[Kingpin]

For the past three months, Ghostheads have been able to enjoy classic episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, and most of the full run of Extreme Ghostbusters via the official Ghostbusters YouTube channel, however the episodes are set to disappear from the channel at the end of June, as announced on the Ghostbusters Twitter account:

It’s almost summer, which means it’s time to turn off the TV and get outside. Catch #TheRealGhostbusters and #ExtremeGhostbusters on YouTube for one last month before they vanish! http://bit.ly/GhostbustersYouTube- Comment your favorite episodes below.

Whilst it is sad to see the episodes depart, as they were a welcome distraction to tide fans over during the wait for the new movie, the uploads have created the opportunity for fans who've never had the chance to watch either series to experience them for the first time.

Classic episodes of The Real Ghostbusters are uploaded Saturdays. Episodes of Extreme Ghostbusters are uploaded Wednesdays.

[troy_225]

Back to Hulu to watch Extreme Ghostbusters

[mrmichaelt]

SIGH.

Back to Hulu to watch Extreme Ghostbusters

I don't think it's on Hulu anymore.

[groschopf]

I'd wager the show is about to appear on Netflix, along with Ghostbusters 1 and 2.

[Wafflerobot]

That's a shame but I guess I never expected them to be on YouTube forever.

Even though I have access to watch the episodes whenever I want, its been such a joy to watch them "live" on Saturdays.

What was also awesome is that I recently moved home and my housemate has two young kids who have been watching the show with me and they've become fans of the cartoon and just as familiar with the characters as they are with current kids shows.

[troy_225]

It's not on hulu, I just looked wtf?!?! When did it get removed? It's been there for years

[troy_225]

Just downloaded crackle to have EGB available. Sucks it's going always from YouTube and is already gone from Hulu. I read Roku channel has it but can't confirm

[mrmichaelt]

It's not on hulu, I just looked wtf?!?! When did it get removed? It's been there for years

It was on Hulu from March 1, 2016 to March 1, 2021. 5 years.

[metallijosh]

[deadderek]

The very second I heard the announcements I made sure to make a perfectly legal time shifted copy of the EGB episodes as well.

[ghoulishfright]

No need to go the Jack Sparrow route. The Extreme Ghostbusters episodes are up on Spook Central.

Still would be nice if we could finally get a proper DVD release. The 25th anniversary is next year. It's the least they could do.

[mrmichaelt]

No need to go the Jack Sparrow route. The Extreme Ghostbusters episodes are up on Spook Central.

Yup, and Paul's is in better quality.

Still would be nice if we could finally get a proper DVD release. The 25th anniversary is next year. It's the least they could do.

[deadderek]

For those in Canada I believe the CTV site still has some episodes from both up.

[Kingpin]

The very second I heard the announcements I made sure to make a perfectly legal time shifted copy of the EGB episodes as well.

I'm certain that wouldn't be "perfectly legal".

[deadderek]

The very second I heard the announcements I made sure to make a perfectly legal time shifted copy of the EGB episodes as well.

I'm certain that wouldn't be "perfectly legal".

https://copyright.laws.com/time-shifting

I would absolutely argue in court it counts.
Recording a show with a VCR?
Recording a show with a DVR?
Recording a copy of show being publicly broadcast?

For my own private viewing I would absolutely be fine.

[Bison256]

At least they got to "The Scaring of the Green." It's one of the episodes missing from the 2016 dvd set. I couldn't find it anywhere else.

[Chicken, He Clucked]

I expected them to start taking the early episodes down, but I also thought they'd keep them rolling so you'd have 12 episodes up at a time. From the tweet it doesn't sound like they'll be back in Winter either. So that leaves:

The Spirit of Aunt Lois
Cry Uncle
Adventures in Slime & Space
Night Game

It makes no sense to me to stop broadcasting RGB episodes when they sometimes clock up to 100,000 views and there are 2 years worth of classic episodes. I hope interest has been sufficient so it leads to a new, full RGB release with something unique from the Time Life set eg. Blu-ray, no ad-break inserts. And PLEASE... an official RGB OST.

Extreme Ghostbusters is honestly as poor as I remember it being... the animation sucks, Eduardo is a terrible character, and most of the villains are Men-in-Black insectoid designs. It doesn't have an ounce of the humour, wit or charm of Real Ghostbusters. It still deserves a full box set for fans.

But overall this news makes me sad, 2020/21 have been rough and the RGB episodes offered a comforting nostalgia and communal experience for fans. As I have low-quality digital rips I guess I will carry on the tradition - maybe fans could organise to do the same.... like a weekly book club, but with a double-bill of RGB episodes.

[Kingpin]

Blu-ray

I'll be surprised if the series ever gets a Blu-ray release. While Sony is one of the big companies that's been continually pushing Blu-ray (despite the fact plenty of people still prefer DVD), the quality of the series even after it was remastered for the TimeLife set is still only "good", and not the "great" I'd expect to be used for/justify a Blu-ray release.

It may be possible to improve it a little more by AI/digital upscaling, though that'd take time to process and may be deemed too costly in the long run... That may be the only way to get some improvement on marred broadcast copies that the TimeLife team used, in the absence of true masters of the original episodes.

[Chicken, He Clucked]

Blu-ray

I'll be surprised if the series ever gets a Blu-ray release. While Sony is one of the big companies that's been continually pushing Blu-ray (despite the fact plenty of people still prefer DVD), the quality of the series even after it was remastered for the TimeLife set is still only "good", and not the "great" I'd expect to be used for/justify a Blu-ray release.

It may be possible to improve it a little more by AI/digital upscaling, though that'd take time to process and may be deemed too costly in the long run... That may be the only way to get some improvement on marred broadcast copies that the TimeLife team used, in the absence of true masters of the original episodes.

Yeah, I doubt there is an audience to justify a remaster - especially given The Simpsons didn't get that treatment.

I just meant to reduce the number of discs required in a full series set. As I think we agreed in another thread - just re-using the Time-Life files but removing those pesky ad-breaks would be a huge improvement and incentive to buy a new set. Plus a lot of fans missed out on the TL set first time round.

[groschopf]

I still suspect they're going to put the animated series on whatever streaming service Sony decides to partner with (likely Netflix) or whoever is the highest bidder.

Now that there will be a movie to tie in with, streaming services will want the show. Sony might have put RGB on YouTube first so they had the metrics to point to when asking for a higher price tag.

"See, X number of people watched this show, despite it being over three decades old. And with our new film coming out, you'll definitely see your return on investment and plenty more!"

[Chicken, He Clucked]

I would love it to come back to Netflix UK. I'll watch it all this time, I promise!

I've gotten tons out of this watch through... Station Identification was much stronger than I remembered. It was broadcast in two segments on UK Saturday morning TV and my VHS recording ran out before I caught the second part... so I don't think I ever saw past the ghostbusters being sucked into the TV.

I think the episode is a good example of why the show is praised and showcases the breadth of the concept - because if you had a Buffy-style live action Ghostbusters show on Netflix, a haunted TV set and especially the creepy clown ghost towards the end of the show, would translate extremely well either as a monster-of-the-week or building as a season long arc. Real Ghostbusters laid a ton of groundwork for any new series to build from. I hope we see some sort of series following Afterlife. For instance, it would be a great way to set the series back in New York with fresh characters and separate to the movie canon, thereby freeing the movies to go off in whatever creative direction Ghost Corp wants.

[Bison256]

I'll be surprised if the series ever gets a Blu-ray release. While Sony is one of the big companies that's been continually pushing Blu-ray (despite the fact plenty of people still prefer DVD), the quality of the series even after it was remastered for the TimeLife set is still only "good", and not the "great" I'd expect to be used for/justify a Blu-ray release.

It may be possible to improve it a little more by AI/digital upscaling, though that'd take time to process and may be deemed too costly in the long run... That may be the only way to get some improvement on marred broadcast copies that the TimeLife team used, in the absence of true masters of the original episodes.

Yeah, I doubt there is an audience to justify a remaster - especially given The Simpsons didn't get that treatment.

I just meant to reduce the number of discs required in a full series set. As I think we agreed in another thread - just re-using the Time-Life files but removing those pesky ad-breaks would be a huge improvement and incentive to buy a new set. Plus a lot of fans missed out on the TL set first time round.

I would not be surprised if we get a remaster once machine learning improves enough to makes it cheap for sony.

[Chicken, He Clucked]

I would not be surprised if we get a remaster once machine learning improves enough to makes it cheap for sony.

I think we're a good decade out from that tech being good enough for commercial upscaling. If it ever gets there.

In the meantime, I should have another 4K still from the intro ready soon.

[deadderek]

Guys not sure on the animated series, but Ghostbusters is going to Peacock for now. Just announced today. Bleh. I don't care for Peacock.

[Kingpin]

I've gotten tons out of this watch through... Station Identification was much stronger than I remembered. It was broadcast in two segments on UK Saturday morning TV and my VHS recording ran out before I caught the second part... so I don't think I ever saw past the ghostbusters being sucked into the TV.

We were able to recoed the full broadcast on our Betamax, but it was revealing seeing it on the TimeLife set for the first time and seeing how much stuff was cut out. I loved the creepy Star Trek parody.

The writing and concepts on the episode were really great, it's just a pity the animation quality was so sub-standard.

[deadderek]

We were able to record the full broadcast on our Betamax, but it was revealing seeing it on the TimeLife set for the first time and seeing how much stuff was cut out. I loved the creepy Star Trek parody.

The writing and concepts on the episode were really great, it's just a pity the animation quality was so sub-standard.

So you...time shifted a public recording you say? Nice. Yeah I wish the copies of RGB available were of higher quality, but they're not unwatchable thankfully.

[RichardLess]

Le sigh

[Coover5]

I hope everyone is getting one last watch in.

[deadderek]

I hope everyone is getting one last watch in.

Thank you for reminding me to record these episodes so that they can be legally time shifted by me.

[Chicken, He Clucked]

There's still the possibility they'll bring them back Sept / Oct. But it was fun for them to do this. Great marketing.

I'll continue to double bill them every Saturday morning in my own time.