Ghostbusters: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

'''Peter:''' So do I.<br />

'''Ray:''' Well, no sense in worrying about it now.<br />

[[Mad Science]] takes on occult terror, and wins, hilariously, in this hit franchise.

Because Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were a key part of developing the story, they have stated that this game is in the same [[Continuity]] as the movies. Interestingly, there are still some variations to the plot that occur with three distinct versions: a "Realistic" version for the Playstation 3, X-Box 360 and PC; a "Stylistic" version for the Playstation 2, PSP and Wii; and a version for [[Nintendo DS]] that has totally different gameplay (and doesn't even have the rookie). The console games were very well received and applauded for being a unique and dynamic gaming experience. Tropes relating specifically to the Video Game (especially video game tropes) should go on the page for the game.

There was also a [[Role Playing Game]] developed by West End Games; set after the first movie, the players were cast as owners/employees of a ''Ghostbusters'' franchise in their local community. In addition to ghosts, adventure hooks could feature encounters with other paranormal creatures and incidents, including vampires, aliens, and time-travelers. A revised version of the game, ''Ghostbusters International'', was published in 1989 following the release of ''Ghostbusters II''. It was eventually named as one of "The Millennium's Most Underrated Games" by ''Pyramid'' magazine.

* [[Cool Car]]: The Ecto-1, a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance, refurbished and tricked out with Science!

* [[Destructive Saviour]]: The Ghostbusters are very effective at capturing ghosts, but in the process, they tend to cause thousands (or even ''millions'') of dollars of damage. They did blow up the top few floors of a high rise building.

* [[Fan Film]]: Has inspired a whole slew of fan films based on the idea of Ghostbusters becoming a franchise business and organized in other cities. This includes ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street|Freddy]] [[X Meets Y|Vs. Ghostbusters]]'', ''The Denver Ghostbusters'' and ''[[Ghostbusters SLC]]''.

* [[Fantastic Science]]: Two of the three original characters, Ray and Egon, are legitimate paranormal researchers that channel their knowledge into the business of "paranormal investigations and eliminations." Peter for his part is both a psychologist and parapsychologist, so he contributes the human relations and [[Only Sane Man]] elements.

** Peter ([[The Hero]])

** Ray ([[The Lancer]]) - an inversion of the typical hero/lancer dynamic, as Peter is the cynic and Ray the "the heart."

** Louis ([[The Sixth Ranger]] in the second movie, subverted since unlike most characters of this type, he's completely useless. In the game, he's ''out sick.'')

** The Rookie ([[The Sixth Ranger]] in the 2009 sequel-game, hired to test new equipment that may explode.)

* [[Funny Background Event]]: After blowing up the poor housemaid's cart, while they stand around talking, you can see her trying to ''spritz'' out the fires they started with a bottle of cleaner.

** During the cutscenes in the video game, The Rookie can be seen reacting to the situations in humorous ways, especially when Stay-puft first appears.

'''Egon''': [[Throw It In|That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me]]. }}

* [[Magic Versus Science]]: Science wins.

** He chooses Gozer's destructive form as Stay Puft.

{{quote| '''Peter''': Did you choose anything?!<br />

** Later, when they're about to call the final battle a victory, he looks into the painting and {{spoiler|gets possessed by Vigo.}}

* [[Night Vision Goggles]]: A slightly modified set of ''actual'' night vision goggles is made to be the "ecto goggles" and part of the Ghostbusting gear, supposedly allowing them to see ghosts who have turned themselves invisible. It's seen on everyone in the first movie, used memorably by Ray in the hotel and seen briefly a few times in the second movie. The game makes it into a major gameplay mechanic in tracking down ghosts.

* [[Noodle Incident]]

** Mentioned in the first film is that time Egon tried to drill a hole in his head. This is an actual procedure, called 'trepanation', which is sometimes claimed to confer psychic powers. "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me." (Which was allegedly a [[Throw It In]] from Harold Ramis.)

** Walter Peck from the first movie ignores the very real paranormal phenomenon around him in favor of his insistence that it's all a scam. His actions in service of this belief directly trigger Gozer's arrival.

** Hardemeyer takes this role in the sequel. He actually has the Ghostbusters ''committed'' to avoid bad press for the mayor.

* [[Our Ghosts Are Different]]: In the series, "ghost" seems to be a catch-all term for incorporeal creatures, including both the spirits of the dead and extraplanar creatures that were never alive to begin with.

* [[Paranormal Investigation]]: A comedic version of this genre.

* [[Red Alert]]: Of the "Emergency Squad Scramble" variety, the first time a call comes in.

* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: Played with. On one hand the Ghostbusters ''do'' use their tech to make money for themselves, the game has established them as contractors to New York on the verge of franchising, and they obviously help people out with it, but the potential other uses for their tech goes ignored.

* [[Sassy Secretary]]: Janine "I've quit better jobs then this!" Melnitz.

* [[Science Is Bad]]: Inverted; the Ghostbusters' scientific methods always prove to be the only effective way of dealing with the supernatural, and the only use for other schools of thought is to provide info on what they're dealing with.

* [[Techno Babble]]: Brought to the point of art form: PKE valence. Focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm. Total protonic reversal. And etc.

* [[The Merch]]: In-universe examples. In the first film's credits, there are kids waving Ghostbuster logo t-shirts. ''Ghostbusters II'' has the gang offer branded thermal mugs and balloons in their commercial.

* [[Throw It In]]: There are varying accounts of how much of the final films were improvised, from a few select lines to a good majority of the films.

* [[Token Minority]]: Winston.

* [[Weapons That Suck]]: Technically speaking, the real weapon the Busters use against the ghosts are their traps, which suck the ghosts in and hold them until deposited in the protection grid. All the proton packs intended for is to snare ghosts in the proton stream and position them above the trap. That's also why Busters didn't need the proton packs to capture the jogging ghost; all they had to do is place the trap in his path and open it when it stepped over it.

* [[Weirdness Censor]]: Despite the rampant evidence to the contrary, Peck insists the Ghostbusters are frauds deluding people with chemicals and "a cheap, electronic light show." (Of course, a city official then asks Peck to explain why "the walls in the 53rd precinct are bleeding") In the second movie, several characters continue this attitude, which makes one wonder what they thought of the very public attack involving the very gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

* [[The Worf Barrage]]: Basically the major ghosts of the movies prove to be immune to the normal proton pack capture streams, which force the team to resort to different strategies to beat them.

** The proton packs don't do much against Gozer in his/her Stay Puft Marshmallow Man form. By setting him on fire they may have made him ''more'' dangerous.

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: Played with. While Peter is certainly a believer in the paranormal, he has a bit more practical sense than Ray and Egon, who are willing to believe ''anything'' is supernatural related. "Right, [[Sarcasm Mode|no human being would ]]''[[Sarcasm Mode|ever ]]''[[Sarcasm Mode|stack books like this]]."

* [[The Alleged Car]]: Ecto-1 is an ancient ambulance/hearse that we're introduced to with Ray listing off the numerous things they'll have to fix. Remarkably, they apparently do.

{{quote| '''Dr Ray Stantz''': Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!<br />

'''Dr. Egon Spengler''': Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...<br />

* [[Hope Spot]]: For a moment, it looks like they've vaporized Gozer and all's good with the world. Then Egon chimes in with "Ray, this looks extraordinarily ''bad''." Cue Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

* [[I Am Not Spock]]: According to the DVD commentary, the first movie ruined William Atherton's life, what with random people yelling "Hey, dickless!" at him on the streets and all...

{{quote| '''Zuul (in Dana's body):''' There is no Dana, only Zuul!<br />

'''Peter:''' What a lovely singing voice you must have. }}

'''Ray:''' Nice working with you, Dr. Venkman. }}

* [[It Is Beyond Saving]]: In the [[Backstory]] Shandor believed this about society in general, which is why he wanted to cause [[The End of the World As We Know It]].

{{quote| '''Peter''': (peeking inside) Oh, my God... Look at all the junk food!<br />

'''Dana''': Oh, dammit! Look, this wasn't here...<br />

* [[Long List]]: Ray's list of repairs the Cadillac needed and Egon's similar list of problems with their building. Also, Peck's injunctions against the 'Busters.

* [[Magnetic Plot Device]]: All of those ghosts concentrating in New York is explained by Ray describing Dana Barret's high-rise apartment building as being built as a conductor for supernatural energy. The reason why the tower was made like this is that Ivo Shandor, leader of a cult of Gozer worshipers, made the tower so that Gozer would have a doorway into our world.

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Now we already know Dana Barret is physically attractive, but once she gets possessed by one of the Terror Dogs she becomes EVEN MORE smoking hot than she was.

* [[Muggles Do It Better]]: See [[Magic Versus Science]]. Ancient god, meet [[Mad Science|unlicensed nuclear accelerator.]]

* [[Never My Fault]]: Walter Peck condemns the Ghostbusters for causing the explosion he himself had caused, in spite of their warnings.

* [[Never Recycle a Building]]: Even though it's a major deathtrap in the middle of New York City, the abandoned firehouse remains conveniently available until Venkman ''et al'' need a place of business.

* [[Oh Crap]]: The look on Mr. Stay Puft's face when the Ghostbusters cross the streams.

** Alternatively, the Ghostbusters's reaction to Stay-Puft

'''Winston''': What is it?!<br />

'''Ray''': [[Department of Redundancy Department|It can't be!]]<br />

*** And again when Stay-Puft turns to face them with its maniacal grin...

{{quote| '''Winston:''' Oh, no.<br />

** When Walter Peck turns the containment grid off, the result is an [[Oh Crap]] combined with a [[This Is Gonna Suck]].

* [[Pillar of Light]]: Rises over the city when the ecto containment unit explodes.

{{quote| '''Venkman:''' ''(after having nearly been flung off a building by Gozer's [[Agony Beam|Electrofingers-of-Death]])'' "Alright... this chick is '''toast'''!"<br />

** Winston gets a good one in on the mayor

{{quote| '''Winston:''' Mr. Mayor I was a lot like you, but since I joined up with these men it have seen ''shit'' that will turn you ''white!''}}

'''Dr. Peter Venkman:''' Yes, I'm Dr. Venkman, Dr. Stantz, Egon... }}

* [[Styrofoam Rocks]]: At the end, when debris falling is from the top of the skyscraper. In one shot you can see a rock, which had supposedly tumbled from several hundred feet in the air, fall straight down and bounce off of a wooden police barrier.

* [[Trust Me I'm an X|Trust Me, I'm An X]]: "Back off, man, I'm a scientist."

* [[The Tunguska Event]]: A throw-away line near the end has Ray telling Louis that he was part of the biggest crossover event since this, implying that it was a ghost thing.

* [[Bottomless Magazines]]: The slime blowers appear to have infinite ammunition. Possibly justified by the slime cultures being self-regenerating; this is even vaguely hinted at during the courtroom scene.

* [[Brooklyn Rage]]: The source of the [[Big Bad]]'s power.

* [[The Cassandra]]: Milton Angland, the author who appears on Peter's show at the beginning of the second movie and predicted the world would end on New Year's Eve that year. That almost comes true, though nobody ever sees or speaks of him again.

* [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov's]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Music]]: "Higher and Higher" in the second movie. Ray and Egon show us that the slime happens to really like Jackie Wilson's version of the song early on in the movie. A cover version is used later on in the movie to empower the slime, thus mobilizing Libby.

** The evil stare that Vigo gives Ray plants the seed for Vigo to temporarily possess Ray towards the end of the film.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: Janosz Poha, Ray Stantz, and (almost) Oscar.

* [[Extra Strength Masquerade]]: The giant demonic marshmallow man and plague of ghosts from five years ago everyone remembers and even had physical evidence of was all the world's most elaborate hoax. Obviously.

* [[Expospeak Gag]]: This exchange

* [[Fur and Loathing]]

* [[Hanging Judge]]: Stephen "The Hammer" Wexler.

** Also a couple when the ghosts swarm New York in the movie. The ''Titanic'' finally reaches New York, and the mayor is visited (and berated by) the late Mayor LaGuardia.

* [[History Marches On]]: When the ''Titanic'' is shown arriving in port, it has a huge hole in the prow.

* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: The Ghostbusters use a positively-charged version of Vigo's slime to animate the Statue of Liberty, which allows them to bypass the slime barrier surrounding the Manhattan Museum of Modern Art. The slime blowers are then key to incapacitating Janosz and {{spoiler|the possessed Ray}} without hurting them. When Vigo is forced back into the painting, the slime blowers are the only weapon that visibly hurt him.

* [[Jerkass]]: Egon with his hilariously cruel experiments, including fooling a couple into thinking they are there for marriage counseling and watching them from behind a two-way mirror, then making them wait for hours and slowly pushing up the temperature.

* [[Medium Awareness]]: The updated Ghostbusters sign with the ghost giving the "two" sign. It doesn't make much sense in the context of the film.

** Or does it? The movie revolved around their comeback after 5 years of inactivity, so a redesigned logo might seem fitting. It was also their ''second run'' as ecto-exterminators...

* [[Sinister Subway]]: Home to an [[Afterlife Express]], which is a [[Call Back]] to an offhand comment in the first film, when a reporter informs viewers that his grandmother used to tell ghost stories about a spectral locomotive.

** As another example of [[Shown Their Work]], in searching for the source of the supernatural energy spike which caused little Oscar's runaway [[Baby Carriage]] at the start of the movie, the Ghostbusters discover the fictional Van Horne station filled by the river of slime. This is a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit Beach's Pneumatic Railway] which was built beneath Broadway and later shut down by Boss Tweed, and the movie depiction even resembles some of Beach's designs with its tile walls and mosaic frescoes. (Interestingly, while the Manhattan Museum of Art was also fictional, the building used for its facade, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House near Battery Park, is within a mile of the original tunnel's location.)

{{quote| '''Winston:''' Can't you go any faster?<br />

'''Ray:''' I'm afraid the vibrations would shake her to pieces. We should have padded her feet... }}

* [[Theme Tune Cameo]]: Ray and Winston try to sing the GB theme song at a birthday party for "ungrateful yuppie larvae", but sadly, they're shouted down by their cries for [[He-Man and The Masters of The Universe (Animation)|He-Man]].

* [[Weaponized Landmark]]: The Statue of Liberty.

{{reflist}}