By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 55 seconds ago

Ghostbusters has had far, far more staying power than any other 80s comedy. It’s been quoted for decades, parodied since the moment it hit theaters in 1984, and there have even been two legacy sequels. What’s interesting about the franchise, however, is that as great as the original film was, it’s been able to remain popular thanks to the boost from the Saturday morning cartoon, The Real Ghostbusters.

Running for five years, the cartoon’s popularity helped the series reach a new audience and is as responsible, if not more, for the millennial generation’s love of the franchise as the movie. As it turns out, J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), the man who would go on to create Babylon 5, worked on the cartoon as one of his first jobs and wrote most of the series’ greatest episodes. 

From Citizen Ghost To Midnight On The Firing Line

J. Michael Straczynski’s eye for detail is legendary in the world of sci-fi. He wrote out the entire story for Babylon 5 before even pitching the project, and his run on The Amazing Spider-Man is one of the greatest in history. His impressive ability to write and develop entire scripts at superhuman speed led to him getting called in when The Real Ghostbusters received a massive, 65-episode syndicated order from ABC. 

The episodes he wrote included the Season 1 standouts “Take Two,” where the Ghostbusters go to Hollywood to consult on a movie about them, and it includes footage of the live-action movie. “Citizen Ghost” explains why Slimer is hanging out with them after being a villain in the original film, “Chicken, He Clucked,” about a man using magic to get rid of every chicken on the planet, and “Knock, Knock,” featuring a door not supposed to be opened until Doomsday, and well, it opens a little ahead of schedule. 

It might be hard to imagine the same man who wrote “Midnight on the Firing Line” and “Between the Darkness and Light” for Babylon 5 also wrote “Doctor, Doctor,” the closest the series ever got to body horror. Some of the best cartoons of the 80s were written and edited by JMS. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that his contributions to The Real Ghostbusters are why the entire franchise is fondly remembered today.

The Real Ghostbusters Was So Good You Forgot It Was A Commercial

Ghostbusters was such a runaway success that nothing the franchise has done since has come remotely close to replicating its success. Ghostbusters II couldn’t even reach the level of the first movie, and by the time of the legacy sequels, it had been so long that even die-hard fans thought they’d never see another official entry in their lifetime. It was the cartoon, with its resulting wave of action figures, playsets, and comics, that kept the franchise going. 

Cartoons of the 80s were toy commercials, and The Real Ghostbusters was no exception, but in part thanks to the talented and creative mind of JMS, it overcame the low expectations to become a generational favorite. It’s not uncommon for fans of the franchise to say that the original movie is the best part, but close behind is the cartoon. 

You can stream The Real Ghostbusters for free on The Roku Channel if you want to appreciate JMS’ writing a decade before Babylon 5 redefined sci-fi.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 1 hour ago

One of the more underrated parts of marriage is that you’re involved in a kind of ongoing cultural exchange. Over the course of a lifetime, both of you will introduce each other to various things you love. This includes favorite songs, foods, and books. Of course, if both of you are pop culture junkies, it also means favorite TV shows. Once you binge enough series with your partner, you’ll know plenty about what makes them tick, all while watching shows you might not otherwise check out.

That’s how I ended up watching Bridgerton, the breakout Netflix hit that all the ladies love. I was surprised by how much I liked this show that drives all the girls crazy, and equally surprised by how much I enjoyed its sprawling cast of quirky characters (#TeamBenedict over here). But as a lifelong sci-fi nerd, I was also struck by how much Star Trek and Star Wars could stand to learn from this Netflix show. You see, Bridgerton specializes in doing something that these legendary sci-fi franchises have forgotten how to do: simply giving fans more of what they love, year after year.

The Ultimate Ladies’ Show

Bridgerton is a show that takes place in an alternate universe 19th century and focuses on the titular Bridgerton family. Each season focuses on marrying off one of the Bridgerton brood, and there is plenty of drama about who they will end up with, along with plenty of scheming from the wealthy families of Regency-era London. Hovering over all of these proceedings are two powerful women: Queen Elizabeth, a monarch who loves nothing more than romantic drama, and Lady Whistledown, the anonymous author of a self-published tabloid who entertains everyone with gossip about the local residents.

What does a romantic drama aimed squarely at women have to do with Star Trek and Star Wars, two franchises that have often (though not exclusively) been aimed at men? The short answer is that, unlike these iconic sci-fi brands, Bridgerton never changes its essential formula. Sure, each season focuses on a different primary character and different stories among supporting characters. However, you can bet your latest copy of Lady Whistledown that each season will feature the following: a Bridgerton falling in love with an unlikely partner, drama about how they come from two different worlds, a handful of steamy sex scenes, and a big wedding. 

The Farce Awakens

Mind you, this isn’t a criticism: the people making this show know exactly what their audience wants, and they deliver it each season, like clockwork. The first season of the show had over 82 million viewers, instantly becoming Netflix’s most-watched series of all time. Now, Netflix is on track to adapt all eight of Julia Quinn’s best-selling Bridgerton books into their own season. While the streamer has tweaked certain storylines, they generally hew close to the vibe of Season 1 because of a fairly simple philosophy: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The two biggest sci-fi franchises in the world didn’t get that memo. While The Force Awakens was a soft reboot of A New Hope, Disney spent the rest of the Sequel Trilogy trying to do something completely different than the original Star Wars trilogy. The failure of these movies was so complete that the House of Mouse pivoted to the small screen, where the biggest failures (like The Acolyte and The Book of Boba Fett) were the ones that deviated the most from the original formula. Successful shows, meanwhile, built off existing mythology (like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi) or at least leaned into the spirit of the OT (The Mandalorian and Andor).

To Coldly Go

The same thing happened once Star Trek returned to the small screen. The most beloved shows have been the ones recreating the formula of The Original Series (like Strange New Worlds) or serving as a love letter to the Golden Age of ‘80s and ‘90s Trek (like Lower Decks). Some shows half-assed it: Picard only got good in the final season, when Paramount finally gave us the TNG reunion we wanted from the beginning. Discovery, however, only got canceled when it stopped trying to update TOS and tried doing something new. Disco spinoff Starfleet Academy was the most unconventional Trek ever made, and it was canceled immediately after its first season.

The lesson is so simple a blind man could see it (sorry, Geordi): the producers of these blockbuster sci-fi franchises need to stick with what works. Star Trek and Star Wars fans aren’t going to suddenly wake up one day and want something completely different than what they fell in love with in the first place. Like Luke Skywalker and his obsession with colorful milk, these fans know what they want. Simply put, they want the same formula with just a few minor tweaks and surprises. In other words, they want what Bridgerton fans are getting each season!

I’m no Lady Whistledown, but this is what I hope Disney and Paramount will learn from the success of Bridgerton: nobody wants you to change the formula and create, say, the “New Coke” of Star Wars. They want the stories of tomorrow grounded very firmly in the successful stories of yesteryear.

The more producers try to subvert our expectations and completely change what has worked before, the more they ruin what made these franchises successful in the first place. Netflix figured it out, and it’s time for other streamers to internalize the simplest message in the galaxy: if you keep giving the people what they want, they’ll keep wanting what you have to give! 

By TeeJay Small
| Updated 8 seconds ago

I recently penned a scathing review of Alien 3, wherein I posed the question: What kind of god would allow such a horrendously bad film to ever see the light of day? Despite my better judgment, I decided to continue my binge of the Alien film franchise, only to be pleasantly surprised by the fourth installment, Alien: Resurrection.

This film has all the signs of a terrible sequel, and a 56 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, which made me think I was sitting down for another miserable viewing experience. Maybe I’m still recovering from the rage-induced concussion I developed while watching Alien 3, but I’d go so far as to label Alien: Resurrection the most underrated entry in the entire franchise.

The Problem With The Previous Alien Movie

We all know and love 1979’s Alien and the 1986 Aliens sequel. But even the most faithful Xenomorph super-fan should be able to admit that they’re tired of watching Ripley wake up in a cryopod, face off against a terrifying obsidian monster from beyond the stars, get back in a cryopod, and repeat the cycle for three films in a row.

When Ripley died in the final moments of Alien 3, I was just happy to see the character finally get a moment of rest, and for the franchise to move on to other protagonists. So imagine my surprise when Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley wakes up once again during the opening credits of Alien: Resurrection, this time as a lab-grown clone.

Ripley Returns In Alien: Resurrection

Right then and there, I was prepared to turn off the movie and spend the rest of my afternoon shaking my fist in the angry dome a la Professor Farnsworth. But as the film progressed and introduced Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, and Breaking Bad’s Raymond Cruz, I started falling in love with the ensemble and their mission to escape the military scientists’ vessel alive.

The look of the film grabbed me, too. The Xenomorphs in Alien: Resurrection look far superior to their counterparts in Alien 3. That complements their wicked cunning and shocking intelligence as they utilize their own acidic blood to break containment and traverse the ship.

Having been bred to incubate a Xenomorph queen embryo, clone Ripley, AKA Ripley 8, realizes that she’s got more genetically in common with the alien creatures than ever before. Her DNA is intrinsically tied to theirs, allowing her to develop some otherworldly powers that completely redefine her character. Unlike Alien 3, where Ripley becomes beholden to the protection of men, Alien: Resurrection allows her to regain her autonomy and become the biggest badass on the screen, even when Ron Perlman is present.

When she comes across a lab full of horribly deformed experiments that came before her, Ripley 8 puts them out of their misery by torching them the same way the OG Ripley did with the Xenomorph nest in the final act of Aliens. The whole scene felt like a cathartic way to express how I’d felt watching bad writers butcher her character in the previous outing. It was as though director Jean-Pierre Jeunet was burning the very concept of Alien 3 right in front of my eyes.

In Defense Of The Xenomoph Hybrid

Nearly thirty years after its release, there are now sequences where dated special effects don’t hold up. That doesn’t matter, because the writing from a young Joss Whedon does. Alien: Resurrection’s fresh ideas make it a cut above several other entrants in the franchise.

One of the largest criticisms levied at Alien: Resurrection centers on the hybrid newborn creature, which is aggressively disturbing. This creature is a cross between an alien queen and Ripley herself, taking on traits of a baby, a Xenomorph, and a Cronenbergian nightmare that cost the studio roughly $7 million to build.

The animatronic for the newborn required nine puppeteers to operate and was considered the most complex practical effect in cinema history at the time. The whole thing is weird, gross, and insane, but it works better than most audiences give it credit for.

Alien: Resurrection Is As Influential As The First Two Alien Movies

A modern rewatch reveals how many popular films of the early 2000s straight-up stole action scenes from this movie. With a fresh set of eyes, you could comfortably say that Alien: Resurrection is as influential as the first two films in the series, even if it doesn’t usually receive the same fanfare.

Whether you initially caught Alien: Resurrection back in 1997, or you’ve just never been compelled to check it out before, now seems like the right time to revisit the classic sci-fi sequel. Unfortunately, Alien: Resurrection isn’t currently available for free on any of the major streaming services, and can only be purchased through transactional video on demand. Still, it’s well worth the price of admission if you decide to rent or purchase it through Amazon Prime or YouTube.