Prior to the release of the Time Life DVD collection in 2008, Ghostheads had only seen the original promo/pilot animation of The Real Ghostbusters in segments, and extremely low quality. With the DVD set, fans were treated to an uncut version of the animation, however the quality was still somewhat fuzzy as it was a transfer of a cassette recording.
9 years later and Ghostbusters fan Robert Barbieri has unveiled some exciting news: an original film reel for the pilot/promo animation has been discovered, and as the screenshot above shows, the quality and clarity it will provide is a major step up from what we’ve previously seen.
According to Robert, the reel has already been scanned in and is being digitally restored in preparation for streaming on Facebook at a future date.
That’s pretty amazing. Finds like this are always pretty exciting. Here’s hoping somewhere out there is a full recording of the theme out there somewhere.
I just saw this on Facebook and I am very excited to see it in higher quality.
I still remember seeing it on HBO for the first time, unprepared, and being blown away by it.
I only saw it one other time, bagging the end part of it on VHS (and then I accidentally taped over the very end due to backroll) but watching that clip over and over always gave me a thrill.
It was great to see it in its entirety again on the Time-Life release, but the thought of seeing it in pristine quality? Wow.
Some additional screenshots showing the restoration/comparison of the reel (the shot on the left is the quality of the Time Life release, the shot on the right is Robert’s scan):
That’s not possible unless they have the film reel. The DVD sets used tape masters, which was the best thing they had access to. Most cartoons in the 80s and 90s transferred to tape masters, and the film reel is usually discarded.
This is great news, looking forward to seeing the pilot in a higher quality presentation. The pilot is one of my favorite features on the Real Ghostbusters DVD set from Time Life. It is amazing to see how the artists concepts of the characters, ghosts and equipment were when the deal with ABC was made.
Interesting date on the reel. The first episode of RGB aired on September 13, 1986. I think the pilot was finished around June that year? Can’t wait to hear a bit more on the story of how this reel was found.
If they’re uploading the video to their Facebook, that’s a little concerning because they reduce the quality of uploaded video. Though I’ve read if you use certain parameters, they won’t touch the video: Use the H.264 codec for video and the AAC codec for the audio, the ideal file formats are MOV or MP4, the ideal Facebook video dimension is 720p (frame size of 1280px wide by 720px high), the video frame rate must be 30 frames-per-second or less, stereo audio with a sample rate of 44,100 Hz (or 44.1 kHz), and keep it up to 25 minutes. (But I don’t have an account and therefore never verified that)
Fun fact: a lot of TV shows still use tape, even ones broadcast in HD. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that they have what is essentially an HD VHS tape with the show on it that they then broadcast out over the airwaves. It’s true. You’d think they’d convert to blu ray or something. But nope. All the TV shows were still on a VHS-like tape.
I hope, nay, I PRAY Warner’s kept the film elements to Batman The Animated Series. After seeing Mask of the Phantasm on blu ray, my body and soul NEED an HD Batman TAS. That show was so ahead of it’s time that it’s still ahead of it’s time. The musical score alone…ugh. I could geek out over that show all day.
Yes and this is exactly the case with Real Ghostbusters. If you take a look at Robert’s Instagram page, he posted a picture of a film strip he acquired of a RGB episode. The story behind it was the original owner obtained it from the father of a classmate that worked on the show. I guess the father was there for show and tell where he gave each classmate a strip from a master of the show. That fact pretty much confirms that DIC destroyed RGB film masters. You’re absolutely correct, unfortunately.
I’ve uploaded full HD video to Facebook and it has turned out fine. If they do upload at 720p that is concerning as it can’t even begin to do justice to the film reel itself, however if it is a 16mm reel than 1080p would probably suffice.
I’ve spoken with Robert and he was able to answer a few questions from here:
He had hoped to have the finished restoration ready by Halloween, but it’s been taking longer than expected. He’s made progress up to the point where the skeletal pilot appears.
He’s currently planning to have a showing of it on Facebook, but doesn’t have anything planned beyond that.
The reel only features the visuals for the promo, and is completely silent. Audio will be supplied from the VHS copy of the promo, hopefully with some restoration.
The reel, once restored, will be shown in 1920 x 1080, and whilst the quality of the restoration will be vastly superior to the version that appears on YouTube and on the TimeLife set, it will not be HD.
