My Favorite 'Toons: Extreme Ghostbusters

As a former 70s and 80s baby, Filmation's "The Ghost Busters" and its animated spinoff will always hold a special place in my heart. But my heart has room for 1997's "Extreme Ghostbusters," a spinoff of the 80s animated series "The Real Ghostbusters", as well. This cartoon had original Real Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (once again voiced by Maurice LaMarche but this time sporting a Betty Cooper-style ponytail) recruiting the four students from his paranormal studies class at New York Community College to fight a new crop of spooks and spectres--and a world that no longer believed in ghosts, so no marching in a parade for them during the closing credits!

The kids were Eduardo Rivera, 18, whose goatee, cowardice and dim wits made him a Latino Shaggy; Roland Jackson, 18, the calm, mature black guy and gadget man who maintained and drove the ECTO-1; Garrett Miller, 17, the wheelchair athlete who never let his disability stop him from being an obnoxious loudmouth; and Kylie Griffin, 17, the team's lone female member whose keen interest in all things supernatural was inspired by the passing of her beloved Great-Grandma Rose. Also returning were administrative assistant Janine Melnitz and the ever-hungry, ever-slimy green ghost Slimer. A new recurring character was added: the Ghostbuster-hating politician Mayor McShane, voiced by Billy West, who also voiced Slimer.

Some of my favorite episodes include the one with the Vapheth, ghosts who came to the mortal world when an author of "Goosebumps"-style kids' books wrote about them; the one where a ghost granted twisted wishes to mortals and who turned Eduardo, who wished Kylie liked him more, into her beloved pet cat Pagan; the "pro-social" episode where anti-Semitic teen boys are attacked by the Golem, a creature of Jewish folklore, when they deface a synagogue; and the intense episode about the Grundel, who enticed bad kids to "come out and play," only to turn them into Grundels. This episode was so intense because this Grundel was really Kylie's childhood friend and she had to call upon the original Grundel, trapped by the Real Ghostbusters, for help.

So what's my favorite episode? The one with the Ghost Clowns who were Laughter Vampires, sucking up any mortal who laughed out loud, right out of their clothes! When Eduardo captures one of them, the rest put a curse on him, turning him into a Ghost Clown who sucks up a laughing Roland right out of his Ghostbuster uniform. With help from Egon, the other Extreme Ones capture the clowns, restore Eduardo, and rescue Roland, who's totally nude and giving Slimer a good laugh before getting back into uniform. You can see I have a thing for unclad Ghostbusters.

As with most of my favorite cartoons, "Extreme Ghostbusters" lasted only a year in syndication, with one regular celebrity voice actor: Alfonso "Carlton Banks" Ribiero as Roland. Guest celeb voices for different episodes included Eddie Albert ("Green Acres"), Linda Blair ("The Exorcist") and Alfonso's TV dad James Avery ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"). But this show did not need "star power" for me to like it. If only the writers didn't make Egon a "doddering dodo" half the time...

Yes, that was the only part of "Extreme Ghostbusters" I didn't like: Egon Spengler, who was 45 years old in this cartoon, acting like he was twice as old when it came to dealing with everyday life--like overloading an extension cord with plugs and creating a fire hazard. This happened in two episodes! Somehow, this didn't stop him from being an effective mentor in all things ectoplasmic--and it gave Janine more things to do.

FUN FACT: "Extreme Ghostbusters" premiered on Labor Day in 1997.