Saving the Day: How Ghostbusters Changed the World
In 1984 the world was introduced to a film that would change the pop culture landscape forever. Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson,
Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts was directed by famed filmmaker Ivan Reitman and explored the realm of the supernatural in a comedic style with action, drama, romance, horror, and sarcastic humor. The film spawned an entire franchise after becoming box office gold shortly after its release. Three years after its introduction to the public, the film was transformed into an animated series, which in turn produced a line of toys, comics, video games and other merchandise. The theme song for the film held the Billboard #1 spot for three weeks and produced its own series spin-offs, and merchandise. Ghostbusters became a pop culture sensation seemingly overnight, but it wasn’t without lawsuits or controversy.
The idea for the film originated with Dan Aykroyd who’s family has long been involved in the world of the occult and the science behind the paranormal. The original concept for the film was completely different than what it ended up becoming and was originally set to star John Belushi. However, Belushi died during pre-production and Bill Murray was cast for the role which would help to establish him as a leading man in many different genres of film, alongside his work in Meatballs, Stripes, and Ghostbusters 2; all of which were co-written by Harold
Ramis, directed by Ivan Reitman, and starred Bill Murray, a relationship that would continue until the film Groundhog Day in in 1993 when Ramis and Murray had a falling out. Their relationship would not be mended until their work on Ghostbusters the video game in 2009, just five years before Ramis’ death in 2014.
In 2009, Terminal reality developed what before Ghostbusters Afterlife came along, was intended to be the third official installment of the franchise and included the voices and likenesses of all four original cast members from the film. The game introduced a new member of the team which would represent the player. This character would be dubbed the Rookie. Canonically, this would secure the idea that unlike other superheroes, anyone could be a
Ghostbuster. This concept actually had its origins in the original film when the character of Peter Venkman stated, “The franchise rights alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams”. It was then secured in pop culture by the king of the Ghost Heads, Peter Mosen who was the first fan to begin cosplaying at public events such as conventions, premiers, tours, and autograph signings almost immediately after the first film; having been the first fan to replicate a screen accurate proton pack and jump suit. It was this act of fandom which eventually helped to launch the Real Ghostbusters animated series. This, however, was not the first-time cosplay in general occurred, as fans of the comic strip Mr. Skygack, from Mars began doing it as early as 1908. It was however, the first time it was done in a way that established the idea that anyone could be part of the story as themselves in the role of the hero.
The animated series was developed shortly after this, however due to the popularity of the 1984 film, Filmation, the studio which owned the copyright of the name Ghost Busters and produced the original show, decided to develop their own animated series, piggybacking off the film’s success. Being that Columbia Studios had not thought to secure the cartoon rights for the name, producers were forced to title their animated series The Real Ghostbusters. The series went on to become a merchandising juggernaut. The vast majority of t-shirts, toys, posters, comic books, and games that were released during this time, were based upon the Real Ghostbusters animated series, and not the film. Ernie Hudson was the only member of the original cast to attempt to retain the role he starred in when he auditioned for the voice of
Winston in the series, however, producers chose to distance themselves from the film and cast Arsenio Hall as the voice of Winston in the first three seasons. However, this would begin a pop culture voice swap over the course of several years, as the voice of Peter Venkman in the animated series, Lorenzo Music (prior to Dave Coulier’s addition in the third season) went on to voice Garfield in all animated appearances of the character, until Bill Murray who played Peter Venkman in the film and game franchise took over as the voice of Garfield in the live-action films.