock (publisher of cereal: geek magazine) [22:22]

Disc 8

#45 Visual Commentary Track “EGON ON THE RAMPAGE” with Marc Scott Zicree (writer), Maurice La Marche (voice of “Egon”), and Laura Summer (voice of 1st “Janine”), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:25]

Disc 9

#53 Visual Commentary Track “THE SCARING OF THE GREEN” with Michael Edens (writer) and Michael Swanigan (storyboard artist), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:21]

Disc 11 (7 eps +1 commentary +6 intros = 186 minutes)

#63 Visual Commentary Track “THE CABINET OF CALAMARI” with Michael Edens (writer), Michael Swanigan (storyboard artist), and James Eatock (publisher of cereal: geek magazine), hosted by Andy Mangels [21:47]

Disc 12

#71 Visual Commentary Track “THE DEVIL TO PAY” with Dennys McCoy & Pam Hickey (writers), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:22]

Disc 13

#76 Visual Commentary Track “EGON’S DRAGON” with Kathryn Drennan (writer), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:24]

#79 Visual Commentary Track “BABY SPOOKUMS” with Len Janson (writer & story editor), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:58]

Disc 14

#85 Visual Commentary Track “HALLOWEEN II 1/2″ with Dennys McCoy & Pam Hickey (writers), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:22]

Disc 16

#99 Visual Commentary Track “THE BROOKLYN TRIANGLE” with Richard Mueller (writer) and Derdad Aghamalian (color key artist), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:54]

Disc 18

#114 Visual Commentary Track “THE HALLOWEEN DOOR” with J. Michael Straczynski (writer & story editor), hosted by Andy Mangels [23:15]

Disc 19

#118 Visual Commentary Track “JANINE, YOU’VE CHANGED” with J. Michael Straczynski (writer & story editor), Marsha Goodman (voice director & voice casting), and Kath Soucie (voice of 2nd “Janine”), hosted by Andy Mangels [23:19]

Disc 22

#134 Visual Commentary Track “20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE STREET” with Richard Mueller (writer), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:57]

Disc 24

#SL8 Visual Commentary Track “BEACH BLANKET BRUISER / CLASS CLOWN / DOG DAYS” with Francis Moss (writer) and Darrell McNeil (animator), hosted by Andy Mangels [21:37]

#SL12 Visual Commentary Track “RAINY DAY SLIMER / SLIMER & THE BEANSTALK / SPACE CASE” Dennys McCoy & Pam Hickey (writers) and Darrell McNeil (animator), hosted by Andy Mangels [22:58]

Disc 25

#00 Promo Pilot Visual Commentary Track [3:46]
Kevin Altieri (director and storyboard supervisor) and Dan Riba (storyboard artist) provide a fast-paced Visual Commentary Track telling about the unseen pilot!

Before I begin the final chapter of my Real Ghostbusters blog series, I would like to thank Alex Upton of The Real Ghostbusters.com for mentioning my From Real to “Real” series. When I started this, I was hoping it would be enjoyed by fans, but to have other members of the Ghostbusters community validate the work is icing on the cake!

We now come to the final chapter of my series, “From Real to “Real”. We’ve had a fun ride together. Five fruitful chapters full of fun memories. We laughed, we cried, we made out in the back of the Ecto-1 and we both felt awkward the next day. But we got past it and we still signed each other’s year book. I’m gonna miss you From Real to “Real”. But we must look to the future, move forward, and continue our lives. So without further to do, I bring you the final chapter… Egon Spengler!

Out of all the Ghostbusters to be translated from film to cartoon, Egon is the most extreme. None of the choices made with his design are subtle, but the perfectly capture the character traits the embody Egon.

Those traits being:

• Genius
• Extremely Logical
• Disciplined
• Introverted/antisocial
• Honest/No Filter
• Pessimistic

As you can see, the two Egons are extremely different, yet share a commonality. There are a few features that were crossed over from Harold Ramis. Notably the lips (though they are fuller in the animated version), the chin, the large ears, and the size of the nose in proportion to the face. But there are also drastic changes. First off, they shaved quite a few pounds off the movie counterpart…and the movie Egon was already a thin chap! They made the cartoon Egon down right twig like! But this allows the artist to define his bone structure, which gives Egon’s face a more unique appearance, and allows him to stand out from his more fleshy teammates. While they kept the round rim glasses, they made them red rather than black or gray. That is because in animation, color pallete is important and helps separate characters. Not only does it allow him to stand out from any other character who may have glasses, it also compliments the yellow of his hair. And that segways me to Egon’s greatest change…this hair! It only draws one similarity to the movie counterpart in the fact that its big hair. Egon always had poofy hair. I personally thought it was because Egon was out of touch with popular culture and thought big hair was cool. That a big pomp adore would make him a little more relatable.

The artists on Real Ghostbusters took that concept and twisted it…literally. They gave Egon the big twisted burrito hair, and to keep it from feeling front heavy, added a rat tail in the back for balance. They even changed the hair line to accentuate the massive front. You can imagine Egon being so unhip, that he would visual that hair as “hip” and make it his own. Egon is also a character of patterns and habit, he would most likely maintain that hair til his death. So the fact that he got rid of it for Extreme Ghostbusters seemed like a faulty move.

Now why make his hair yellow? Simple. It was another way to seperate Egon from the rest of the pack. Winston already had black hair, while Ray and Peter already had two different shades of brown. The only option was blonde….and it works! Egon’s hair is the visual representation of his inability to connect with popular culture. He is the Yin to Peter’s Yang. Egon is such a genius, he has a hard time relating to others. It’s that genius that is the root of all his other character traits. It is why he is antisocial, and a pessimist. If you were that smart, of course the rest of the world would appear dumbed down. I would have a hard time relating to that as well.  Brain power that also allows him to be extremely disciplined with his emotions. Even in the scariest of moments, he verbalizes his thoughts and feelings rather than showing them with erratic behavior. Excluding the opening library scene in Ghostbusters, but I dare say he ran only because being there alone would only make for poor science. The artists captured these other traits in his eyes. By having them slightly slopped downwards along the outside corner, he gives an appearance of being slightly unamused and under stimulated by the outside world.

For the body, the design department exaggerated the physical attributes that were already present with Harold Ramis. Much like how they took Ray and made him shorter and rounder, they took Egon and made him taller and more lanky. This serves a few purposes. The first, of course, is to help separate him from the group. Aside from the unique silhouette the hair provides, having Egon taller and thinner than the rest also allows him to break away visually when they are all side by side. Secondly, Egon is a bit socially awkward, and one of the best visual signs of that is the tall, lanky kid in high school. You know the type…long limbs, slightly hunched over, never able to fit in. As for the uniform color selection, it is the most drastic color change of the group, right up there with Winston’s uniform color selection. But lets read into it a little deeper. The majority of Egon’s suit is sort of a desaturated blue-green. A far cry from the Khaki suits of the movie, but perfect match for Egon.

Blue-Green represents a person who is exacting, discriminating, and poised. If anyone is exact and discriminating, it’s Egon. He is first to calculate with no room for doubt and dismiss all options that doesn’t fit the math. The Blue-Green person tends to be intellectual and refined, persevering and stable if rather detached. That couldn’t describe Egon any better! The pink trim is a stroke of genius in my opinion. That subtle color change ads a great deal of insight into Egon’s character. Pink embodies the gentler qualities of Red, symbolizing love and affection without passion. This shows that Egon has a subtle sensitive side beneath that brainy and detached exterior. We see this when he converses with Janine towards the final act of the movie. He shoes some affection towards Janine, but he is sure to keep it void of any passion.

So as you can see from my Real to “Real” series, no matter how true they stay to the movie, or how far the stray into extremes, each design aspect of The Real Ghostbusters was clearly thought out with each character’s personality in mind. It is a quality that many cartoons lack in favor of a current design trend or fad. But cartoons that take the time and effort to visually flush out a character’s traits and personality tend to be the shows that become classics. The Real Ghostbusters is a prime example.

Real Ghostbusters Online takes us down memory lane with this wonderful unboxing video of the Real Ghostbusters Firehouse by Kenner.  The firehouse,  which has been in storage for nearly 22 years, was factory sealed is opened for the first time during the video.

Also, a friendly reminder, only 5 days remain to pre-order the Real Ghostbusters DVD collection before the 10% discount expires.

A trip down memory lane as we wait for Activision to decide how it should flush their only chance at redeeming their long history of publishing sub-par Ghostbusters video games.