phrase: 'll‘ it weren‘t for you meddling kids I would have got away with it.‘
.S'('(m/)_\‘-l)m) (2002) the movie has locked itsell‘ directly into the camp mindset of this first series. Taking its cue from the The Brut/g Bum/i ( 1995) big screen adaptation. it keeps its plot nice and simple with a great comedy turn from Rowan Atkinson as the villain Mondavarious. lireddie Prinze Jr (Tired. Sarah Michelle (iellar (Daphne). Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Linda (‘ardellini (Velma) all do passable impressions ol the geekish ghostbusters.
The only problem is that the filmmakers have missed the point ol‘ the original series. In .S't-uo/{v-Ihu) there were no ghosts. there were just hitter old men using pulleys and wind machines to scare people. The villains had diabolic schemes so dumb that even this bunch ol‘ acid-Tried sol‘theads could work out the mystery. And herein lies the attraction for the underachieving children (like mysell‘) who used to waste their afternoons watching the show: no matter how stupid you were. you always l'clt cleyerer than any ol' the badly drawn characters on the
screen. Needless to say. without wishing to ruin the new lilm for anyone. things have been reversed.
.S't-unl)_\'-I)(m lirst aired on (‘BS and can be traced to l‘red Silverman in ION) who was then head of daytime
programming at (‘BS. Silverman was looking for a mystery adventure series that would break the cycle of superhero serialisations that were sull’ocating the kiddie schedules. Ken Spears and Joe Ruby. two writers from Hanna Barbera. got in on the act. They came up with something
called The .lrlysfr'rit's' live about a bunch of
teenage detectives travelling around the country in a van called the Mystery Machine with a large dog. Storyboards were presented to l’rank Stanton. the (‘BS
No matter how stupid you were, you always felt cleverer than any of the badly drawn characters on the screen
president. as a possible new Saturday morning cartoon for the autumn of l‘)(i‘). Stanton was less than impressed by the basic artwork and the sub—linid Blyton storylines and dismissed it.
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