[Slimered]

I was thinking today about how the path the Ghostbusters franchise has taken reminds me of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who's original run from 1963-1989 was beloved by fans. Upon ending in 1989 various books, comics and audios were released to keep the franchise alive until its next revival, in 1996 with a TV movie starring Paul McGann. The TV Movie didn't lead to the revived TV Series expected, but a few years' later the show unexpectedly returned to television with the hugely successful and still ongoing 2005 revival.

The original Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters iI (1989) are beloved by fans. Upon ending in 1989, as you on here all know, the franchise was kept alive until its next revival with books, comics and videogames. Then the series, again as you know, was revived in 2016 with Answer The Call but didn't lead to the revived film franchise expected. Now we have this franchise unexpectedly returning with Ghostbusters 3 in 2020.

The fact that this is essentially following Doctor Who's path could be a good omen for Ghostbusters 3.

[Seth Rex]

Not necessarily, but here's hoping.

[Slimered]

Not necessarily, but here's hoping.

It's best to stay positive. There's potential for Ghostbusters to be a huge success like Doctor Who again.

[Seth Rex]

I was thinking of my own reboot to Ghostbusters, and I had the thought of taking it down a more serious path. Think of it like the Batman Begins of the Ghostbusters films. It's serious, but NOT Dark. Just a real world with ghosts and such that happens to have proton pack wielding Ghostbusters.

[Kingpin]

I was thinking of my own reboot to Ghostbusters, and I had the thought of taking it down a more serious path. Think of it like the Batman Begins of the Ghostbusters films. It's serious, but Dark. Just a real world with ghosts and such that happens to have proton pack wielding Ghostbusters.

By making it "serious, but dark", you cut out what makes Ghostbusters... Ghostbusters. Instead you've just got some gritty paranormal investigation, or something trying to be Supernatural.

[Dr.D]

Two things Ghostbusters should never be. Dark and serious.

[Slimered]

I was thinking of my own reboot to Ghostbusters, and I had the thought of taking it down a more serious path. Think of it like the Batman Begins of the Ghostbusters films. It's serious, but Dark. Just a real world with ghosts and such that happens to have proton pack wielding Ghostbusters.

By making it "serious, but dark", you cut out what makes Ghostbusters... Ghostbusters. Instead you've just got some gritty paranormal investigation, or something trying to be Supernatural.

Yeah, I wouldn't be happy with this approach. I think Ghostbusters should always be funny in every incarnation.

[Seth Rex]

To be fair, that came out wrong, and I didn't notice it until now. What I meant was that it would be a serious film, not just jokes for the sake of jokes like ATC. I would focus on the characters and let any funny moments be situational and not just literally forcing jokes for the sake of jokes. When I said 'Serious, but dark' I actually meant to say Serious but NOT dark. I want to take it back to the original ghostbusters, but make the ghosts more scary. Does that make more sense?

[Wiggyof9]

Ghostbusters success is a fine line between scary and funny, silly and serious, light hearted and dark. The ghosts need to be actual threats. You can't make the ghosts a joke. In RGB, some of the worst episodes were the ones where the ghosts were just a punch line. The ghostbusters need to understand there is a real threat and the ghosts can not be part of the jokes.

Venkman is funny when he is terrified, but acts nonchalant. He deflects with his humor. He knows it is serious, but he doesn't let on. He is a tension breaker. Its why I love him in GB1 and season 1 of RGB.

Egon is funny because he takes things very seriously and literally. He gets terrified of ghosts and uses the science of them to break tension for himself. When they face Gozer, he retreats into his calculator until Venkman smacks it out of his hand. He thinks boring things are fun and says things seriously that others take as a joke.

Ray is funny because he is child like. He genuinely is having fun on jobs. He thinks ghosts are neat and capturing them is a fun time out with the guys. He doesn't get scared so much as he gets excited and looks at ghosts with a sense of wonder. It's hilarious to see a grown man treat a serious situation like that.

Winston is funny in that he is the straight man. You would think Egon is, but really it's Winston. He is funny in how he reacts to the others. He lets on when he is scared. He reacts when the others say crazy stuff. He is mater of fact when describing the supernatural.

And this is Ghostbusters in a nut shell. It's 4 people with a unique take on the very serious things happening around them. So, while the ghosts can be dark and scary, the actual Ghostbusters need to retain their personalities. To me, GB:TVG is very dark, but keeps the right balance.

[Theoderic]

Ghostbusters success is a fine line between scary and funny, silly and serious, light hearted and dark. The ghosts need to be actual threats. You can't make the ghosts a joke. In RGB, some of the worst episodes were the ones where the ghosts were just a punch line. The ghostbusters need to understand there is a real threat and the ghosts can not be part of the jokes.

Venkman is funny when he is terrified, but acts nonchalant. He deflects with his humor. He knows it is serious, but he doesn't let on. He is a tension breaker. Its why I love him in GB1 and season 1 of RGB.

Egon is funny because he takes things very seriously and literally. He gets terrified of ghosts and uses the science of them to break tension for himself. When they face Gozer, he retreats into his calculator until Venkman smacks it out of his hand. He thinks boring things are fun and says things seriously that others take as a joke.

Ray is funny because he is child like. He genuinely is having fun on jobs. He thinks ghosts are neat and capturing them is a fun time out with the guys. He doesn't get scared so much as he gets excited and looks at ghosts with a sense of wonder. It's hilarious to see a grown man treat a serious situation like that.

Winston is funny in that he is the straight man. You would think Egon is, but really it's Winston. He is funny in how he reacts to the others. He lets on when he is scared. He reacts when the others say crazy stuff. He is mater of fact when describing the supernatural.

And this is Ghostbusters in a nut shell. It's 4 people with a unique take on the very serious things happening around them. So, while the ghosts can be dark and scary, the actual Ghostbusters need to retain their personalities. To me, GB:TVG is very dark, but keeps the right balance.

That's a pretty good and straight to the point character sum-up i think.

The more i read about the whole story and process of developing and filming the original GB1, the more i agree in the theory that it wasn't planned to become THAT big of an impact, as it actually did. Might be called "genius by accident"; all the right people (including the whole creational team as well, especially Stephen Dane, who did a great job in creating such iconic items) came together to do just the right thing at the very right time.

That's what makes it so hard, or even almost impossible to reproduce: the harder you try, the less it will succeed. Let's just hope the cosmic serendipity is in the right mood currently, to let such greatness happen again in GB3.

[Seth Rex]

That's pretty much what I wanted to go with.