MovieChat Forums > The Ghost Busters (1975) Discussion > Question

Question

posted 18 years ago by Stubz_Turner
8 replies | jump to latest

was the original scriped for the ghostbuster movie based on this show?

the person who told you to be yourself couldn't have been more of an idoit.

[–] rel19602004 18 years ago

No, Stubz it was not. It was an original concept that aired in 1975 as a Saturday morning line up back when the only time you could watch cartoons was on Saturday mornings.

[–] Stubz_Turner 18 years ago

i know that, i'm talking about how the orinignal script for the MOVIE souded alot like this show.

the person who told you to be yourself couldn't have been more of an idoit.

[–] diesixdie 18 years ago

Stubz,

I've never seen the original script. In what ways did it differ from the final product? I've often wondered how much Mr. Reitman and Murray and all were influenced by this old kid's show. The movie is obviously vastly different, but some elements are the same:

A company that "busts" ghosts
Rayguns that causes the ghosts to disappear
The name "Ghost Busters"

Ivan Reitman had to be aware of the show before writing "Ghostbusters" in the early 80's.

[–] warriorpoet51 17 years ago

If you go to the official ghostbusters site at Sony, you can check out Ivan Reitman's Q&A. He answers this. Akroyd wrote the original script and apparently had set it in space in the future and Reitman brought it "down to earth". Wikipedia also said that Sony paid for the licensing of the name.

[–] Mewsdragonball 17 years ago

Also, the original draft by Akroyd and Ramis, the one that is more like the movie, began at the point when they had become like ghost janitors, you know, where catching ghosts had become mundane, Reitman is responsible for suggesting to Aykroyd that we should see how the Ghostbusters began, that part is still in the movie, it's just in the middle or toward the end now

[–] TheBurnCycle 16 years ago

No, the only connection between this show and the original script for the first Ghostbusters film was the title. In fact, the original script for the movie was entirely different than what was made. It was a script penned by Dan Akroyd, which opens with two men (intended to be played by himself and John Belushi, before his tragic death) in the future (don't remember if it was far or not-to-distant future) who already run an established ghost hunting business.

[–] Ripshin 9 years ago

"Tragic death" seems unnecessary.

[–] PaladinNJ (20324) 4 years ago

According to IMDB:
The series was unrelated to the 1984 film Ghostbusters (though Columbia Pictures did pay Filmation for a license to use the title). Like the film, the series spawned its own animated sequel in 1986. Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis did not know about this show when they wrote their original story. It wasn't until after production had begun and the release of the movie was announced that they found out, so they had to make a deal to get the rights to the name. In the course of their dealings they did not lock down the animation rights and Filmation produced their own cartoon based on this series.