Rating: 
Country: USA
Release Date: April 17, 2007
Distributor: Ink & Paint
Cast:
· Larry Storch
· Forrest Tucker
· Bob Burns
Related Sites:
· IMDb: The Ghost Busters
Grade: B+
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DVD Review: The Ghost Busters - The Complete Series
by R.J. Carter
Published: April 18, 2007
Larry Storch reunites with his F-Troop buddy Forrest Tucker as Eddie Spenser and Jake Kong. With their insanely smart gorilla partner, Tracy (trained by Bob Burns), they are the Ghost Busters.
What's that you say? The Ghost Busters? That's un-possible! Everyone knows the Ghostbusters are Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and those other guys. You know, they fought Gozer and the giant marshmallow guy.
Busted! Spenser, Tracy and Kong prepare to
zap another ghost.
(L-R: Storch, Burns, Tucker)
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Well, you're right... and you're wrong. Because these guys are the original spook-busting heroes. With slapstick humor, prop comedy, and three sets, these guys brave ghosts like The Red Baron, the Abominable Snowman, and Eric the Red. (It helps that every possible monster is always a ghost at its core.)
Each episode follows a specific pattern: We see the ghosts set up their plan. We see Spenser and Tracy receive a message from the mysterious Zero through the local general store in a Mission: Impossible-style self-destruct message. We see Jake, Spenser and Tracy track the ghosts down to the same castle every episode, with a possible excursion into the graveyard outside. And we always wrap up for the rimshot back at the Ghost Busters' run-down office. And more often that not, Tracy is likely to pull a cream pie out of his kit bag than he is the Ghost Dematerializer.
This disc set includes some very nice special features for fans of the series. Producer Lou Scheimer gives about a ten minute interview where he relates the development of the show with speed-scripter Marc Richards, and how Storch and Tucker got cast into their roles. And if you think it's easy finding a trained gorilla... well, you'll have to hear Scheimer tell the story.
And speaking of stories! Was it really only fifteen minutes that Bob Burns talked? This guy is just fun to listen to, with the way he tells his tales. Burns, a former CBS employee in the film department, was a guy who just wanted a gorilla suit, and had one made (much to his wife's embarrassment.) He recounts how he fell into the role of Tracy, and of the relationships he forged with the actors, in stories that give me a real respect for the kinds of guys Storch and Tucker must have been. Burns tells about his gorilla-debut on The Mickey Rooney Show, and he's so well known to fans of men-in-monkeysuits that no less than Peter Jackson invited him and his wife to have a cameo shot in "King Kong" -- with a screen credit!
Not all the special features are all that special, though. I mean, how much of a completist do you have to be to want the fifteen seconds worth of commercial bumpers? The photo sets -- "Behind the Scenes", "Promotional Photos", and "Tracy the Gorilla" -- are nice, though, presented in a click-thru format. And I'm all over the DVD-ROM bonus feature: PDF format scripts of all fifteen episodes of the series!
Audio is in English or Spanish.
Previews on this set include Groovie Goolies, Flash Gordon, She-Ra, Princess of Power, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The New Adventures of He-Man, "Journey Back to Oz", Filmation's Ghostbusters, Bravestarr, Mission: Magic!
The Freedom Force, Space Sentinels, Hero High, Blackstar, "A Snow White Christmas", "Happily Ever After", Jason of Star Command, Space Academy, Ark II, and Isis.
The Ghost Busters
The Complete Series
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Disc 1A
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Disc 1B
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01. The Maltese Monkey
02. Dr. Whatsisname
03. The Canterville Ghost
04. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
05. The Flying Dutchman
Easter Egg: "The Canterville Ghost" - Scheimer on nepotism. (0:40)
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06. The Dummy's Revenge
07. A Worthless Gauze
08. Which Witch is Which?
09. They Went Thataway
10. The Vampire's Apprentice
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Disc 2A
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Disc 2B
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11. Jeckyll & Hyde - Together, for the First Time!
12. Only Ghosts Have Wings
13. The Vikings Have Landed
14. Merline, The Magician
15. The Abominable Snowman
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Special Features
Filmation's Ghostbusters: "I'll Be a Son of a Ghostbuster"
Interview: Lou Scheimer (9:10)
Interview: Bob Burns (14:38)
Bumpers
Photo Sets
PDF Scripts (DVD-ROM)
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