I’ve been re-watching my complete collection DVD set of The Real Ghostbusters in the last few days. It looks brilliant on my HDTV. I’m hoping for a release of the late nineties series Extreme Ghostbusters on DVD sometime soon. It was one cartoon that didn’t get a fair shake, potentially because of the much darker subject matter of the series. The Real Ghostbusters rarely delved as deeply into dark topics. When it did, the good guys weren’t the ones doing it. Extreme Ghostbusters is fundamentally flawed in that regard, but in favor of a complete collection, I’d love to have it. Especially because the two parter Back in the Saddle brings all of the original Ghostbusters back for an adventure. Which leads me to the topic of this article.
Ghostbusters
A New Ghostbusters Cartoon – Coming Soon?
Monday, February 8th, 2010Ghostbusters 3: Ivan Reitman to Direct, and in 3-D?
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Since I last wrote about Ghostbusters 3, there has been some major progress. First is that Ivan Reitman is going to return to the directors chair. This is a positive, in my book, even though his latest string of films has been somewhat of a string of horrible movies. A franchise like Ghostbusters is something that he won’t mess up. It’s not something that Sony would risk damaging, nor would anyone that wants to make it. Everyone is invested in making it right, and not forcing things just for the sake of making it. So, putting Reitman back in that position is the right move for the franchise. That way, the whole gang is back together for the last hurrah from the original team, and a young director isn’t going out of his way to prove himself to a fandom that has grown up.
The second piece of great information is that there is a complete first draft of the script for Ghostbusters 3. They’re now working on the second draft, and things are falling into place very well, according to Reitman. This is very promising, and I’m really hoping that it keeps moving forward. Seems pretty steady now, though. Sigourney Weaver said on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that she was excited to read the script, and thinks it’ll be great fun!
The third big news is that there is some information that they’ll be filming Ghostbusters 3 in 3-D! The fact that the rumor even exists means that they’re definitely looking into it in a more serious fashion than just a “maybe.” That’s exciting. But what about the 3-D idea? Instead of talking about the advantages or disadvantages of everything coming in 3-D, what about the implications of a GHOSTBUSTERS film in 3-D? I can already see Slimer coming straight at the viewer and sliming the screen. The proton streams also would come at the screen, and likely the trap. These thoughts don’t really excite me. I’d rather they make the film as written, no 3-D gags that don’t translate to 2-D, and then make it artificially 3-D if they still feel it has value. This news came by way of MarketSaw: “Yes – I have word from one of my top sources that a friend of his at a certain well known effects house (I can’t say who it is, but their initials are ILM) said that GHOSTBUSTERS 3 is proceeding as planned – but – with the added benefit of stereoscopic 3D!”
All in all, very exciting news from the land of Ghostbusters
Sigourney Weaver Talks About ‘Ghostbusters 3′
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009This interview makes it seem like Sigourney won’t be coming back for the third Ghostbusters film, but without a finished script, we don’t know any more than she does about her character appearing in the film. Hopefully she’ll appear, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Mike Moody: The rumor is you might revisit one of your famous comedy roles, Dana Barrett, in another Ghostbusters sequel. Where do you think Dana and Peter Venkman’s relationship will be when the new movie picks up?
Sigourney Weaver: Probably non-existent.
Really?
Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I think they’re still writing it, but (laughs) I’d be very surprised … You never know. I just did a benefit with Bill (Murray), and we love working together, but I think they’re trying to create something new completely with the Ghostbusters, although I know Bill is in it. I hope my little son Oscar (from Ghostbusters II) is a Ghostbuster!
So, you won’t be appearing in the movie?
No, I don’t expect to have anything to do with it, although I wish them well.
You can read the rest of the interview, where she goes on to talk about the Alien series, visit SciFiSquad.com
Aykroyd talks more Ghostbusters 3, Video Game
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
I’ve read some really interesting things just now about both Ghostbusters 3 and Ghostbusters: The Video Game. I wanted to bring some things to light that might have been missed, which I feel are worth repeating, as well as highlighting:
Even [Bill] Murray returned – not with a hatful of diva demands, but wanting an assurance that Winston Zeddemore, the underwritten black character from the movies, would be elevated to full status.
Sony to release Ghostbusters: The Video Game Exclusively on Sony in Europe
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Sony has done it again, and made me happy that I have never owned a Playstation. In short, just so that everything is clear:
In NTSC regions such as the United States, Atari is handling distribution of the game, and it WILL be released on time on ALL consoles on June 16th.
In PAL regions such as the United Kingdom, Sony is handling distribution of the game and ONLY releasing it on PS3, PS2 and PSP on June 19th, and Wii, DS and 360 in Fall 2009.
Sony has a history of bad moves like this. (more…)
Who should direct Ghostbusters 3?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
A couple of websites have chimed in with their thoughts on different directors taking on Ghostbusters 3. Now that it is actively being written, and Sony has put it on their 2011 film slate, this is an obvious question, and I thought I would add my thoughts to the mix. I’m going to comment on the choices that they list for potential directors below:
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Opening Cinematic
Friday, April 24th, 2009
Wow! I know what I am doing on June 16th! Get ready for the return of the Ghostbusters in the video game that I have waited 25 years to play. Seriously, from the time I was a kid, at the arcade, playing the Ghostbusters arcade game, I have wanted a Ghostbusters game just like this.
In my head I imagined a game where you would take on a single ghost at a time, like when the busters go after Slimer in the first film. Or maybe two, like in Ghostbusters II. But every video game had multiples of ghosts attacking from all sides. Not only that, but the ghosts could do a lot of damage to you. Unlike in the Ghostbusters films and The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, where the most damage was really done using objects like trash cans. And the occasional slime of course! (He slimed me!)
Aykroyd and Ramis reveal Ghostbusters 3 Plans: Cadets and Tools
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis have commented on the upcoming Ghostbusters 3 script that is in the works, and in the process revealed some new plot points as well as new Ghostbusting tools that will be at their disposal. I am assuming this is in addition to the classic and iconic Proton Pack, which wasn’t mentioned, but most definitely will be a part of it.
Aykroyd explains: “There will be a whole new generation that has to be trained, and that whole new generation will be led by an individual who you’ll all love when you meet him but I’m not going to tell you anything yet.”
This is really interesting and I wonder who it could possibly be. The first time that I read this, I took it to mean that the person training the Ghostbuster Cadets was who he was referring to. But reading it again, it seems that he means a new leader for the new group of primary Ghostbusters.
Ghostbusters Blu-ray Cover Art and Special Features
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Ghostbusters Blu-ray Cover Art
Personally, I never really liked the green slime art of the Ghostbusters DVDs that were released a few years ago. I love the original box art with the logo on black, as well as the sequel art with the Ghostbusters in front of the logo and the red stripe around the outside. The original DVD cover art wasn’t all that bad either, though a little too busy. I think that this blue slime is a lot nicer looking than the green slime was. For one thing, the green slime seemed to overtake the logo, and drew attention to itself far too much. The blue color of this cover focuses your eyes on the logo, as the red seems to pop out much nicer, and it’s a lot kinder to your eyes.
The Press Release follows:
America’s favorite paranormal psychologists are back to save the world, this time with unsurpassed picture and audio quality and advanced new bonus features in the Ghostbusters Blu-ray Disc, releasing worldwide the week of June 16, 2009.
Ghostbusters 3: Thoughts and Feelings on Continuing the Series
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009I originally posted this on the Ghostbusters.net Discussion Forum. I am reposting it here, in a slightly edited form, along with my follow up, and some extra thoughts. It is edited only for punctuation purposes only.
On the New Potential Production of Ghostbusters 3
A film where the original team is replaced with new Ghostbusters will bring in a group of guys that none of us has known for the past 25 years, and thus not really care that much about.
It’s something that we’ll all have to take into consideration, should this film get made. We’ve known the original team for 25+ years, and if a new team is assembled, then we’ll have to get to know them. But it’ll never really be the same, or really fit right, unless they can capture the feel of the original films well. We’ve got this feeling like they’re part of our family, and it’s like part of that family is moving out and we won’t be seeing them again. We’re probably going to get a new group of guys that look like some of our friends, because face it, they’re probably going to be about our age, by now. The original Ghostbusters were always older, and something we could grow up to become.
The new team would make it impossible to aspire to become that, in our own minds, and may even be younger than many of us.
It’s probably going to be a natural reaction that effects whether or not each of us enjoys the new film.
I think that was part of the problem with the new Indy. It had been about 19 years between films, and had it come out in like 1992 or 1993, I think we’d probably have just seen Indy 5, and thought that nothing was really too out-there in Indy 4 (it would have been different without Shia, though, and Indy’s age would have put him into slightly different situations). People would have compared it more to Temple of Doom’s supernatural feel than wondering if Indy still had it.
I’d wager that we’re all going to be very split on our own reaction to the film. For some of us, it’s going to be like an old pair of pants. They may not fit as well, but they are broken in some. They may fit just as well, and we love wearing them. For others, it’ll be like a new pair of pants, however. You know how to wear the pants, but it takes a while to get used to them.
And that’s only half of it. The other half is that a new film means new ownership by a younger generation. The new generation will claim ownership of the franchise in their world, and start treading on well established territory. There will be some that claim the new team is better, and probably younger and if they go there, “hotter” than the original team. It’s going to frustrate a lot of us fans of the original.
I just say, we have to be prepared for anything.
—–
Ghostbusters.net’s Doctor Venkman replied to this, saying:
You make a lot of very valid, very well-though-out points. You verbalized a lot of what a lot of the community is feeling…. very torn between whether or not they want a new film and the reasons behind it.
You… you’ve earned it:
And then I followed up with this:
Thanks! 
Granted, in looking over my original post, I would like to add more punctuation to it, and split up some of the run-ons. But it was a stream of consciousness of what I feel about the film and how I feel reaction will be. It’s kind of well-informed as well. Analyzing fan reaction from Indiana Jones, Star Wars and even Prince Caspian and Terminator and the casting of Avatar: The Last Airbender; you get a lot of various feedback and it all plays a role. Being a fan of all of those series of films, books or tv shows, but not a super-fan to the point of rabid, has afforded me the chance to take a step back and ask why fans might feel the way that they do about certain properties.
I’m a big fan of Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid for very different reasons. I grew up watching both films hundreds of times. I know how the fans of each of the previously mentioned series feel, and claim the same type of ownership of GB and Karate Kid. Case in point, I created a mock DVD cover of what they’re doing with The Karate Kid franchise: http://www.sweetpaul.com/more-karate…ain-no-thanks/
I am very thankful that Ghostbusters isn’t just heading the route of re-make, because we’ll never know what might’ve been. I wish that Karate Kid went the same route, with Larusso teaching the kid.
—–
After posting that, I found an article regarding Karate Kid in which original star Ralph Macchio is quoted:
Macchio, now 47, said he expected the new version to flop. “It feels pretty good that some people are pretty angry that they’re trying to remake The Karate Kid,” he said. “It feels good that the public feels you don’t touch certain things. Some times you go back to that, and probably shouldn’t.”
He added: “From my personal view, the filling the void of what Mr Miyagi was – and the magic of that character – is going to be the toughest task.”
It’s a different set of circumstances, and I am very thankful that Dan Aykroyd is looking after the Ghostbusters series while he still can. I think we just have to wait and see how it all turns out.
Personally, I am happy that they’re going to do a new Ghostbusters film, and excited at the potential of Dr. Venkman’s idea for Ghostbusters franchises come to fruition. Having new recruits to take the series on can help give Ghostbusters the legs to last for generations to come.
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