Customer Reviews

Ghostbusters: The Return

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although titles THE RETURN, there is no real return in the plot. The Ghostbusters have been working hard since the events of the last movie and the current Mayor has been capitalizing upon their successes. This leads an independent political party to choose Dr. Peter Venkman to run for Mayor.

But as the campaign begins, it becomes clear that there is something big in the paranormal works. Ghosts are showing up in the form of urban legends; ghosts that shouldn't exist. There is also a mention of something called Xanthador (no, this is not the Piers Anthony demon nor is it the same name). Through it all we have Peter and Dana still defining their relationship, Ray and Egon are still deeply engrossed in the bizarre, and the humor flows like a river of slime.

The author does an excellent job of keeping the characters true to the movies. Almost from the first page when Louis is talking about a missing pen the reader can hear the voices and inflections. I have never been a fan of Slimer being a mascot but that is not the fault of this author. But the scenes with the villain seem more in keeping with the cartoon show than with the movies. One of the reasons the movies worked so well was that at the heart of the trouble there was a very real threat that was not fueled by comedy, something lacking in the cartoons. This book falls somewhere in-between the two in its handling of dark forces.

Still, if you liked the movies and the characters, you should enjoy this book as the characters are true to form. Check it out.

In this would-be threequel an ancient fear-demon called Xanthador/Zantador turns up in NYC and sets about scaring folks by bringing good, old urban legends to life. Such as hook-handed killer, psycho's in the attic, exploding pop rocks and microwaved dogs. Not taking kindly to demons repeating picking on New York the boys in grey set about taking him down. But getting in the way is Venkman's Mayoral campaign an old-fashion Ghostbuster privately hired by the city who may not be everything he claims to be.

Despite frequent grammatical errors (how did these slip by the editor?) Sholly Fisch manages to give us decent plot and nails the characters of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore dead on. Although it's an obvious continuation of Ghostbusters II it does feel a bit like The Real Ghostbusters sometimes. The supernatural mythology just doesn't have enough weight behind it. And for such a long set-up the ending was incredibly tame.

Still, it's a great read and a must for Ghostbusters fans. I hope we can get more of these in the future.

PS

The as-of-yet unreleased book Ghostbusters: Urban Legends featured here on Amazon is not a new Ghostbusters novel. It's just a reprint of this one with a different title.

Set two-to-five years after the events of Ghostbusters 2, the team is faced with a demon that feeds off terror itself. Using familiar urban legends, Xanthador waits for the right time to assend from his personal Hell, while assuming the guise of the puritan exorcist that defeated him back in the late 1690's. All the while, a third-party is running Venkman and Zeddemore on their ticket to replace the current mayor.

I'd have to admit, when I first heard this book was being published for the Ghostbusters' 20th Anniversary (My, has it been that long?) I rushed to the first online bookstore that had it and ordered it. I've just finished about a week ago [from 1/11/2005] and, to say the least, I feel the same disappointment I've felt when I've played David Crain's "classic" computer game based on the truly immortal film. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, and I'd recommend it to any fellow ghosthead, but I feel only the truly devoted will enjoy this book.

To close this, I look forward to the next book in the series, if any, and I just have one question to ask, and I feel I know the answer.

Are GB: The Return, and GB: Urban Legends the same book? If so, then why doesn't Amazon close that page and keep the one with the more accurate title?

This is a great book for fans of the Ghostbusters Movies and Franchise alone and also a great read for those who like myself are getting ready for the new Video Game in October

Two years after the events in Ghostbusters 2 the boys are doing their thing, and at the moment, are pretty busy.

Spook activity is up, and in the form of ghosts of urban legends, which is pretty odd, as anything that wasn't real shouldn't have a ghost.

The Independent Party (yeah, that is what I thought) has a plan. Because the Ghostbusters make the incumbent mayor look good whenever they save the day, and the city keeps forgetting to pay them, they decide to recruit Venkman to run for them.

Add in the cause of the spook trouble, your demon lord masquerading as a ghostfinder, and you have a fairly amusing Ghostbusters story.

I must admit I am a die hard Ghostbusters fan (My favorite movie of all time), so I was skeptical about how good this book would be. To my surprise, the author re-created the characters, their likenesses and chemistry to a perfect T! I could imagine Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and the rest fitting into their parts and this story to perfection. I could even see this making a great movie. However, I will have to live with my own imagination of it as a 3rd Ghostbusters will probably never see the light of day, which is the biggest dissapointment of all!

Great read for all Ghostbusters fans!

Capturing the witty dialogue beloved in the movies, and creating an amusing and action packed storythat has been missed by fans due to the lack of Ghostbuster material as of late, Sholly Fisch admirably added to the Ghostbuster universe. Also, adding depth to the characters by delving into a few of the team-mates past and furthering the relationship between Peter and Dana. Definitely a must-read.

Some ten years after the events of Ghostbusters I, and two since the events of Ghostbusters II, Peter Venkman and the crew are still on the job. But, things are about to become much more complicated. The New York Independent Party has selected Venkman to be their candidate for mayor. And, to make matters worse, Xanthador, the Lord of Fear has also set his sights on New York City. What will the boys in beige do to save the city this time?

I tripped across this book quite by accident; I didn't even know that there were any Ghostbusters books. Well, this book does a great job of capturing the wit and general goofiness that you would expect from the Ghostbusters. I found the story to be entertaining and a darn good read. So, if you were a fan of the Ghostbusters movies, and want to see them in action again, then I highly recommend that you get this book.

This book is a great revival of a classic franchise!!!! Fisch does a great job of capturing the dialouge of all the charecters from the orignal two movies. This is also a great way to tide you ober untill the release of the next Ghostbusters comic.

While reading this, I was struck by how much Buffy the Vampire owes the original two Ghostbuster movies. There is a scene in this book where Egon, Ray, Louis and Janine are reasearching Xanthador ( I wonder if Piers Anthony has caught onto the fact that Fisch is using his magical series and one of its characters as a bad guy?). It struck me how Buffy and her friends did this during its TV run. So was Buffy paying hommage to the Ghostbusters? And if there was even a chance to do a Ghostbusters III, do you think everyone would say they were ripping of Buffy? Anyhoo, I was surprised to see an original novel,as this stikes me as a weird way to recapture the magic of the movies. The movies worked on chemistry, and while Fisch makes a valid attempt at capturing this, ultimately it falls short. The Return really goes nowhere, and there is little character development (can't change the concept too much, right?)beyond Venkman's love for Dana and Winton's new role. Still, there is no big suprises here, even when Peter admits on TV he loves Dana. Of course, this was something even the supeior animated series never could do. So, you go with it. I'm unsure if this is a one shot deal -and sales, I guess, will determine that -or if we're going to see a whole new line of novels. While it's really too late to revive the movie series (even if we are introduced to a new cadre of Ghostbusters), I'm also wondering if anyone will care that they've returned in novel form. As I said, the timing of the actors and their great chemistry is hard to translate into books or comics. A good effort, but as predictable as water is wet.