Real Ghostbusters DVD Cover Art Close-Up

Those are pretty awesome. #1 and #3 are kind of "generic" (but still cool)

#2 gives us just a dab of cheesecake. I ain't complaining about that. :)

#4 seems to be inspired by the famous promo picture. It's not traced from it, though, as Egon's not on the hood, and they're apparently shooting past Slimer instead of at him. But a nice nod to older fans who'd recognize the concept.

#5...sigh...I hate that pink flight suit. It's ridiculous and sexist. Though But I guess the bright side is, putting Janine on two covers (and in central positions of each one) acknowledges her importance in the series.

Thanks for posting this, Paul.

:)

I'll say it as I believe I've said it on a previous post: I hated the transformations that Janine went through during the series because it lessened her character in my opinion. That having been said, I love that the great minds involved in this set's production paid attention to details and emphasized more than one of Janine's looks for the artwork. Those nuances spoke a great deal to me about the care that went into this set. I think I like it most because no single cross section of this series is ever an accurate representation of it as a whole.

Fritz and Scott

Even though I'm quoting Fritz's original message, the second-to-last paragraph hits upon what Scott commented on.

#1 and #3 are kind of "generic" (but still cool)

Yeah, #3 is not my particular favorite, though it is very reminiscent of packaging from the various RGB merchandise from 20 years ago. That's mainly because it uses a Stay Puft model that came directly off of the model sheet, which is where his image from most of the old merchandise came from. So that's a nice nod to the past merchandise, I think.

#2 gives us just a dab of cheesecake. I ain't complaining about that. :)

Oh, HELL YEAH! That's my favorite of all of the covers. I've never hid my feelings for the first season Janine. She's one of the sexiest women in all of cartoons. If I could ever find a real woman who looks exactly like her, I'd marry her in a heartbeat...even if she doesn't have the sexy voice to go with the visual!

A little fun fact: originally she was going to have the blue blouse/turquoise skirt/red necklace/blue shoes/yellow earrings color scheme that she has in a few episodes.



I pushed for the color scheme you see in the final version (yellow blouse/orange skirt/blue necklace [sometimes yellow necklace]/yellow shoes/blue earrings) because I felt that is best representative of the colors she wore throughout the series.



The only other color scheme she had in the series was pink blouse/light blue skirt/yellow necklace/light blue shoes/yellow earrings.



My only gripe is that originally her hair was red instead of red-orange, and I still feel that red is more accurate than red-orange, even though I was told that they color matched it to screen shots from the episode masters.

Oh, and you can't see it because Winston's in the way, but she's dangling her shoe off of her right foot. You'll see it a little better in the liner book. I was disappointed that Winston was in the way because I thought it added to her sexiness.

#4 seems to be inspired by the famous promo picture. It's not traced from it, though, as Egon's not on the hood, and they're apparently shooting past Slimer instead of at him. But a nice nod to older fans who'd recognize the concept.

I *KNEW* the fans would pick up on that! James Eatock and I kept pushing Andy to use that original promo picture in some way because it's one of the most iconic images from the series. He didn't want to use the original image for a variety of reasons, but he decided to base the cover of volume 4 on it, which pleased me greatly.

I kept pushing for the original placement of the guys, but was told that by this point in the series (episodes "Poultrygeist" through "Afterlife In The Fast Lane" appear on volume 4) what you see in the final image is where the guys usually sat in the episodes. I argued differently, using "Short Stuff" to show that my placement of the guys as detailed below fits in series continuity at this point in the series:

* Winston driving.
* Ray on the passenger side.
* Peter on the roof (he came out from behind the passenger side).
* Egon out back driver's side window.





Needless to say, I lost the argument.

Oh, and you're 100% right about them shooting past Slimer instead of at him. I don't know if it was Andy, TimeLife, or Sony who didn't want them shooting at him - probably because he's a friend at that point in the series and not a foe.

#5...sigh...I hate that pink flight suit. It's ridiculous and sexist. Though But I guess the bright side is, putting Janine on two covers (and in central positions of each one) acknowledges her importance in the series.

Well, you can't blame the pink jumpsuit on Andy, James, me, or anyone else who was involved in this set. That's what they gave her in the series, so blame them :-)

As far as I can remember, when Janine did some busting in the series, she either wore the pink jumpsuit or Peter's brown jumpsuit - aside from briefly being in civilian clothes in "20,000 Leagues Under The Street". A conscious decision was made to show Janine busting alongside the guys, and to represent her from first season and later seasons, so as you and Scott noted, what you see on covers #2 and #5 is the best way to achieve all of that.

Oh, and if you like the containment unit background in #5...that was my idea. That and the idea to use the firehouse for the outer box were my two biggest idea contributions to the set. Though I gave my input on just about all aspects of the set, so there's other little bits here and there that I helped with. Although the set isn't perfect (we'd need all of the alternate episodes to have "perfection"), I am very proud of being a part of the project and helping in all the ways that I could.

Paul, your insight never ceases to please me. I do like all of the art (love a few), but I have to agree that I am not blown away by cover #3. The nice part about all covers is the showcasing of important icons (and let's face it, this series had a lot of iconic imagery).

#1: The firehouse exterior; Redundant? Maybe, given the exterior packaging, but it is the firehouse!
#2: The receptionist's area; Janine's desk was always a focus point of the series, my favorite instance being in "Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood" jumping at the phone.
#3: Stay Puft; Need I say more?
#4: Ecto-1; Essentially, Ecto-1 was a character in her own right. Yes, "her." The original promo shot is actually the logon screen to my computer (love those Stardock apps.)
#5: The containment unit (thanks, Paul); Possibly the coolest of all the Ghostbusters' equipment. Just think about how many confrontations, resolutions, and other situations took place in the basement. Heck, they even took us inside the containment unit multiple times!

All of that being said, Paul, was there ever any thought to putting Louis on either Vol. 4 or Vol. 5? Perhaps they only showcased those things that were always present in the show? Not my favorite character by a long shot, but he did add an interesting dynamic to the later seasons. How about Ecto-2?

Another thing I meant to touch on after the art was revealed was the noticeable use of the production sketch for the PKE meter inside the volume 1 case. Can we assume additional equipment sketches wait inside the other volumes for us to discover?

Scott

...but I have to agree that I am not blown away by cover #3.

I think what kills it is the bland generic green background. I don't know what other background would have been better without making the guys and Stay Puft look out of scale with each other.

As your rundown points out each one of these covers incorporates one or more of the series most iconic elements in some way. That's one of the things that I love most about this series of covers.

#2: The receptionist's area; Janine's desk was always a focus point of the series...

I thought it would have been better to show the scene from the front of the desk instead of the side, with the filing cabinets in the background, but because of vertical nature of the cover, it would have been impossible to do that and still have all of the characters in the scene. I'm still glad that the desk/reception area was included in some form.

#3: Stay Puft; Need I say more?

EXACTLY! Him and the ghost trap are the two best elements of this cover.

#5: The containment unit (thanks, Paul); Possibly the coolest of all the Ghostbusters' equipment. Just think about how many confrontations, resolutions, and other situations took place in the basement. Heck, they even took us inside the containment unit multiple times!

Yes. The basement and containment unit were used quite frequently on the show, WAY more than in both of the movies (case in point: it wasn't in the second movie at all). I would have loved for the cover to show the whole basement and more of the containment unit, but again, due to the constraints of it being a vertical space and needing to show the characters close-up, that couldn't be done.

Was there ever any thought to putting Louis on either Vol. 4 or Vol. 5? How about Ecto-2?

No Louis and no Ecto-2....and I say, "Thank God for that!" Louis was a horrible and unnecessary addition to the show, and was in very few episodes (I think 6 or less). Ecto-2, although memorable, isn't as iconic as Ecto-1, and I don't think it was in many episodes either - though maybe more than Louis.

Andy briefly thought about using the Junior Ghostbusters on one of the covers, but both James and I talked him out of it.

I would have liked to have seen more of the villains on the covers. Andy wanted to have the Boogieman peeking in through the window in the background of cover #2, but unfortunately, someone above him (either TimeLife or Sony) nixed that idea. So the most we get of them are their claws and arms in cover #5, which is at least better than nothing.

Another thing I meant to touch on after the art was revealed was the noticeable use of the production sketch for the PKE meter inside the volume 1 case. Can we assume additional equipment sketches wait inside the other volumes for us to discover?

I would assume so, but I can't say for sure. The inside of the individual volumes is one area that I did not consult on, probably because there really isn't anything inside to consult on. I'm pretty sure that I told Andy a few times how much I liked that he used production art in the packaging and booklets of the Filmation Ghostbusters animated sets, and asked him to do something like that in this set. I don't know whether he listened to me or was planning on doing that all along.

I can tell you first hand that TimeLife probably couldn't have chosen a better person to be in charge of this set than Andy Mangels.

I am loving the artwork on the volume cases

The artwork on the Steelbook cases is wonderful and eye-catching, however the tin casing on my copies were slightly dented on the reverse side and there was a bloody great ding on the spine of Volume 1, but apart from that, it’s fine. What’s puzzling is the recyclable logo on the back for the casing, you need the cases to house the discs in that’s the whole point of having the cases so that the fans have somewhere to keep the discs in one place, the artwork on the discs seems repetitive as well, using the same pictures of Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston & Slimer, but the difference being the various coloured backgrounds with the different characters in the foreground. Also the sketches of proton packs, PKE meters, etc concealed behind the in-disc locking mechanism

Yeah, the recyclable logo on the back of the Steelbook cases threw me for a loop, too. I know that some people don't like the way the discs are stored inside, but I don't know anyone who would recycle the cases!