Remembrance of Videos Past #15: The (Fake) Ghostbusters Theme

Twenty years ago to the month, two cartoons debuted: "Ghostbusters" and "The Real Ghostbusters". Up until today I assumed that "The Real Ghostbusters" were the original Ghostbusters. Turns out the latter got the attractive moniker not because they were the originals. The "fake" Ghostbusters were actually based on a live action TV show in the '70's. When the Ivan Reitman film was released, Filmation sued Columbia. Part of the out-of-court settlement was that the cartoon based on the Ivan Reitman film would have the unatrractive moniker "The Real Ghostbusters." As a result, a whole generation thought the original Ghostbusters were fake. Way too after the fact, Filmation's Lou Scheimer admitted "We should have asked for the animation rights for their (Columbia's) Ghostbusters as part of the settlement."

This is when the children of the eighties got their first taste of copyright law and abstract thought. Since the "Ghostbusters" cartoon had that awful, repetitive "let's go Ghostbusters" theme song and not the Ray Parker Jr. classic, we wrongfully assumed that it was ripping off the "real" ghostbusters. The "real" distinction made many young children in the '80's think about what is real and what isn't real, thus ushering in a new era of epistemological thought at the beginning of the formal operational stage.



(courtesy of mummra1983)

BONUS:



(courtesy of DizVanWilder)

Bonus II:

Best country song in TV history



(courtesy of buddysubaru)