Thanks as always for your comments, Fritz.


Fair point. For me, that's the kind of thing I'm happy to overlook in favour of the really big character episodes taking place some way into the timeline, when they've known each other for a while. And I do believe that Eduardo has superhuman powers of secret-keeping!

Well, it's a double release today. Here is my commentary on Grundelesque. Yes, I may well have to drop that point and come back to it...

Fritz, re. what we discussed recently, I was not equal to a full and detailed explanation and I really apologise if the little I do say is at all wrong and/or comes over as a bit blasé.

Why I don't believe any Extreme Ghostbuster is seventeen years old...

This was done primarily to get it out of my system, and I'm not sharing it on any larger forum because I simply don't want to get bogged down in anything, but it's there if anybody getting embroiled in a debate or something ever wants to cite it. It was inspired by the commentary, then thoroughly researched and made afterwards, which is why I am about 100X more informed about a certain primary source in the one than the other. But that's just FYI; there is no recommended watching order.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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Well, here I am, late again.

The original Grundel episode was written by JMS. It was the last script he did until the begged him to write the 1989 Halloween special ("The Halloween Door") and then in 1990 to fix some of the messes the "experts" made with the show.

I could see Venkman insisted on having the inside of the refrigerator coated with some sort of "ectoplasmically impermeable" substance to keep the grocery bills under control. Since Ray and Egon like to eat too, they went along with this one.

Like you said, some of the ages given on that old web site may have been holdovers from earlier drafts of the concept. It's not impossible for someone to have graduated high school before the age of 18, but it is highly unusual. Even ignoring the twelve years or ten issue, the fact that they're all in college means the Extreme team would be 18 at youngest. (I mean, I could see Kylie being smart enough to have graduated early, but the way we have things set up on the Timeline right now works better on the whole.)

Lol...I'd forgotten the hand in the water gag. I could see some bluenose TV type going "No, that's too easy to actually do so it'd cause kids to do it and we'll be accused of corrupting the youth."

Lack of Jack in fan fic: well, being fan fic writers, we know how many of our kind can be. The easiest idea they'd all have is to set up some kind of love triangle with him, Kylie, and Eduardo. Without that easy trope, all you're left with is his trauma, and I can understand a lot of writers (especially the young, immature horny ones) not wanting to deal with that. He only appears briefly in human form, and while he seems blandly pleasant, it's not much to go on. Even his character model seems generic in the mold of many minor characters in EGB. And he only appeared in one episode--it's the same reason that Ray's relationship with Elaine isn't all that popular. Compare that with Venkman and Dana (they were the most important character developments of the first two movies); Egon and Janine (which was slow but steadily burned in RGB, even though the movies completely trashed it); and of course Kylie and Eduardo (big play in EGB) and thus fandom's interests tend to lie with those three ships. (Though there seemed to be a spate of Hotzmann/Erin slashfics in the years immediately after ATC, which I didn't really understand as Erin was the most blatantly heterosexual character of the main cast.)

And again, it's weird how completely faithful to the RGB character design the Grundle is. Just like how the equipment seen in "Darkness At Noon" was pretty spot on to the RGB designs...compared to the designs of the five original Ghostbusters all being changed and even the notorious scene in "Temporary Insanity" where the face of a mannequin of RGB Venkman was digitized out. These licensing issues can be very weird.

Thanks for the shout-outs. My family name is that has confused teachers, classmates, and coworkers all through my life (It didn't help that my actual first name, and my middle name, are common enough...but with less common spellings. I've often joked that my parents didn't quite seem to realize what they had done ) Yeah, folks, if you've ever wondered how "Baugh" is pronounced, Rosey got it right.

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Thanks again, Fritz. I did actually consider the Kylie-could've-skipped(-but-what-about-Garrett?) point only after I made the short video with the long name, and then figured my almost seven minutes' worth of points was enough. I'm not clear on whether you got to that video, Fritz, but I hope you did/will because I think it's very interesting (not to mention I edited the bejesus out of that one!).

I now have another commentary: Fear Itself. Here is what I felt compelled to add to the usual, brief disclaimer in the description:
This is a very succinct version of the conclusion I came to after everything I felt and considered once I found that this particular episode did not pass the copyright checks! The way YouTube phrases its policies, and the results of its checks (even on the original attempt at this video) is quite reassuring, and made me very confident that I've been doing fair use (especially with every other episode so far being allowed). I feel less confident now, and it's been a bit discouraging, but I mean what I say in that description.

Anyway, I shall persevere... I sort of have to, because for once I name the specific episode I plan to do next time, and I aim to have that out in a couple of weeks. After that, I'm working hard at the computer for two months, after which time I'll probably feel completely cheerful about the whole thing again.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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One thing I've seen "Let's Watch" viewers do in Youtube videos is play the source material with a horizontal flip. But yeah, I really would have thought completely silencing the audio track and putting a great big "Fan Commentary" caption in the middle of the screen would have been enough. Sheesh.

..."Swank" is just "wank" with an extra letter after all.

Slimer's a class 5. The only "official" classification system came in the West End Games RPGs of 1986 and 1989, where the classification was more about the ghosts' manifestation and identifiable nature more than the simple power scale that both cartoons seemed to use. More on it here: http://www.ectozone.com/gbfl/terms.php

Duane Capizzi actually also co-wrote one RGB episode, "Poltrygeist", the episode where Egon gets turned into a werechicken. It was in the 1988 ABC episodes usually listed as Season 4.

Probably unintentional, but that "fear of being naked in public = fear of emotional exposure" parallels some observations I made above on "In Your Dreams"

Slimer throwing up is always a crowd pleaser

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Thanks for the reassurance. I've been feeling better about it the last day or so (all one really has to do is search YouTube for people who've had full episodes with no alterations up for a year or more ). I don't know if there's, like, a one in seven chance that any particular episode will be in this anti-copyright library of theirs, but anyway, I'm prepared for the possibility now.


I found that out when I did this little item for my website called Writers (comparing EGB episodes by the same people, and seeing if I think any RGB writing has influenced them... but I think only 'A Temporary Insanity' came to anything worth saying on that front). He co-wrote it with Steve(n) Roberts, if I remember correctly... well, let's look it up... yes, and Steve wrote some high quality EGB as well. I did think about mentioning it on the commentary, but when I actually sat down to record it, there didn't seem to be time.


Truthfully, your comment almost certainly made me think of that; as I'm not a Freudian, my mind doesn't go there. But whether one thinks Freud was onto something with that one or not (y'know, like a monkey with a typewriter ), I think the idea is probably more relevant to anyone's dream than Garrett simply being facetious.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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Something considerably shorter this week: Gaspar/Rivera: A Family Legacy?

This is how I spent my weekend, just for fun (because it was), and I guess to emphasise a point... anyone who follows my fanfiction will know what that is.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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My last episode commentary for some while - but not forever - is Killjoys, interspersed with titbits about my early experiences of discovering the show (at least a couple of which I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned up to now).

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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The vampire clown episode. I always loved the loopy take this one gave us.

"The Unseen" was the first one I ever saw.

Susan Blu is a voice acting legend. She's been working as both a voice actress and a voice director for decades; EGB, those other Ghost Busters, TMNT 87 and 03, various Transformers (she was the voice of Arcee in G1, a character that looks like a bright pink cliche now, but at the time was groundbreaking for being the first female Transformer to be a regular cast member), and all sorts of other things.

No such thing as vampires? Ask Egon about that. Not only "No One Comes To Lupusville", which you mention, but "Transylvania Homesick Blues", and even the (wretched) "My Left Fang" beg to differ.

I remember joking when we first put up the Ghostbusters Fact List that it had everything except the Ghostbusters shoe sizes. And in this episode we learn Eduardo Rivera's shoe size.

For what it's worth, "The Grundel" said Slimer can read, but moves his lips as he does. One of those things that depends on the writer and the plot, I guess.

I'd forgotten how tentacley this episode was. Of course, I wasn't nearly as aware of the existence of Japanese tentacle hentai in 1997 as I would be later.

Also forgot about Roland's shirt/trouser thing. I mean, knowing the original Ghostbusters wore flight suits, I always assumed that Roland and Garrett's uniforms were also, but this episode does kind of question that (unless it was actually another animation error, which also seems possible).

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EGB Spin-Off: The Riveras - Opening Titles (Concept)

I think this is self-explanatory. The song choice was the only one I could think of that had anything like the right tone and sentiment (I do think it works pretty well).

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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EGB Fan on FFN and AO3

Commentaries are back (whether that's good news or bad!). This time, Sonic Youth.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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Sorry about the delay. Real Life has been busy the last few days.

I think the whole issue of letting Banshee, along with the slug thing and the fire donkey* out of the containment unit does have some parallel to "Cry Uncle". Probably some improved breakers and configurations that are intended to make a full scale containment unit collapse (ie GB1) much more difficult to accomplish.

(It also suits the story purpose of getting a ghost out without having to trigger the full-scale ghostly apocalypse the unit blowing up brings.)

*-When people say their ass is on fire, this isn't what they usually mean.

That (agreed, stupid) gizmo that Janine uses is indeed from one of the Roland toys. The GB wiki calls it a "ghost vaccuum" or "portable containment unit") and also relates it to the SCEP-TECH in the late RGB episode "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale"

Now I find myself speculating that in the Ectozone universe John Spengler studied it to help create the GBX

If I had to justify it, I'd say that Banshee is burning her "youth" energy a lot faster than normal during these events, having to deal with the Ghostbusters and stuff, requiring Syren to, perhaps, harvest more energy in greater amounts and frequency that "normal".

But yeah, not at least offering some out to Syren did seem like a bit of an oversight. They (I mean the writer/production team as well as the Ghostbusters) might not have thought of it, I guess.

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Thank you as always, Fritz. I might not be able to think of specific answers to your comments, but I'm very glad to read them, including any thoughts about RGB sparked by my ramblings. I wonder if there's much chance of that happening with my latest...

Back in the Saddle, Part 2

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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Damn, how did I miss this? My only excuse is trying to figure out all the AI bot bullshit that keeps trying to crash the board. My apologies.

In that first scene, Venkman is wearing something very reminiscent of his "stock" non-flightsuit outfit in RGB (white sweater, blue jeans)

I keep having to remind myself that Venkman, Ray, and Winston all being married is fanon (though Venkman getting married at some point does become official canon thanks to GB AFterlife)

I was reminded that Pat Fraley did some substitution for Frank Welker in this episode when I reviewed the GBwiki entry on this one. Pat Fraley worked with Pat Musick in the 1988 anime dub Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs. Probably more notably, a couple years earlier, he was, deeply ironically...Jake Kong Jr. on Filmation's Ghostbusters.

Even the writers forget about Roland sometimes.

Nah, you're not wrong about more characters makes a harder time juggling good moments for all of them. In the story I'm currently writing it's a constant struggle between "Of course this person would be involved" versus "We've got a lot going on already"

Goddamn it it's still distracting and really bugging me that Ray's not in his actual flight suit.

...I really try not to think how much money the Ghostbusters lost by discarding those proton packs. About twenty years ago some of the guys at the fan GBI estimated the cost of each one as about $10000 in-story (the props can run hundreds after all)

Oh look! They remembered Roland exists!

A reality check on the Bermuda Triangle: some of the hottest, most visited tourist spots in the world exist within the Triangle. In other words, as much fun as the myth is, there's really nothing to it. According to GB Wiki, the official EGB website referred to this episodes entity as "SIDNEE". The original Ghostbusters dealt with the New Jersey Parallelogram in "Venkman's Ghost Repellers", the debut of Jim "Charlie" Venkman.

Definitely agreed at how disjointed this alleged two-parter is. It really feels more like two one-part episodes that both just happened to guest star the original Ghostbusters.

Interesting difference of opinion. After Lorenzo Music and Laura Summer were replaced, Arsenio Hall being replaced by Buster Jones just didn't feel like a major downgrade. Maybe it helped that the writers didn't also write Winston any differently between Hall and Jones (whereas Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie's arrival coincided with their characters being lobotomized)

Winston did work in construction for a time, not to mention spending several years around a couple of very gifted engineers. Add in that the movie script suggested during his military days he was involved with Electronic Countermeasures and he obviously learned a thing or two. But yeah, probably would have made more sense to have Roland think of that. (Poor Roland....even when you're there the writers forget about you)

The truck trap idea is reminiscent of the ending of "Bustman's Holiday", where Ray modified some garbage trucks to catch the Dunkeld ghosts. These seem to be more refined, probably because he's building them with the proper equipment and had help, whereas he build the garbage trucks alone with what he could scrounge up in a Scottish village.

And between these two episodes, we know Egon's 40th birthday was about a week before Thanksgiving 1997, which was on November 28th. A week before that, November 21, just happens to be the birthday of actor Harold Ramis. Thus my assertion that animated Egon was born on November 21, 1957.

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No worries. I'm not entitled to any attention at all, but I'll admit, I was fairly optimistic that this would be one to trigger a response from you.
That's never worried me, but if in some sequel Roland or Garrett wore the other one's costume, yeah, that would be irritating to me so I get what you mean.
I had a feeling that was case, just because no one ever seems to mention Winston's voice change, or if they do, it doesn't seem to worry them whereas Peter and Janine... wow. Because of that, even in the early days of my getting into the online community when I saw those RGB episodes, I think I was surprised by how good I thought Arsenio Hall actually was. But I didn't mention Janine when making the point, did I? I wasn't thinking of her at all; there's such a lot going through my mind while I'm speaking, I almost never remember anything that isn't in front of me at that moment.

I don't actually have another in the pipeline right now, just intentions that there will be more commentaries in the foreseeable future.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

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If you like hearing me rabbit on about my likes and dislikes in the world of film and TV, you may find something of interest in one or both of these might be of interest to you (thumbnails given for reference):


I call this relevant, as there are at least two EGB panels on each meme (Persephonetheus, on the bottom row of the first meme, is probably the closest I'll come to reviewing an episode I don't like). Each panel is circled* as I speak about it, so if you want to hover through and find any bits that interest you, that should be easy enough.

*I'd just discovered Clipchamp's 'shapes'.

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'Extreme Ghostbusters was the best-written show, because it wasn't just about the ghostbusting, it was about the characters.' - Rino Romano

EGB Fan's EGB Fans
EGB Fan on FFN and AO3