Who you gonna call (Possible Ghostbusters 3 spoilers.)….

[ChrisM]

No Dr. Venkman apparently.

Heh. I wonder if this is just Murray’s dry sense of humour at work.

From a story point of view, I think it could work out well though!

Topic

[ChrisM]

That should be “Not Dr. Venkman apparently.”

[Carlito]

Sigourney Weaver said the same thing a few weeks ago.

I would take it with a pinch of salt, though. The first Ghostbusters movies were all about the Murray… his interaction, chemistry and improvisation with the other cast steered the tone and mood of the franchise. It’s hard to imagine another movie without him in a decent role, even if the task at hand is passing the baton.

If they DO kill him off “in the first reel” and he appears as a ghost, this still doesn’t neccessarily mean his role (in ghostly form) has to be a small one.

Murray’s supposedly a notoriously prickly and difficult character, and just getting him on board to this point has taken two decades. Hopefully they can convince him to contribute more.

[ChrisM]

If they DO kill him off ?in the first reel? and he appears as a ghost, this still doesn?t neccessarily mean his role (in ghostly form) has to be a small one.

Oh, I agree. I was making a bad joke about the fact dead people don’t answer the phone, (well, ok, in the Ghostbusters-verse they very well might…) rather than Murray’s lack of involvement.

I have mixed feelings if it is true. On one hand I’d rather Venkman wasn’t killed off (even if he does return as a ghost) but on the other, it could add some great twisty stuff to the storyline.

[pfm]

I’m sure he’s gonna be in it plenty, just as a ghost for most of it. At least he’s in it, that’s the main thing. It could work if he’s killed early on…

Oscar will be the main character (in his early 20s now, maybe Zac Efron, for argument’s sake…). Venkman has been sort of like his step-dad over the years but Oscar hates all the Ghostbusters stuff, he’s always had a bad time through being known as Venkman and Dana’s son, and Venkman has never been there when he needed him (yeah yeah *wah*). His best friend is Egon’s super-smart son and the love-interest is Winston’s hot daughter. Venkman wanted Oscar to carry on the ‘busters legacy but he always threw it in his face.

The ORIGINAL ‘busters are still going but business has been slow for years. They have a new secretary, played by Katee Sackhoff, who sits bored out of her mind at the desk. Something really REALLY evil starts brewing and they’re called out to a job, not knowing how bad it’s gonna be, and because they’re now lazy, fat and old they’re ill-prepared for what they’re about to face, which is basically the coming of Hades, god of the underworld, and his minions. Venkman dies while they’re fighting and his ghost is sucked into a trap, without the other ‘busters knowing. The ‘busters escape, Venkman is fired into the ghost containment unit and we see him in there with the other ghosts.

Ray and Egon work out that Venkman will go to Hell, along with everyone else if Hades isn’t stopped. Oscar now wants to get involved to save Venkman, and he joins the ‘busters with Egon’s son, Winston’s daughter and Katee Sackhoff’s character (I think her in the overalls with a proton pack would be my ultimate wank fantasy…annyway…:P) being the new team with Ray, Egon and Winston as support against the new bout of ghost activity.

It ends with Venkman being redeemed and going to Heaven (only implied, obviously), Oscar getting down and dirty with Winston’s hot daughter and, most importantly, Katee Sackoff covered in ectoplasm.

[Carlito]

>> If they DO kill him off ?in the first reel? and he appears as a ghost, this still doesn?t neccessarily mean his role (in ghostly form) has to be a small one.
> Oh, I agree. I was making a bad joke about the fact dead people don?t answer the phone

The article implied that it was little more than a cameo.

[Carlito]

By the way, PM your outline for the GB3 plot is great. If that turned out to be the exact plot, I’d be perfectly happy. Except with 90% extra Murray.

[Ben Paddon]

That’s easily the single greatest post PM has ever written on this or indeed any other forum.

[Ben Paddon]

> The article implied that it was little more than a cameo.

That’s the thing about articles about “in development” stuff – they’re not 100% reliable. News breaks that DC Comics might be working on a follow-up to Watchmen, and suddenly all the film blogs yell “WARNER BROS CONFIRM WATCHMEN 2 IN DEVELOPMENT” because they’ve no fucking clue what they’re doing.

[pfm]

> Except with 90% extra Murray.

What I hope happens is that Venkman is still a main character even though he’s dead. There’s so much mileage in him being a ghost and interacting with the others. Though would it ruin everything? Most of the ghosts we see in GB & GB2 are more like monsters and they don’t speak. If Venkman’s ghost is just a dead Bill Murray I doubt anyone would be unhappy!

I really want Hell to be the main idea too. Whether Dan Aykroyd’s idea of a ‘Hell’ version of NYC would work I don’t know. I just imagine it as a worse version of the alternate 1985 from BTTF2, except in New York, obviously. Flames flying up the vents, most buildings torn down, rubble everywhere. Though if they did that reactions might be *wah 9/11* well, it WAS like Hell that day.

[Seb Patrick]

>Katee Sackhoff?s character (I think her in the overalls with a proton pack would be my ultimate wank fantasy?annyway?:P)

(that miniseries – Displaced Aggression – is well worth checking out, actually. Not least because it features a flying, time-travelling Ecto-1 (and, of course, a BTTF reference to boot) )

[Seb Patrick]

Right, since performingmonkey’s done his, I’ll do mine. I had a feeling I’d posted this before, but a site search for “real ghostbusters” turned up nothing, so apologies if you’ve already seen/heard it (I have been hawking the idea round people for about 5 years now), but here it is :

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS (yes, the whole scenario is backward-engineered from that title)

In the years since Ghostbusters II, the Ghostbusters have become ever more successful. “Ghostbusters Inc.” is now a global franchise, with branches (all built to resemble the classic fire station) worldwide. The ghost epidemic has never quite stopped, but the ‘busters have always been able to bring it under control. Or, at least, the assorted hundreds of GB “agents” worldwide have. The original Ghostbusters have all been put out to pasture. Only Pete Venkman had ever been smart enough to properly control the trademarks, copyrights, image rights and everything else associated with the global phenomenon the company has become. Having “sold out” and retired to a tropical island somewhere with his millions, the company is now in the hands of a shady corporation – with Egon, Ray and Winston all having been given token payments, booted out of the way, and denied access to the equipment and technology they developed in the first place.

But something’s up. It turns out (somehow… like I’ve worked out any of these details) that the people running Ghostbusters Inc. are actually… DUN DUN DUNN! evil ghosts themselves! Masquerading as people! And they haven’t been capturing ghosts across the world all these years – they’ve been recruiting them! This will be discovered, somehow (possibly because Winston himself dies – or has died – and as a ghost gets “busted” by the new company), and it’s left to Egon and Ray to try and persuade Peter to come out of retirement, put all his selfishness aside, and help them out. Because the massed ghost army are beginning to move upon the world (destroying the once-fine reputation of the Ghostbusters in the process) and there are only four people (well, three people and one ghost, if we’ve killed Winston off) who can stop them. Breaking into the original fire station (which has now become The Ghostbusters Museum) and using all of their old outdated equipment and the original Ecto-1 to face off against the phonies, they are… THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS.

[Carlito]

Well…. I like Seb’s concept… then again, I like performingmonkey’s concept… but which is better?

There’s only one way to find out…….

[Muzzy]

Make them both on very large budgets and judge which one fans react to best?

[ori-STUDFARM]

Toss a coin!

[Pete Part Three]

There was a ghost and the ghostbusters got the ghost. The End.*

*This bears an uncanny resemblance to a story I wrote at school when I was eight. Stick the Ray Parker Jr song in there and I think it could be a winner.

[ori-STUDFARM]

^It’s a remake then?

[Pete Part Three]

Yes, a remake of “Tommy and the Ghost Catching Gang” (1987, Universal)

[pfm]

> And they haven?t been capturing ghosts across the world all these years – they?ve been recruiting them!

I love the idea of someone building a ghost army. Rather than showing Ghostbusting worldwide I bet they’d more likely go for something simpler like someone working for the ‘busters who secretly steals ghosts from the containment unit and takes them to the bad guys. Maybe there could be a ghost war? Venkman and the others have to call up some good ghosts to fight the evil army. Evil as in things that say ‘WIIIIIINSTOOOOON!!!’ and freak you out.

[Carlito]

I like the idea of a rival corporation competing against the Ghostbusters… when we rejoin them, the Ghostbusters haven’t moved with the times; it’s the same four guys in the same HQ with the same equipment, stuck in their little time capsule, waiting for the phone to ring whilst some rival firm (GhostSmashers, in a nod to the original films working title) are opening worldwide franchises and really have the paranormal control business tightly gripped. Then the Big Bad arrives, starts stirring up the shit, the GhostSmashers don’t have the expertise to solve the problem, and who you gonna call?

[Ben Paddon]

HE-MAN HE-MAN HE-MAN HE-MAN HE-MAN HE-MAN

[p2p_productions]

I like how a lot of fan plotlines include ‘business’ as a theme. After all, the first film was more or less a ‘going into business’ story, so it makes sense at least one sequel should be a ‘going OUT of business story’ (on account of rival companies).

I always thought a great opener for GB3 could see the original Ghostbusters watching a trailer for ‘Ghostbusters: The Movie’ in the boardroom (kinda like the opening of Goldmember), or an update of the 80s cartoon.

[ChrisM]

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/bill-murray-says-ghostbusters-3-is-his-nightmare-9390

[Seb Patrick]

The original is a classic, for good reason. And as more time passes, the more I think it’s a clear cut case of lightning striking once. The sequel was a lazy retread. Replace Zull and the Gargoyles with the Evil Painting Dude and the Slime, Stay Puft with the Statue of Liberty scene, add in Sigourney’s kid, and it was like a cut and past storyline from part one.

STOP BEING WRONG.

(of course GB2 is nowhere near as good as GB1. But it is categorically NOT a retread of the same plot! People ONLY say that because of the Statue of Liberty bit.)

[ChrisM]

I think there is a similarity with the overall plot. There are different themes though, and they warrant the second films existence I think, and I like it. I was mainly linking to that to show the interview with Murray.

As for Stay Puft and Statue of Liberty… the only real similarity I see is the fact they’re big things strolling through New York (which granted is probably what most people making the comparison are thinking of). The context is so different, i.e one the Big Bad*, the other a beacon of hope. Quite literally, come to think of it.

*Well okay, that was really Gorgozor the Traveller. Or Zool (I was never quite clear if they’re aspects of the same thing, although the Gatekeeper and Keymaster refer to themselves by that name too.)

[Carlito]

Zuul was the demon dog, the gatekeeper, the minion of Gozer.

[ori-STUDFARM]

Why does Bill Murray sound like Kermit the frog?

[Author]

Replies