A show bible is a valuable TV-writing resource, a handy primer on a television series’ characters, its setting, and anything else that might wind up in an episode’s script. The bibles for several classic series have made their way online over the years, preserved for anyone with an internet connection and an interest in the four guiding principles of Batman: The Animated Series (“1. Batman is a solo act, usually working alone,” “2. Batman does not work directly with the police,” and so on) or a demographic breakdown of Freaks And Geeks musical preferences. (“Rush—freaks,” “Billy Joel—geeks,” “Elvis Costello—moody geeks, some freaks,” “Carly Simon—teachers”)
Among the shows whose secrets have been spilled across the web is The Real Ghostbusters, an animated series based on the big-screen comedy that inspired this summer’s most tiring conversations. Ghostbusters fan site Spook Central hosts a PDF of the bible used for seasons two and three of The Real Ghostbusters, and it’s a veritable Tobin’s Spirit Guide to the Saturday-morning hit. It’s particularly interesting as a chronicle of changes that occurred following the show’s initial batch of episodes, reflecting adjustments for comprehensibility (“this season, in addition to Slimer’s normal, incoherent grunts and snorts, a few understandable words or brief slang phrases will pop out of his mouth from time to time”) and vintage ’80s sexism (everything about Janine’s revamp.)
There are also full profiles for three “Junior Ghostbusters,” pint-sized assistants to the Ghostbusters who were introduced at the insistence of producer Ivan Reitman. The previous appearances by the kids alluded to in the bible proved to be their only episodes of The Real Ghostbusters (they’d show up twice on the more comedically oriented Slimer spin-off), so the writers seem to have really taken the following line to heart: “If a story seems to lend itself to using the three kids, great. If not, no sweat.”