Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Saturday Morning Classic Finally on DVD, April 18, 2007
Despite confusion on the part of the Amazon web site, this is the 1975 Live Action television show "The Ghost Busters." Amazon lists voice talents by the likes of Dave Coulier & Arsenio Hall, obviously referring to the animated show "The Real Ghostbusters," which was a spin-off of the movie franchise.
I was not around when the show first aired in '75, but that didn't stop me from watching it when I was a kid. I used to rent the VHS copies that were available of a couple of the episodes, like "The Maltese Monkey" and "The Canterville Ghost." All of them kept me entertained at a young age and shockingly very well as an adult.
Spenser, Tracy & Kong have never looked better in this amazingly jam-packed DVD set. I would've been just fine having the series' 15 episodes, but this set contains more than a few special features. There are interviews with the cast and crew of the show, television bumpers for the show, photo galleries, and even a bonus episode of the cartoon version of the show, Filmation's "Ghostbusters." Also, exclusive to the DVD-Rom features is the ability to download each script from the shows' 15 episodes.
I highly recommend this show to anyone who grew up watching it as a kid at any age. It is nostalgic to say the least and belongs in the libraries of any Ghost Buster fan.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a gas!, May 15, 2007
OK. I was 10 and [...] when this show originally aired on Saturday morning TV. I remember watching it. I remember really liking it. I bought it here on Amazon just as a kind of nostalgia thing from my childhood. Geez! I forgot how FUNNY this show really was. As I watch now, some 30 years later, I can remember the shows. But, more than anything, I can't stop laughing. I think that a lot of the shows that I have bought for nostalgia's sake have kept me entertained, but I just can't get enough of this. I wish there were more episodes. On another note, I always remember the "I'm Spencer, He's Tracy. And I'm Kong" bit of the opening. First of all, you'd imagine that Kong would be the gorilla, but it's not. Then, even at that age I wondered: Was there some kind of reference there to Spencer Tracy, the actor, or was that just a big coincidence? Haven't watched the extras yet. Even without them. This is a great show! You will laugh and laugh!!!
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15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Original Ghost Busters are Back!, March 15, 2007
Before the movie, before Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray went beyond Saturday Night, there was the live-action Saturday Morning Series called The Ghost Busters.
Originally from Filmation's live-action library, The Ghost Busters starred famous F-Troop team Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch as Jake Kong and Eddie Spencer, and Tracy their gorilla.
Unlike most of Filmation's live series, The Ghost Busters focused a bit more on humour than just being action with comedy relief. Basically, loosely using the 'Mission Impossible' schtick (heavily used in Saturday Morning spy shows) to obtain their assignments. Jake, Eddie and Tracy would deal with the likes of demented spirits, wacky vampires and other spectre and ghouls from haunting the mortal world.
Humour was used a lot in the show, sometimes through classic visual stunts or puns. Case in point, when dealing with a vampire, Jake finds out one thing they fear is a wooden 'stake', whereas Tracy pulls out a wooden 'steak.' And when Eddie attempts to disclaim Tracy's attempt, he ends up getting a splinter from the 'steak.'
However, because it was Saturday Morning TV, The Ghost Busters normally vanquished rogue spirits with a Polaroid-esque device called the Dematerializer. As the name suggested, when fired at a ghost, the screen would appear with a blue screen effect and the ghost would 'dematerialize' out from the mortal world.
Though I believe it only had one season in 1975, the series was often ran in syndication on Sunday mornings as well. Ironically, though the name was used for the film, there was no real connection between it and the series. Despite well-box office reviews, many still felt the Akroyd and Murray film did not capture the same fun as the original series. So in 1986, Filmation revived the series in animated form: Filmation's Ghostbusters.
Here, however, the offspring of the original Ghost Busters and Tracy dealt with a nemesis called Prime Evil (think Terminator merged with a specter) and his ghoulish legion of ghosts. Whereas in the original series, the Ghost Busters simply obtained assignments from the mysterious Agent Zero.
What really made Ghost Busters appealing for it's time, as with most Filmation Live Action, was it did have great storytelling, and really made the limited special effects work. Also for F-Troop fans, the comedy stilings of Tucker and Storch made the show enjoyable, and it was a wonder Filmation didn't consent with Hanna-Barbera for a spot on the Scooby-Doo Movies (since they aired about the same year).
I'd definitely recommend this product for not only fans of the classic series, but for those who loved Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, as well as a new generation of viewers.
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