The Ghostbusters Appreciation Thread - Page 2

Even better is Raimis poking the old lady to make sure she's not dead.

I also enjoy that with every successful ghostbust. You get a mug and an uninflated balloon.

Old lady? I only remember him poking a man in the hallway in the hotel.

'Go get her, Ray!'

The ghost librarian turning into the monster when they 'get her' really freaked me out the first time that I saw the film.

also:
'Ray...when someone asks if you're a god...you say, YES!'

That's what I meant, got confused with the old librarian lady.

"Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?"

"What's that got to do with it?"

"Back off, man. I'm a scientist."

It took me about five years to realize Venkman shouting "Go get her Ray!" when they're confronting Gozer was a call-back to the "Get her!" from the library. Can't believe it got past me that long.

"The Collect Call of Cthulhu" episode was great as well.

I always kind of wondered why the animated characters looked only marginally like their live-action counterparts though. Winston is a black guy, Egon wears glasses, but...

"You're not going to lose the house, everyone has three mortgages nowadays."

Fun fact: Bill Murray plays the live-action Peter Venkman. Lorenzo Music plays the animated Venkman. Lorenzo Music is also famous for playing Garfield on the cartoon, which Bill Murray takes over for the live-action/CGI version.

Additionally, Dave Coulier also played Garfield AND Venkman when Lorenzo Music was ill.

And Bill Murray should have played Tubby Gummi in live action.

Well, we can't have Dave "CUT-IT-OUT" Coulier gumming up the works.

Speaking of Music, I could've sworn I heard his voice day when I was walking around a bookstore. This right before he passed away also. Man I can kind of sort of remember that day.

What's the consensus on Ghostbusters: Extreme?*

*Yes, I winced when I wrote extreme.

It's just a great concept perfectly fleshed out and realized. And knowing how the concept had originally been developed (Aykroyd and Belushi in space fighting ghosts) makes you appreciate even more the creative restructuring that lead to what we finally got on screen in the summer of '84. Everything works. Every single thing. Not a single misstep in the entire running time. Probably one of my favorite films ever. I couldn't even begin to tally the amount of times I saw this in the theater.

All this while the studio was owned by Coca-Cola. I kid you not.

Man, I forgot all about Egon' Vortex of Hair in the cartoon.

Yeah that was strange dessert-esque hair. Right up there with Leia's Sticky Buns was Egon's Jelly roll greaser hair.

It's like Mormonism. So far removed from the purer faith it doesn't deserve consideration.

You've earned it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eomeW_Sm8Nk

Damn. How do I still know all the words to that?

I haven't seen an episode of Extreme, but I've always heard negative feedback on it. Although, I've read that there are two episodes worth watching - there was a 2 parter that reunited the original team, bringing back the original voice actors from the later episodes of the series (ie, Dave Coulier and Buster Jones), as well as Frank Welker for Ray Stantz.

The only good thing about the series (I guess) is that they kept Maurice LeMarche for the voice of Egon, the only original GB that stayed to train the newbies.

And as for why the cartoon versions looked the way they did, from what I could find, it was all due to likeness rights issues. There was apparently an early pilot promo that was more faithful design-wise to the film and had the characters look more like their film counterparts. I believe I read on tvshowsondvd.com that the pilot would be included on the box set.

I think this is going to have be my next DVD purchase. It is Murray at his finest, but I have a soft spot for him in nearly all his 80s Reitman flicks. Hell, I even like Meatballs.

But for me, Venkman is funniest when he goes to Dana's apartment and she's been taken over by Zuul. Some amazingly great lines, which I reference frequently and no one gets:

Dana: [growly demonic voice] There is no Dana, only Zhul.
Venkman: What a lovely singing voice you must have.

Dana: I want you inside me.
Venkman: It sounds like you've got at least two or three people in there already.

Not in that scene, but I use "I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing" all the fucking time.

The likeness issue came down to Murray. He has a stipulation on the merchandising that requires him to authorize all use of his likeness, and he wouldn't give it for the animated series, so they changed up how everyone looks to get around that. It's also why that series of collectible figures NECCA released a few years back never came out with their proposed Series II line that had all the Ghostbusters--Murray wouldn't sign off on it.

And there go my hopes for a Steve Zissou underwater-action submarine playset.

Or Get Smart tree guy.

Nothing but love for Ghostbusters, and this was the movie that first made me aware of widescreen vs. fullscreen. During the library scene, when the bookshelf crashes down behind Ray and Venckman, all you could see on VHS was Murray facing off-screen and saying "This ever happen to you before? ...Oh. ...First time?", and 10-year-old-me couldn't understand why the hell you couldn't see Ray in the shot, since he was obviously reacting off-camera. Catching it in widescreen years later, you had Ackroyd's slow, deadpan headshake and nod, which totally sells the scene.

The elevator scene is another critically hit victim of Pan & Scan. I hated watching that scene on cable or on VHS, because I knew I what I was missing.

One of the very best "Making of . . ." books is the long-out-of-print "Making Ghostbusters". It meticulously chronicles every single permutation in the development of the script from the initial idea down to the on-set ad-libs (which constituted nearly half of the finished film). One of the early drafts of the script is included with annotations from Ackroyd, Ramis and Reitman. I had it for a number of years and finally sold it during one of my many apartment moves and now it's super rare.

Not to mention I remember watching this movie with my dad in one of the first multi-featured Laserdiscs I had ever seen. This include "scream-tests" with the ghost librarian and script notes. Including the unused idea that the Ghostbusters brand goes international and the guys become rich.

I love Murray's snarky intercation with Annie Potts: "It's a good job, huh? Type something, will ya? We're payin' for this stuff. And don't stare at me - you got the bug eyes... Janine, I'm sorry about the bug eyes thing. I'll be in my office."

I find it both heartwarming and scary that not only did I remember all that dialogue off the top of my head, I actually reciting it (doing my best Bill Murray) while typing it.

Love this as well: "Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in the food-service or housekeeping industries."

And I don't I've got a week since 1984 without saying "Whoa whoa whoa, nice shootin', Tex" at least once.

Is that the one with the Berni Wrightson concept sketches for the original ending? That was some creepy shit.

"Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!" is still one of the most kickass fist-pumping FUCK YEAH! moments in movie history. For a comedy, it's actually very scary and at times exciting.

I watch Ghostbusters every few months or so, simply because it's one of the most perfect movies ever. Murray, Ackroyd, and Ramis have some of the best chemistry and comedic timing EVER, and as evidenced in this thread, the movie is endlessly quotable.

*cons are looking at map as well*

Venkman: Everybody getting this!?"

"So where are you from......originally?"

Yes. That giant demon-thing unfurling above Manhattan would have been a seriously jarring tone shift. Glad they stuck with Stay-Puft.

I always thought that they dropped the ball in part II by taking them back to underdogs. I think they could have found a lot more comedy if they would have all been yuppified rich assholes, with Ghostbusters franchising being a huge success, all the original guys having to come back together to deal with a crisis.

Anyway, I try not to think about Ghostbusters II that much, but I'll echo the unconditional love for the first one.

But GHOSTBUSTERS 2 has one of the best lines in both movies!

"Didn't you have any toys as a kid?"
"I had a slinky once. I straightened it."

I love this thread if only for the multiple spellings of the name "Aykroyd."

This thread made me put this movie in the DVD player for the first time since I got it. There are lines in this movie that I use all the time but Ikinda forgot that they came from here. Notably "Important safety tip" "I blame myself" and "Art Deco... very nice."

That last one may just be because I like art deco.

Very true. The various ghost designs, outside of Stay Puff, could have worked in any number of serious horror movies. They make a great contrast to the humor that comes from the main characters.

Everyone always talks about Slimer and Gozer, but I always loved the zombie cab driver and that freaky ghost that comes out of the subway station after the containment unit is shut down.

The biggest crime of 2 is that it's built around the horrible late 80s fad called BABIES ARE GREAT. (see 3 men and baby, look who's talking). The score is horrible too, why no Bernstein?
But the original holds up better than most stuff from 4 years ago. When I was a kid I had cut out the ad in the paper, it was a special one they ran during the 84 summer olympics where the 3 ghostbusters were standing on the three-level medal platform. Venkman on the higher gold medal level. Egon got stuck with the bronze of course. They need to make a poster of that.

Absolutely perfect. I used to watch this every day when I was younger before I started school, and then I'd watch it at least twice a month until I was seven. Every single subtle little joke hits. Nothing speaks to my sensibilities like Ghostbusters. Shit, it is my sensibilities.

"Listen! You smell something?"

This film also has one of the most iconic theme songs ever written.

vigo = lol

Beat me to it.

Okay, I have to turn in my geek card -- I don't own this on DVD. I thought for sure I did, decided to watch it last night, and stood in stunned silence as I stared at the Gs in my DVD collection and saw nothing between Ghost and Girl, Interrupted (both of which belong to my fiance). I'm a bad person.

Tell me about it, brother!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eomeW_Sm8Nk

I love the first film, it's one of the movies that really got me into cinema. I'll even throw some love towards Ghostbusters II because I think Viggo is an interesting villain and the first twenty minutes actually kind of work, in my view. Everything up to and including the Court House Ghost Busting are fantastic and I really liked the idea of all the Ghostbusters having to deal with being yesterdays news, where it goes wrong is pardoning them and putting them right back where they were in the first film.

It's telling that, despite my diminishing love for Ghostbusters 2, I still don't feel guilty owning it. There's good stuff in it ("Suck in the guts, guys. We're the Ghostbusters.") it's just that it doesn't come together in the end.

But I'll throw it in on a boring Saturday afternoon, and not blink twice. I'm hard pressed to think of a movie I'm not so hot on that I can do that with.