THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Ship date: November 20, 2008
Online pre-order: July 23, 2008
List price: $179.99

Online Exclusive Collection includes [contents subject to change]:

* 25 total DVDs packaged in a specially-constructed box. 24 DVDs contain 134 episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, a special double-length alternate episode, and 13 episodes of Slimer!
* 5 DVD digipak subsets with individual covers, each packaged with a 16-page booklet, including episode synopses, trivia, and art.
* 1 Bonus DVD contains over three hours of bonus materials, including extended interviews, the never-before-seen promotional pilot (with commentary and storyboards), and more.
* 5 Documentaries spotlight Creating The Real Ghostbusters, Animating The Real Ghostbusters, The Heroes of The Real Ghostbusters, The Creatures of The Real Ghostbusters, and The Green World of Slimer.
* 21 innovative on-camera commentary tracks feature producers, writers, artists, voice actors, and other The Real Ghostbusters personnel. Watch the commentary participants as they interact, while inset screens show the episode and a dynamic slideshow.
* 86 special episodic introductions showcase the talented people behind The Real Ghostbusters.
* Exclusive interviews with Joe Medjuck (Executive Producer), Michael C. Gross (Executive Producer), J. Michael Straczynski (Writer & Story Editor), Len Janson (Writer & Story Editor), Maurice LaMarche (Voice Of ” Egon Spengler”), Laura Summer (Voice Of First “Janine Melnitz”), Kath Soucie (Voice Of Second “Janine Melnitz”), Kevin Altieri (Director & Storyboard Supervisor), Kathryn M. Drennan (Writer), Michael Edens (Writer), David Gerrold (Writer), Pamela Hickey (Writer), Dennys J. McCoy (Writer), Francis Moss (Writer), Richard T. Mueller (Writer), Marc Scott Zicree (Writer), Marsha Goodman (Voice Director & Voice Casting), Gabi Payn (Character Designer - Heroes), Everett Peck (Character Designer - Monsters), Michael Diederich (Designer), Brad Rader (Storyboard Artist), Dan Riba (Storyboard Artist), Michael Swanigan (Storyboard Artist), Rich Arons (Animator), Darrell McNeil (Layout Artist), Derdad Aghamalian (Color Key Artist), David S. Karoll (Color Key Artist), and James Eatock (Publisher of cereal:geek Magazine).
* Multiple image galleries of Character Designs, Backgrounds, Model Sheets, Promotional Art, Advertising Art, and more.
* Selection of dialogue-free “Music & Effects” episodic audio tracks
* Original series bumpers and textless “clean credits.”
* DVD-ROM Material: Series Bibles, Episodic Scripts and Storyboards in PDF format (Mac/PC compatible).
* Exciting material from the Sierra Ghostbusters; The Video Game
* More features to be announced.

“The Real Ghostbusters has had a strong and vocal fanbase for years, and the series has been one of the most requested shows for DVD release” says Jeff Peisch, head of Time Life’s video division. “Time Life has a long history of releasing classic properties in a way that viewers appreciate, and we intend this Complete Series release to be extraordinary. From the digitally restored episodes to the extensive bonus materials, this set will have fans calling for the Ghostbusters again and again.”

To produce the most comprehensive selection of extra materials ever seen for a complete animated television series box set, Time Life has engaged the services of Special Features producers Andy Mangels and Reed Kaplan. Mangels is a best-selling novelist, author of Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, and the producer whom TVShowsonDVD.com called “legendary.” Mangels and Kaplan are producing the five documentaries, 21 commentary tracks, and a multitude of other extra content surprises. The duo were assisted by James Eatock of cereal:geek magazine. “I hope that fans will be spooked by how much cool material we’re putting together for this set,” said Mangels. “We’re including everything we can, short of duplicating the keys to the Ghostbusters car, the Ecto-1.” Covers for The Real Ghostbusters set and its interior cases will be by comic artist Emiliano Santalucia and MVCreations.

G4 has the Ghostbusters footage we saw last week in their E3 show with Associate Producer Ryan French, but without everyone talking over it, so you get a nice listen to the in-game chatter, including Bill Murray and his freshly recorded lines.

Video One

Thanks to Mr. Gill for the links - I wasn’t in a rush to post these, but I think Paul’s head was going to explode all over the PC comments in excitement if I didn’t.

[UPDATE] I don’t know what went wrong with G4 today, but I’ve found better, more direct link for the main video. Paul. There’s a link button at the bottom of the videos - please use it if you want to send in the other two videos as well.

Latest issue of (as far as I can tell) Sci-Fi magazine has a small, but detailed blurb on the Ghostbusters Blu-ray sets. While more details will likely come out of Comic-Con, this is a nice start;

Available Oct. 21 on Blu-ray ($56.95 two-disc set).
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and the rest of the Ghostbusters come to Blu-ray in this collection of the 1984 film and its 1989 sequel. The Blu-ray version includes a digital copy of both films, the picture-in-picture “Slimer Mode,” exclusive featurettes and a photo gallery. Also due Oct. 21 is a limited-edition DVD double-feature gift set ($39.95) that’s packaged with a collectible scrapbook, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figurine, trading cards and slime.

I think they got those numbers confused - the $39.95 is probably the single disc of Ghostbusters and the $59.95, as they mention at the top, is the gift set with all those goodies.

Whoops, I get it now - I missed “DVD”. Man, how many times can one person buy a DVD? For a Stay Puft doll, I’m about to find out. My word, look at all those goodies. The bad news, at least for those of you that disliked the green goo style cover (I actually liked it), is that the Blu-ray disc will use the same art - no word on a box or case for the gift set (though it would, out of necessity, totally need one with all that stuff.)

Sad news for the rest of the world though - that is the current extent of Time-Life’s ordering system. However, they seem to be referring to this as a US product line, which suggests that there is a chance that a European version may become available. This is just speculation however - if I find out more, I’ll let you know. In the mean time, impatient fans might want to pick a DVD buying buddy in North America to partner up with.

New comic series by one of the fastest growing comic publishers today. Nuff said!

The booth is hyping the Blu-Ray release of both movies on October 21st (as confirmed on booth banners, along with the quote in the subject line), but no official press releases yet.

Can’t make it to the show? No sweat - this is the era of the Internet. Just click here for a steady stream of pictures being uploaded to Flickr.

The article also briefly mentions the DS title, which will be a “top down action” title, with players getting to run around as the Ghostbusters and drive the Ecto-1 (niiiice) - very much a nod to the original game it seems, just, you know, better. The article is on the shelves now.