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'The Real Ghostbusters' Is Suddenly Streaming 100 Episodes For Free

Originally posted on Men's Journal | By Ryan Britt | Last updated May 28, 2025 12:35 PM ET

Consider this a PSA for children of the '80s and '90s: the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters is suddenly back on streaming, with 100 episodes available to watch completely for free.

After years of jumping around to different streaming services, or having episodes only available for purchase on places like iTunes and Amazon, The Real Ghostbusters animated series is, as of May 2025, streaming 100 episodes all in one place. If you navigate to The Roku Channel on your internet browser or Roku TV, you'll find totally free episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, spanning the series' original run from 1986 to 1991.

And if it's been a while since you've seen the show, be warned, it's even more wild than you remember.

Created as a kid-friendly animated spinoff series of the 1984 film, The Real Ghostbusters approaches the material like a sci-fi horror procedural, which, if we're being honest, feels more like a precursor to The X-Files than a sequel to the original film. While some episodes are straight-up horror, others explore meta-fictional elements in which the basic definition of a ghost is pushed to the limit.

More importantly, the writing (at least through Season 3) is exceptionally good for a 1980s kids' cartoon. J. Michael Straczynski, later known for his 1990s sci-fi series Babylon 5, was a script editor on the series, and as such, imbued the phantasmagorical series with a Ray Bradbury-esque sense of seriousness. Yes, many of the creatures the 'Busters have to vanquish seem silly, but others (like the Spirit of Halloween or the Boogieman) are straight-up terrifying.

All in all, The Real Ghostbusters is a collision of kitsch with sci-fi/horror earnestness which has not been repeated since its airing. The visual quality of the episodes streaming on Roku is a little grainy, which will remind many of the old VHS tapes we used to record the episodes. Revisit this one for free while you can. The fact that it's held up this well is, frankly, scary.