Extreme Ghostbusters exits The Roku Channel

Collider reports that Extreme Ghostbusters is no longer available on The Roku Channel after joining the platform around Halloween last year.

The 1997 animated series ran for 40 episodes, took on a darker tone, and introduced a new generation of characters while retaining Egon Spengler (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) as the central link to the original team. The story follows Egon as he recruits four college students to revive the Ghostbusters operation, and the voice cast includes Billy West, Rino Romano, Tara Strong, Jason Marsden, and Alfonso Ribeiro. The short-lived series currently holds an 88 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The timing of the removal was noted as odd given Dan Aykroyd’s recent comments on the Talking Strange podcast that another animated Ghostbusters series is in the works, is expected to come out soon, and will address some long-standing fan concerns; in Aykroyd’s exact words, "The characters and the whole take and the look of Manhattan is really exciting." Meanwhile, Ghostbusters streaming availability remains fragmented: Ghostbusters: Answer the Call returned to Netflix in the U.S. as part of its January lineup while Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire prepares to leave Netflix later this month and move to Hulu, and regional shifts have seen different titles enter or exit various services. Extreme Ghostbusters remains available for digital purchase through Amazon.

Key Topics

Culture, Extreme Ghostbusters, Roku Channel, Dan Aykroyd, Frozen Empire, New York City