DVD Giveaway - Good Hair
Ends Feb 14, 2010
Chris Rock visits beauty salons and hairstying battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the black community.
CD Giveaway - Rebecca Rippy, "Telling Stories"
Ends Feb 14, 2010
This North Carolina based Americana singer/songwriter has assembled a collection of what she considers to be her most personal material to date. Enter our contest for your chance to hear Rebecca Rippy Telling Stories!
ARTICLE
DVD Review: Filmation's Ghostbusters - The Animated Series, Volume One
by R.J. Carter Published: February 26, 2007
Many viewers are unaware that there was a team of Ghost Busters long before Ivan Reitman directed Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd in the motion picture of the same name. Way, way back in the day, Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch (both of F-Troop fame) played Kong and Spenser in the black and white kids television series from Filmation.
After Reitman's film -- and coinciding with the release of the animated version of the same characters -- Filmation released the cartoon version of their next generation of Ghostbusters. Filmation's Ghostbusters featured Eddie Spenser, Jr. and Jake Kong, Jr., as the sons of the original pair. They're just being passed the torch -- with some reluctance and bumbling -- by their fathers, when they encounter the being known as Prime Evil. Prime Evil has just entered our dimension, and plans to gather ghosts to his side to enslave mankind -- because no one would be foolish enough to try to stop ghosts, he theorizes. But the father-and-son team manage to trap him in a mineshaft, where he is locked away for the next hundred years.
You'd think that would take him out of the hair of our heroes, right? Wrong. Because our villain is also a time traveller! Once released, he gathers ghosts in the future, and sends them back to the past to exact his revenge by kidnapping the senior Ghostbusters, hiding them where the juniors will never find them. Prime Evil's gang of ghosts and ghouls include: Fangster, Werewolf of the Future; Misteria, Mistress of Mists; Long John Scarechrome, Sailor of the Seven Galax-seas; Sir Trancelot, a bad knight to one and all; Apparitia, Spirit Sorceress supreme (and a Mae West impersonator); The Haunter, a lisping British fop; Floatzart, the musical menace, and Scared Stiff, Robot Ghost.
Let's go, Ghostbusters! Tracy, Eddie, and
Jake prepare to fight evil.
As Eddie and Jake junior look for their fathers, the come across an instruction manual in their office, which has never been opened, even by their dads. It details to them the complete map of Ghost Command, including hidden rooms and a transformation chamber, which they find to turn themselves into the best armed ghost hunters in the world, complete with a spooky time-travelling car! This starts our heroes on a five-episode arc as they search throughout all time for their dads, battling Prime Evil's minions and making new friends like Futura, Ghostbustress of the Future, and intrepid television reporter Jessica Ray. And they've got their work cut out for them: having already taken over the future, Prime Evil intends to take over the world over and over again, back through the years, until he rules all time.
Aided by their gorilla companion, Tracy (who was also a character in the live action show), Eddie and Jake lead the viewers on a thirty-two episode comedic romp in this first volume of animated ghostbusting adventures!
The Bad Guys. Prime Evil, surrounded by his
ghostly henchmen.
Of course, it wouldn't be a BCI title without a host of cool special features, all of which are found on the sixth and final disc of this set. The interview segments with Producer Lou Scheimer, Writer Robby London, Director Tom Sito and Director Tom Tataranowicz are interesting, each filled with tiny nuggets of back history. Unfortunately, the interviews are far too short. Scheimer's segment is barely three minutes, and half of that is opening and closing credits. It does, however, shed light on the mistakes that were made that caused there to be two competing cartoon shows with the same title. London reveals how he turned a day-to-day hire into a full-time job, Sito expounds on the development of Belfry the bat and the use of comedic sequences, and Tataranowicz talks about the alternate mirror universe episode (presuming it was also why he got the job on BraveStarr), and lets us know there was almost no reusable stock of Tracy the gorilla, since he was used for the bulk of the comedy.
Making up for the somewhat disappointing interviews, BCI has thrown some other worthwhile goodies into the bag. There's an eleven minute storyboard segment of episode 22, "Laser and Future Rock", with the storyboards appearing in comic strip style to a never-ending loop of the theme music. Okay, that's not all that cool of a special feature. But a bonus episode of The Ghost Busters definitely is! In "The Maltese Monkey", Fatman and the Rabbit (played by Johnny Brown and Billy Barty) call upon the spirit of a gangster named Big Al to return and help them steal the Maltese Monkey. The Ghost Busters get the assignment from Zero to stop the bad guys, and formulate a plan around the coincidence that Big Al and Spenser look exactly alike! Sight gags, one liners, and general slapstick fill this episode from start to finish.
Fans will also find a nine-minute promotional pilot as a voice-over introduces the heroes, villans and settings. It's a bit unnerving to see the tiny, run-down house that is Ghost Command settled between what could only have been the Twin Towers of New York City. This is followed up by a thirty second anti-drug spot, and two image galleries: Heroes & Allies, and Promotional Art. DVD-ROM bonuses include Adobe PDF scripts for the foundation-laying first five episodes of the series.
Suit up and get ready to bust some ghosts with this animated crew in these action-packed and fun-filled episodes, and pretty soon you'll be giving the rallying cry: "Let's go, ghooooooost-busters!"
Audio can be set to English Dolby Digital or Spanish Dolby Digital.
01. I'll Be a Son of a Ghostbuster
02. Frights of the Roundtable
03. No Pharoah at All
04. The Secret of Mastodon Valley
05. The Ones Who Saved the Future
06. Witch's Stew
07. Mummy Dearest
08. Wacky Wax Museum
09. Statue of Liberty
10. The Ransom of Eddie Spenser
11. Eddie Takes Charge
12. The Great Ghost Gorilla
13. A Friend in Need
14. No Mo' Snow
Disc 3
Disc 4
15. Prime Evil's Good Deed
16. Cyman's Revenge
17. The Headless Horseman Caper
18. Banish That Banshee
19. Rollerghoster
20. He Went Brataway
21. The Looking-Glass Warrior
22. Laser and Future Rock
23. Runaway Choo Choo
24. Dynamite Dinosaurs
25. Ghostbunglers
26. My Present to the Future
Disc 5
Disc 6
27. The Beastly Buggy
28. Belfry Leads the Way
29. The Battle for Ghost Command
30. Going Ape
31. The Haunting of Gizmo
32. Ghostnappers
Bonus Features:
-- Interview: Producer Lou Scheimer (2:55)
-- Interview: Writer Robby London (4:29)
-- Interview: Director Tom Sito (4:10)
-- Director Tom Tataranowicz (5:20)
-- Storyboard: "Laser and Future Rock" (10:54)
-- The Ghost Busters: "The Maltese Monkey"
-- Filmation's Ghostbusters: Promo Pilot (8:42)
-- Anti-Drug Spot (0:30)
-- Image Gallery: Heroes & Allies Model Sheets
-- Image Gallery: Promotional Art
-- DVD ROM Content: Scripts, Episodes 1 thru 5
