The true beauty of this movie is the startling social commentary that it provides.

Hypothetically, any work of fiction is a reflection of the political and social climate of the time in which it was written, and when describing a blockbuster hit (like this was), this is especially pertinent, because it apparently resonated with a lot of people. But what does this mean?

Let's look at the movie:

• The BAD GUYS: It's the summer of 1984, and Ronald Reagan is stepping up his re-election campaign. And who is the bad guy in the biggest hit movie? The mean, petty, maniacal, self-promoting, just plain won't-mind-their-own-business Environmental Protection Agency. Yep, those guys over at the EPA sure are evil.
• The GOOD GUYS: Those three wacky scientists who are determined, despite all odds being stacked against them, to round-up and imprison all of the supernatural residents of the city of New York. Sure, the ghosts may have been living, err, not-living, in that house for hundreds of years, but if we don't stop them, a veritable invasion of aliens, or at least alien gods, from another world would take over the American way of life. I mean come on, these guys are just trying to make an honest dollar, you know, in the spirit of free trade. Not only that, the ghosts would pervert even the most basic of American institutions—the marketing campaigns of our youth.

So in conclusion, let me just say thank God for the Ghostbusters, because with out them we might have "dogs and cats living together," and I for one shudder at the thought of different races cohabitating peacefully.

Credit where credit is due: This idea was first suggested to me by my friend Matt over cards, but he doesn't node.

Personal Note: I LOVE this movie. It's just funny to me how conservative it is when you look at it. What can I say, I'm just another bitter victim of the "just say no" campaign. :-)

Ghostbusters, 1984 - directed by Ivan Reitman, Region 2 DVD - BBFC Rating - PG.

Walking a fine line between horror and comedy, Dan Aykroyd's supernatural satire proves to be a rare thing indeed—a live-action cartoon. Bill Murray deadpans his way through everything and utters quotables too numerous to mention. Basically, a frankly ridiculous idea pulled through 360 degrees and spun into an entertaining romp for everyone.

The picture's probably the best it has ever looked since the original negative was first struck back in 1984: rich, detailed, vibrant colors, it is lent a warmth from the transfer. 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, too. Excellent.

The surround channels are barely used, so it's good that the subwoofer kicks in when the backpacks are switched on and the lightning whips sound superb. A shame more wasn't done, but it's still nice to see a fine film brought into the digital age.

A multitude of extras on the Ghostbusters DVD goes to show the effort expended by Columbia Tristar, lovely menus of New York with Mr. Stay Puft walking through, loads of photographs, and twelve deleted scenes. 1984 promotional featurette on the production, preproduction sketches, special effects featurette, comparison of a rough cut of the film with the final cut, storyboards and Ghostbusters 1 and 2 trailers AND the first video commentary on DVD, something to show off.

Ghostbusters, an oldie but goodie game from Activision for the Commodore 64, is, of course, based on the 1984 smash hit movie of the same name. Players control the three Ghostbusters (Winston drives the Ecto-1 and is not playable, apparently) as they catch New York City's ghosts. Trap ghosts by positioning two of the three busters beside the ghost, push the fire button to fire up the proton packs, and then push the beams into the ghost to force it over the trap. Then suck the ghost into its jail. For each ghost that is successfully trapped, you earn money to spend on better ghost equipment. There's all sorts of neat equipment, such as:

• Ghost traps (a must have - without these you cannot catch anything!) - Place one of these under the ghost and wait until it hovers over it. Then press the button and the demon's yours.
• Marshmallow Bait - useful for catching the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Without this, Puffy can stomp the city to bits, causing you to be sued by the city.
• Ghost vacuum - allows you to suck up the ghosts on the road and earn more money.
• Ghost bait - attract the ghosts to the vacuum area.
• Vision Goggles – allows you to see invisible ghosts.
• PKE Meter – lets you see where ghosts will appear next.
• Portable containment unit - allows you to refill ghost traps.

The gameplay is great for a C64 game. Use the joystick to move the Ghostbusters from left to right in the street scenes or to drive the Ecto-1 in the driving scenes. The hardest part about the control is convincing the game that you're pushing the "ghost trap activate" button, but other than that it's quite smooth. The sound is faithful to the film. The movie's theme song plays nonstop through the game, and if you should fail to trap a ghost, you hear a electronic voice shout "He slimed me!" If you suck a ghost into the ghost vacuum, you get a sucking sound. Lose the game and you are electronically laughed at. This is the extent of the sounds.

This game is designed with replay in mind. After winning the game you are given a password that allows you to start a new game with your previous bank account, allowing you to buy advanced weaponry and faster cars at the beginning of the game. The downside of the game: once you buy your equipment you cannot buy more until the next game. Also, once you run out of ghost traps, you must drive back to headquarters to swap them out. This can be time consuming if you have only a few traps.

The game was also released for the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, and Sega Game Gear years later with some enhancements (more weapons, easier gameplay, better graphics, and harder goals), but I find that the C64 version of the game is the best version of them all. It is not as buggy and is, to me, more fun with its simple premise and engaging challenge level. I sold my Commodore 64 years ago, and it's a shame that this game went with it – it's a C64 classic.

This writeup is based on a review I wrote for http://www.GameFAQs.com several years ago.

Who ya gonna call??

wait...whaddya mean that's not the right one?!? Oh yeah, right...*ahem*

Let's goooo Ghoooostbusters!!

Before Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston strapped on the proton packs to fight Gozer and Mr. Stay-Puft, there was a forgotten 1970s television series that chronicled the adventures of a trio known as the Ghostbusters.

Premiering on September 6, 1975, "The Ghostbusters" starred "F-Troop" veterans Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch as Jake Kong and Eddie Spenser, two bumbling spook chasers who use their "ghost dematerializer" ray to bust ghosts. Joining up with them is their pet gorilla Tracy, played by Hollywood creature effects guru Bob Burns (who admits that he only got the job because he owned a really good gorilla suit). Ghostbusters was one of the few live action shows produced by Filmation.

The 1975 Ghostbusters was essentially a campy kids' show, with emphasis on poorly done slapstick and vaudeville routines. For example, at the beginning of every episode the team would get their assignment via an exploding tape recording a la "Mission: Impossible", except they would never be able to get rid of the tape in time causing the trio to get cartoonishly blown up. After they got the mission the Ghostbusters would call out "Let's gooooo Ghoooostbusters!" and ride off into danger in their Ghost Buggy.

Unfortunately the exploding tape gag never got a chance to grow old, as the show was cancelled after 16 episodes.

When the Ghostbusters movie that we all know and love made gobs of money in 1984, Filmation decided to cash in by releasing a cartoon spin-off of their old kids show. Premiering in 1986, this new cartoon, initially called "Ghostbusters" but later changed to "Filmation's Ghostbusters", was about the original Jake and Eddie's sons (very imaginatively also named Jake and Eddie) working with Tracy the gorilla. The trio are also joined by Jessica (a TV reporter), Futura (a mysterious woman from the future), and Belfry (a talking bat). At their HQ "Ghost Command" they battle the evil spooks of Prime Evil, who are set up at his "Haunt-Quarters." The Ghost Buggy received a major upgrade and can now transport the team through space and time.

The cartoon was a much more action-oriented show than the original and emphasized fantasy more than the pseudo-science of the Ghostbusters movie, fitting it in well with the other major Filmation cartoon at the time, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe". Like He-Man and most other children's shows at the time, Ghostbusters had several product tie-ins and a series of action figures.

"Filmation's Ghostbusters" initially did very well in the ratings, but the numbers began to slip when animation studio DIC came out with "The Real Ghostbusters", which was a cartoon spin-off of the Ghostbusters movie. The show was aptly named because although Filmation had the original ghostbusters, in the minds of the viewers, Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston were the real ones. Facing competition from the highly popular characters, Filmation's ratings began to slip and the show was canned after 62 episodes.

As an avid viewer of both the cartoons, and from what I can recall from when I was 6, the "fake" show was just as good as the "real" one and not as much of a cheap cash-in as one would assume. I was a big big fan of the Filmation show and was sad to see it cancelled. It's a shame that they couldn't coexist since both had different niches, the Filmation had more fantasy and comedy than the horror-themed episodes of Real Ghostbusters (at least until that show changed its name to "Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters" and turned to shit.)