Last year I obtained a recording of Ghostbusters from its airing on ABC on Sunday January 29, 1989 (presumably at 8:00 or 9:00 PM EST), complete with all of the commercials (the only thing missing is the scrolling end credits, which cut off after 10 seconds). I thought that it would be killer to stream the entire broadcast with commercials on January 29, 2009 - 20 years to the date of the original broadcast. So, that's what I'm doing in this one-time-only live internet re-broadcast.

The broadcast includes all of the commercials and bumpers, the opening promo (one which is not currently on the site), all of the known alternate footage, and even some newly discovered alternate footage. Yes, you read that right, I found five new pieces of alternate footage. This includes one completely different line, one shorter line, one new shot (to cover dialog removed), and two instances where dialog was removed but the background audio remains. Can you find all five?

As you probably could have guessed, the movie is edited, time-compressed (sped-up), panned & scanned, has commercials, and is from a horrible film print. Some bright areas of the picture are blown-out and unnaturally white. Since this doesn't appear to happen during the commercials, I can't fault the videocassette. From what I remember, ABC was never given good film prints of the movie. At least it's not as bad as the blue-tinted print that was in circulation on TV in the mid-to-late 1990s.

There are also two brief instances where the audio goes low a couple of times during the movie. One is during the Ray/Winston car scene, the other is during the static end credits. These, and a tape defect during the first set of commercials, are the only significant tape defects. Not bad for a 20 year old videocassette.

I will be the first one to admit that this is NOT the ideal way to view the movie. I know that the film is already up on Hulu, and that all of us already have the film on DVD and can watch it whenever we want. This certainly won't take away from Sony's DVD sales or even the Hulu views. However, the major positive is that you'll be able to view the movie in a way that it hasn't been seen in 20 years. For everyone in their late 20s and older, this is a way to relive the communal/shared experience of seeing it as an "ABC" live broadcast - this time TOGETHER IN THE SAME (VIRTUAL) ROOM!

Oh, yeah, in the last commercial break, keep an eye out for Judith Hoag in a Burger King commercial. People of my generation will remember her as April O'Neil in the first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie in 1990. People of the current generation probably know her best as the mom in the Halloweentown movies on the Disney Channel.

Finally, I'd like to give major thanks to: AJ Quick for his help in promoting the event, loaning me his chat room, and hosting the frameset in order to fix an issue with showing the chat room in it; Ben King for putting together the poster you see on the upper right and for assistance during the private test broadcast last night; Raffaele Ruffaldi for his assistance during the private test broadcast last night; and Chris Stewart for his help in promoting the event. And, of course, major thanks to everyone who attends the broadcast tonight.

A surprise package was left on my porch today from TimeLife. I was expecting to get my copy of the set next week, but apparently some select people are getting copies of the set this week in advance of the shipment to the general public this Tuesday.

The promo pilot was the first thing I watched and it looked great. The first 54 seconds was used in its entirety in the Blockbuster and Syndication promos, so that first minute of the pilot didn't seem so fresh. The rest was incredible. It was also a hoot to see all of the known footage in its proper context. In my mind I kept saying, "So that's where that shot is from." Considering the original source is a 20 year old videocassette (you can tell the source was VHS), the quality is amazing.

I have not even taken every disc out of the case, much less watch it all, but I did search out a few other things to check up on them. I was pleasantly surprised to find that "A Fright At The Opera" and "The Bird Of Kildarby" were the alternate Tahiti music versions and not the series music versions (as I was originally led to believe). This is great news for Kildarby because the series music version can be found on Sony's Creatures of the Night DVD, not so great for Opera because it means that I'm stuck keeping my Fox Family copy until I can find someone with a copy of the series music version from the original syndication run sans logo, on-screen text, and edits.

Although I state this on my page for the set, no redubbed or alternate episodes are included except for the one-hour version of Deja Boo (and technically the retitled Slimer! "A Mouse In The House" that none of us knew about - or probably cared about). However, of the four alternate music episodes, two are series music and two are Tahiti music.

However, all is not good. I've found at least two things content-wise that I don't like. The first one is minor, but the second one is major. At the end of every episode, the "Columbia Pictures Television" logo is replaced with the new "Sony Pictures Television" logo. I can sort of understand replacing the logo in the early episodes, due to the original bearing the Coca-Cola Company mark, but there was no reason to change it in the later episodes. In fact, on the 2005 Ghostbusters II DVD, they left the original logo intact on "Partners In Slime". Only on "Citizen Ghost" was it changed.

The major issue is that something is really screwy with Season 4. Again, the "Partners In Slime" episode is played too slowly, and thus sounds bad, has defects in the audio, and runs unusually long. It was like this on the GB2 2005 DVD, but NOT in the original ABC broadcast. A few other Season 4 episodes I checked sound slow as well.

When I finally get the chance to watch all of the episodes, I'll make notes about what doesn't sound or look right and compare them to the original ABC episodes. I have a feeling I may have to keep a few more of my old tapes than I originally planned to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE [12/10/2008]

I wasn't the only one who noticed the slow episodes, as Zuul noticed it as well: Is it just my copy or are all the episodes on Volume 4 - Disc 2 kind of slow? All of the voices are really noticeably sluggish. Even the music and effects track is messed up. [This is the disc with "Partners In Slime" on it.]

Matt aka clortho has shed some light on why certain episodes play slowly: As for those "slow" episodes Paul was talking about, I can almost guarantee they were PAL masters slowed down to match the NTSC framerate, which although the framerate is now matching our standard, it just doesn't look right. I have a few DVDs that are like that where PAL masters were used and it looks like shit. It's possible the original masters broadcast on ABC are no longer in existence or whatever.

His sentiments were back up by Chris Stewart: A few of the tracks are apparently pulled from PAL sources - PAL (UK/Asia) runs at a different rate than NTSC (North America), hence the slow down. There's been no confirmation of this, though the effect is consistent. And there's no explanation as to why this is.

Well that certainly would explain it. However, According to Andy Mangels they are not from PAL masters:

I can guarantee you that they are not, and I don't know why Paul thinks they are different.

I spent 10 days at Technicolor going through over 600 1" Master NTSC tapes, finding the most complete and best set of ORIGINAL masters I could.

These are 100% from NTSC masters, and AS ORIGINALLY AIRED, unless the labels were lying. Some of the ABC shows even had the original commercials in place.

Best,
Andy Mangels
http://www.AndyMangels.com

Well, I can assure Andy that the slowed-down episodes in Volume 4 are NOT as originally aired on ABC. You know, when "Partners In Slime" showed up on Sony's GB2 DVD in 2005, I thought they screwed up in the transfer. But now I'm starting to think the issue is with the master. So if all of the masters were NTSC, not PAL, then I can only think of one reason for why the episodes on the DVD are messed up:

The masters that Andy was given were actually NTSC conversions from PAL masters (done a long time ago), but were never labeled as such.

It's quite possible that some time in the past 20 years they lost or misplaced the original NTSC masters that aired on ABC and figured that the PAL masters would be just as good, not realizing that the different video formats pose quite a problem. Based upon what Spengs said about the episodes originally airing this slow in Europe, which was not the case in the U.S., this seems to be the likely scenario.

Odd enough, I checked out one of the two-story pair episodes - specifically "Venk-Man! / Slimer Streak" - and "Venk-man!" sounded incredibly sped-up. It was like I was watching Fox Family Channel! I'm going to have to check out the original ABC broadcast to see if that's simply how it is or if there's something strange going on in the neighborhood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other than that video quality is good. As good as the original television broadcasts, if not a bit better, though I'd hardly call the episodes "remastered" or "restored". You will see the occassional spec of dust and dirt that you'd expect to see from something of that vintage - nothing bad, though one of the Slimer! eps had some scratches at the very beginning, which although minor, proves that they weren't "restored" or "remastered" in any conventional sense of those words.

Audio is a mixed bag, generally because it's like that way in the series. In some episodes Lorenzo and Maurice sound odd and in others they sound fine. That's not a fault of the DVD, though.

You can read more of my thoughts on the audio, video, and select features in my review of the promo DVD from last month.

My biggest complaint about the set, and I know that I'm not alone in this sentiment, is the disc-over-disc storage inside the steelbook cases, and the disc locking mechanism which has absolutely no give and upon repeated use will cause the inner ring of the disc to crack. I've had this happen with my GB1 1999 DVD, and that case's disc locking mechanism is a bit better than this ones - but not by much. The steelbooks on the outside are nice, and the art inside is nice, but the actual storage of the discs leaves a lot to be desired. I would have expected better for a set that costs near $200.

[UPDATE - 1/11/2009]
A better alternative to the Steelbooks DOES exist! CBS/Paramount's Petticoat Junction - The Official First Season set has five discs packaged inside a clear standard-size plastic keepcase (same width as the Steelbooks), with each one on its own page with NO overlap! As you can see in this photo I took, the Petticoat Junction case fits nicely in the RGB box in Volume 1's place. The disc locking mechanism, although not as good as the four spade (my name for it) and M-Lock hubs, is FAR superior to what the Steelbooks use. I can guarantee that not a single one of you would have a complaint about it.

And being that it's a clear case, they printed episode information on the reverse of the outside liner, and thus there was background art - just like the Steelbooks have. There's even clips on the inside front cover, so a booklet could be stored inside, too. Very handy for Time-Life's individual retail releases of the sets.

Although the steel exterior of the Steelbooks is nice, I think Time-Life would have done everyone a big favor by using this style case instead. The consumers would have user-friendly and disc-friendly packaging, and TimeLife would save some money (as I'm sure the 5-disc plastic case is cheaper to produce than the Steelbook cases). It's a win-win for everyone.

Anyway, before I get completely off-topic, let me wrap this up by saying that if you'd like to read more about the set, go over to Proton Charging, GB Fans, TheRealGhostbusters.com, Cinema Blend, and be sure to check out Chris Stewart's new packaging pics.

Oh, and if it seems like I'm being really negative and complaining about everything...well, it only seems that way. By and large, I *LOVE* the set and highly recommend it to everyone. It's just that I'd be doing a great disservice to the other fans if I didn't mention the things that just aren't kosher :-)

Almost a year to the day that we got the official press release from Sierra we get one from Atari officially confirming that they are the new publishers of the video game, now set to be released in 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film.

MTV posted an article that explains why Activision chose to drop Ghostbusters and several other games. In short, it's because they can't run them into the ground by constantly exploiting them every year with endless sequels and downloadable content. What's interesting is that almost a year earlier Penny Arcade had a comic about an Activision exec using the word "exploit" to describe the plans they have for their game properties each year, and a public relations guy trying to come up with non-offensive alternatives. I guess Activision has had this exploitive mentality for quite some time now.

Finally, the Internet Movie Database has, yet again, put up a page for Ghostbusters 3, this time proclaiming a release date of 2010. I've lost count as to how many times they've had a Ghostbusters 3 page over the past 10 years. It's because of their page that the original 1998 DVD release of The Blues Brothers (and from what I've heard, the original DVD release of Blues Brothers 2000 as well) lists Dan Aykroyd as starring in "Ghostbusters 3" in 1998! (see screen shot below) Anyone want to take bets as to how long it stays up this time?

LYON, FRANCE - 7 November 2008 - Atari, one of the world's most recognized video game publishers, announced today the addition of the highly anticipated Ghostbusters: The Video Game to its 2009 release schedule. Working closely with Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. and acclaimed development studio Terminal Reality, Atari will bring this completely new story to advanced gaming platforms coinciding with the 25th anniversary celebration of the film's original theatrical release. Ghostbusters: The Video Game, based on the smash hit motion picture franchise, also reunites original cast members to recapture the unique blend of humour and fright that established Ghostbusters as a pop culture sensation.

"Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a fantastic addition to Atari's global line-up in 2009," said Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari. "The title has built considerable anticipation and excitement among game fans for its high quality action and all-out mayhem. There's no more thrilling Ghostbusting experience to be had, short of building your own proton pack."

"We're thrilled to partner with Atari on Ghostbusters: The Video Game", said Mark Caplan, Vice President of Licensing-Hardlines for Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. "As one of our studios' most valued film franchises, we wanted to develop a video game that would be exciting for both new and old fans and with Atari we have a publisher that fully understands Ghostbusters, and is committed to producing engaging entertainment that fans will thoroughly enjoy."

Ghostbusters: The Video Game was penned by original Ghostbusters writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd and reunites members of the original cast for the first time in 20 years. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson lend their voices and in-game likenesses to the original story set two years after Ghostbusters II, with Manhattan once again overrun by ghosts and supernatural forces. The game also features performances from fan favourites such as William Atherton (Walter Peck), Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) and Brian Doyle-Murray (portraying Mayor Jock Mulligan).

Atari will release the Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 2 system, the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC, Wii and Nintendo DS. The launch will also leverage Atari's worldwide distribution network to maximize the presence of Ghostbusters: The Video Game around the globe as Sony marks the film's upcoming 25th anniversary. For more information on Atari's entire line up visit www.atari.com.

2009 also marks the 25th Anniversary of the original theatrical release of Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II combined to gross over $500 million world-wide at the box office. The film spawned some of the most memorable comedic catch-phrases and scenes in motion picture history. To recognize this special milestone, Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc has licensed the property for several new products to commemorate the anniversary, including: video games, toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas, and a theme park attraction. In addition, the original Ghostbusters car (Ecto-1) has been fully restored with plans for special promotional appearances throughout the US. And for the first time ever, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II on Blu-ray disc.

About the Game
When Manhattan is once again overrun by ghosts and other supernatural creatures, players will take on the role of a new recruit joining the famous Ghostbusters team. Developed by acclaimed studio Terminal Reality, Ghostbusters: The Video Game will make its debut on the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. The PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system version and the Wii version are being developed by Red Fly Studios, and the Nintendo DS version, in which the player takes the role of one of the Ghostbusters themselves, is developed by Zen Studios. The PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC versions of the game are developed using Terminal Reality's phenomenal proprietary Infernal Engine technology.

About the Film
Ghostbusters, released in 1984, is one of Columbia Pictures' highest grossing films, spawning a hit sequel in 1989 and three successful animated television shows. Ghostbusters and its sequel grossed over $500 million world-wide. Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, produced and directed by Ivan Reitman, starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson as ghost hunters for hire, cleaning up Manhattan's buildings of slime-spewing spooks.

About Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc.
Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. (SPCP), a division of Columbia TriStar Consumer Marketing (CTCM), is based in Los Angeles and handles the merchandising and branding efforts for some of the most recognized properties in film and television.

Columbia TriStar Consumer Marketing is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). SPE is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com.

About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari:
The Infogrames group, including the Atari brand, is a global producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and all interactive game platforms including consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, advanced smartphones, Personal Computers, web and online. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries through an international distribution network and direct to consumers via www.atari.com.
Atari's extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, V-Rally, My Horse & Me, Backyard Sports franchise, Total Annihilation, Outcast etc.), publishing properties (The Witcher, Legendary, Race Pro etc.), international licenses (Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons, Jamie Oliver etc.) and classic games covering the entire history of the video game industry (Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids etc).

© 2008 Atari Europe SASU. All rights reserved.
Atari word mark and logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc.

"GHOSTBUSTERS", The Video Game © 2008 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. "GHOSTBUSTERS" with the "GHOST DESIGN" is a registered trademark of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. "GHOSTBUSTERS", and "GHOSTBUSTERS 2" movies © 1984, © 1989 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Game Software excluding Columbia Pictures Elements © 2008 Atari, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. "PlayStation", "PLAYSTATION" and "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Nintendo DS and Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. Windows and the Windows Vista start button are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license from owner.

I don't know if any of you have ever seen this episode, but if you haven't, I think you're really going to enjoy it - especially if you're a fan of Maurice LaMarche (Egon in The Real Ghostbusters).

The Facts of Life - "Seven Little Indians" (1/3/1987 - Season 8, Ep 12)
(with Maurice LaMarche as Rod Sperling, live-action appearance)
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Maurice left some comments on the page for part 1:

Thank you. It was a ton of fun to do. And everyone was incredibly nice. In fact, we all got so friendly that one day, after rehearsal, I did all the girls' (and Clooney's) answering machines as their favorite impressions. And yes, I did Kim Fields' machine as Rod Sperling, saying "Tootie... I just love saying, Tootie".

What was interesting to see, from an writing perspective, was how, as the week went on, the script kept getting cut down for time, but they took out all the most hilarious stuff! For instance, at one point midway, Cloris was supposed to do this whole "Frau Blucher" parody, complete with neighing offscreen horses. It was so funny we could barely get though it at rehearsals. Then on day 3, it was suddenly out!

The script started out as one of the hippest, funniest things I'd ever read. Don't even ask about what the writers went through for Rod Sperling (important distinction there) to have an unlit, or even a candy, cigarette in his hand, but in the end NBC Standards and Practices won out, and Rod (me) was suddenly a non-smoker.

Hey, it was still pretty good by the time we shot it, and I know it's a big FOL fan favorite. And yes, George Clooney is really, really nice.

- Maurice LaMarche

As you may have heard Vivendi's Ghostbusters: Ghost Trap mobile phone game is out now. Considering Activision (who owns Vivendi) dropped the license for the console games, it's quite a surprise that this one was quietly snuck out.

In this silent video clip of the game in action, you can see that it looks like the video game equivalent of those water basketball games you used to have as a kid. Pump the button to "float" the ball through the water into a basket. Same principle here.

It will probably come as no surprise that the game is already available online for free download. There are five versions available, which I believe are for Nokia phones (the "N80" file) and Sony Ericsson phones (the four "SE" files, each of which is a different screen size). They are all the exact same game, so you only need to copy one to your phone, which ever one is appropriate for the phone you have. NOTE: I DON'T OWN A MOBILE PHONE AND HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH GAMES ON MOBILE PHONES, SO YOU'LL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING FOR YOURSELF.

I searched high and low - ok, five minutes on Google - to find some way to play these on the computer. Most of what I found proved to be useless. However, the command-line program Midp2Exe let me convert the Java files to EXE (the exact command line used was: Midp2Exe.exe -jar [filename]). So I have taken the liberty of converting all five original files into EXE files, which can be played on a computer running Windows. You can download them all in this 2.6 Mb zip file. As they are all the exact same game, you can choose any of the enclosed files to play, though from my experience, these are the best:

• GB_SE128x160_nh.exe - Displays a little smaller than full screen, but the car doesn't glitch on the title screen.
• GB_SE176x220_nh.exe - Displays the best in terms of full size, but the car glitches on the title screen.

There are keyboard shortcuts, but I have not figured out what all of them are. The arrow keys and the Enter key do what you'd think they'd do, and if you turn on Num Lock, you can use the keypad on your keyboard in lieu of the keypad displayed on screen. Also, F12 is apparently the back/exit function.

IMPORTANT: You need the MidpRuntimeDLL.dll file in the same folder you put the game EXE in. Otherwise you will get an error message.

LEGAL USE: I think it's pretty obvious that these files (the originals and my PC conversions) are not legal, though they might be if you bought the game on your mobile phone. I'm providing them as a way for mobile phone owners to try out the game first before committing to a purchase, and to allow non-mobile phone owners the joy of playing the game (if Vivendi had a tip jar, I'd be the first to put a few bucks in it). I did not make the original files or even originally upload them to the internet - the folks at Mobile 7 did that.

[UPDATE - 10/27/2008]
Thanks to Trey Lansford (aka "GhstbstrLMLIII"), I can now provide you with a copy of the Ghostbusters mobile game from 2005 suitable for playing on a PC. If you have a mobile phone, you'll want to get the original Java files (136 Kb). If you have a PC, don't have the game on your mobile phone carrier, or would like to try the game first before committing to a purchase, you'll want to get the converted file (976 Kb) suitable for play on a PC.

There are keyboard shortcuts, but I have not figured out what all of them are. Here are some of my findings. On the main menu, you can only go DOWN the menu if you click on the on-screen left button right below the phone screen. Otherwise you have to navigate UP. Also, F12 is apparently the back/exit function.

Turn on Num Lock and use the keypad on your keyboard to move and fire proton streams.
     8=Walk Up (on-screen 2 button)
     4=Walk Left
     6=Walk Right
     2=Walk Down (on-screen 8 button)
     5=Fire Stream
Press the on-screen green button to scroll through text messages. Note: You might have to fire a stream once in order to be able to move in a new room.

It might freeze for a little bit in the room after the yellow door in the tutorial.

IMPORTANT: You need the MidpRuntimeDLL.dll file in the same folder you put the game EXE in. Otherwise you will get an error message.

From around 2000-2001 I had the domain name TheRealGhostbusters.com thanks to the free domain name service NameZero. They promised that if you kept an active site at the domain, they would extend the free use of the domain name for another year, and so forth. Well, they lied! They pulled the old bait and switch. After the first year, they wanted me to pay to continue to use the domain name, which they technically owned since they would only register it in my name if I used their paid service. I balked at being lied to, and although it was a great domain name, I could easily live without it. So I essentially gave them a big "Screw You" by ignoring their pleas to pay for continued use of the domain names - yes NAMES, as in more than one - and left them hanging with the cost of my year's use of three domain names (and any lingering months in which they still owned the names). You see, I was only supposed to get one domain name from them (one per person), but actually got them to give me three (RealGhostbusters.com and PaulRudoff.com were the other two), all of which I had pointing to the same site! Which means they paid three times more than what they were (presumably) paying per each other free user they had.

Anyway, that long backstory leads me to this. In July of 2008 (judging from the blog posts), Alex Upton resurrected TheRealGhostbusters.com, which serves as his Ghostbusters news blog. It's not the major player that Proton Charging is, but it's worth checking out.

In other Ghostbusters website news... Doreen Mulman has recently posted the following to the main page of the Ghostbusters Fan Forum

For nearly 11 years, December 4, 1997 - October 31, 2008, The Ghostbusters Fan Forum has resided at http://members.aol.com/DoReEgon/. On September 30, 2008, AOL sent an email to all its members to tell them that AOL will no longer be hosting free (or any) webspace for its members.

After much thought and discussion, Nora (The GBFF's co-creator) and I have decided that I will rebuild The GBFF elsewhere. I haven't decided where yet. But, I have decided to revamp the site and will include both new and "classic" GBFF files that were created by over 175 fans.

When will this all take place? I cannot answer that question at this point, so please check my message board at http://members3.boardhost.com/ghostbusters/. If you prefer to not check the board, please send your email address to busterbabe@gmail.com to be added to our new email database. I'll send out occasional messages to keep you informed on our progress. Additionally, feel free to add me to your friends at GBFans.com, where I plan to post a few things I've created: http://www.gbfans.com/fans/busterbabe/.

Many, many thanks to all our friends and site contributors for a great run at AOL. I know things slowed down after my illness in 2004, but I'm doing much better now. Thanks for asking! Nora and I hope to see you all again at the usual haunts soon!

Doreen Mulman
GBFF Webmistress

I've personally known Doreen and Nora since before the GBFF was online and was deeply saddened by the news. It's even sadder that it's happening a little over a month shy of the site's 11th anniversary. Still, I am relieved that the GBFF is not going away permanently, and will come back in some form sometime soon (hopefully sometime next year, if not sooner). Although the GBFF will be going away for a little bit, Doreen still has PLENTY of sites that are still online and continuously updated. So be sure to check them out.

Oh, and I think this is more proof that AOL is going downlill FAST!

Time-Life was kind enough to send an "Advance Promotional DVD" for The Real Ghostbusters DVD set. It's interesting to note that nine years ago, Sony sent out the promo video for the Ghostbusters DVD release in 1999 on VHS, and now promo videos are sent out on DVD. I wonder what format will be used 10 years from now. Anyway, the single disc features:

• Episode: Take Two (23:51) (4:3 Fullscreen)
• Episode: The Collect Call of Cathulhu (22:28) (4:3 Fullscreen)
• The Real Ghostbusters Comic Con Trailer (0:56) (16:9 Widescreen)
• Featurette: "Something Strange In Your Neighborhood: The Creatures of The Real Ghostbusters" (17:24) (4:3 Fullscreen)
• Visual Commentary Track - "Take Two" with J. Michael Straczynski, Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross; hosted by Andy Mangels (23:46) (16:9 Widescreen)
• Episode Introductions for "Janine's Genie" by Laura Summer, voice of Janine from 1986-1988; "Ain't NASA-Sarily So," by Dan Riba, storyboard artist; "The Ghostbusters in Paris" by Maurice LaMarche, voice of Egon; and "The Devil to Pay" by Dennys McCoy & Pam Hickey, writers. (2:25) (16:9 Widescreen)

[UPDATE]
On the promo DVD, the Comic Con trailer, visual commentary track, and episode introductions are all presented in 16:9 Widescreen. In the final set, they're all stupidly presented in 4:3 Letterbox! It's a shame they had to screw it up on the final set.

As I watched all of the above items on the DVD, I jotted down notes, which I will now try to type up into some sort of cohesive review of the individual items. This will act as sort of a preview of the box set, and a mini-review of it as well.

Read more »

Doreen Mulman just sent me over a link to a MySpace page for Spook Central Elementary. Needless to say, I was definitely curious to check it out. Well, the sad news is that it's not a real elementary school. It's actually a yet unpublished children's book series by Tim Tilley (that seems to be the author's name), which is described as such on the site:

Spook Central follows the day-to-day events of twelve students who attend Ms. Lenore Lanchester's home room at Spookville Elementary School. Affectionately called Spook Central Elementary by it's students, the school itself is unlike any other. This is because both the student body and faculty are monsters: zombies, Were-wolves, ghosts, vampires and many more, with the exception of one student, Gwen.

Gwen, the daughter of the Grim Reaper and his human wife, has become the newest human exchange student to attend Spookville Elementary in over a hundred years.

Gwen shares a class with her fellow students: the were-wolf T.J. Talbot, a witch named Megan Miller, a Gorgon Rebecca, a cyclops girl named Tiffany, a mummy named Ramses, a creature from the black lagoon named Gil Chapman, a vampire named Vincent Vladimir Logosi, the invisible boy named Hubert Grayson Rains, twins Mary Kathryn & Alicia Shelley Karloff with their brother Frankie, all of whom are overseen by Principal Price.

Over the next few years they will create new friendships and share moments in their lives with one another; but most importantly, they will learn from their experiences at Spookville Central Elementary.

Each picture book will be twenty four pages in length, told in the first person point of view. Each book will have one of the twelve characters be the main character of the story, with Principal Price's tale being the thirteenth story book. I expect to have all the books published within a year's time, with the last and fourteenth being a collector's edition Year Book containing new additional content.

Volume Two of Spook Central Elementary is in the works. Keep an eye out in the future for Spook Central: Mythology; a new series teaching children about mythology.

Images of some of the characters can be found here. I think this premise would make for a great animated series. I can totally envision Cree Summer voicing the Madusa gal.

It sounds really cool, and I wish Tim the best of luck in getting it published.

This is it! This is definitely it!

I have just added digital copies of every single The Real Ghostbusters and Slimer! script that I own! All of these scripts come from my personal collection and were personally scanned in by me. Although I have contributed almost all of these for use on the RGB DVD set (so if you want them without the discreet watermark, you'll have to wait until the set comes out), the two with the hand-written notes (RGB "Robobuster" rough first draft and Slimer "Class Clown" outline) are exclusive to this site and won't be on the set.

What I suspect that most people will enjoy reading the most is the Series Bible. This is the character guide for the series, given to all of the writers, to ensure that their characterizations stay in line with the series as a whole. I find the section on Janine most interesting because the very reasons why they say she was disliked are the very same reasons why I like her! Anyway, here's the full list of scripts that I added.

The Real Ghostbusters
* Second Season Bible, Revised For Third Season - March 7, 1988
* Ain't NASA-sarily So - August 13, 1986
* Attack Of The B-Movie Monsters - March 28, 1991
* Camping It Up - August 21, 1987
* The Ghostbusters In Paris - June 30, 1986
* The Grundel - July 17, 1987
* The Headless Motorcyclist - May 15, 1986
* Masquerade - July 14, 1986
* Poultrygeist - May 12, 1988
* Robo-buster - Rough First Draft (with hand-written corrections by the writer)
* Robo-buster - June 24, 1988

Slimer!
* Class Clown - July 11, 1988 (outline, with hand-written notes)
* Class Clown - July 14, 1988

This is only the first step in my script PDF digitalization project. The next step will be to digitalize all of the EGB scripts that I have, then the movie scripts will be last. I may not get to do either step this year. The movie scripts are going to be a major pain because there's four of them; one of them is the 292 page GB1 "Combined Continuity & Master Subtitle/Spotting List"; and the other is the GB1 final shooting script in the "Making Ghostbusters" book, which I'm not sure how I'm going to do since the script is annotated with notes and photos, and I'd prefer to do it as a "script only".