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Featuring numerous scientific gadgets and futuristic technology
Extreme Ghostbusters is an animated television series and a follow-up to the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. It is a part of the film/TV Ghostbusters franchise. The series originally aired in the fall of 1997, and features a team of younger university-level Ghostbusters who are led by veteran Ghostbuster Egon Spengler.
Set years after the end of The Real Ghostbusters, lack of supernatural activity has put the Ghostbusters out of business. Each member has gone their separate way, except for Dr. Egon Spengler, who still lives in the firehouse to monitor the containment unit, further his studies and teach a class on the paranormal at a local university. When ghosts start to reappear, Egon is forced to recruit his lone four students as the new Ghostbusters. These are Kylie Griffin, a girl genius and expert on the occult, Eduardo Rivera, a cynical Latino slacker, Garrett Miller, a young athlete who uses a wheelchair, and Roland Jackson, a studious machinery whiz. Filling the cast are Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters' previous secretary who returns to the job, and Slimer, a hungry ghost and general comic relief.
The series follows the adventures of this "Next Generation" of Ghostbusters tracking down and capturing ghosts all over New York and occasionally beyond the city. The series is styled as a supernatural comedy, following the trend set by its predecessor, but given an updated feel. This is reflected by the use of a gritty, rock/funk-inspired variation of Ray Parker Jr.'s song "Ghostbusters" as the opening theme. Recurring themes throughout the series are the new team learning to work together despite their differences, Janine's largely unrequited affection for Egon , the love/hate relationship between Kylie and Eduardo, and the Ghostbusters' frequent clashes with authority figures who disbelieve their work.
Perhaps the most notable episode of the series is the two-part episode "Back in the Saddle", in which the three original Ghostbusters briefly return to team up with their successors. Dave Coulier (the second voice of Peter Venkman), Buster Jones (the second voice of Winston Zeddemore), and Frank Welker (the voice of Ray Stantz and originally Slimer) reprised their roles from The Real Ghostbusters.
The show was also one of the few direct sequels to a 1980s cartoon series and as such, opted for a realistic passage of time. Other franchises, such as Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, opted for series relaunches rather than sequels.
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