It does sound as though Jeremy Dick of MovieWeb is excited for the possibility of a return of The Real Ghostbusters animated series and it’s hard not to agree that it could be fun for the current generation of kids since the show was a lighter side of the popular movie and featured a great deal of humor. That being said, it’s not certain if we’ll ever see this happen largely because despite the wave of nostalgia that’s hit in such a big way the tides in Hollywood can change on a dime at some points and have a lot to do with the success of the original source material when it comes to pushing one idea after another. In other words, if Ghostbuster: Afterlife does well this coming July then it might be feasible to keep pushing for the return of the animated series. Otherwise it might be seen as the consolation prize if the movie doesn’t perform in the manner that people are hoping, and would likely last a short while if it was to be released at all. There’s also the thought of whether Egon Spengler would be included as well since the passing of Harold Ramis makes it hard to think that the revival would keep him around if he’s not in the movie. But then again, there’s always the chance that the animated series would feel that it might be a bit incomplete without him, since Egon was an important part of the team.
It’s becoming a little interesting to think of how far this wave of nostalgia in Hollywood is going to last before we finally see more new material than old hitting the screens and more fresh ideas coming around than those that have been done more than once before. Ben Ho of Quartz has something to say about this. The Ghostbusters animated series was great when it first aired and was fun up until it was canceled by one has to wonder just how it would look if it came back now. Would they keep the characters as they were or would the show be updated somehow to show the loss of Egon and a possible passing of the torch by the old team? That’s hard to say really since for the sake of nostalgia people might want to see the original team brought back as they were without changing much of anything. The only problem there is that the show debuted in the late 80s and lasted until the early 90s, which means a lot of things were quite different. The old Ghostbusters had no access to the internet, they still did things ‘the hard way’ as it might be stated, and their techniques might appear dated and quite out of touch with today’s audience.
That might be fine if Ghostbusters was a period piece, but given that they were up to date with the current societal norms back in the day it might be that the animated series would need to be redone a bit as well. Thinking about such changes is kind of interesting since one has to wonder just how much more efficient the Ghostbusters would be if they had access to the information they needed while on the go and were able to look up various facts while on site and didn’t need to go back to headquarters so often to confer with their notes. The technological changes that have come in the past few decades since the show was released are great enough that the team would likely find it very advantageous and the show would change in a big way because of it. Plus, when you really think about it, this would open up a door to a host of new enemies that could use the spirit and digital realm to their advantage. In this light the Ghostbusters animated series could become a big hit, and possibly become a show that kids and even adults would enjoy since it could bridge the gap between the old cartoons and the current day. If things were to be kept as they were it could still work, but it might not resonate as much with today’s audience.
What’s funny is that the old Ghostbusters toys have made a comeback, if anyone remembers the action figures that came with the proton packs and the small ghosts that came with each figure, and people have loved them. Ryan Britt of Fatherly talks more about this subject. It makes sense to push for the revival of the animated series since the cartoon was pretty hilarious and offered up a great number of adventures that were pretty interesting in some cases. Those of us that watched this cartoon back in the day might wonder what we saw in it to begin if we watched it now, but with improved animation and continuing story lines it could be something that new viewers could really get into.
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