#23 - RoboCop The Animated: The Man In The Iron Suit

Based on the 1987 movie RoboCop, it's probably one of the more surprising properties to get an animated adaption aimd at kids (only The Toxic Avenger probably beats it in suprising stakes) and it's something I remembered watching quite fondly as a child, so what surprises me most when I look it up that was only 13 episodes produced of the cartoon series (which was the same amount with The Toxic Crusaders).

So obviously the violence as being neutered, nobody gets there arm shot off or ran over after being covered in toxic waste, but what did surprise me is that when he thought Lewis was killed that it seems like he wanted to take revenge (in the killing sort of way).

This episode plot is about Dr. McNamara creating an iron suit that is mean't to be better then RoboCop and gets Lt. Hedgecock who despises RoboCop in the suit and challenge him to prove it's far superiror. Yadda yadda, you can guess who comes out on top.

So RoboCop: The Animated Series is in line with a lot of animated actiony shows of the time period in that from a non bais point of view a lot of them can be samey, still it's an enjoyable trip down memory lane for me.

#10 - The Real Ghostbusters: Ghosts 'R Us

It's clear from early on revisting The Real Ghostbusters almost practially straight after the one show, that it's vastly superior to the Filmation Ghostbusters with a gorilla. Characters are more memorable, better animation and the stories are better... Even with this wasn't based on the classic film and was just a show in it's own right I think it still would fondly remembered.

The series was really the first thing to make Slimer the mascot (and as a funny moment in the episode when dreaming eats his own pillow that makes him sneeze) and it's really him who sets this pilot epsiodes plot in motion when he accidnetally releases three ghosts  who end up disguising themselves as rival ghost-busting company Ghosts R Us.

The episodes ghosts - Slug, Znark and Zunk - are very entertaining and this was the only episode that centered around them and the show does a g ood job of making Zurlokk a more formimable enemy for the final part of the episode.

One thing I always wondered if it was a choice not to make the characters resemble there movie characters counterparts or the actors being stubborn when it came to allowing their likeness, I think it was probably the first one to make it it's own thing.

Overall, obviously the animation is 80s (which add to it's charm) but the stories, characters etc. hold up remarkably well. I Recommend you to revisit the show if you haven't in years.

#9 - Ghostbusters: I'll Be The Son Of A Ghostbusters

Perhaps the most confusing thing as a kid when it came to the Ghostbusters cartoon for me was the fact there two of them, one called Ghostbusters (like the film) featuring a gorilla and there was also Real Ghostbusters featuring you know characters from the film, it always confused me how the cartoon got away with being able to be called Ghostbusters while the official one had to settle for the pre-fix of "real". I found out when I was older there was actually a live action show the mid-70s (something I may cover at a later date) featuring the giant gorilla and it was a rights thing and all that.

As a child I always preferred the real to this, but I did enjoy it, it was something I owned on VHS and it was played more then once but it just wasn't the same you know and re-seeing it now after probably a good 26 years I decided to go with the first episode.

I think the thing I remember most about the show is the intro and it's theme song and Tracy the gorilla "singing" parts of it and really it was the non-human characters I tended to remember most about this. I've got say it's as goofy as I remember (not a bad thing it is a kids cartoon afterall)

The plot sees the characters take on from their Fathers in a ghostbusting business, as they try to prove to a reporter ghosts are real as Primeval tries to take over the world from the future.

It was a lot of fun revisting a series I hadn't seen in so long and while it's no Real Ghostbusters it's still an enjoyable show in it's own right with some creative moments.