8mm Forum: WTB Ghostbusters airline version

This is topic WTB Ghostbusters airline version in forum 8mm films for sale/trade/wanted at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Ben Webb (Member # 6364) on February 27, 2018, 11:35 AM:

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have any information on the version of Ghostbusters that was aired only in airlines? It had a different, shorter cut of the film. I've never actually seen this version of the film, and I'm mostly interested in it from a preservation standpoint. The fact that there is an official cut of the film that had a release that is also seemingly lost is pretty mind blowing to me.

Any help or leads would be appreciated - even if it's just a name of an airline that for sure had it at one point.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 27, 2018, 11:43 AM:

Hello Ben ...

I have not specifically seen this optical feature (and it has been YEARS since I'ver seen one offered), but almost all the optical sound features were edited to a greater or lesser extent, especially if the original run-time was 120 minutes or longer (as the cartridges that would play in the super 8 optical sound airline projectors had to be less than two hours) ...

... and, being that the providers of these features knew that any number of people could be watching these, (kids included), usually, scenes with excessive foul language and obviously, nudity, would be cut out.

Now, being that "Ghostbusters' had no nudity and only occasional cussing, much of what would have been edited out, would be this or that scene, perhaps Dan Ackroyd being "pleasured" by a ghost, for instance ...

In some cases, being that TV versions were being made for future use, often super 8 optical features would simply be TV versions for the ailines.

However, this isn't always the case, as I have "Sudden Impact" and that all of Clint Eastwoods cussing intact, so, you really never know hat you'll get, though it's nice to own some of these film on super 8, thanks to the airline features.

Posted by Mike Blasko (Member # 5867) on February 27, 2018, 04:52 PM:

I would also be interested in knowing about this version as well. I assume it would be SP pan and scan. Would be interesting to see.

Posted by Mike Blasko (Member # 5867) on February 27, 2018, 07:05 PM:

Also, the 4k of this looks..rough. The 35mm is ok/good. The 16mm original scopes look excellent...I wonder the sharpness on the s8? It might be amazing. Too bad it will be flat and SP.

Posted by Adam Deierling (Member # 2307) on February 28, 2018, 11:07 AM:

I'd be interested to see that too!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 28, 2018, 11:46 AM:

By the mid 1980's the image quality was absolutely SUPERB on the optical sound super 8's. The ONLY exception to the rule that i have ever found was "Tender Mercies" which, while it was thankfully saved on low fade film stock, does have a grainy, slightly hard to focus nature to it.

The 1980's super 8 opticals were so sharp that, (yes, i have told this story before), i had a 16MM collector over one day, and I idn't tell him that I was showing a super 8 optical print of a film (Broadway Danny Rose), and he said, "Finally, you're switching to 16MM!", and then I had the good pleasure of showing him the film is super 8 optical. he did a lot of double takes looking at the image and back to the film reels! [Smile]

Posted by Ben Webb (Member # 6364) on February 28, 2018, 12:24 PM:

So after doing some research, digging around the web, and talking to some people I'm starting to think the airline version of Ghostbusters is either the same as the TV version or it's so obscure that only a handful have actually seen it. I mean, so little information actually exists that this thread is the top result for "Ghostbusters airline" in Google.

So far Osi has been one of the best sources of information and by his account he's not seen it. Still not giving up on the search just in case it actually does differ somehow.

Posted by Mike Blasko (Member # 5867) on February 28, 2018, 11:20 PM:

I could be wrong, but didn’t Swank (the 16mm rental company) have multiple versions of this? I know they at least had Scope and flat and we rented the flat for an outdoor show a few years (ok, probably 5+ now). I thought I recalled a ‘PG,’ version being around in 16mm at some point also.

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