I’ve just bought a Slinky…

[Danny Stephenson]

It makes the coolest sounds if you mic it up!

Sorry, I just haven’t had one for years, and yes i’ve had it down the stairs. Did it on the first try.

Etch a Sketch is next on the list.

Topic

[locusceruleus]

Multi coloured or original?

[hummingbird]

Have you bought a slinky?

[Danny Stephenson]

Multi coloured or original?

Metal. Plastic ones don’t sounds like laser guns :D

[locusceruleus]

Agreed. The plastic ones are shite.

Laser guns eh? I’m intrigued.

[SeeYouAtThePartyRichter]

>Sorry, I just haven?t had one for years, and yes i?ve had it down the stairs. Did it on the first try.

Reads like the caption to one of those naughty seaside postcards.

[Andrew]

I had part of a slinky. But I straightened it.

[ChrisM]

I used to have one of those! We didn’t call it a slinky though. It was called a ‘springy thingy’. I’m not joking. (I heard the term though. A Canadian student who was staying with us told me. I guess it’s like Marathon/Snickers now. Except less chocolatey. And nuttey. And not being edible. At all. I’ll go now.)

[pfm]

[John Hoare]

I had part of a slinky. But I straightened it.

Gah, remind me where this is from! Buffy? Or is it The Big Bang Theory?

[Pete Part Three]

Ghostbusters II

[Dave]

http://imagechan.com/img/599/Zoidberg’s%20slinky/

[John Hoare]

Ghostbusters II

Of course!

I saw both films for the first time ever recently. I am pleased to report, 25 years too late, that they are excellent. (Although people are right in that II is too much of a retread, yeah.)

[pfm]

> I saw both films for the first time ever recently.

How is that even possible?? OK OK there’s loads of great films I’ve never seen. It’s just getting round to it.

Even though it’s pretty much universally praised I still think Ghostbusters is more brilliant than it’s ever given credit for. It’s one of those situations where everyone’s at the peak of their powers and the whole film (a PROPER comedy film, no less) just buzzes with sheer excellence. You know a film’s good when you can keep quoting it again and again. ‘I’ve seen shit that’ll turn you white!’

*waits for some knob to say ‘technically it’s spelled “Ghost Busters”‘*

*anticipates reply ‘one already did’*

[Danny Stephenson]

?technically it?s spelled ?Ghost Busters?

the DVDs say otherwise…

[Pete Part Three]

Technically it’s spelled “Ghost Busters”.

But it’s “Ghostbusters II”

Pick the bones out of the that one, Sally.

And what were you actually doing in the eighties, John?, because you sure weren’t watching classic movies.

[Pete Part Three]

>the DVDs say otherwise?

The DVDs also stick the logo the wrong way round. Don’t trust DVDs. DVDs like Coldplay and the Nazi party.

[pfm]

Ah, but is School of Rock called ‘School of Rock’ or ‘THE School of Rock’?

[Pete Part Three]

School of Rock. In the opening, there are two signs on the wall, but they just happen to be next to each other and the same colour. They are, of course, the “The” sign and the “School of Rock” sign.

What very few people know is that “The” is Urdu for “Fire Exit” and the first sign was simply set decoration and was not intended to be part of the credits. Alas, the audience thought it was one sign and read it as “The School of Rock”.

Makes you think, huh?

[Andrew]

Glad the reference was picked. Any resemblance between my life and that of Egon Spenglar is purely wish-fulfilment. (And the second film may re-hash, but it has such of surplus of great lines that most comedies could still learn by example.)

> Technically it?s spelled ?Ghost Busters?.

Yet the BBFC classified it under the title ‘Ghostbusters’. TBH, I always assumed the splitting of the title on the movie itself came from concerns for the VHS release – for which the full word would have been two wide, certainly for pan-and-scan, but even when shooting supposedly screen-safe.

[James]

I have a slinky dog.

[Seb Patrick]

>(And the second film may re-hash, but it has such of surplus of great lines that most comedies could still learn by example.)

“I’d like to run some gynaecological tests on the mother.”
“Who wouldn’t?”

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

I used to watch both of these films on VHS copies purchased from the library, at an age when I was only getting, at the very utmost, about 45% of the jokes (and before that, I was devoted to the cartoon spin-off). Egon was always my favorite, because I’m weird.

[Seb Patrick]

Yeah, I think the reason I like Ghostbusters II more than a lot of people is that when the toy/cartoon mania was hitting in ’89, it was the film that was out. So it was the film that I had on pirated VHS (bought in Cyprus at the same time as a pirated copy of Batman) and used to watch over and over again. I’d seen the first film too, but usually round at other people’s houses.

There exists video footage somewhere on Youtube (no, I’m not telling you where) of my getting the fire station and ECTO-1 that Christmas, as well.

[pfm]

I had the helicopter. ECTO-3 I think it was. Along with ECTO-1, the fire station and pretty much every figure. Also the full size (well, kid size) proton pack! All this along with Thundercats, He-man and Manta Force stuff (which I wish I still had, godsdamnit! I think the most excited I’ve ever been (pre-puberty) was when I got the Red Venom ship for my birthday) was all that cluttered my room, along with the big AT-AT and X-wing.

[Danny Stephenson]

My dad thought the Firestation wouldnt’ last 2 minutes with us, what with it being plastic and all. So he made us a wooden version which my nephew is still playing with.

[Seb Patrick]

>Also the full size (well, kid size) proton pack!

I never got the proton pack. I was gutted. A few years ago I bought one for 50p at a car boot sale. It didn’t fit, so I sold it to my mate. For 50p.

[Danny Stephenson]

The Proton Pack is not a toy…

[Seb Patrick]

“Why worry? I mean, each of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.”

[Andrew]

I think at this point it’s important to say that at the age of ten or so, myself and three friends regularly dressed up in home-made Ghostbuster uniforms, got into ECTO 1 (a wooden vehicle appropriated from the village’s production of Bugsy Malone painted white and carried while running like a Flintstones vehicle) and trapped ghosts in my back garden. Then wrote reports about the kind of spook we encountered.

My sister was Janine. I was Egon. In retrospect that’s the sickest part of all.

[Seb Patrick]

>My sister was Janine. I was Egon. In retrospect that?s the sickest part of all.

Only if you go by the cartoon’s continuity.

[Blisschick]

The only thing I owned from that era was a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll, which I thought was kind of cheesy at the time, but like everyone else, I wish I still owned. I don’t even remember what happened to it.

[Carlito]

> There exists video footage somewhere on Youtube (no, I?m not telling you where) of my getting the fire station and ECTO-1 that Christmas, as well.

Jesus, I’ve seen that. A long long time ago. You’ve either posted a link on this site before, or on some other site which I’ve happened upon.

[Carlito]

I used to walk around with a toy PKE meter when I was a kid.

Happy days.

I only came into this thread to use the “I had part of a slinky. But I straightened it.” line and got beaten to it. Blast.

[Carlito]

I shall improvise.

If your slinky represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area, based on this morning’s reading, it would be a slinky thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

[Carlito]

I love Ghostbusters II. Ghostbusters II is my all-time second favourite film, guy.

[Danny Stephenson]

What’s your first?

[Carlito]

This.

[Carlito]

Sorry, I mean Ghostbusters.

[si]

My Marshmallow Man still stands proudly on the windowsill in the bathroom. I never got the Firehouse or the Proton Pack, but my Ecto-1 survived until my siblings arrived in the early nineties, when the wings were briken off.

My biggest disaster was my Uncle Kev taking my Millennium Falcon to a jumble sale and selling it for tuppence about six months before the big Star Wars comeback in the mid-nineties.

[pfm]

Ghostbusters is one of those where you definitely don’t get half of the gags when you’re a kid (hands up who knew what menstruating was when you were 7?). Also, I think I used to mostly watch a TV recording of it with various stuff cut or dubbed (Winston says ‘I’ve seen THINGS that’ll turn you white!’ it was either that or ‘stuff’, can’t remember).

[Ben Paddon]

(Winston says ?I?ve seen THINGS that?ll turn you white!? it was either that or ?stuff?, can?t remember).

Reminds me of when ITV showed Shaun Of The Dead.

“Can I get… any of you COCKS!… a drink?”

[Seb Patrick]

Also, I think I used to mostly watch a TV recording of it with various stuff cut or dubbed (Winston says ?I?ve seen THINGS that?ll turn you white!? it was either that or ?stuff?, can?t remember).

I caught it over Christmas on some channel somewhere during the day. There’s no “this man has no dick”. There’s no “I want you inside me”. Lots of other odds and ends cut, as well. Most of them from Murray, most of them probably originally adlibs.

There’s also BTTF, which actually has a surprising amount of swearing – there are quite a few “shits” and one or two “bastards”. The classic one there, of course, is “When this baby hits 88mph, you’re gonna see some serious STUFF!”

I’d always reckoned, though, that if a film was rated PG, it was suitable for being shown in the afternoon. Clearly not. I wonder if they’ve always been cut that much, or if they’ve had more edits made in subsequent years?

And I can’t leave this conversation, which is – I’m sure – a conversation we’ve had on this site before, without bringing up the incredible Mallrats stuff, which manages to substitute the dialogue for something that actually makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

Original : “That’s impossible! Lois Lane could never have Superman’s baby. You think her fallopian tubes could handle his sperm? I guarantee you he blows a wad like a shotgun right through her back.”
TV edit : “… You think her faithful fans could handle the shock? I guarantee you he blows her mind just like a rocket when it’s in orbit.”

… although maybe they just edited that one to try and cover up for Kevin Smith’s appalling knowledge of female anatomy.

[Andrew]

> (Winston says ?I?ve seen THINGS that?ll turn you white!? it was either that or ?stuff?, can?t remember).

It was ‘stuff’. I still have the TV version engraved on my brain, and every change is emblazoned on my brain. “Dickless here” changes to “Wally Wick here”. It’s bizarre.

PG doesn’t remotely mean pre-9pm friendly.

[Ben Paddon]

“Wally wick”? That’s… huh.

[si]

I always remember Robocop’s “WHY me?! WHY me?!”

[Mr Flibble]

PGs aren’t allowed too much swearing though, are they? 12/12A you can pretty much do what you like it seems, but I’m sure PGs are pretty strict.

[Andrew]

PGs are permitted a healthy range of shits and bastards, etc. The fuck level in 12As seems to be on the rise, though I think it’s still dependant on context.

[si]

Just off on a slight tangent – I seem to remember 1992’s Batman was the first movie with a 12 rating. Am I right? I was thirteen – and old enough – at the time, hence my remembering.

[Mr Flibble]

I know I researched 15 for something I filmed that had to conform to that rating, and found that the context bit goes away at that level – so a 15 can have someone on screen saying “fuck fuck fuck” constantly.

[Mr Flibble]

Just off on a slight tangent – I seem to remember 1992?s Batman was the first movie with a 12 rating. Am I right? I was thirteen – and old enough – at the time, hence my remembering.

Yep, and the first 12A was not Spider-man, but The Bourne Identity.

I’m of a firm belief that 12A should have a lower age limit though, ever since I spent a couple of hours sat in front of some very distressed seven/eight year olds who had been taken to see Batman Begins in IMAX.

[Author]

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