Home   •   Films   •   TV Series   •   Everything Else   •   Store   •   Help/Search   •   Credits/Contact   •   The Corner Penthouse
« Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime Official Fact SheetGhostbusters Mania Officially Open »

Get Slimed DVD Review

 By Paul Rudoff on Feb. 9, 2011 at 5:13 AM , Categories: Ghostbusters 1, Cast & Crew, Home Video
Image

Get Slimed: The Making Of The Classic Animatronic Character is a 15-minute interview with Steve Johnson, the original designer of Onionhead (later known as Slimer) for the film Ghostbusters, in which he talks about how the classic character came into being. It was recorded in early 2009 and the original 2009 cut premiered on November 20, 2009 in three parts on Steve's YouTube channel (video embedded below), and was later shown in its entirety on a bonus DVD included with the Slimer "collectible figurine" statue. The new 2010 cut of the interview was recently released by EonEntertainment onto a DVD that also includes over 200 photos and over 40 minutes of raw behind-the-scenes video pulled from Steve's archives. It is this new 2010 DVD that I am going to be reviewing and discussing in more detail. If you're an astute reader, you may have noticed that I mentioned that there are two different cuts of the Steve Johnson interview in my opening paragraph. This new Get Slimed DVD does not feature the same exact interview as on the DVD included with the Slimer statue, and as posted to YouTube at the end of 2009:


View on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The interview is fundamentally the same - the 2009 cut includes a bit where Steve talks about the Slimer statue, while the 2010 cut includes a few more comments here and there - it's primarily in the presentation where the differences lie, as you can see in the list of differences below.
  • The 2010 cut has music over the beginning title, while the 2009 cut is silent.
  • The "Steve Johnson" name graphic is on screen for a slightly different duration in each - slightly longer in the 2010 cut. However, the 2010 cut doesn't have the proton stream sound effect when it comes on, which the 2009 cut does.
  • The visual quality is better in the 2010 cut, but it's been slightly altered. In the 2009 cut, there appears to be a filter in the background on the first shot (best seen in the upper right corner when the name graphic appears), and in some shots where Steve is superimposed over images and video, he's slightly transparent. In the 2010 cut, Steve has been re-composited into certain shots, which makes his previously brown shirt into a black shirt, and he's gotten a digital haircut and dye job. The comparison below shows the changes in shirt color and his digital haircut and dye job. (Mouse over the captions to swap the images back and forth.)


  • The Slimer drawing seen in the background of the first shot is slightly letterboxed in the 2009 cut, but shown full screen in the 2010 cut. Both cuts are 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.
  • In the 2010 cut, after Steve says he spent a year in London working on Greystoke, comments were added about Richard Edlund opening a new studio in Marina Del Rey. Then it goes back to "Rick was tired..."
  • In the 2010 cut, after "setting up the ghost shop where we did a lot of films at", new comments are added: "It might have been Rick's way of getting me out of his company. I always wondered about that." Then it resumes with "So, I met with Richard..."
  • When Steve mentions being given the zombie cab driver gig as a way to prove himself, the 2009 cut superimposes his head in front of a vintage black and white photo of the cab driver. The 2010 cut shows the same photo, but without Steve's head in front of it, and then adds some additional photos of the cab driver.
  • When Steve talks about divvying up the creatures with Randall Cook, as he's saying whom did what, both versions show different behind-the-scenes footage of the creatures being spoken about.
  • In the 2010 cut, the interview stops for a few seconds so we can hear the footage of Ruth Oliver being molded for the library ghost.
  • Immediately after that, when Steve says that when he came onto the project Thom Enriquez had already sculpted a Slimer maquette, the 2009 cut shows Steve on-screen in front of a color Slimer photo. The 2010 cut doesn't show Steve at all, instead showing us a library ghost photo. Right after he says "maquette", we see Steve, but he's in front of a black and white Slimer photo. Right after he says "...of Slimer", the 2009 cut catches up to the 2010 cut and the same black and white photo is now behind Steve in both videos.
  • When Steve talks about the different removable faces he created for the Slimer puppet, the 2009 cut superimposes his head in front of a Slimer mouth photo. The 2010 cut shows the same photo, but without Steve's head in front of it, and then adds one additional photo, before both match up briefly when Steve talks about the champagne-drinking face.
  • Immediately following that, right after he says "...room service cart", we again have the 2009 cut superimposing his head in front of some Slimer behind-the-scenes footage, while the 2010 cut shows similar footage (not quite 100% the same), but without Steve's head in front of it.
  • Following that, right after he says "So that was fun", the 2009 cut keeps him in front of the Slimer behind-the-scenes footage, while the 2010 cut has him in front of the Slimer hallway drawing (as seen in the first shot). Then the 2009 cut switches to some behind-the-scenes footage of Slimer drinking, while the 2010 cut stays on the same shot of Steve in front of the drawing. And right after that, when he says that there was a small one sculpted, the 2009 cut shows Steve in front of a Slimer maquette photo, while the 2010 cut shows the same photo without Steve in front of it.
  • In the 2009 cut, Steve says, "... as opposed to just tying a little cable to his cheeks to make them smile, which is kinda what I had been doing up to that point. And to me, that just never worked. And...and...and...in the case of this film, it was a live-action cartoon..." In the 2010 cut, the "And to me, that just never worked. And...and...and..." part is cut out, and instead we hear the people in the Slimer behind-the-scenes footage that's been playing all along.
  • As Steve is talking about spinning the puppeteers on a Lazy Susan to achieve the appearance of Slimer flying around in a circle, when he specifically says the Ghostbusters are torturing the poor guy (Slimer), in each cut we see slightly different behind-the-scenes footage of the puppeteers on the Lazy Susan rig.
  • In the 2010 cut, Steve says that in 2009 a Slimer effect... "HELLO! It would be done digitally. There would not even be a question of that. So. [jump cut] As a result of all of this...You know, the change in the business..." Right at this point a group photo of the effects gang is shown. In the 2009 cut, the "So" and jump cut are not included, and the group photo is shown a bit earlier, starting on the words "as a result of all of this".
  • The 2010 cut is missing 40 seconds of footage, but it's quite obvious why it was cut. About a minute before the end of the interview (excluding the end credits), Steve talks about the Slimer statue he created in 2009, which had been sitting behind him in some shots: "You know, it's been 25 years since I sculpted Slimer for the first film. I actually recently got an opportunity to do it again. And this little guy [points to the Slimer statue siting behind him] is kind of a collaboration between Sony Pictures, Amazon, and Atari in commemoration of the anniversary for the release of the video game. I've opened a company called Solid Thought Corporation with a great friend of mine, Paul Francis. Our kind of goal is to bring the physical aspects of filmmaking back into the collector's hands, back into the fan's hands, because everything's gone so digital now. We just wanna get dirty again. We wanna have fun. We wanna make art. And that's what this is all about. It's really exciting." The second half of this dialog is heard while some footage of Steve working on a Slimer maquette is shown.
  • The end credits are different in both versions.
    • 2009 Cut: Two still screens with no audio in the background. On the first screen are the four crew credits, on the second screen are the Solid Thought Corporation, Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Consumer Products logos. This is followed by the credits cookie. (The YouTube cut has slightly different end credits, but I'm not including it in this comparison, so it won't be noted.)
    • 2010 Cut: Scrolling credits with music: The four crew credits, Columbia Pictures logo, Sony Pictures Consumer Products logo, Elemental LLC logo, EonEntertainment Inc. logo. Then the credits cookie is shown (same one as in the 2009 cut), which is followed by "(c) 2010 EonEntertainment Inc., All Rights Reserved".
The interview on both DVDs is presented as 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The 2009 cut runs 15:30, while the 2010 cut runs 15:32. The entire interview is placed inside one chapter on both DVDs. However, the 2009 DVD (included with the Slimer statue) does not include a menu. The video plays immediately at start-up, and the disc stops playing when it ends. The 2010 DVD has a two screen menu, with the "Get Slimed" No Ghost logo on the left and the menu options on the right. The first screen has "Play Movie" (Interview), "View Photos", and "Archives" options, and the second screen allows you to choose which photo Galleries to view: Library Ghost, Cab Driver, Slimer, and a hidden easter egg gallery (which I call Miscellaneous).

There are four Photo Galleries on the disc: Library Ghost (6:12) (62 images), Cab Driver (3:48) (38 images), Slimer (9:54) (99 images), and Miscellaneous (0:48) (8 images). The photo galleries are presented as 4:3 fullscreen silent slideshows, with the "camera" zooming in and out or panning across each image. Although I would have preferred for each image to be shown on-screen in its entirety (it would have been a lot easier to get screenshots that way), the moving "camera" does make for a more lively presentation. Each image stays on screen for a few seconds before moving on to the next one. A very nice touch is that each image gets its own chapter! There are a total of 207 images on the disc, including the hidden Miscellaneous gallery, but that does include a few duplicates. I found at least five duplicates: four in the Library Ghost gallery and one in the Slimer gallery. Mostly these are different prints of the same image, and rest assured that I checked to make sure they were exactly the same, and not similar. There are a lot of similar images on the disc. Some of my favorite images from each gallery can be found on the Ghostbusters Behind the Scenes page, which will give you an idea as to what kinds of goodies await you on the DVD. It may seem like a lot, but it's only a SMALL portion of what's on the disc. The slideshow runtimes and number of images in each gallery are included at the top of each group.

The Miscellaneous gallery is an easter egg, which is pretty easy to find. There are only two menu screens, so if you don't find it on one, try the other. If you absolutely can't find it, highlight the hidden text to read the spoiler: On the "View Photos" menu, highlight any menu item, press LEFT to highlight a hidden question mark icon in the lower left corner of the screen, and press ENTER to view the Miscellaneous gallery.

Beside the image galleries, there is one other bonus feature on the DVD, and it could be argued that it's even better than the over 200 images. It's listed on the main menu as "Archives", and what exactly that is is this: 41 minutes 36 seconds of raw behind-the-scenes video footage taken from Steve Johnson's personal videotape archives showing him and the effects crew working on/with Slimer, the Terror Dogs, Mr. Stay Puft, and the Library Ghost. You may have seen clips of this footage in various special effects programs, such as Movie Magic, but now you get to see it in its unedited complete form. All of the footage is presented in 4:3 fullscreen, grouped into one chapter, and for 25+ year old videocasette footage, it looks pretty darn good. You'll see some video glitches between footage, but that's really the only defects of note. I should caution you that the first 15 minutes can get a bit boring as it's the same stuff being done over and over again until the crew was satisfied with what was filmed.

In minutes and seconds, the Slimer footage runs 33:39 (00:00-33:39), the Terror Dogs footage runs 3:46 (33:39-37:25), the Stay Puft footage runs 3:55 (37:25-41:20), and the Library Ghost footage runs 0:16 (41:20-41:36). The Ghostbusters Behind the Scenes page contains a few framegrabs to give you an idea as to what footage is on the disc. I did not grab frames from every piece of footage, just what I found to be most interesting.

Finally, let's talk about the packaging. The DVD comes in a standard plastic keepcase with a high-quality case liner (I think it was done on a laser printer) featuring the "Get Slimed" No Ghost logo on the cover (along with other assorted logos), and text and photos on the back briefly mentioning what you'll find on the disc, and in the rest of the Steve Johnson's Rubber Rules series (of which this is the first title - if I'm not mistaken). Click on the thumbnail below for a high-resolution scan of the liner. I uploaded an even higher-resolution scan to the AllCDCovers website.

Image

The disc itself is a professionally-made DVD-R with a high quality-label printed right on the disc. Although I experienced absolutely no problems with it, the 2009 DVD (included with the Slimer statue) is a factory-pressed DVD, and I really wish that the 2010 DVD would have been done the same way. From what I've read, factory-pressed DVDs potentially last longer than DVD-Rs, even when both are stored and handled under the best conditions. Besides that, some players can't play DVD-Rs, such as my mother's old DVD player, which I bought for her back in 2001.

The face/label on the disc is virtually identical to the 2009 DVD, which could cause some confusion for people with both discs, and especially if someone decides to sell either of these two discs online without their accessories (the statue for the 2009 DVD, the case for the 2010 DVD [the 2009 DVD doesn't have a case]). As you can see for yourself in the images below (2009 DVD on the left, 2010 DVD on the right), the only differences are the replacement of the Solid Thought Corporation logo with the Elemental logo, and the copyright changed from "2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc." to "2010 EonEntertainment, Inc." I really think the phrase "Special Edition" should have been added to the 2010 DVD to help better distinguish it from the 2009 DVD. (I uploaded a high-resolution scan of the 2010 DVD to the AllCDCovers website.)

Image   Image

Of course, if you want to be sure that you're buying the 2010 DVD with all of the extras, buy it directly from EonEntertainment. It's available in either NTSC or PAL format for $14.99 plus shipping (it's $5.00 for shipping to New York). Payment is made via PayPal, but you don't need a PayPal account in order to make a purchase (just a credit/debit card, in that case). I don't know if EonEntertainment accepts any other forms of payment, so you'll have to ask them. If you're interested in other special effects behind-the-scenes videos of films Steve has worked on, there are plans to release DVDs covering The Abyss, Bicentennial Man, and Fright Night, as noted on the main page of the EonEntertainment website.

THE END
Image

No feedback yet

Leave a comment


Click here to log in if you already have an account on this site.
Your email address will not be revealed on this site.
(Set cookies so I don't need to fill out my details next time)
(Allow users to contact me through a message form -- Your email will not be revealed!)

 
 
Who you gonna call?

Please answer the question above.
We ask for this in order to slow down spammers.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Please log in to avoid this antispam check.

Established August 1996
SpookCentral.tk


Search (Articles Only)

Ghostbusters Afterlife Posters For Sale

Ghostbusters Merch at Amazon.com

Ghostbusters Officially Licensed Amazon Store

Please be aware that as an Amazon Associate, I earn a very tiny commission from purchases made though the Amazon links on this site.

Want to see your product reviewed here? Click for details.

Official Spook Central Merchandise

www.BuyItHere.tk - Paul's Merchandise For Sale

COMMUNITY LINKS

NEWS
Ghostbusters Wiki
GB News
GB Fans
Ghostbusters Mania
GB Reboot Facebook
Proton Charging News Archive

FORUMS
GB Fans
EctoZone

OFFICIAL
Ghost Corps Facebook
Ghostbusters Facebook
Ghostbusters YouTube
Ghostbusters.com

In Loving Memory of Joel Richard Rudoff (July 28, 1944 - January 20, 2014)

In Loving Memory of Linda Joyce Rudoff (July 12, 1948 - November 29, 2015)

Doreen Mulman (May 22, 1961 - March 14, 2014)



Pirate Ship - Cheap USPS Postage
( MY COMPARISON REVIEW )
( AVOID SHIPPINGEASY/STAMPS.COM )

The Art Of Tristan Jones

James Eatock's eBay Auctions
U.S. eBay (Ghostbusters stuff)
U.K. eBay (Ghostbusters stuff)

  XML Feeds

AWARDS I'VE WON



Secure CMS