Post by Prime Good on Oct 17, 2007 14:54:26 GMT -5
www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/theghostbusters.php
(...)
"The entire series is really a throwback to the wacky spook shows of old. Many of Storch and Tucker's mannerisms and facial expressions are lifted right out of Bowery Boys and Abbott and Costello films. The very idea of throwing a guy in a gorilla suit into the mix comes right out of the '30s and '40s, even if the gorilla is on the good side here. The plots often reference films from when the audience's parents were young: The Maltese Falcon, The Canterville Ghost, Mutiny on the Bounty, and so forth. The trio drives a jalopy and their clothes (especially all the hats) went out of fashion a generation before. One partner is serious, stable, and frustrated by the fact that the other partner is a dimwitted, cowardly clod. Even the theme song has a vaudeville-style kick at the end. The only contemporary gag is the Mission: Impossible bit that opens each case. Kids today might recognize the secret doors, chase scenes, and mistaken identity gags familiar from old Scooby Doo episodes, but Hanna Barbera and Filmation both were stealing from the whole spook show genre. Goofy, mugging comic heroes run around low-budget gothic castles while mad scientists and monsters pop out of hidden passages and go boo. The Ghost Busters is the last of the great old spook shows. If you (or your grandparents) like that sort of wacky fun, this show delivers the goods.
But, as I said, it really is the last of its kind. By the time Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd recycled the ghost-catching premise a few years later, they would jettison all references to the Bowery Boys/Abbott and Costello tradition. Their ghost busters don't make scaredy-cat faces for the camera, scamper away from classic monsters like wolf-men or gangster ghosts, or raid the prop department for retro clothes and cars. Filmation's show is the culmination of half a century of b-movie shtick—and probably the end of the line for that style of comedy. If there is one ghost that The Ghost Busters really did manage to dematerialize, it is the ghost of the classic spook show.
This puts a peculiar obstacle between audiences of this show in 1975 (kids whose parents would catch the artistic origins of the show) and audiences today. Of course, BCI is going to sell most copies of this show to grown-ups who watched this as kids and are hoping for a burst of nostalgia. Ironic, isn't it? The show is a nostalgic intertextual game that references pre-war horror comedies, now embraced by grown-ups who appreciated the show on its own merits and only may have caught snippets on television of the films the show referenced. One nostalgia game gives way to another. Now those same grown-ups will show The Ghost Busters to their own kids. "Here, little Billy, this is a show I loved as a kid. What do you think?"
I showed a couple of episodes to my own daughter, curious how she would react to the show's older brand of humor. She thought it was mildly amusing and described it as "silly." She didn't laugh at the jokes (in spite of the helpful laugh track telling her when she should), and she even asked me to explain what was going on with the gorilla (we actually had a long discussion about whether it was real). She liked it well enough, but when she was done, she forgot all about the show and wanted to watch one of her usual favorites. I don't think this means that my daughter doesn't like shows from my own childhood: she asks to watch the 1966 Batman movie periodically, and she loves classic Disney cartoons and Schoolhouse Rock. However, I had to spend a lot of time explaining this show to her, which I suspect made it not worth her while. Why was the gorilla wearing a propeller beanie? Who is their boss and why do his messages blow up? Why do they keep throwing pies?
And that is probably the whole business in a nutshell: The Ghost Busters is still funny for very little kids because of its slapstick, and still interesting for its adherence to an older comic tradition. But those two things do not always mesh easily, and you may find yourself explaining this show to your children more than you'd rather. Which means you may end up watching it alone, pondering the ghosts of your childhood…"
(...)
"The entire series is really a throwback to the wacky spook shows of old. Many of Storch and Tucker's mannerisms and facial expressions are lifted right out of Bowery Boys and Abbott and Costello films. The very idea of throwing a guy in a gorilla suit into the mix comes right out of the '30s and '40s, even if the gorilla is on the good side here. The plots often reference films from when the audience's parents were young: The Maltese Falcon, The Canterville Ghost, Mutiny on the Bounty, and so forth. The trio drives a jalopy and their clothes (especially all the hats) went out of fashion a generation before. One partner is serious, stable, and frustrated by the fact that the other partner is a dimwitted, cowardly clod. Even the theme song has a vaudeville-style kick at the end. The only contemporary gag is the Mission: Impossible bit that opens each case. Kids today might recognize the secret doors, chase scenes, and mistaken identity gags familiar from old Scooby Doo episodes, but Hanna Barbera and Filmation both were stealing from the whole spook show genre. Goofy, mugging comic heroes run around low-budget gothic castles while mad scientists and monsters pop out of hidden passages and go boo. The Ghost Busters is the last of the great old spook shows. If you (or your grandparents) like that sort of wacky fun, this show delivers the goods.
But, as I said, it really is the last of its kind. By the time Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd recycled the ghost-catching premise a few years later, they would jettison all references to the Bowery Boys/Abbott and Costello tradition. Their ghost busters don't make scaredy-cat faces for the camera, scamper away from classic monsters like wolf-men or gangster ghosts, or raid the prop department for retro clothes and cars. Filmation's show is the culmination of half a century of b-movie shtick—and probably the end of the line for that style of comedy. If there is one ghost that The Ghost Busters really did manage to dematerialize, it is the ghost of the classic spook show.
This puts a peculiar obstacle between audiences of this show in 1975 (kids whose parents would catch the artistic origins of the show) and audiences today. Of course, BCI is going to sell most copies of this show to grown-ups who watched this as kids and are hoping for a burst of nostalgia. Ironic, isn't it? The show is a nostalgic intertextual game that references pre-war horror comedies, now embraced by grown-ups who appreciated the show on its own merits and only may have caught snippets on television of the films the show referenced. One nostalgia game gives way to another. Now those same grown-ups will show The Ghost Busters to their own kids. "Here, little Billy, this is a show I loved as a kid. What do you think?"
I showed a couple of episodes to my own daughter, curious how she would react to the show's older brand of humor. She thought it was mildly amusing and described it as "silly." She didn't laugh at the jokes (in spite of the helpful laugh track telling her when she should), and she even asked me to explain what was going on with the gorilla (we actually had a long discussion about whether it was real). She liked it well enough, but when she was done, she forgot all about the show and wanted to watch one of her usual favorites. I don't think this means that my daughter doesn't like shows from my own childhood: she asks to watch the 1966 Batman movie periodically, and she loves classic Disney cartoons and Schoolhouse Rock. However, I had to spend a lot of time explaining this show to her, which I suspect made it not worth her while. Why was the gorilla wearing a propeller beanie? Who is their boss and why do his messages blow up? Why do they keep throwing pies?
And that is probably the whole business in a nutshell: The Ghost Busters is still funny for very little kids because of its slapstick, and still interesting for its adherence to an older comic tradition. But those two things do not always mesh easily, and you may find yourself explaining this show to your children more than you'd rather. Which means you may end up watching it alone, pondering the ghosts of your childhood…"
Or better, big stores refused to sell BCI Eclipse products, because they are "cult-ish". 
