Review | The Real Ghostbusters: The Animated Series DVD Set (2017, Sony Pictures Home Ent.)

If you were to ask me one of my fondest memories from my childhood, I’d answer without even skipping a beat: The Real Ghostbusters. Obviously, I have many fond memories of playing outside and spending time with family and friends as a child, but the fact remains that this animated series based on the 1984 motion picture was a huge part of my youth. I would watch it EVERY day. I had the toys, t-shirts, comic books, anything I could get my hands on that was Ghostbusters-related, I had to have it. I have already mentioned my history with Ghostbusters when I reviewed the teaser trailer for Frozen Empire, so to avoid repeating myself, you can read all about it here.

From the period of the mid-90s to the early 2000s, I didn’t watch The Real Ghostbusters, and for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was getting older and watched less cartoons. Secondly, the show just stopped airing around this time. There was no way to watch the show, unless you were able to locate some of the VHS releases from the 80s. I remember hearing about Canadian network Teletoon airing the show sometime in the early 2000s, but we didn’t get that network in our cable package, unfortunately.

TV Guide advertisement for “S.O.S. Fantômes” (The Real Ghostbusters) on the French alternative of the Teletoon network, October 1999 (from the Jex Archives).

So, as I approached my twenties, I started feeling nostalgic and wanted to watch the show again, for old times’ sake. My memories of the show were getting fuzzy, and I wanted them refreshed. Many series were getting full-season treatments on DVD, but RGB was nowhere to be seen.

Then one day in early 2006, Sony Pictures released three compilation DVDs featuring 4 episodes per volume. They were called: Creatures of the Night, Slimefighters and Spooky Spirits. I bought all three of them at a local shop called CD Plus as soon as they received them. What a blast it was seeing this show again! Part of me thought that I probably would have grown out of it, and it wouldn’t hit like it used to, but no: This show was still as amazing as I remembered (but less scary this time around).

It wasn’t for another two years that Time Life would release the full series on DVD, but let me tell you: The presentation was worth the wait. The box containing the DVDs was designed to resemble the iconic firehouse where the Ghostbusters operate from.

Sadly, I missed the opportunity to purchase this set when it was released, and it is now very much out-of-print, and quite pricey.

In the years that followed, I would see various volumes of RGB episodes at Wal-Mart, but I kept holding out in hopes that one day I could find the complete series for a decent price. Sony released ten individual volumes of episodes, and then in 2017 they released all ten volumes in one set.

I gotta say, Sony did everything in their power to make the consumer believe that this was the complete series, but it’s not. While the series ran for seven seasons for a total of 140 episodes, only 111 of those episodes are featured on this set. That’s almost 80% of the series. Close, but no cigar. That’s actually what kept me from buying it for many years.

Fast forward to the Summer of 2022, and I saw this set again at Wal-Mart, this time as part of their big Summer Blowout Sale. The price was right at $18 (CDN), so I started thinking about it, and eventually came to the conclusion that I’ll never really have the time to watch the complete series anyway, and since there’s no real continuity from episode to episode, I might as well buy it, that way I’ll have most of the series and hopefully be able to watch it with my sons when they’re a bit older (an idea my wife hates, but hopefully warms up to in the years to come. If I have to get down on my knees and beg, I will.).

The objective for this review is to put the awareness out there that this set ISN’T the complete series, and to shine a light on which episodes you do get, and which ones you don’t. So let’s jump in, one disc at a time, and see which episodes are included, and which ones are omitted.

VOLUME 1

• Ghosts R Us (S01E01)
• Killerwatt (S01E02)
• Mrs. Roger’s Neighborhood (S01E03)
• Troll Bridge (S01E05)
• The Boogieman Cometh (S01E06)
• Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream (S01E07)
• When Halloween Was Forever (S01E08)
• Look Homeward, Ray (S01E09)
• Take Two (S01E10)
• Citizen Ghost (S01E11)
• Janine’s Genie (S01E12)
• Xmas Marks the Spot (S01E13)

Missing (1 episode): Slimer, Come Home (S01E04), which can be found on the Slimefighters compilation DVD (2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).

VOLUME 2

• Knock,Knock (S02E01)
• Station Identification (S02E02)
• Play Them Ragtime Boos (S02E03)
• Sea Fright (S02E04)
• The Spirit of Aunt Lois (S02E05)
• Cry Uncle (S02E06)
• Night Game (S02E08)
• Venkman’s Ghost Repellers (S02E09)
• The Old College Spirit (S02E10)
• Ain’t NASA-Sarily So (S02E11)
• Who’re You Calling Two-Dimensional? (S02E12)
• A Fright at the Opera (S02E13)

Missing (1 episode): Adventures in Slime and Space (S02E07), which can be found on the Slimefighters compilation DVD (2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).

VOLUME 3

• Doctor, Doctor (S02E14)
• Ghost Busted (S02E15)
• Beneath These Streets (S02E16)
• Boo-Dunit (S02E17)
• Chicken, He Clucked (S02E18)
• Ragnarok and Roll (S02E19)
• Don’t Forget the Motor City (S02E20)
• Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie? (S02E21)
• Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Ghost? (S02E22)
• Hanging by a Thread (S02E23)
• You Can’t Take It With You (S02E24)

No omissions.

VOLUME 4

• No One Comes to Lupusville (S02E25)
• Drool, the Dog-Faced Goblin (S02E26)
• The Man Who Never Reached Home (S02E27)
• The Collect Call of Cathulhu (S02E28)
• Bustman’s Holiday (S02E29)
• The Headless Motorcyclist (S02E30)
• The Thing in Mrs. Faversham’s Attic (S02E31)
• Egon on the Rampage (S02E32)
• Lights! Camera! Haunting! (S02E33)
• The Bird of Kildarby (S02E34)
• Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster (S02E35)

No omissions.

VOLUME 5

• Apocalypse—What, Now? (S02E36)
• Lost and Foundry (S02E37)
• Hard Knight’s Day (S02E38)
• Cold Cash and Hot Water (S02E39)
• The Scaring of the Green (S02E40)
• They Call me MISTER Slimer (S02E41)
• Last Train to Oblivion (S02E42)
• Masquerade (S02E43)
• Janine’s Day Off (S02E44)
• The Ghostbusters in Paris (S02E45)
• The Devil in the Deep (S02E46)
• Ghost Fight at the O.K. Corral (S02E47)

No omissions.

VOLUME 6

• Ghostbuster of the Year (S02E48)
• Deadcon I (S02E49)
• The Cabinet of Calamari (S02E50)
• A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn (S02E51)
• The Revenge of Murray the Mantis (S02E52)
• Rollerghoster (S02E53)
• I Am the City (S02E54)
• Moaning Stones (S02E55)
• The Long, Long, Long, Etc. Goodbye (S02E56)
• Buster the Ghost (S02E57)
• The Devil to Pay (S02E58)

No omissions.

VOLUME 7

• Slimer, Is That You? (S02E59) Redubbed*
• Egon’s Ghost (S02E60)
• Captain Steel Saves the Day (S02E61)
• Egon’s Dragon (S02E63)
• Dairy Farm (S02E64)
• The Hole in the Wall Gang (S02E65)
• Baby Spookums (S03E01)
• It’s a Jungle Out There (S03E02)
• The Boogeyman Is Back (S03E03)
• Once Upon a Slime (S03E04)
• Sticky Business (S03E06)

Missing (2 episodes): Victor the Happy Ghost (S02E62), which can be found on the Slimefighters compilation DVD, and The Two Faces of Slimer (S03E05).

*Note: The version of Slimer, Is That You? featured on this disc is actually a redubbed version that replaces the original voices of Lorenzo Music (Peter Venkman) and Laura Summer (Janine Melnitz) with the voices of Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie, respectively (Source: Spook Central).

VOLUME 8

This disc is where the real inconsistencies begin. While all episodes were in the original broadcast order up until this point, it’s here that the order is inexplicably shuffled around.

• Halloween II ½ (S03E07)
• Loathe Thy Neighbor (S03E08)
• The Copycat (S03E11)
• Camping It Up (S03E13)
• The Grundel (S03E09)
• Transylvanian Homesick Blues (S03E12)
• Flip Side (S04E02)
• Poultrygeist (S04E03)
• The Joke’s on Ray (S04E01)
• Standing Room Only (S04E04)

Missing (1 episode): Big Trouble With Little Slimer (S03E10).

VOLUME 9

This is where the majority of the omissions starts to take place.

• Robo-Buster (S04E05)
• Short Stuff (S04E06)
• Follow That Hearse (S04E07)
• The Brooklyn Triangle (S04E08)
• Something’s Going Around (S05E02)
• Three Men and an Egon (S05E08)
• Elementary My Dear Winston (S05E04)
• If I Were a Witch Man (S05E10)
• Partners in Slime (S05E06)
• Future Tense (S05E15)
• Jailbusters (S05E13)

Missing (9 episodes):

• Transcendental Tourists (S05E01)
• Trading Faces (S05E03)
• Slimer’s Curse (S05E05)
• Til Death Do Us Part (S05E07)
• Kitty-Cornered (S05E09)
• It’s About Time (S05E11)
• Surely You Joust (S05E14)
• Venk-Man! (S05E16)
• Loose Screws (S05E17)

VOLUME 10

• The Ghostbusters! Live, from Al Capone’s Tomb! (S05E18)
• The Halloween Door (S05E12)
• You Can’t Teach an Old Demon New Tricks (S06E02)
• Janine, You’ve Changed (S06E01)
• Mean Green Teen Machine (S06E05)
• Afterlife in the Fast Lane (S06E11)
• The Slob (S06E09)
• Busters in Toyland (S06E15)
• Stay Tooned (S06E13)
• The Magnificent Five (S06E16)

Missing (15 Episodes):

• Revenge of the Ghostmaster (S05E19)
• Slimer Streak (S05E20)
• The Ransom of Greenspud (S05E21)
• The Haunting of Heck House (S06E03)
• Ghostworld (S06E04)
• Spacebusters(S06E06)
• My Left Fang (S06E07)
• Russian About (S06E08)
• Deja Boo (S06E10)
• Guess What’s Coming to Dinner (S06E12)
• Very Beast Friends (S06E14)
• The Treasure of Sierra Tamale (S07E01)
• Not Now, Slimer! (S07E02)
• Attack of the B-Movie Monsters (S07E03)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Street (S07E04)

There you have it, what you get and what you don’t. Seasons 1 & 2 are missing a total of 3 episodes, which luckily are all available on the Slimefighters DVD. Season 3 is missing only 2 episodes, while season 4 is fully intact. It’s with seasons 5 & 6 that most omissions occur, with the 7th and final season being COMPLETELY omitted (thankfully, it only ran for four episodes).

While the omissions are the biggest downfall of this set, I must say that otherwise, it’s a decent set. The presentation is great, with colorful menus, not to mention a cool instrumental, very Ghostbusters-esque song playing over the main menu on every volume.

Menu example. Over the ten volumes, you get the same image repeated at least twice, but with different color variations in the background. These are the main menus for Volume 3 (left), and Volume 8 (right).

As far as picture quality goes, while I only tested out one episode for this review, I must say that the quality seems to match the quality of the episodes streaming on Netflix and CTV Throwback, from what I’ve seen. Yes, there is *some* compression, being that there’s up to 12 episodes on a single disc, but not enough to really ruin the viewer’s enjoyment.

As far as packaging goes, all ten discs are stored safely in a sturdy plastic, flip-style case.

There is one thing I found odd about this collection: Originally, the episodes always began with a brief title card that popped up after the theme song, accompanied by a 7-note jingle. On this set, these title cards are removed, and instead you get a brief subtitle that comes up at the bottom of the screen at the end of the theme song (not after). Upon doing further research, I have found that this is the case for volumes one through five only, with volume six onward having the original title cards intact.

Left: The original title card style, as I remember it. Right: The subtitle, superimposed onto the title screen at the end of the theme song, as seen on this set.

For the price of the set, I would definitely recommend it to Ghostbusters fans. If you’re a completist, however, you should probably hold out for the pricey Complete Series set (or one of the bootleg blu-ray sets that are floating around).

MY SCORE: 4/5 for presentation.