 |
| The Ghost Busters and their dematerializer. |
The Ghost Busters was a
live-action series created by Marc Richards for
Filmation Associates about
a troupe of bumbling paranormal investigators. The show reunited F Troop co-stars
Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker as Eddie Spenser and Jake Kong (whose first
name was revealed outside of the series). Their primary weapon was a
dematerializer, which would send any supernatural entity they encountered back
to the afterlife.
 |
| Yes, the gorilla drives the car. |
They were also teamed up with Bob Burns as Tracy the gorilla. Since
Filmation didn’t have the budget for an actor and a suit, they needed an
actor with a suit. The Tracy suit was Burns’ own, as he always had the ambition
to be a gorilla man like the kind seen in jungle movies. The original suit,
dubbed Korgar, was made in 1963 by his wife, Kathy, with help from Don Post, Sr. A young Rick Baker, who would go on to
become a world-famous make-up artist, made a friendlier head for the suit when
Burns began doing commercials. Tracy was also the primary driver for their car,
a 1929
Whippet. Originally a taxi in Argentina, it was kept running by employees
of Filmation who happened to like working on cars.
 |
| This place just begs to be haunted. |
Each show would feature the Ghost Busters stopping at a convenience store
to pick up a tape recording hidden within an ordinary object by their unseen boss,
Zero (executive producer Lou Scheimer), outlining their next job. Borrowing a
gag from the original Mission: Impossible TV series, the tape would self-destruct
after the instructions were given. However, they would never get rid of it in
time and it would always explode in Tracy’s face. 13 of those sequences were
filmed all at once to make full use of the location, Lechler’s
Grocery and Hardware Store formerly located at 3956 Center Street in Piru,
California, and save on the budget.
 |
| Frankenstein and his monster. |
They would then head to the location to engage the offending spirits after
a series of chases and pratfalls. Further saving on the budget, the show
utilized many of the same sets: a cemetery, a castle interior, and a painting
of a creepy mansion on a hill, not to mention the Ghost Busters’ office. Many
of the spooks were figures from popular culture or famous literature, such as Dr. Frankenstein (Bernie Kopell) and his monster (Bill Engesser); the Canterville ghost
(Ted Knight); the Wolf-Man (Lennie Weinrib); Merlin (Carl Ballantine) and Morgan Le Fay (Ina Balin); and Dr.
Jekyll (Severn Darden)
and Mr. Hyde (Joe E. Ross),
amongst others. A lot of well-known comedians were cast in the roles of the
ghosts; many of whom had never done Saturday morning before.
 |
| CBS Saturday morning line-up ad for the 1975-76 season. |
The Ghost Busters debuted on CBS on September 6, 1975, entirely written by
Richards and shot over the course of 11 weeks. The
music was composed by Ray
Ellis (as Yvette Blais) and Norm Prescott (as Jeff Michael). Despite it being a
hit—particularly with older audiences—Filmation decided to end it after its
single season of 15 episodes. They chose to put the money for a second season
into the higher-rated Shazam/Isis Hour.
Regardless, it managed to secure a loyal legion of fans that call themselves “Go-ers”
after the catchphrase “Let’s go, Ghost Busters!” CBS also loved the show and
continued to air it in reruns for an additional year. Episodes were released to
VHS and the entire series to DVD
in 2006 by BCI Home
Entertainment.
 |
| The second, and better-known, Ghostbusters. |
In 1983, Columbia Pictures was making a movie called Ghostbusters, conceived and co-written by Dan Aykroyd. Upon discovering the existence of the Filmation show in the middle of production, Columbia rushed to secure the rights to the name for their movie. When the movie proved successful enough for Columbia to consider an animated spin-off, Filmation attempted to take on the job; going as far as to produce initial design work for it. Columbia passed, and Scheimer took his concepts and developed an animated sequel to The Ghost Busters.
Originally posted in 2014. Updated in 2020.
1 comment:
The Ghist Buster 1975 they always had that Mission Impossible with that This Message will Self Destruct in five seconds and it always blew up in tracy's face as he counted down the seconds and Boom
Post a Comment