Ghostbusters: The Return

[Fritz]

This is the first of the Ghostbusters novels from iBooks, and Ghostbusters HQ just posted a really nice (and large) scan of the covers of the book.

www.ghostbustershq.com

One interesting thing is that the blurb on the back says it's been "two years" since GB2 instead of 5, as Steve Roman said earlier.

Check it out.

[Silent Seraphim]

Quite honestly, I'm torn. I've hesitated in buying this book because I was worried about the whole Janine/Louis thing in GB2 and whether they were going to carry this on in the book, and from the few reviews that I've read, it seems that I was right to be hesitant.

Saying that, though, it seems that the rest of the stuff in the book, although a little child-friendly at times, are quite good. I'm also intrigued about the whole Venkman as mayor thing, so I'm not sure whether to spend the money and cringe through the Louis/Janine parts, or just forget about it and stick to the 88mph comics.

Basically, what I'd love to know from you guys who've read it, is: Is Janine's character as badly portrayed as she was in GB2, is there much in the way of the Louis/Janine storyline in the book, and what does everyone think about the book in general? Come on, guys! Give us a review!!!!

[Fritz]

I'm not completely surprised that this would be the one continuity to break the Egon/Janine romance; it's a logical outcome of a "only the movies count" continuity, even if practically everywhere else proves how much the Janine/Louis idea sucks.

I hope I can get my hands on this book soon anyway. Just like GB2, I'll just bear it and go on. It doesn't affect the "real" continuity, as far as I'm concerned, anyway.

[raysgal]

Well, aside from the Janine/Louis thing I think the book was great.

I loved the Ray and Egon orientated action because I happen to enjoy these two characters quite a bit. Everything Peter did was dead on and I was quite happy that Winston got some more spotlight time. The whole story idea was a wonderful concept and if there's a second book I hope they continue what they've started.

[Silent Seraphim]

Fritz said:

I'm not completely surprised that this would be the one continuity to break the Egon/Janine romance; it's a logical outcome of a "only the movies count" continuity, even if practically everywhere else proves how much the Janine/Louis idea sucks.

I know. I'm not really surprised, either. I just hoped against hope that they would have taken this opportunity to either right what GB2 got wrong, or leave that whole aspect on the cutting room floor, as it were. I didn't think it would be the best idea to carry on with one of the more unpopular aspects of GB2, but I suppose I can just skim through those bits if the rest of it is any good, which it seems as though it is.

[BrianReilly]

Fritz said:

I hope I can get my hands on this book soon anyway. Just like GB2, I'll just bear it and go on. It doesn't affect the "real" continuity, as far as I'm concerned, anyway.

Fritz, I created a topic on this over on the Omnibus Board (in The Closed Decade). Do check it out, when you get a chance. I think (hope) you'll like my ideas.

But not before you've read the book. You'll literally ruin every little surprise if you read my post first. I go into pretty deep detail on just about everything.

You'd be surprised, but most of the book actually fits in pretty well with the timeline. Only a few errors stand out, and most of those are mistakes within the book itself. IE) A different mayor who's held office for "over a decade" when the book only takes place two years after GB2.

[Fritz]

...

I still haven't found this damn thing yet. Even the local Wal-Mart didn't have it, and it was the Wal-Mart web site that had the first solication for this thing (like, what, almost a year ago?)

I'm leery of ordering it online, but that may be what I have to do...

[Fritz]

Well, here it is, only 2 1/2 months after I wrote that last post...

And I finally have the thing!

Expect a fuller review when I finish it, but so far it's been entertaining, if a little "standard issue" (probably more a result of all the stuff I've read and written as opposed to a problem with the writing) I did laugh out loud when Winston was trash-talking the ghost alligators (and finally saw the scene Lord Vego loved so much about "Vinny" and his "tiny...")

[Fritz]

Well, I finished the thing this morning waiting for an orthopedics appointment...

I wish I could say "Wow! That was the greatest book I've ever read!!!" but that'd be a lie. But I couldn't say "Wow!!! What a piece of unreadable crap!!!" either.

I know some of it probably comes out of being a writer myself--and having immersed myself in these characters to varying degrees for almost twenty years now. So yeah, some criticism probably does boil down to "That's not how I would have done it"

SPOILER: Click to show

The Good Stuff:

The use of the "urban legends" theme led to some innovative and funny encounters. C'mon, how can you hate seeing Slimer blown up in the microwave? I think my favorite might have been the kids turning themselves into bombs with Pop rocks and cola.

A lot of action for Ray and Egon as they essentially have to take over the business themselves due to Venkman and Winston's little diversion into politics. I found myself hearing Frank Welker and Maurice LaMarche quite clearly at times...I don't know if I can call it completely spot-on, either, though--I kept thinking there was a time or two when Egon was asking the questions and Ray was answering them where the reverse would've seemed more appropriate. I agree with having Ray be the one to identify the legends, though.

Winston gets a nice, meaty role in this story, and I think I like the idea of him keeping up on government affairs--the idea was presented and explained quite well. I could quibble that Mr. Fisch gave his mother a different name than in the GB1 novelization (GB1: Lucille; The Return: Evangelean) but that's small. I had to admit a pang of satsifaction at the mention of Winston's dad as working in construction, though.

I wonder how Fisch would've handled the situation with Winston he sets up if the series had continued.

The relationship between Venkman and Dana was handled well; responsiblity is never something he warms up to quickly, and the very end of course underscores that--but his love for her and Oscar comes through. And in the end, both between leaving the debate and then quitting the mayor's office on his first day, them and his friends are more important to him than any political get-rich-quick schemes.

Slimer. I'm not Slimer's biggest fan. I barely use him in my stories. But I was nevertheless strangely pleased to see him in this book--maybe just because he IS such a lightning rod to people who hate the animated series. But here is Slimer done right: the gluttonous babbling mascot palling around with Ray and annoying Venkman. He doesn't talk clearly, he doesn't zoom in and save the Ghostbusters from Xanthador; he was handled perfectly.

Mayor Lapinski was a suitably lizardlike poltician, pumping the Ghostbusters up when it suited him and cutting them out when it didn't. I wonder if Mister Fisch was trying to tap into some of the sentiment of Guiliani when he was "evil" (ie before 9-11); he mentions Lapinski was a former prosecutor, was tough on crime, and a Republican. Just as a counterpoint to Lenny Clotch=Ed Koch.

The Not So Good Stuff:

Xanthador seemed pretty much your stock "self-aggrandizing evil overlord with semi-competant help" type villain that we've seen before. He gets a little more interesting with his gambit posing as Goodraven (even if I saw that coming 1.609 kilometers away, as Egon might say) and I thought there were a few neat twists toward the end. Using a planetarium to create the stellar alignment he needed was a great idea; defeating the fear demon with raw courage was, again, maybe a bit predictable, but was satsifying anyway.

And yeah, here comes this complaint you could also see coming from 1.609 kilometers away:

Every fan has their own little favorite quirks. Something that might be, to them, an essential part of why they even like a property that might be inconsequential to someone else. For example, ECTO-1 (the user) and Chuck were (or would be) horrified by the scene where the ECTO-1 (the car) gets trashed and half-buried in wet cement.

Well, you all know what one of mine is, so yeah, it lessened my enjoyment of this book to see Janine spend the first half of the book in full GB2 "I am a desperate ho and like Louis Tully" mode. I was all ready to write "F'Grife's sake, it's bad enough watching Egon's girl acting sleazy with Louis Tully...but like GB2 you don't even acknowledge her relationship with Egon"...but I was mollifed a little bit later in the book. I know I'm reading far more into it than Mister Fisch intended, but it helped this Shipper immensely to see her blow off going with Louis to the debate to stay and help Egon (and Ray) research Xanthador.

This book wasn't perfect. But it was a fun and interesting story despite some flaws.

I thank Mister Fisch and Mister Roman for bringing it to us.

[Kingpin]

Fritz, Brian's spoiler thing is only uploaded at the GBOFF.

[Fritz]

Lol...I knew that. It was just my slightly computer geeky way of warning someone that spoilers were about to commence. Kind of like when I refer to [sarcasm] the Most Beloved of all Ghostbuster Characters, Professor Dweeb[/sarcasm]

[Kingpin]

I'd always wondered about the [/sarcasm] one.

[TheRazorsEdge]

People who don't get net-speak amuse me. I like to confuse them with an over-use of l33t.

[Kingpin]

I'll say this now, I hate l33t speak.

[TheRazorsEdge]

1t's qu1t3 fun 1n sm4ll d0s3s.

>_>

<_<

;D