The Real Ghostbusters (U.S. TV)

Trivia:

The word "Real" was added to the title in order to avoid confusion with the unrelated live action TV series “The Ghost Busters” (1975) along with its animated sequel series “Ghostbusters” (1986), which was released the same year as this series.

According to Ernie Hudson, who portrayed Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters films, he did auditioned to voice his character for this series, but in the end, the role instead went to Arsenio Hall.

It was reported that, Bill Murray did not like how his character Peter Venkman sounded like Garfield(who was voiced by Lorenzo Music) in this series. As a result of this, the producers replaced Music after he voiced Venkman for 78 episodes with Dave Coulier who ended up voicing Venkman for the remainder of the series. Ironically, Bill Murray would go on to voice Garfield in “Garfield: The Movie” (2004).

When he auditioned for the role of Egon, Maurice LaMarche was asked not to impersonate Egon’s movie actor Harold Ramis; he did so otherwise and still got the part. This led Peter Venkman’s movie actor Bill Murray to comment that "Harold's guy sounds like him, I sound like Garfield."

Ray Stantz' likeness in this series was reportedly to be modeled after comedian Louie Anderson.

The siren of ECTO-1 is the same that was used in the films, except it gives off a higher pitch in this series.

Contrary to popular belief, it was this animated series that gave birth to the 'Ghostbusters' merchandise and not exactly the original 1984 film.

According to storyboard artist Kevin Altieri on the DVD commentary for “Ghosts R Us” (1986), he claimed that this series was the first DIC cartoon that featured English writing in the background, whereas previous series produced by DIC had only featured gibberish. However, this fact was untrue as “The Littles” (1983) had many instances of English words visible on screen and was the first DIC series to be produced for an American Network rather than for syndication.

At one point, the executives made a suggestion to write Ray Stantz out, as the character(according to them), didn't hold any significance in the series. The writers on the other hand disagreed and discarded the suggestion.

During one meeting with the studio, one executive claimed that Janine's triangular glasses may scare off the kids who watch the series on TV. Other executives claimed that Janine should be less of a tough independent woman and act more like a mother figure to the Ghostbusters. It was due to these meetings that writer J. Michael Straczynski, left the production of the series after being fed up with all of the mandates.

Whenever Janine communicates with the Ghostbusters via the two-way radio in the Ecto-1, Janine uses the handle "Spook Central" in reference to the firehouse. (for example: "Spook Central calling Ecto-1.") The phrase "Spook Central" was based on Ray Stanz’ line in the first Ghostbusters film during the scene when he and the other Ghostbusters look over the blueprints of Dana Barrett's apartment and learned it’s architect is the leader of a Gozer cult. The line went as: "Your girlfriend lives in the corner penthouse of Spook Central."

Throughout the series, there was a longstanding joke that involves Peter Venkman making disparaging remarks about New Jersey.

Dave Coulier revealed in an interview that, because it would ruin takes if he were to make the other voice actors laugh, it was decided that he was not allowed to sit next to Frank Welker and Maurice LaMarche during the recording sessions for each episode.

The footage during the end credits of the Ghostbusters dancing down the middle of the street, was based on the music video for Ray Parker Jr.'s song where he and the actors from the movie were performing the very same thing.

In the early promo artwork for the series, Peter Venkman was drawn to look more like Bill Murray and Egon Spengler was drawn to look more like Harold Ramis. But the animators ended up changing the look of Peter, and changed Egon's hair color from brown to blonde, in order to avoid lawsuits for using the actors' likenesses without permission. While Ray Stanz and Winston Zeddemore, were never drawn to resemble their actors Dan Aykroyd or Ernie Hudson, respectively.

The popularity of the "Green Ghost" character from the first Ghostbusters film (and the memorable scene in which he slimed Peter Venkman) was so notable that the producers of this series decided to include him in the cast and gave him the name, "Slimer". In turn, the popularity of Slimer became notable by Columbia Pictures that he was included in the film’s sequel, as well as the 2016 reboot.

During the course of the first three seasons, the series has displayed different animation styles. This is because the episodes were animated by different studios. The quality of the episodes that were considered "good" were given to high quality studios that were based in Japan (such as Toei Animation), and the rather weak quality episodes were outsourced to smaller studios in other Asian countries. As a result, depending on the studio involved, the animations of an episode were either fluent and realistic or rather sloppy and clunky. In some cases, more than one animation studio was involved in the production of just one episode.

The first season consisting of 13 episodes and the second season consisting 65 episodes were both commissioned at the same time. The first season aired during ABC's traditional Saturday morning network slot and the second season broadcasted in syndication from Monday through Friday on local television stations. This meant that a total of 78 stories were needed right from the very start. The writers soon learned that the shows written for syndication got much less executive interference than those that had to pass ABC's Broadcast Standards & Practices. Whereas the syndicated shows would usually be approved immediately, the network shows received a lot of feedback and alteration requests.

Despite that she was a primary character from the movies and was the first client for the Ghostbusters, Dana Barrett has never once appeared in any episode of this series.

In episode 1, marks the debut of the Ecto-2, an autogyro in which two people can sit in.

Goof: In episode 1, the Ecto-1's license plate erroneously reads as "ECT-1" during the scene of Conrad's bust.

In episode 1, Dan Riba, revealed that he and Kevin Altieri designed Slug, Snarg, and Zonk with the idea that they were like the Three Bears with a smaller version of Archie Bunker, the main protagonist of the TV series "All in the Family".

In episode 1, the character Turlock was named after the town that is located Stanislaus County, California.

In episode 1, the smoke form of the Toy Ghost was inspired by the Crawling Eye, the title monster of Quentin Lawrence's 1958 science fiction movie.

In episode 1, Dan Riba mentioned that when the ghosts run over the Ecto-1 while vacating the toy factory, originally an exclamation mark was going to appear after the car got ran over, but it was removed due to the idea of an exclamation mark appearing in thin air being too silly

In episode 1, the taxi driver whose cab got ran over by the ghosts was modeled after color background designer John Calmette.

In episode 1, the word "GOYOKIN" as seen on the tugboat when the Toy Ghost falls over the Brooklyn Bridge. May be a reference to Hideo Gosha's 1969 samurai movie of the same name.

In episode 1, although she was never named in the episode, female ghost's name is Snarg.

Egon's voice in episode 1 along with the next three episodes is depicted to being very deep sounding, but after episode 5 his voice started sounding less deep and much more higher sounding.

The Smalldorf Hotel in episode 1, is based on the Waldorf Astoria hotel which opened in 1893.

In episode 1, Winston’s line “It's raining chocolate!" was the same line that was rehearsed during Arsenio Hall's audition for the role of the character and the line won him the job.

In episode 1, when Janine answers the phone in one scene, she clarifies with the caller with the following: “No, this is the ‘Real’ Ghostbusters”. This line was an in joke to differentiate this series from Filmation's unrelated “Ghostbusters” (1986).

In episode 1, there was one scene where Peter quotes Billy Crystal as Fernando from “Saturday Night Live” when he says "You look mah-velous."

In episode 2, when Killerwatt absorbs Peter's Proton Stream, Peter nicknames him "Mikey" by sarcastically say “Uh oh, Mikey likes it”. Peter was referring to the fictional TV commercial character Little Mikey from the famous 1972 Quaker Oats Life cereal commercial.

In episode 2, it was the first episode to be put into production.

In episode 3, the title of the episode is a spoof of the classic kids show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”.

In episode 3, according to the storyboards for this episode, Ray originally threw an "Ecto-Gernade" instead of the ghost trap at the Furnace Monster.

In episode 4, according to storyboard artist Brad Rader, Slimer's good-bye scene was inspired by a scene in the 1941 George Stevens movie "Penny Serenade" starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

In episode 4, the Ringmaster ghost, also known as 'Mr. Ugly', was identified with the name of 'Ghash' in the episode’s screenplay.

The title in episode 4, is a spoof to Fred M. Wilcox’s 1943 movie “Lassie, Come Home”.

In episode 5, marks the first episode in which the Ghostbusters do not deal with any ghosts or any other variations of a ghost.

In episode 5, marks the first time in which a ghost trap wasn’t used at any point of the episode.

In episode 5, when Ray made a joke to Peter that he might encounter giant ants upon entering a tunnel. He was referring to the 1954 Gordon Douglas science fiction movie “Them!”

In episode 5, during the disco dance scene, Peter nicknamed the partying troll as “John Revolta”. As in a reference to the 1977 John Badham movie “Saturday Night Fever” which starred John Travolta as Tony Manero.

Louie the gangster who appeared in episode 6, is based on the archetype characters commonly portrayed by actor James Cagney.

In episode 6, Peter mentions the Ghostbusters’ usual fee for a standard capture and containment is $1500, which is much less than their $5000 charge fee for capturing Slimer in the first movie.

In episode 6, marks the first episode in which the Ghostbusters were briefly seen visiting a city located outside of New York.

In episode 6, when Peter jumps into the Boogieman's portal, he tells Egon, "See you on the other side, Egon." This was a quote lifted from the first movie when the Ghostbusters cross the streams in order to defeat Gozer.

Straczynski admitted he got the idea for the plot in episode 7 after hearing Pat Ballard's song "Mr. Sandman" on the radio while being at home.

In episode 7 marks the first time Janine was seen wearing a Ghostbuster jumpsuit and using a proton pack.

In episode 7, when Peter Venkman was dreaming he was seen winning multiple awards, among them is an Oscar. Peter’s movie actor Bill Murray, would eventually get an Oscar nomination for his performance in the movie “Lost in Translation”.

The Weird Fiction comic in episode 7 has the word “DiC”(the company that co-produced this series) on its cover.

Goof: the Weird Fiction comic in episode 7 was misspelled as “Wierd Comics”.

In episode 7, when the Sandman was asked by the radio DJ if he works for Steven Spielberg, he replies with, “Never heard of him.” The Sandman’s voice actor Frank Welker has in done vocal work for some of Spielberg’s movies that were either directed or produced by him.

With the plot in episode 8, being Halloween themed and was aired in November makes this the only Halloween episode to not air in October.

In episode 8, marks the first time in which the Containment Unit viewer was used to look at the universe located inside the Containment Unit.

The title in episode 9, is a spoof to Thomas Wolfe's 1929 novel "Look Homeward, Angel".

Marc Scott Zicree revealed the inspiration for the plot in episode 9 came from various "Twilight Zone" episodes that involve individuals going back to their hometown and the whole situation goes awry.

Goof: In episode 9, Ray mentions that his hometown of Morrisville, New York is located 30 miles away from New York City. In reality, Morrisville is located at least 200 miles away from New York City.

The plot in episode 10, directly dealt with the movie to cartoon issue. By creating a metafiction concept which establishes that the making of the original Ghostbusters movie took place during the events of this series and was a fictional depiction of how Egon, Peter, & Ray established the ghost removal business.

In episode 10, Slimer was seen chasing after a woman who resembles Carmen Miranda (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), a famous Brazilian samba singer, broadway actress, and Hollywood actress who was active from 1928–1955.

In episode 10, the "Doctor Crowley" films Ray mentions were named after Aleister Crowley (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947), who was an English occultist, philosopher, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist and mountaineer. Crowley was known for being the founder of the Thelema religion in which he identified himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus during the early 20th century. He was also a very prolific writer, who had published 29 books during his lifetime.

In episode 10, when Peter was watching the Ghostbusters movie as sees Bill Murray portraying Peter onscreen, he remarks with the comment "he doesn't look a thing like me." Which is a meta joke in which the Peter Venkman of this series was deliberately altered in appearance in order to avoid paying royalties towards Bill Murray for using his likeness.

The Dr. Crowley movie set featured in episode 10 was meant to be a homage to the Universal Frankenstein films.

In episode 10, Peter believed that Robert Redford would have wanted to portray him in the Ghostbusters biopic. Ray’s movie actor Dan Aykroyd would eventually co-starred with Redford in the Phil Alden Robinson film “Sneakers”.

Ray revealed in episode 11 that he was born in the Bronx. Which means his childhood home that he mentioned in the first movie, being born in and was then put up for mortgage by Egon and Peter in order to start their ghost catching business is located somewhere in the Bronx.

In episode 11, after the explosion occurred, Peter mentions Bayonne, this is the name of a city in located in Hudson County, New Jersey.

In episode 11, originally one of the photos hanging on the wall near Peter's office is supposed to feature the Shandor apartment building as depicted after the events of the first Ghostbusters movie. The close up of the photo was included in the storyboards for this episode, but was excluded with the photo of the Ghostbusters Firehouse in ruins after the ghosts escaped the containment unit during the events of the first movie being shown instead.

In episode 11, while checking the new Containment Unit, Egon tests Peter by mentioning a transwarp drive. Which is the name a propulsion device from the “Star Trek” franchise.

In episode 11, when Cynthia Crawford meets Janine at the Ghostbusters Fire House and asked her if she really is Janine. In which Janine confirms to be herself, while she sarcastically comments she’d rather be Meryl Streep. Both Raymond Stantz’ voice actor Frank Welker and movie actor Dan Aykroyd would both eventually co-star with Meryl Streep in two separate movies. Frank Welker co-starred with Meryl in the computer animated movie “The Ant Bully”. Dan co-starred with Meryl in the biopic “Julie & Julia”. While Peter Venkman’s movie actor Bill Murray would eventually co-star with Meryl in Wes Anderson’s stop motion animated movie “Fantastic Mr. Fox”.

In episode 12 marks the first time Janine was physically seen wearing a Ghostbuster jumpsuit and using a proton pack. While she did wore her own Ghostbusters jumpsuit and proton pack in the Sandman episode, except it was only within her dream.

In episode 12, Ray shouts out “Come on down!” to the ghost that is being captured by the ghost trap in the same manner as the catchphrase of the game show “The Price Is Right”.

J. Michael Straczynski regarded the plot in episode 13 as his favorite due to admitting that he was a fan of Charles Dickens.

In episode 13, it was re-aired on its own as a Saturday Morning Holiday Special on ABC which was on December 24, 1994. The episode also aired as a holiday special a year later on CBS on December 9, 1995. Both airings of this episode were one off airings and had a slightly altered intro credits.

In episode 13, when Peter masquerades as the Ghost of Christmas Past, he informs Scrooge of what he’s about to witness is like his own version of “This Is Your Life”. The same title as the talk show that ran on TV for 37 years.

In episode 16, the Banana 9000 computer is a parody of the Hal 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”

The title in episode 19, is a spoof to Gordon Douglas’s 1970 movie “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!”

The title in episode 29, is a spoof to Robert Wiene’s 1920 movie “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”.

In episode 33, the graveyard featured one of the tombstones in the foreground bearing the word Casio, the name of the Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer.

The plot in episode 45, was regarded as one of the weirdest and sometimes the most disliked episode plot of the series due to the concept of Cubby living next to a chicken restaurant despite having a strong hatred towards the site and smell of chicken. So weird that the whole ordeal of Cubby ridding the world of chickens with the help of a demon could of been avoided if he were to just simply move to a house that is not located next to a chicken restaurant. Even writer J. Michael Straczynski’s co-workers and superiors had questioned his sanity after he submitted the script to them.

In episode 48, when Janine revealed that Con-Ed had issued the Ghostbusters a cut off notice, Ray replied they can’t afford to let them shut off the power again. This is a reference to the first movie.

The title in episode 51, is a spoof to Sam Wood & Edmund Goulding’s 1935 comedy movie “A Night at the Opera”.

In episode 57, when Peter, Ray, Winston, and Janine visit Egon at Spengler Laboratories, Egon remarks that the lab is located over 1500 miles away from New York. With the mentioning of the lab being located somewhere in the midwest, that would establish it is located within South Dakota, near Rapid City.

The title in episode 65, is a spoof to John Sturges’ 1957 movie “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”.

In episode 67, towards the end of the episode Peter goes on a bus heading towards New Orleans in order to finally attend Mardi Gras. Despite that the other Ghostbusters failed to inform him that the event is already over. This would place the setting of the ending around the day before Ash Wednesday in mid-February.

In episode 67, among Egon's many techno babble lines he remarks that Malichi may have cause a "chrono-synclastic infundibulum." This is a term that was used in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1959 science fiction novel "The Sirens of Titan". The term is meant to describe a wormhole-like phenomenon.

Goof: In episode 67, during the prehistoric flashback, Egon refers to the attacking marine reptile as a Megalodon. A Megalodon was a prehistoric shark, and is in no way regarded as a reptile.

Goof: The Union and Confederate soldiers featured in episode 67 were seen carrying historically incorrect flags. The thirteen star "Betsy Ross" flag was flown during the Revolutionary War by the Colonial Army, and not by the Union Army during the Civil War. While the "Stars and Bars" flag was used by the Confederate Virginia Army, but never was it used by the Louisiana Army.

Goof: In episode 67, when Winston was holding on to the makeshift trap, Egon touches it and gets shocked. This happened while Winston is holding on to the trap and he wasn’t shocked.

In episode 67, Peter at one point says “Don’t leave home without it”, which is a reference to the slogan for the American Express credit card.

The title in episode 71, is a spoof to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 movie “Apocalypse Now”.

The title in episode 73, is a spoof to both Betty Smith’s 1943 novel & Elia Kazan’s 1945 movie “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”.

In episode 76, the “Leave it to Woodchuck" show is a parody of the classic sitcom "Leave it to Beaver".

In episode 76, Winston made a joke by asking Janine if she got her TV from the "Outer Limits”, the name of the 1960’s science fiction anthology TV series.

In episode 76, Power Guy is a parody of He-Man. Interestingly enough in Ghostbusters II, He-Man was the character that was greatly mentioned during the birthday party scene, in which the kids were interested in meeting He-Man than the Ghostbusters. Marc Scott Zicree who wrote the script for this episode had previously worked as a writer for the He-Man animated series.

In episode 76, the “Star Patrol” show is a skeletal parody of “Star Trek”. The episode’s writer Marc Scott Zicree, would later on work as a writer and consultant for the Star Trek spinoff series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine".

In episode 76, Gumbo is a parody of both movie character Rambo and the title character of the classic stop motion animated TV show “Gumby”. Also, when Gumbo mentions he is looking for an orange horse, this is a nod to Pokey from the same TV show.

In episode 79, even though the three frat boys who hired the Ghostbusters were never named in the script, their names are Dudley, Specs, and Willis

In episode 79, upon seeing the sight of the giant goldfish, Peter mentions Jonah as in the title character of the biblical tale "Jonah and the Whale."

The title in episode 101, is a spoof to Leonard Nimoy’s 1987 movie “Three Men and a Baby”.

The title in episode 109, is a spoof to John Landis’ 1983 comedy movie “Trading Places”, which also stars Raymond Stantz’ movie actor Dan Aykroyd.

In episode 115, marks the only Halloween episode in which Samhain doesn’t make an appearance.

The Mean Green Teen Machine ghosts featured in episode 125, are a parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The title in episode 132, is a spoof to Stanley Kramer’s 1967 movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

The title in episode 136, is a spoof to John Sturges’ 1960 western movie “The Magnificent Seven”.

The episode title in episode 137, is a spoof to John Huston’s 1948 movie “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”.