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If only today’s Disney had such inspirational messages.
Yep, that good one. I like it as a story, but I’m really into it.
Okay, quick history. In 1975 Filmation created a kids sitcom called The Ghost Busters, a reunion for F Troop‘s favorite duo of Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch. They played paranormal investigators who were sent Mission: Impossible style on missions along with a gorilla named Tracy (Bob Burns in a costum…sorry, “training” Tracy). Fast forward to the 1980s. Dan Aykroyd wants to make a horror movie with comedy elements about a group of paranormal hunters he was calling Ghost Smashers, but later decided to call it Ghostbusters. The movie did so well that Filmation brought their version back, this time animated and with a bit of a superhero bend rather than the original’s PI bend, as the children of the originals took over the family business. This matters only for the naming and why there were two cartoons.
The other, named The Real Ghostbusters, is probably a swipe at the Filmation series, which is technically a continuation of the ORIGINAL Ghost Busters. The show is supposed to be the “real life” adventures of the characters from the movie. One episode, “Take Two”, even has the Ghostbusters visiting the movie set as consultants on their own life story, when it gets haunted by a real ghost. Our quartet never gets to meet the actors but they are name dropped and the end of the episode features the opening from the movie as the guys watch it later. This also explains the differences in character design between the characters from the movie who return to the cartoon: Peter, Ray, Egon, Winston, and Janine. Slimer basically looks the same. This show was a huge hit, lasting for seven seasons on ABC, getting a one-season syndicated original run alongside it, and a sequel series Extreme Ghostbusters in 1997 that turned up the horror levels while still being kid-friendly body horror. It was for an older audience.
Back to the Real show though. It was such a huge hit that a sequel movie was greenlit, simply titled Ghostbusters II because not every movie needed a fancy subtitle back then. It came out in 1989, three years after the cartoon began and into the fifth season. This is where trouble begins. Ghostbusters II is a good sequel on it’s own. I do enjoy it because the people making it seemed to care about what they were doing. On the other hand I’m just not really into the movie, and this has become total apathy for the more recent sequels. I can tell you why, and it all begins with a trope I am so tired of seeing: the reunion movie!
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“What, did BeBop and Rocksteady’s agents ask for too much?”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze official movie adaptation
Mirage Studios/Tundra Publishing (1991)
SCREENPLAY: Todd Langen
ADAPTATION: Dean Clarrain
ARTIST/COVER DESIGN: Jim Lawson
COLORIST: Richmond Lewis
COVER PAINTING: Michael Dooney
LETTERER: Mary Kelleher
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE CREATORS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird
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Because I reviewed the first movie’s adaptation last week and the second one this week.
To be fair, the Turtles needed to emotionally recover and pull together as a family before they could go back. Also, April and Casey became a couple because they were a couple in the comics, something impossible based on their interpretations in the original cartoon but fixed in the 2003 series.
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Yes, I know Ernie Reyes, Jr was Donatello’s suit actor for the fight scenes in the first movie. I also know he was a martial arts champion as a kid and starred alongside Gil Gerard in The Last Electric Knight, a Disney-produced TV movie for ABC that led to a short lived series called Sidekicks long before the Chuck Norris/Jonathan Brandis theatrical movie of the same name.
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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
I’m combining two chapters again because chapter 18 is so short, only a couple of pages. Last time we got a clue to finding our culprit thanks to remembering past episodes…I mean adventures. Lorrah does seem to know her Star Trek, or at least was really good at research during the pre-internet days. It’s possible her editor caught it and let her know, but she was still smart enough to work it in organically so she wins either way. She may well be a Trekkie, but at least we know she cares about what she’s working on, unlike so many of today’s Hollywood and comic writers, and even a lot of video game companies now.
We have seen her do a good job exploring the characters we know while introducing us to new characters who are important to the mystery. She has shown a strong understanding of them, and anyone coming in new can still follow along as if they were brand new characters on their first adventure as far as the reader knows, even though they may have had adventures in the past. This is how you do an ongoing series. You respect the stories that came before and see them not as an obstacle but a past experience to build upon to show how far the character has gone. Not every series has to be the first year forever.
And so, let’s get back to our investigation as our crew are in the dark–literally, since someone took out the power.
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Swamp Thing stopped going to rave parties after that night.
Sludge #1
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (October, 1993)
“You Can Take The Cop Out Of The Sewer…”
WRITER: Steve Gerber
PENCILER: Aaron Lopesti
INKER: Gary Martin
COLORIST: Paul Mounts & Violent Hues (interior)
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITOR: Chris Ulm
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The only problems I had with Moffat as showrunner were the obsession with River Song and to a lesser extent the Weeping Angels, the love triangle with Rory and Amy (though I do like how that resolved with the Last Centurion), the sex jokes, and the idea that the show should be a “fairytale”. He did eventually get us the best TARDIS design of New Who, dark colors aside. Put Moffat’s 2nd TARDIS design with Davies’ new TARDIS colors and working lighting and you’ve got a great TARDIS interior.
BW Media Spotlight 