Ghostbusters: The Third, part 1 (The Backstory and The Characters)

As you may remember, I posted a series of "Rules" about a hypothetical Third Ghostbusters Movie a while back. As I've not done much with it as intended, I figured it was time to post up my thoughts on the movie itself. Kinda a lesser from of my "The Thing Series" posts.

So, here we go!

The Backstory

To start, the movie takes place in 2016. (Previously, it was just a nebulous "Present Day" thing. But THEN I rewatched Ghostbusters II. There's this pointless little throwaway line in the beginning where the psychic wacko predicts the world is going to end February 14th 2016. And that was a reference too good for me to pass up.)

The Ghostbusters have been in operation since their return in Ghostbusters II, and, in fact, expanded to other cities with Franchise rights as the Game indicated. (Naturally, there would be a throwaway reference to the "Rookie" from the game having gone out to the West Coast to head the first franchise, but for some strange reason no one can quite remember what his name was...)

The Ghostbusters were a big thing there for a while. BUT... there are references to some nebulous "Incident" that happened in the between years that has shifted things a bit. (I'm not going to say what it was specifically, but it had to do with the 2012 "Apocalypse") Using this incident as a base of support from public backlash, Walter Peck has worked his way up to being a United States Senator with aspirations for the presidency. After the Game, Peck kinda begrudgingly accepted the Ghostbusters as necessary, but after the "Incident" he lobbied for, and succeeded in turning the company into another government institution akin to the Police, Fire Department, Post Office, what-have you.

So, as a result, the Ghostbusters "failed" in a sense, though they are still as present as ever. They have badges and are officially recognized as government employees, (aka "Ecto-Marshals") however this means they have far more oversight and limits place upon them. This made none of them happy, but they stuck with it. All besides Peter Venkman. Venkman disagreed with the whole thing and chose to pack up and ship off rather than play by Peck's game. He since founded his own rival company, the Ghost Smashers. (I'm currently debating how much involvement they have in the current movie.) Their tactics are quite different from the Ghostbusters as their claim is Ecto-Exterminations, rather than entrapment. They claim to be able to outright destroy these entities rather than trap and contain them. How is this possible? Well, that's the question isn't it...

The group has had trouble keeping new recruits around as there is massive turn over from the stress involved in dealing with both ghosts AND out of control bureaucracy. But still, they provide an important service in a time when the ghost problem only seems to be getting worse.


The Characters (Returning)

It's important to keep that continuity with the old series so, several faces from the past show up, but in a modular capacity as who knows who would and would not be willing to participate.

Peter, as the backstory suggests, split from the group to found his own company. He functions as a more modular element in the story as a background figure off doing his own thing. The returning characters would see him as more of an antagonist, but he does have his own reasons and is still very much Peter Venkman, If a bit older. (Think Zombieland Bill Murray, but forced to wear a suit and run a company.) He may or may not appear in the current movie based upon Murray's desire to be involved, but still referenced. Further, he could have a cameo, or even become involved directly in the finale. But we'll get to that a bit later. After the Game, Peter and Illyssa split and Peter reunited with Dana. (It's their thing.) But then, of course, when he broke with the Ghostbusters, he also left Dana and returned to Illyssa. She in turn helped him found the Ghost Smashers as sorta his "Ray" figure in the group. It was thanks to her Shandor connection that the two of them got the idea of focusing on Spectral Eliminations rather than capture and imprisonment. And thanks to Peter's less than ethical views, he absconded with Egon's designs for Dark Matter weaponry. (Peter would view this as not so much theft, as putting the technology to use rather than letting it gather dust.) Ultimately, he does miss his friends and wishes they had come with him to some extent.

Egon, Ray and Winston all have taken up positions within the Ghostbusters organization, not willing to just hand it over outright. Each of them dealing with it in different ways.

Winston is kinda the drill sergeant if you will. After the "incident" he has taken it upon himself to make sure that the new recruits are trained as best they can be before being sent out into the wild. He acts as the sorta... mentor/obi-wan/big brother/father figure to the new teams. He makes sure they are physically and mentally fit for duty, and more importantly, tries to give them some common damn sense. He is the only one of the original four who is happily married. However, infertility issues means that they never had kids, causing Winston to focus more on the younger Ghostbusters as a parental figure. (And really, isn't it time that Winston got a more central role in things?) He has trouble with the massive turn over in the organization, pushing recruits harder but being somewhat relieved when they do eventually give up.

Ray continued in a field work capacity up till the "incident" where he lost someone close to him. After that, he retired from field work, leaving it to the younger teams. Instead, he set about cataloging their collected knowledge over the years as an official Ghostbuters handbook on dealing with any and all situations he could imagine. He also published a parred down version for the public which became a bestseller. Unfortunately, the Tobin estate sued Ray for infringing on their families work, Tobin's Spirit Guide. Ever since the incident, Ray has developed a fascination with the Fort Detmerring haunting, which is a key element of this tale. (Note: For argument, the deleted scene of the first movie happened, with the dream remaining in the film being a recollection of the actual event.)

Egon is... well, Egon. He continues developing and improving upon their technologies. He now holds a bit of enmity towards Peter as he took Egon's designs for Dark Matter weaponry intended to destroy ghosts, rather than neutralize them, and began using it with the Ghost Smashers counter to Egon's warnings to the contrary. He has also begun undertaking clandestine operations to outfit the city with various gear designed to stave off any future multidimensional threats. Due to the fact that he holds several patents, Egon is independently wealthy, and, in fact, funds the team out of his own pockets on the QT. The government, shall we say, is not too generous with funds for the group, but might as well have them pay SOME right? Egon did, in fact, in the past have a minor dilemma with this, when the funding started to dry up, he considered the idea of either funding the group from his own pocket... or simply overthrowing the government itself. He decided he didn't have the desire or fortitude for a technocratic dictatorship, so went with his first option instead.

Janine also still works with the group, and in fact, sort of runs things. She's more or less the CEO of Ghostbusters Inc. When Peter left the other three didn't really have the business acumen to take over, so, they left it up to her. And a fine job she's done, relatively speaking. She married Louis (I hate that WHOLE plot line from II, but it brought the characters a nice element here and I HATE just handwaving these ideas away.) and the two had one child. However, Louis' general incompetence in most areas wore on Janine, who still held a flame for Egon. And though she was attracted to Louis for his Egon like qualities, it turned out, he was FAR more Louis than Egon in the long run. She and Louis are currently going through a divorce. (A fact that Egon is not... unhappy about, let us say, but he's still not one to act on these things)

Meanwhile, after his "heroism" during the Vigo incident at the museum, Louis became quite popular, foolishly going into politics himself and bumbling his way up to Congressman. He was elected for only a single term in office before people realized he didn't know what the fuck he was doing. He is currently retired, forcibly so. His connections with Ghostbusters Inc. have grown tenuous as he and Janine go through a Divorce. But, being Louis Tully, he is always trying to win Janine back and aid his friends.

Due to the "Incident" government regulations require the Ghostbusters to keep Slimer contained at all times. He has is own special containment cell in the Ghostbuster's new HQ (You read that right) but he is still kept in a box. Likewise, they also retain the Vigo Painting in it's own area. Though he is prevented from feeding on any spectral energies, Vigo is still as pissy as ever. He regularly insults the teams when they enter the area to use the containment unit.

Dana is... well, she's still a musician, but never got the chance to make it really big in the music world due to her efforts to raise her son and Peter to an extent. But now that Oscar is older, she has gotten back into it and begun touring again. I don't see her having a large role in the new movie as, how many times can one character find herself at the center of interdimensional threats? And, being that the character doesn't strike me as the suit up, and battle ghosts type, (even given her actress) that leaves her as little more than a cameo.

This brings us around to our last returning character and FIRST of the new team of Ghostbusters...

Oscar "Oz" Wallance. Growing up with the other four has given Oscar a more rounded personality when it comes to the paranormal. While not as knowledgeable as the old team, he is still one of the most skilled Ghostbusters. Now in his late Twenties, Oscar... has grown tired of the group. Primarily he holds harsh feeling against Peter for ditching his mother, and in turn him. Which is why he chose to hold the last name of his biological father, sorta a "Fuck you!" to Peter. He still respects the boys, his uncles, but he's a bit tired of living in their shadow too. He continues working as a Ghostbuster out of a sense of responsibility rather than a love of the job. Oscar is one of the two main characters of the story, his arch of having done this for nearly his entire life but not really knowing what else he could be doing speaks to the nature of the franchise as it stands. With hopefully, the new tale starting to turn things around.


The Characters (New)

Naturally, with the idea of the return being to pass the torch, one needs a group of younger 'busters to take over. I tried to pick characters who would follow in both the mold of the classic busters in being a group of weirdos brought together AND playing with the multi culturalism of the Extreme cartoon without repeating the same beats and giving it more point than just trying to be more PC. I couldn't justify from a character perspective as just repeating the old team, with token black guy. Nor could I justify "The Girl" or "The Nerdy Guy" as viable archetypes to work with. Each one was chosen for what it brings to them as characters and, in turn, the team. (I explain this so you understand that it wasn't one of those pathetic business tactics to superficially inject "DIVERSITY" into something. Come on people, I have my reasons for things.)

So, lets get to the newbies!

Farrah "Fay" Zaman is a science student who sorta takes over the "Egon" role on the team. Growing up she always idolized the Ghostbusters, Egon in particular, but could never really bring herself to seek them out. Partially because Muslims do not believe in Ghosts. However, she has a healthy curiosity and a desire to understand things. She's also, paradoxically, the most fit on the team, believing that a healthy body is key to a keen mind. (which does not mean fanservice people.) When someone close to her goes missing, she meets Oz and is brought into the group for her technical skills. Obviously, she is also at odds with Oz because she cannot understand why he wouldn't WANT to do this job while at the same time, struggling to understand Ghosts as something OTHER than the spirits of the dead. She acts as the secondary main character opposite Oz, in that she is the focal point of audience members who are new to the series. Certainly the have heard of the series, but may not understand who every one is, or how the world works. But also, it's important that she's the brain as well, because really, don't treat your audience as idiots.

Abram "Bram" Alvert is a former legal student who went into the "ghost hunting" business himself after a paranormal experience. Unfortunately, as the "Peter" of the group, he is a liar and a fraud and his absurd techniques reference modern Ghost Hunters. He becomes involved in the current situation and jumps at the chance to become an "official" member of the team. (If for no other reason that it would give him GREAT publicity) His fondness of classic cars and mechanics as a hobby gives him that mechanical edge to work with things like the Ecto and such. I see the character as being openly gay simply because it plays with stereotypes. There will be no scenes of him hitting on the other members of the team, nor being flamboyantly fabulous.

Anton Kibwe is the bookworm and "Ray" of the group. His love of the occult and supernatural has won him few friends over the years but that's just fine by him. He joined the Ghostbusters due to his brother's recommendation, but still doesn't quite feel like he fits in. I liked the notion of him being both black AND the Goth of the team. Probably one of my favorite character quirks. If I had my druthers, he'd be played by Donald Glover. (He couldn't be Spider-Man, let him be a Ghostbuster.) His father is a Kenyan immigrant who has a rather fascinating tale all his own, but doesn't play into this movie. Anton is quiet and reserved, but smart as hell and gets overly excited about paranormal possibilities, though he catches himself and tries to down play it often.

Edgar Pavlin is the last of the team, the "Winston" everyman. (Yes, a FIVE man team) Edgar was a former Marine cadet who actually joined up with the Ghost Smashers originally. Over time, and exploring his heritage, he could no longer Justify the "killing" of these spirits and so switched over to the Ghostbusters. Edgar is an American Indian who was adopted as a child by a Russian Immigrant couple. They instilled in him a belief in Catholicism. Later in his life, he sought out his blood relatives, eventually finding his grandmother was still alive. She passed on to him the various beliefs and ideals from their family, giving poor Edgar somewhat competing belief systems. She also passed onto him his "true name" which is Kangee, though everyone still calls him Edgar or some variant.

As for new characters not on the team itself:

Agent Aiden Haden of the FBI. His role in the tale is the oversight officer of the organization. (one of PCOCs little rules, that the Ecto-Marshals are assigned a local FBI agent to make sure they are working within their allowed parameters, which has made Haden less than popular with the team) He has been with the New York Ghostbusters (aka the Original Team) since the policy was instituted, a fact that he was none too happy about. Finally, he is getting his chance to move on and as such, he is training his replacement at the beginning of the movie. Haden fills the role of "Peck/Hardemeyer", being the grumpy bastard more than willing to shut the team down if they step out of line. He is not clever and is certainly no politician. He understands most of the technical jargon, but has no sense of humor and grows frustrated quickly when anyone acts unprofessional.

Agent Alice Ackerman is Haden's replacement. She has heard nothing but negative things about the team and as a result is reticent about being given the assignment. However, unlike Haden, she seems like she might be more willing to work with the weirdoes of the organization, but is caught between her job as oversight and genuinely growing fond of them. She functions as a sort of romantic foil to Oz. He's smitten with her, but sees her as potentially being as big a pain in the ass as Haden. She in turn thinks of Oz as lazy and apathetic, not yet being brought up to speed on the entire history of the team.

Rounding out the cast is Vicky Clarke, the new secretary and dispatcher for the New York Ghostbusters, filling the "Janine" role. However, unlike Janine she is much more warm and cheerful, genuinely enjoying her work. A mindset that baffles most of the others, but is appreciated none the less. (Though some of them would never admit it) She functions more as a support role, and a comedic character to bring a bit more light to the group. And no, she doesn't die just to make everything more serious business. In spite of the drama in the character profiles, this IS still a Horror Comedy.


PHEW! Alot there. But I needed a basis for the world to work with before I wound a new adventure from this. It took me a bit, but I finally got something workable. (Though in a sense I do worry it's too "safe".)

Check back later for the full plot outline.