Paul Rudoff, one of the original ghostheads and creator of Spook Central, published an interesting sneak-peak of The Real Ghostbusters Pilot, which is what I believe to be the most anticipated feature of The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection on DVD from Time-Life.

If that isn’t enough to get you excited about the DVD set, Paul has also been counting down his 31 favorite Real Ghostbusters episodes.  As a very big fan of The Real Ghostbusters, I want to thank Paul for doing a magnificent job with this blog series.

Ghostbusters.net received the first product shot of the 25-DVD set, The Real Ghostbusters–The Complete Collection from Time Life which is shipping next month.  You can also view the full resolution image.  The 25-DVD set includes:

–All 147 episodes of “The Real Ghostbusters” and “Slimer! And The Real Ghostbusters.”

–Over 13 hours of bonus material, including: featurettes, on-camera commentaries, episode introductions, interviews with voice actors and series production people,  scripts, original art, and much more.

–The DVDs come in 5 separate STEELBOOK sub-sets, each with 5 DVDs  (volume 5 has 4 DVDs).  Plus, DVD #25 is a bonus DVD with nearly 3 hours of material, including the never-before-seen promotional pilot (with commentary and storyboards).

–A 52-page booklet with exclusive art, RGB trivia and more.

–And, it all comes in the Firehouse box, with lenticular panels.

For those of you on a budget, there will be a retail release, 5-DVD RGB Volume 1 released in late January.  This set will include the first 30 episodes of the series plus some bonus material.  Also, individual 5-DVD sets will be released over the course of 12-18 months for more casual fans.

Remember, the 25-DVD set is the only way to get the Firehouse packaging, the 52 page booklet and the bonus DVD, which contains the VERY RARE pilot for The Real Ghostbusters.

The official Real Ghostbusters trailer that aired during the San Diego Comic-Con which includes on-air commentary from J. Michael Straczynski.  Just a friendly reminder, be sure to pre-order your collection before September 1st and save 10%!

The collection includes over twelve hours of bonus material including documentaries and twenty-one innovative on-camera commentary tracks featuring producers, writers, artists, voice actors, and other personnel. Also included is a never-before-seen promotional pilot, over eighty on-camera episode introductions, art and photo galleries, scripts, storyboards, informative booklets, and much, much more.  Don’t miss out!

Ghostbusters.net member Bativac illustrated and inked versions of the Kenner Real Ghostbusters Fright Feature Figures.  If you are a child of the 80’s and you loved Ghostbusters, you had these!  I don’t know about you guys, but me and my friends (circa 1987) had a real problem with Egon’s tie breaking off.  Nice work Bativac!

Newcomers: parts one, two, and three.  Now on to the next chapter… Peter Venkman.

As we move towards the final two characters left on the list, we start to find that the designs look less and less like their live action counterparts, yet capture more and more of the character’s traits. With Peter Venkman (and lastly, Egon), we see animation character design at its best. They show us that a character can be interpreted many different ways, yet still retain the soul that everyone relates to.

Those traits being:

• Charismatic
• Humorous
• Witty
• Extroverted
• Mildy Sleazy
• Kind Hearted
• Business Savvy (always thinking of the dollar)
• Flirtatious

These traits are manifested in two ways within the translation of the face. First, the literal cross overs from Bill Murray. They kept the hair line, cheeks,  nose, the tired / jaded eyes, the smirk, and the flat “butt chin” . Secondly, they created traits from scratch that best represented the character. Most notably, his hair. Dana put it best when he said said “you look more like a game show host”. And what do all game show hosts have? Nice hair! Which is why the cartoon Venkman has much more styled hair than Mr. Murray…especially with the nice pseudo cow lick bangs with the lovely curl at the end. But the hair is just messy enough, and just long enough in the back, to pay a little homage to Murray’s hair while still taking it into the TV show host / ladies man realm. Another significant change is the head shape. Murray’s head is shaped like a rounded square. Problem is, in animation, a round head suggests innocence or youth, while a square head suggests someone is dense or dim witted. Venkman is neither. So they narrowed his face into more of a tapered rectangle. The narrow shape and slight “V” angle makes him both witty, and more attractive. Which plays well into his womanizing routine.

Venkman’s body shape fits Murray pretty well. But the main changes come in the suit colors. Again, these colors were chosen because they represent his character traits. Venkman is no doubt the most popular character associated with Ghostbusters and fans are going to want him to remain true to the movie. But alas, the classic Tan suit is already used for Ray, as his character best represents the heart of Ghostbusters. Venkman also represents the heart…but a slightly darker, more cynical heart. What is a darker version of tan?…brown. Also, people who prefer brown, tend to not be impulsive. And as we all know, Venkman rarely likes to just dive into a situation head first….he lets others do that for him. “Go Get Her, Ray!”

Now Venkman also has dark blue-green accents to his brown suit. People who prefer blue-green tend to be discriminating (dismissed Walter Peck right away), poised (always appears composed and self assured), as well as attractive and charming (both play into the lady’s man routine). And of course, blue-green is an opposite on the color wheel with brown. Contrasting colors always go well together.

So there you have it! By taking some of Bill Murray’s features, adding some classically attractive physical features over top of that, as well a dash of TV host hair, and colors that reflect those character traits, you get a timeless Peter Venkman animated design that doesn’t “look” like the live action Venkman, but sure as hell feels like him!

In the next and final chapter, I will be discussing Egon.

Too Zuul For School

Charge up your Proton Packs and get the P.K.E. Meter running! One of the most popular animated series in television history to spin off from a major motion picture, The Real Ghostbusters, will soon be available for the first time on home video from Time Life.  The 25-DVD set includes all 147 astonishing episodes of the seven-season series for over 55 hours of ghost-busting goodness — in their complete original form, but remastered for picture and audio perfection.  Produced by some of the team members behind the legendary Ghostbusters motion pictures, The Real Ghostbusters features scripts by some of the top names in animation, science fiction, and horror history, and top-quality visuals, plus a voice cast that included Arsenio Hall, Dave Coulier (Full House), Maurice LaMarche (Pinky & The Brain), and many more!

The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Series also features over twelve hours of fascinating bonus material, including documentaries and twenty-one innovative on-camera commentary tracks featuring producers, writers, artists, voice actors, and other personnel. Also included is a never-before-seen promotional pilot, over eighty on-camera episode introductions, art and photo galleries, scripts, storyboards, informative booklets, and much, much more.

Housed in a specially-designed box that recalls the award-winning and innovative Man From Uncle “briefcase packaging” and the Get Smart “phone booth set,” The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Series 25-DVD set will be available for purchase exclusively online via The Real Ghostbusters DVD website www.realghostbustersdvd.com for $179.99.

“The Real Ghostbusters has had a strong and vocal fanbase for years, and the series has been one of the most requested shows for DVD release” says Jeff Peisch, head of Time Life’s video division. “Time Life has a long history of releasing classic properties in a way that viewers appreciate, and we intend this Complete Series release to be extraordinary. From the digitally restored episodes to the extensive bonus materials, this set will have fans calling for the Ghostbusters again and again.”

To produce the most comprehensive selection of extra materials ever seen for a complete animated television series box set, Time Life has engaged the services of Special Features producers Andy Mangels and Reed Kaplan. Mangels is a best-selling novelist, author of Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, and the producer whom TVShowsonDVD.com called “legendary.” Mangels and Kaplan are producing the five documentaries, 21 commentary tracks, and a multitude of other extra content surprises. The duo were assisted by James Eatock of cereal:geek magazine. “I hope that fans will be spooked by how much cool material we’re putting together for this set,” said Mangels. “We’re including everything we can, short of duplicating the keys to the Ghostbusters car, the Ecto-1.” Covers for The Real Ghostbusters set and its interior cases will be by comic artist Emiliano Santalucia and MVCreations.

Spinning off from the box office mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984), the animated series The Real Ghostbusters debuted on ABC in September 1986 to tremendous ratings, critical acclaim, and an audience that ranged from kids to adults. The series functioned as a direct sequel to the movie, following New York’s paranormal investigator team — Dr. Peter Venkman (voice of Lorenzo Music, later Dave Coulier), Dr. Egon Spengler (Maurice LaMarche), Winston Zeddemore (Arsenio Hall, later Buster Jones), Dr. Ray Stantz (Frank Welker), their secretary Janine Melnitz (Laura Summer, later Kath Soucie) and their gooey green mascot Slimer (Frank Welker) — as they faced ghosts, goblins, trolls, demons, monsters, and even the Boogieman! In 1987, a syndicated version of The Real Ghostbusters aired Monday-Friday afternoons, while ABC continued to produce the Saturday-morning show.

The Real Ghostbusters eventually garnered a primetime special — which was nominated for an Emmy® award — and switched to a one-hour format in 1989, titled Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters. This later version added a series of Slimer! short cartoons, aimed at a younger audience, but wacky and clever enough to still appeal to older viewers. By the time the series finally completed its run in 1991, 134 episodes had been created. The Real Ghostbusters was a hit in worldwide syndication, and also led to hugely successful toy lines, multiple comic book series, and fan clubs and web pages that keep the ghostbusting spirit alive — or undead — today.

Newcomers: From Real to “Real” (Part One)

In this chapter, I will delve into the character design behind Winston. Winston is perhaps the hardest character to design for animation, as he is the most underdeveloped Ghostbuster in the entire movie and didn’t appear until half way through the film. Since character design is heavily based on personality traits, this leaves the Real Ghostbusters art team in a real pickle.

Now lets break down Winston’s character traits.

• Down to Earth
• Common sense type
• Blue collar worker
• An every man
• Unassuming
• Athlete of the team
• Possibly the most religious
• Most relateable by the audience

So how does one translate this into animation? You start with the face, as that is what people relate to, and most camera shots are close ups.

To make Winston match those traits, you have to keep him looking looking generic so he is relateable by a larger demographic, but also kind and approachable. First is the get rid of the mustache. While it works well in the movie, in animation a mustache either ages you, makes you look like a tough bad ass, or turns you into a villain. Thinner eye brows also also takes attention off the brow and makes a person exude more confidence.

They also gave his hair more shape to break up his silhouette a little bit, as well as made him look a little more conservative with a more groomed, classic cut. Finally they gave him larger, more friendly eyes. A sharp contrast to Ernie’s narrow, more skeptic eyes.

Now comes the body.

Even the suit has to reflect his personality. That is where the Real Ghostbusters conceptual artists were really brilliant. They used color to separate each character to further establish their character traits. With Winston, the artists choose blue with maroon trim. Blue represents soft, soothing, compassionate and caring, Blue is the color of deliberation and introspection, conservatism and duty. Patient, persevering, conscientious, sensitive and self-controlled, Blues like to be admired for their steady character and wisdom. They are faithful, but are often worriers with somewhat inflexible beliefs and can be too cautious, and suspicious of flamboyant behavior. This clearly represents Winston. He is loyal and has a sense of duty to the Ghostbusters, but is also a little reluctant when it comes to their more outlandish ways. This is represents in the movie when he decides to get his own lawyer. He isn’t the type to jump to a mess and is indeed cautious.

He is the Ghostbuster who probably has his life together the most. His blue costume is trimmed with Maroon. Maroon represtents harsh experiences, which has probably matured the Maroon person into someone likeable and generous. It is often a favorite color of someone who has been battered by life but has come through. It indicates a well-disciplined Red personality—one who has had difficult experiences and has not come through unmarked but who has grown and matured in the process. This also fits Winston and his blue collar roots. He didn’t come from a cushy University Job. Winston started from the ground up. Works all sorts of jobs and knows the city from the streets up. That life no doubt had difficult experiences that matured Winston into the man he is today.

All these elements are well thought out and purposely chosen to represent Winston in the animated world of Real Ghostbusters. In the next chapter, I will talk about Ray and his design choices.

Too Zuul For School

The latest issue of the wonderful 80’s animation illustration magazine, Cereal Geek, is now available with The Real Ghostbusters on the cover.  Thanks to ghosthead Ed Hartman for the tip!

The Real Ghostbusters - Intro Opening German Deutsch

There has been a Real Ghostbusters score-obsessed ghosthead in the community for years. His name is Zack and he runs Ghostbusters The Music.  The site, which has been around in various forms for just over 7 years, aims to recreate bits of The Real Ghostbusters score through original MIDI arrangements.  A must see for all Real Ghostbusters fans and true dedication to the franchise!

Real Ghostbusters Panic Music

Real Ghostbusters Frantic Background Music

Real Ghostbusters Eerie Music