Friday, January 10, 2014

Just how did Filmation bring back the Ghostbusters? Here's how (1985)

As we all know, Filmation brought back a failed series from the 70's, Ghost Busters, as an animated series, 11 years after the original. The title was revamped as one word---Ghostbusters, but the result was the same. The series would only last one year of original episodes.

13 months prior to the relaunch, Filmation made the following video presentation for executives at Group W, which was handling distribution of their programs at the time. Group W, a unit of Westinghouse, would later distribute the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons, as memory serves.

As you'll see, the designs for Jake Kong, Jr.'s two sweethearts, reporter Jessica Raye, and Futura, a sorceress from the future, as well as big bad Prime Evil, were radically altered in the space between the presentation and the first episode. Jessica's hair, for example, went from blonde to auburn. Also, Jake and Eddie Spencer, Jr. were not referred to as the sons of the original Ghost Busters, but that would change as well. Jake and Tracy's designs remained relatively the same. It is implied that Jake & Jessica have a relationship, but as we would see in the series, it seemed as though he had room for two girlfriends, judging by the chemistry between him & Futura.

Now, let's see how this all began.

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