Ghostbusters (1986)

Ghostbusters (later called Filmation's Ghostbusters) is a 1986 American animated television series created by Filmation and distributed by Tribune Entertainment, serving as the sequel to Filmation's 1975 live-action television show The Ghost Busters.

It is not to be confused with Columbia Pictures' 1984 film Ghostbusters or that film's subsequent animated television show The Real Ghostbusters, which premiered five days later. When making their film, Columbia Pictures needed to obtain rights to use the name from Filmation.

The success of Columbia's (unrelated) film spurred Filmation to resurrect their own property, producing an animated series based on the characters from the earlier TV show. This animated series ran from September 8 to December 5, 1986 in daytime syndication, and produced 65 episodes. The series is technically called simply Ghostbusters, but home video releases used the name Filmation's Ghostbusters to avoid confusion. In the U.S., reruns of the show previously aired on CBN Cable; The Family Channel, Qubo's Qubo Night Owl block from 2010 to 2013; and most recently on the Retro Television Network until 2015.

In the '80s, ABC aired the series in Australia.

Jake Kong Jr. and Eddie Spencer Jr. are the sons of the original Ghost Busters from the live-action comedy series of the same name; Tracy the Gorilla had worked with their fathers.

Their headquarters, termed Ghost Command, is located in a haunted mansion nestled between a number of tall skyscrapers (which resemble the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City). They are supported by a number of secondary characters including Ansabone, a talking skull phone; Skelevision, a talking skeleton television; Belfry, a pink talking bat; and Ghost Buggy Jr., their talking car. They occasionally enlist the aid of Futura, a time-traveling Ghostbuster from the future, and Jessica Wray, a local TV news reporter.

Together, they have dedicated themselves to ridding the world of the evil ghost wizard Prime Evil and his cast of henchmen. Prime Evil's headquarters, termed the Hauntquarters (which resembles the British Houses of Parliament complete with a Big Ben-esque clock tower), is located in The Fifth Dimension. In a typical episode, Prime Evil uses his magical powers to open up a wormhole to enable one or more of his henchmen to complete a particular scheme that serves to help him take over the world.

Famous guest-star ghosts and monsters that appeared on the show include Count Dracula (who is actually a vampire) and the Headless Horseman (who also appeared in an episode of The Real Ghostbusters written by Jean-Marc Lofficier's wife, Randy Lofficier).

Like almost all 1980s Filmation cartoons, each episode closes with a segment describing a particular lesson that can be learned from the events of the episode. Skelevision (sometimes accompanied by Belfry) is the character most often employed in this role. From time to time, Jake Jr., Eddie Jr. or another protagonist would talk with Skelevision about the lesson.

While The Real Ghostbusters had the catchphrase "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!", each episode of Filmation's Ghostbusters also used a catchphrase: "Let's go, Ghostbusters!"

Cast

Image	Character	USA	Mex	Bra	Fra	Ita
	Jake Kong Jr.	Pat Fraley	Luis Alfonso Mendoza	Ricardo Schnetzer	Edgar Givry	Gianfranco Gamba
			Jesús Barrero
	Eddie Spenser Jr.	Peter Cullen	Emilio Guerrero	Marco Antônio Costa	François Leccia	Marco Balzarotti
	Tracy the Gorilla	Lou Scheimer	Eduardo Tejedo	André Luiz Chapéu	Gérard Hernandez	Enrico Maggi
			Narciso Busquets
			Emilio Guerrero
			Álvaro Tarcicio
	Jessica Wray	Susan Blu	Patricia Acevedo	Miriam Ficher		Marinella Armagni
			Andrea Coto
	Belfry	Susan Blu	Eduardo Tejedo	Mário Jorge de Andrade		Paolo Torrisi
			Jorge Sánchez Fogarty
	Prime Evil	Alan Oppenheimer	Jorge Roig	Amaury Costa	Philippe Dumat	Raffaele Farina
	Brat-At-Rat	Peter Cullen	Gabriel Cobayassi	Márcio Simões		Enrico Maggi
			Álvaro Tarcicio
	Fangster	Alan Oppenheimer	Carlos Magaña	Carlos Takeshi		Marco Balzarotti
	Scared Stiff	Pat Fraley	Gabriel Cobayassi	Gastão Malta		Tony Severo