The Real Ghostbusters had some of the coolest ghost designs out of any piece of Ghostbusters media, from familiar faces to recurring bad guys from the movies. As great as the Ghostbusters movies are, the animated series The Real Ghostbusters is, in all honesty, probably the second-best thing to come out of the franchise outside of the first film. Part of what made The Real Ghostbusters so special was its terrifying cast of spectral ghouls and ghosts that served as the monsters-of-the-week. oep

Netflix's animated Ghostbusters series may be facing a major problem it can't avoid. The 40-year-old franchise has had its ups and downs over the decades, with the original being known as one of the best comedies of all time and the most recent film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, receiving dismal reviews across the board. Ghost Corps, the production house behind 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, is teaming up with Netflix to release an animated series. Jason Reitman, director of Afterlife and son of the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, will produce the series along with writer Gil Kenan.

Ghostbusters fan art recreates Afterlife's scene with the original cast in the style of The Real Ghostbusters. The multimedia franchise started with the 1984 classic film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as four paranormal investigators in New York City. With a profound effect on popular culture and a dedicated fan following, the film received multiple sequels, including the recent legacy sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021. In addition to feature films, the franchise also spawned the animated spinoff series, The Real Ghostbusters, which continued the adventures of Dr. Venkman, Dr. Spengler, Dr. Stantz, and Winston.

Ghostbusters as a series had a long, sparse but fascinating legacy in animation, full of old cartoon staples, unaired potential, and projects. Since 1986 and the airing of The Real Ghostbusters, there were triumphs, failures, and bizarre moments that helped to shape the franchise and Saturday mornings. There’s a reason any animated series featuring New York’s resident proton-slinging protectors comes with high expectations and fears that have nothing to do with ghosts, monsters, or world-ending deities.

The Real Ghostbusters needs to make a comeback, and it should bring in the movie's cast as the voice actors. It might be inconceivable in a modern movie landscape dominated by sequels and multiverses, but at the time Ghostbusters was produced, nobody involved gave any consideration to a follow-up. The massive success of the 1984 original took the studio by surprise, but the key creatives had little interest in returning. It was The Real Ghostbusters that kept the property alive, with this classic cartoon series debuting in 1986.

One of the goofiest ghosts ever faced by the Ghostbusters seemed like it would be an easy grab for the professional specter-chasers, though after it proves to be more formidable than a literal god, this ghost shows that it is too threatening to appear in the movies. The most powerful weapons the Ghostbusters have against ghosts and even supernatural elder beings is their proton packs. When the Ghostbusters cross the streams of energy blasted from the proton packs, they create a force that is so powerful that it has the potential to either break them down to the molecular level or defeat even the strongest of threats. However, when the Ghostbusters face off against this goofy villain, the ghost doesn’t even give them a chance to unleash their greatest attack, making it immensely threatening. 

Although the green ghost with an endless appetite called Slimer has been synonymous with the Ghostbusters for years, it wasn't until their crossover with the Real Ghostbusters that they learned of his name. The ghost famous for sliming Peter Venkman saw a huge surge in popularity thanks to the popular cartoon which lead to him becoming their mascot. While Slimer's popularity has remained constant with fans, the little green spud remains a formidable entity in the IDW Ghostbusters comics. Although it wasn't Peter who discovers the ghost's given name, the reaction is still just as hilarious.

A recent addition to Netflix’s library of shows Saturday Morning All Star Hits! is a strange story of a family explained through the in-universe cartoon Strongimals. While the series only exists in the imaginary “SMASH” block, the anthropomorphic avengers parallel real-life cartoons in the late ‘80s and the politics going on behind the scenes. The show lampoons the challenges Saturday morning cartoons faced when scrutinized by special interest groups and their struggle to appeal to their younger audience.

Typically, animated shows based on hit movies are cheap cash grabs meant to capitalize on the hype of the film with only a portion of the effort. However, every now and then, there is a surprise gem such as The Real Ghostbusters, a non-canon show that took place after the events of the first film.