The Ghost Busters – The Complete Series (1975/Filmation/BCI Eclipse)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Episodes: B+
Horror
films have been around since the silent era, but they become even more popular
when sound arrived. Soon following many monster
classics were spoofs of those films. Bob
Hope did The Cat & The Canary as
a spoof and Ghost Breakers, while
Bud Abbott & Lou Costello followed their cycle of classic comedies with a
cycle of monster comedies at their studio home of Universal Pictures. Though the classic monsters are always
thought of as coming from that studio, there were many more.
Long
before the 1984 hit feature film used the name, The Ghost Busters was the name of a hit TV series in 1975 (!) with
lead alumni from the hit TV series F-Troop
Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker reunited with a gorilla battling and
investigating supernatural phenomenon.
Though the politically incorrect F-Troop
has been coming out on DVD season after season, The Ghost Busters has been unavailable now.
BCI
Eclipse has issued The Complete Series
on DVD as part of their remarkable series of releases from the Filmation
catalog that has not reverted back to original licensees. Most of their shows were animated, though a
few live action shows were produced entirely on film. This is their only videotaped series and
after over 30 years, it is amazing how well the show holds up. Better than even F-Troop, this is the peak work of the lead actors and also ends the
great tradition of great Horror Comedy began by Hope, Abbott and Costello and
was even a hit just months ahead of the single season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker which had its comedy and Storch even
appeared on before doing this show. (Our
review elsewhere on this site of the DVD set includes his appearance in The Vampire.)
Storch is
Spenser, Bob Burns plays Tracy The Gorilla and Tucker is Kong. With its amazing combination of non-stop
absurdity, wit, puns, Vaudeville style, priceless comic timing, modern spoofs
and unbelievable parade of guest actors, the show is a lost classic to a
generation or two who already loves the classic monsters. Tucker and Storch actually got better in
their timing and their chemistry here proves them to be possibly the most
underrated comedy team of the last 40 years.
Burns’
work here is pure genius as well. The
man in the gorilla suit is a cliché and often a sign of bad film and TV shows,
but Burns was a veteran and it is fair to say the greatest of all such
performers. He has the right sounds,
right pantomimes and an instinct on how to make his character as effective as
and equal to his co-stars. There is an
undeniable joy in the work going on here and it is infectious to watch all in
action. The great scripts, props
(including that 1925 car) and sets all make this constantly and thoroughly
entertaining.
The
episodes are as follows, which will give you an idea of how funny the show was. Note the cats and roles played:
1)
The Maltese Monkey (guest stars Johnny Brown and
Billy Barty)
2)
Dr. Whatshisname (guest stars Bernie Kopell as Dr.
Frankenstein)
3)
The Canterville Ghost (guest stars Ted Knight, Kathy
Garver and Len Lesser)
4)
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? (guest stars Lenny Weinrib)
5)
The Flying Dutchman (guest stars Stanley Adams and
Philip Bruns)
6)
The Dummy’s Revenge (guest stars Tim Herbert)
7)
A Worthless Gauze (guest stars Barbara Rhodes and
Richard Balin as The Mummy)
8)
Which Witch Is Which? (guest stars Ann Morgan Guilbert
and Huntz Hall)
9)
They Went Thataway (guest stars Marty Ingles as
Billy The Kid and Brooke Tucker)
10) The Vampire’s Apprentice (guest stars Dena Dietrich)
11) Jekyll & Hyde – Together,
For The First Time
(guest stars Severn Darden and Joe E. Ross)
12) Only Ghosts Have Wings (guest stars Howard Morris as The
Red Baron and Robert Easton)
13) The Vikings Have Landed (guest stars Jim Backus and Lisa
Todd)
14) Merlin, The Magician (guest stars Huntz Hall)
15) The Abominable Snowman (guest stars Richard Balin)
They may
be playing dumb from the first scene where the antagonists of each show appear
in the graveyard, but the show is far from stupid, with an attitude not to take
anything seriously even when the characters come into danger. Then there is Zero, who gives them their
assignments ala the original Mission:
Impossible where odd devices have tapes that self-destruct when finished. Yes, Tim Conway and Don Knotts tried to do
this kind of thing a few years later in non Horror variant The Private Eyes, but it was just not the same thing. However, they would have fit into this show
nicely.
As it
stands now, I believe that this show would be a hit all over again and despite
the limited number of shows made, they played for years after as they kept a
steady number of fans and found new ones as the show was discovered by more and
more viewers. One of the greatest of all
Saturday Morning TV series, The Ghost
Busters should be rediscovered all over again and is easily one of the best
TV on DVD releases of this or any other year.
The 1.33
X 1 image was taped on professional reel-to-reel NTSC analog tape and though
the slight harshness here suggests digital copies of the masters, these copies
still look pretty good. Color is
consistent and looks good for video of its age, with the opening credits shot
in 16mm footage likely long gone. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also very good for a taped production of the time,
down to the music and classic theme song that Storch and Tucker sing. It is one of the great TV theme songs. The technical combination is just fine and a
pleasure to watch.
Extras
include hidden Easter Eggs, all the scripts in DVD-ROM accessible form, a bunch
of trailers for other Filmation classics, the pilot to the animated sequel
series from the 1980s (reviewed elsewhere on this site), three stills sections,
bumpers for commercial breaks, Spanish language tracks you may find amusing, an
episode guide booklet inside the DVD case with great details and an interviews
featurette giving great details about the show.
That is good, but once you start watching, you’ll find you just can’t
get enough of the show. Yes. The Ghost
Busters do it again!!!
- Nicholas Sheffo
