Ghostbusters: The Return

Rating:
Summary: Wow! And I thought Star Trek novels were bad...
Review: I wanted dearly to love this book. I had such high hopes that this would be the catalyst for a renaissance in the Ghostbusters franchise. Within the first three chapters, however, my dreams were crushed. This book is pure drivel. There are major plot discrepancies (i.e. first something happened two years ago, then twenty pages later that same event is described as happening ten years ago), minimal character development, and the entire piece is laced with elementary grammatical errors. If you want to read something that will make the English teacher inside of you angry, read this novel. Pay particular attention to page 250, the sixth full paragraph that starts "Winston looked up..." Agh! It will drive you mad!

Rating:
Summary: This is kind of what I imagined Ghostbusters 3 to be like...
Review: Set two-to-five years after the events of Ghostbusters 2, the team is faced with a demon that feeds off terror itself. Using familiar urban legends, Xanthador waits for the right time to assend from his personal Hell, while assuming the guise of the puritan exorcist that defeated him back in the late 1690's. All the while, a third-party is running Venkman and Zeddemore on their ticket to replace the current mayor.

I'd have to admit, when I first heard this book was being published for the Ghostbusters' 20th Anniversary (My, has it been that long?) I rushed to the first online bookstore that had it and ordered it. I've just finished about a week ago [from 1/11/2005] and, to say the least, I feel the same disappointment I've felt when I've played David Crain's "classic" computer game based on the truly immortal film. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, and I'd recommend it to any fellow ghosthead, but I feel only the truly devoted will enjoy this book.

To close this, I look forward to the next book in the series, if any, and I just have one question to ask, and I feel I know the answer.

Are GB: The Return, and GB: Urban Legends the same book? If so, then why doesn't Amazon close that page and keep the one with the more accurate title?

Rating:
Summary: A darn good read
Review: Some ten years after the events of Ghostbusters I, and two since the events of Ghostbusters II, Peter Venkman and the crew are still on the job. But, things are about to become much more complicated. The New York Independent Party has selected Venkman to be their candidate for mayor. And, to make matters worse, Xanthador, the Lord of Fear has also set his sights on New York City. What will the boys in beige do to save the city this time?

I tripped across this book quite by accident; I didn't even know that there were any Ghostbusters books. Well, this book does a great job of capturing the wit and general goofiness that you would expect from the Ghostbusters. I found the story to be entertaining and a darn good read. So, if you were a fan of the Ghostbusters movies, and want to see them in action again, then I highly recommend that you get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Comeback!!!
Review: This book is a great revival of a classic franchise!!!! Fisch does a great job of capturing the dialouge of all the charecters from the orignal two movies. This is also a great way to tide you ober untill the release of the next Ghostbusters comic.

Rating:
Summary: Why Buffy did it better
Review: While reading this, I was struck by how much Buffy the Vampire owes the original two Ghostbuster movies. There is a scene in this book where Egon, Ray, Louis and Janine are reasearching Xanthador ( I wonder if Piers Anthony has caught onto the fact that Fisch is using his magical series and one of its characters as a bad guy?). It struck me how Buffy and her friends did this during its TV run. So was Buffy paying hommage to the Ghostbusters? And if there was even a chance to do a Ghostbusters III, do you think everyone would say they were ripping of Buffy? Anyhoo, I was surprised to see an original novel,as this stikes me as a weird way to recapture the magic of the movies. The movies worked on chemistry, and while Fisch makes a valid attempt at capturing this, ultimately it falls short. The Return really goes nowhere, and there is little character development (can't change the concept too much, right?)beyond Venkman's love for Dana and Winton's new role. Still, there is no big suprises here, even when Peter admits on TV he loves Dana. Of course, this was something even the supeior animated series never could do. So, you go with it. I'm unsure if this is a one shot deal -and sales, I guess, will determine that -or if we're going to see a whole new line of novels. While it's really too late to revive the movie series (even if we are introduced to a new cadre of Ghostbusters), I'm also wondering if anyone will care that they've returned in novel form. As I said, the timing of the actors and their great chemistry is hard to translate into books or comics. A good effort, but as predictable as water is wet.