Jason Reitman is revisiting the original Ghostbusters movies with a new sequel this summer, and now The Real Ghostbusters writer J. Michael Straczynski is lobbying for the animated series to make a return as well. Based on the original movie from director Ivan Reitman, Jason’s father, the animated series featured cartoon versions of all of our favorite characters. Airing on television between 1986 and 1991, The Real Ghostbusters was a big hit with fans of the franchise, and many remember the cartoon just as fondly as the original movies.
Recently, it was revealed that Hasbro is relaunching The Real Ghostbusters action figures, directly inspired by the original line of toys from Kenner in the 1980’s. When the figures were revealed at Toy Fair New York last month, both Jason and Ivan Reitman were on hand for the unveiling.
Video from the event has since made its way online, catching the attention of Straczysnski. Sensing an opportunity, Straczynski took to Twitter to plead his case to the Reitmans for bringing back The Real Ghostbusters in some way as well with this amusing message.
“Hey @JasonReitman saw the video of you and @IvanReitman at the Hasbro relaunch of Real Ghostbusters toys…wouldn’t this be a great time to bring back TRGBs? New animation? Live action? Puppets? Hand shadows? Semaphore? Hello? Is anyone there? Is this thing on?”
Straczynski’s tweet might be partially tongue-in-cheek, but he does bring up a genuinely great point. If there were ever a time to revisit The Real Ghostbusters, now is probably a greater time than ever. Nostalgia is in and there seems to be a lot more excitement for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, in part because it shares the original movie universe and will be bringing back fan favorite characters like Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore. Because The Real Ghostbusters is animated, the beloved series would also theoretically be easier to revive than it was for the Reitmans to develop a big screen sequel with Bill Murray and other high-paid Hollywood stars.
In addition to working as a story editor for seasons 1 and 2 of the Ghostbusters cartoon, Straczynski personally wrote a variety of episodes for almost every season. His work on the show is just a small part of an amazing career in television, as Straczynski is also well known as the creator of several sci-fi shows like Babylon 5, its spin-off Crusade, and the post-apocalyptic series Jeremiah. He also co-created the popular Netflix series Sense8 with Lana and Lilly Wachowski. The writer has also created and written many comic books, including a years-long run writing The Amazing Spider-Man.
Who knows if we’ll ever see new episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, but the Kenner-inspired action figures from Hasbro will be heading exclusively to Wal-Mart this spring. As for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, you can catch the Jason Reitman movie when it premieres in theaters on July 10, 2020. If the sequel finds great success at the box office, that can only help the chances of The Real Ghostbusters returning as well. This news comes to us from Ghostbusters News.
