Doctor Multiverse

This behind-the-scenes video stealthily highlights the legal issues behind the use of the name “Ghostbusters”. The name of was in contention because there was a television program called “Ghost Busters” in the mid 70’s. The Ghost Busters was a live-action sitcom that ran in 1975, about a duo of bumbling detectives who would investigate ghostly happenings. Oh, and they had a “Gorilla” too. As a five year-old it was a fun watch. This live-action show was produced by Filmation.

After some legal maneuvering, Columbia finally was able to use the name. Making it one word probably didn’t hurt their efforts. There were more rough waters ahead for the Ghostbusters franchise dealing with the realm of animation. Filmation rolled out an animated version of “The Ghost Busters”, and went head to head against “The Real Ghostbusters”. The Real Ghostbusters found a wider audience who had no clue that anything odd was going on. Even though I was probably fourteen or fifteen when these were out, I would still watch cartoons from time-to-time yet I never knew of the existence of the Filmation cartoon. You can catch episodes of of the Filmation show on YouTube.