REAL Ghostbuster VHS Covers!

Every day that I spend inching closer and closer to 30 years old, I realize a little more that I probably own too many Ghostbusters things that I cannot for the life of me justify having.

That doesn't stop me from keeping them, or buying more, but it sometimes feels like I have them for no reason.

Then I remember that I have this blog thing. Somehow, posting these things here to share with everybody makes the guilt go away just a little.

During the past week, I've had a hoard of Ghostbusters VHS tapes come my way. I already have shelves packed, no, crammed FULL of Ghostbusters VHS, but for some reason or another, I cannot turn them down.

It started lastTuesday morning when a friend, well, more like a guy that I run into quite a bit who knows I'm into collecting Ghostbusters, knocked on my car window in the Salvation Army thrift store paring lot holding up a REAL Ghostbusters VHS tape. 

If that wasn't enough to tickle my fancy for the day, as fate would have it, a friend of mine, who is every bit obsessed with TMNT as I am Ghostbusters, sent me a message with a glorious pic of another REAL Ghostbusters VHS tape and 5 Filmation Ghostbusters tapes that he had picked up for me.

I truly believe that the gods of VHS tapes were watching out for me that fine day.

I decided that since these two fellas were so nice for picking these up, I would semi-reward their thoughtfulness by dedicating a post on the blog to the insanely WONDERFUL artwork found on the front of some of my RGB tapes. 

No, these aren't all of them that I have, these are just the finer examples. Some sleeves are pretty beat up, and some are missing all together. I guess only the best ones make the cut for this post.

A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA may very well be my favorite RGB episode. The reason behind that is that when I was just a few years old and already hooked on the show, I would get a little emotional every day when it was over.

Luckily, we got our very first VCR and my mom decided to record as many episodes as she could fit on to a tape. The episode at the beginning? A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA.

I vaguely remember carrying around a stick pretending to be the conductor of the orchestra from this episode.

Yeah, I was a little odd.

The cover here is AWESOME, perfectly depicting our four heroes fighting the Valkyries. 

Who are you going to believe? Me, or a guy who pulls ropes?

THE REVENGE OF MURRAY THE MANTIS is another classic, as the team prepares to cruise in the Ecto-1 for a parade but the giant ass bug balloon is possessed.

What ever will they do?

Release the mother fucking STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN TO KICK THE SHIT OUT OF MURRAY THE MANTIS!

As show on the cover, that's just what he did. Stay Puft delivers a mean bodyslam. 

PLAY THEM RAGTIME BOOS is one that I don't mind watching, but not in my top 5 by any means.

The cover here is actually pretty damn cool for an episode that I don't rank too highly on my list of personal favorites. A rock n' roll ghost show, if you will.

And lastly, KNOCK KNOCK. This one I actually do need to go back and refresh my memory with as it's been far too long in between viewings.

I picked this one up off of Ebay a while back. The seller turned out to be somebody who lives about 3 blocks away from me, so when I saw it listed, I just messaged him and made arrangements to head right over.

The art here is something we have all seen before. It, of course, is the shot that was featured in a bunch of promotional junk when the series first came about. It also is the same shot that is on the REAL Ghostbusters metal TV tray.

If you're sitting there thinking that you're now dumber for having read about VHS tape boxes, I really can't blame you, but it's the little things that I enjoy sometimes.

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue!

If you missed the boat on this WONDERFUL say no to drugs video from 1990, you ought to be kicking yourself pretty hard.

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue was a promotional video aimed to keep kids off drugs while warning them of the dangers they face falling into the spell of the evil marijuana. Okay, I have some different opinions of reefer, but I'll keep those to myself. No, I'm not a stoner, but I don't condemn those who are.

Anyways, literally every cartoon character from the 80's that we know and love is crammed into this tape.

We're talking Slimer, the Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Michaelangelo, Garfield, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Huey, Dewy, and Louie, Alf, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Winnie the Pooh, among others.

The premise of the film is that a young girl named Cory wakes up to discover that her older brother , Michael, has stolen her piggy bank so that he can go buy some drugs.

The "Cartoon All-Stars" take action to help Cory, but more importantly to show Michael the dangers of abusing drugs and the road he faces, all while trying to rid Michael of his evil new pal, Smoke.

The real highlight is hearing Simon, in his wonderful Chipmunk voice, say marijuana.

Seriously, this video could easily overtake Yo Gabba Gabba as the premier thing to watch if you're stoned or drunk.

I found a copy of this long loved classic this morning at a thrift store. I haven't seen one of these anywhere in about 10 years, so needless to say, I was pretty excited. Almost to the point of jumping and shouting inside of the store, but nobody wants to see that. I get enough weird looks for being a grown man who buys far too many toys.

I thought I would take a minute to share with you, and let you watch this for yourself. Trust me, if it's not a nostalgic slap to your senses, nothing is.