The Good
An ambitiously, zany show.
The Bad
No commentary tracks. Not as many extras as there appear to be on the packaging.
The Ghost Busters: The Complete Series is a very thrown together, mishmash of a show featuring Spenser (Larry Storch), Kong (Forrest Tucker) and their brilliant gorilla Tracy (Bob Burns) as detectives. They get their missions from “Zero” and they usually find themselves going up against things like phantoms, vampires, Frankenstein monsters and anything else producer Lou Scheimer felt like throwing into the pot. To say that the effects were lacking, that the sets seemed like they were about to fall apart, and that nothing about this show was really scary would be a huge understatement. Yet, there is something to this show. The main characters never mug for the camera and at all times seem to play these bumbling sleuths very seriously.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Larry Storch, Forrest Tucker and Bob Burns all do very capable work as they keep the laughs coming on this show. There are 15 episode and while it would appear that this show might only have limited fan appeal, something tells me that BCI and Entertainment Rights are counting on that market to come out in full force support of this release.
Features
Interviews
The producer of this show, Lou Scheimer, sits back and talks about making this show. He starts with it’s development and how the name originally came from the word gangbusters. Apparently, the person writing the pilot episode did it very quickly because he was so happy to create a monster show that put them all in one place. They then put together a presentation, sold it to CBS, hired the eclectic cast of actors and television history was made. In addition to this interview there is also one with Bob Burns discussing what it was like to don an ape suit for the character he (literally) embodied.
Photo Galleries
“Extensive” is the word they use to describe these galleries and they really are. There are three to go through and but they all seem to cover similar territory. The sections are “Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery,” “Promotional Photo Gallery” and “Tracy the Gorilla Photo Gallery.” These are fun but I think I would have to be a much bigger fan in order to get everything that was intended out of them. The images look like they have been kept up well and the DVD process appears to have helped preserve them somewhat.
Bonus Episode - “I’ll Be the Son of A Ghostbuster”
I wasn’t really sure how to take this as it is an animated version of this show. The animation seems to have been kept up pretty well over the years (Filmation seems to be quite good at that), but I don’t think this show worked as well in an animated form. The campy aspects of it seem to come from the fact they are trying to pull off these plots in a live action capacity. For some reason, this works a lot better than it does on the actual show than in it’s animated form here.
DVD-ROM Screenplays
Bumpers
Okay, they bill this on the DVD box as “Rare Footage” leading one to believe that they are actually going to get footage from the show. What these are are the bumpers that were to play in between the actual show and the commercials. These look like the same effects that were employed on the UFO episode of The Brady Bunch. Certainly watch these, as they only take about 3 minutes of your time.
Video
Full Screen. I was nervous that these shows might have some of the ’70s sludge that sometimes seems like it gets pulled across the screen. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any. These shows also seem like they have been kept up well, however there seems like a slight layer of darkness over all of the episodes. This actually works in this show’s favor considering it’s campy subject matter. While I still think this had to have been a very inexpensive show to produce, time has a way of making something that might not play in one decade, play quite well in another.
Audio
They don’t list out what kind of sound this two disc set has but it was fine. There wasn’t anything that special about it and I did have to turn the audio up a little louder than normal. Still, everything played fine although I don’t recommend watching this show on a system that gives you a lot of audio options. The audio seems like it is probably in mono, but there’s nothing about it that’s geared to take your system out for any kind of a spin.
Package
This slipcase cover features the cast standing in front of a grave dressed in their usual outfits. Behind them are spider-webs and a gravestone. The back serves up a small description of what this show is about, an elaborate Special Features listing and not much else. The two discs in this set are stored in two slim cases, both of which have more artwork featuring this cast. The back of the covers list out where the episodes and Special Features are. Also inside this packaging is a very nicely put together episode index, that tells you all about each show, as well some trivia on The Ghost Busters.
Final Word
I remember when I was shown The Ghost Busters: The Complete Series and I didn’t want to review it. Taking one look at the front cover which features two actors and a man in a gorilla suit (I don’t believe anybody “thought the simian was real”), I figured that this thing had to be garbage. Then I put the show in and I realized that it only looks bad to me because I am not used to horror being put across in this way. This show features a lot of interesting plots. Putting The Ghost Busters werewolfs (“Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”), vikings (“The Vikings Have Landed”), the Abominable Snowman (“The Abominable Snowman”) and other creative foils, is what makes this show work. It seems that it’s fans tuned in to see who or what the Busters happened to be going up against that week.
Certainly not for everyone, The Ghost Busters: The Complete Series will serve a niche that should make people who have waited for this release quite happy.
