Anybody who knows anything about the making of Ghostbusters II knows that the film went through many changes over the course of its production, and that didn't end when it was shown in the theater. Fans who saw the movie when it was screened theatrically in June 1989 remember seeing scenes that were omitted from the later VHS and laserdisc releases (and all subsequent home video releases). I remember seeing Slimer fly out from the Statue of Liberty at the end of the film (as depicted in the storyboard above), whereas Chris from Proton Charging remembers seeing the scene where Louis's cousin Sherman (played by Eugene Levy) helped get the Ghostbusters out of the Parkview psychiatric hospital.

The Sherman Tully scene is an example of a scene that doesn't work in tandem with another scene that was filmed later. In this case, the scene in the City Hall boardroom where the Mayor fired Hardemeyer and orders the Ghostbusters released from Parkview. The latter replaces the former, and they wouldn't work together in the same cut. The same is true for the Cheech Marin "Titanic" scene, which replaces Venkman delivering that same line to the fire captain outside the museum. All of the interaction with Hardemeyer and the Mayor outside the museum is also replaced by the boardroom scene.

Sony included a semi-common photo from the Sherman Tully scene in their August 2009 update of Ghostbusters.com, which was covered by a post on Proton Charging. In the now-deleted comments from that post, Chris (aka Castewar) commented on that:

# castewar - Posted August 27, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Levy played Louis' cousin that got the GBs out of the psych hospital, but it was cut from video release. I saw GB2 on opening day in Calgary, and the print I watched had that short scene in it, and then it never appeared again. It's driven me nuts for years - my own private Star Wars Holiday Special.

This prompted me to write my own theory on why there's a difference between the "Theatrical Cut" of Ghostbusters II as we remember, and the "Home Video Cut":

When I saw GB2 in the theater I know that I saw Slimer flying out from the statue towards the screen at the end. Of course, that's missing from all home video releases, too.

It makes me wonder why Columbia and/or Ivan would modify the film so greatly for home video and never show the theatrical cut ever again.

I wonder if the Sherman Tully scene was present in the U.S. theatrical prints. If you saw it up there, I'd bet it was shown down here as well. The Sherman scene couldn't exist in tandem with the City Hall boardroom scene, as there would be no need for Sherman to help get the guys out of the psych ward if the mayor already ordered them free ("...and somebody get me the Ghostbusters!"). I just found out from looking at these really expensive original call sheets - that the Prop Store is selling - that the mayor's office scene and the Cheech Marin dock scene were both filmed on the same day: "Thursday 27 April 1989". I don't know if it's normal for a movie to still be in principal photography less than two months before the release date - especially for an effects driven film. But what's interesting is that BOTH of these scenes were scripted to replace other scenes that don't appear on home video: the Sherman scene, the guys outside the museum discussing the Titanic with the fire chief and the Kumbaya singing, and the guys talking to Hardemeyer and the mayor outside the museum. This leads me to think that sometime in early 1989 Ivan decided to cut all of those scenes out, but for most of them it was too late. So he left in what was needed for the story, so the film could make the release date, and filmed the alternate scenes in April, with the idea that he'll fix up the movie as he sees fit for home video.

In other words, all home video releases contain the Director's Cut, instead of the Theatrical Cut. That's my theory.

As for Levy being in the Sherman scene, during one of the Selected Soundbytes interview clips on the Ghostbusters II Electronic Press Kit, Rick Moranis said, "We have Eugene here today, who's Canadian." There some very brief behind the scenes (B-Roll) footage from that scene on the EPK - some stills and video from it are on the GB2 Deleted Scenes: Sherman page on Spook Central.

Recently, CBR posted an article about Ghostbusters II's ending, and whether Slimer did or didn't fly out from the Statue of Liberty. Honestly, I think the CBR article is full of inconclusive conjecture that does not prove their belief that it's "false". As someone who saw Ghostbusters II in the theater back in 1989, distinctly remembers Slimer flying out from Miss Liberty at the end, and who has been researching and documenting Ghostbusters for 20 YEARS (yes, Spook Central is the longest-running Ghostbusters website), I would not take a claim from a projectionist who got a 33mm print of the film FROM SONY IN 2010 as proof that this is false.

Who's to say that the print he got from Sony was not stricken from the "new final cut" that was used for home video and all subsequent showings after the 1989 theatrical showing? If Sony does not want the original theatrical version from ever being shown again, they're going to make sure that all copies of it - be it VHS, laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, 35mm print, digital, etc. - are not going to contain *that* version...EVER!

The only way to prove this one true or false is to find a bootleg Ghostbusters II theatercam VHS from 1989 - my holy grail item!

I believe that the original theatrical cut has never appeared since June 1989 for legal reasons. If my theory holds true, and the home video cut is Ivan's final "final cut", Columbia Pictures may be legally obliged to only distribute that cut for the rest of time. I don't know what Ivan's contract with the studio entails, but I know that he and the main three actors had a lot of power given to them in their contracts, so my idea isn't far-fetched.

South Park has been referencing Ghostbusters 2016 all throughout this season, with Cartman feigning interest in the film in order to woo his new girlfriend. In the 20th season premiere (titled "Member Berries", airdate 9/14/2016), Cartman gives a speech to his school about the misogyny perpetrated by internet troll "skanthunt42" against the females of the town.

Fellow students. As you know, an Internet troll by the name of 'skankhunt42' has been harassing women and girls by making degrading comments on our school message board. The girls are very upset, and many male students believe that it's just because girls don't have a sense of humor. I beg to disagree. Girls rule, women are funny, get over it. Just the other day, in the hallway, I heard two male students saying how the new Ghostbusters sucked balls. I was shocked and appalled. It is time for us all to realize and accept that girls are cool, and women are funny.

It wasn't the mention of Ghostbusters that caught my interest, but something else that Cartman said. Does this set of screens from Sony's Ghostbusters 2016 TV Spot #43 - "Dazzling" give you a hint?


His line, "Girls rule, women are funny, get over it." is the "blurb whore" phrase used by Manohla Dargis in her movie review published by The New York Times on July 10, 2016.

In its proper context, the blurb reeks of being including for the sake of being later excerpted in movie advertising - something that some reviewers are keen to do because they like seeing their name in print/on screen.

No one performance dominates the new "Ghostbusters," which is for the most part democratically comic (a Paul Feig signature), although Kate McKinnon's magnificent, eccentric turn comes close. She plays Holtzmann, the in-house mad-hatter who whips up the ghost-busting hardware (proton packs included) with a crazy leer and page after script page of playful-sounding gobbledygook. Ms. McKinnon makes for a sublime nerd goddess (she brings a dash of the young Jerry Lewis to the role with a glint of Amy Poehler) and, in an earlier age, would probably have been sidelined as a sexy, ditsy secretary. Here, she embodies the new "Ghostbusters" at its best: Girls rule, women are funny, get over it.

The quoted text is not directly related to the text that comes before it. The line could have simply ended with "at its best" and the point would have been made. Proof that the quote was added for "attention" is given by the fact that it also appears in the review headline. Headlines exist simply to draw attention. Methinks that Jennifer Lynch would not approve of this superfluous text.

It was never meant to be a regular thing. I'm kinda surprised that it still is.

Several lifetimes ago, way back in 2012, Matt and I planned Spook Central's first "Halloween Treat": the Making Ghostbusters PDF. It was actually posted a week after Halloween, but even that was quite a feat considering that I was living in a Red Cross emergency shelter due to Hurricane Sandy evicting me from my home just a few days before Halloween. Matt worked with Raffaele (my friend who provides Spook Central's webhosting) to get the treat out there in my absence.

It was going to be a one-off "treat", and certainly not something that would continue every year...and yet it has. There's been a Halloween Treat here on Spook Central in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Heck, it has even spread to Spook Central's sister site, The Corner Penthouse, in 2014 and 2015.

This year's Halloween Treat is a set of 11 Ghostbusters coloring pages, courtesy of the Circle City Ghostbusters, in a partial collaboration with Spook Central. Six pages use artwork from Spook Central's Real Ghostbusters Production Artwork page, while the other four feature original artwork by CCGB member Jacob Bartlett, who provided me with these pages (and one by Alex of the CCGBs).


If you are looking for more Ghostbusters coloring fun, download the Ghostbusters II Coloring Book PDF here on Spook Central. Those of you who like the new Ghostbusters movie can download a PDF coloring book featuring a drawing of that team, and other female squads at SheKnows.com.

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For the complete list of Spook Central's Halloween Treat posts from years past, click here. Thanks to Miss Kate for the "Halloween Treat" title banner that appears at the top of this post.

Ghostbusters 2016 (aka Ghostbusters: Answer The Call) has been on home video...excuse me, home entertainment for a few weeks now. It's now time for Spook Central to give its official review, and give you the comprehensive details on what to find in each release. It should be noted that this review only covers United States releases, though it will likely be applicable to Canada, too. Not sure about Mexico or areas outside of North America. I suspect that the discs are, for the most part, the same worldwide, but I can't say for sure, so I'll just err on the safe side and cover what I know has been released here in the U.S.

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Little Golden Books is a popular series of inexpensive, well-illustrated, hardcover children's books that were first released way back in 1942 (two years before my father was even born!). The eighth book in the series, The Poky Little Puppy, is the top-selling children's book of all time.


Penguin Random House (current owners of the series) released a few Star Wars Little Golden Books earlier this year, and now they're giving Ghostbusters the cutesy Little Golden Books treatment. Each of the Ghostbusters books, suitable for boys and girls ages 3 to 7 (or us big kids, too), was written by John Sazaklis, and features some incredible illustrations by Alan Batson, resembling the classic books that we all grew up with. Let's take a closer look at each one...


The first book, simply titled Ghostbusters, is based on the original 1984 classic...though I'm sure you figured that out from the cover photo above. The 24-page, 6.5"x8" hardcover tome simplifies the story so that it can be easily understood by little kids.


The story glosses over the library case, and jumps right in to the guys starting the business and taking the hotel case, where they meet "Slimer". Yeah, the name has been retconned in, but at this point, you're not likely to see him being referred to as Onionhead anymore. Besides, everyone knows him as Slimer, so that's his now-and-forever name. Anyway, after they bust Slimer and become very busy, they hire Winston - lest you think that he's been forgotten yet again. Dana and Louis encounter trouble, and the Ghostbusters go to help them, only to find them on top of the building with Gozer. As expected, the more "adult" material of possessed Dana in her bedroom with Peter is left out, as is possessed Louis being taken in at GBHQ, and the entire character of Walter Peck. Again, John Sazaklis kept the story down to the extreme basics, and that's fine. It still works because it's a great story. By the way, Alan Batson did a fantastic job of making Stay Puft more adorable than he's ever been.


The second book is titled Ghostbusters: Who You Gonna Call?, so as to distinguish it from the first book, and is based on the 2016 remake/reboot. It follows the standard formatting of the series, being a hardcover book that is 24-page long, and sized at 6.5"x8".


As with the first book, the story is simplified, and if you read my review of the movie, you'll know why I think that's a benefit here. The book starts off with Erin, Abby, and Jillian all working together studying ghosts when Erin gets the idea to check out the Aldridge Mansion (Ed Mulgrave Jr. never comes to her with the case). Yeah, the whole issue of Erin and Abby not being friends and living separate lives is non-existent here. It never happened. Some of you wish the same could be said about the movie, but I digress... I have to give kudos to Alan Batson for adding in the ParanormalStudiesLab.com reference on the whiteboard. That's a nice attention to detail. Okay, so "ghosts are real", and BOOM; they've set up shop above an old Chinese restaurant and have a secretary named Kevin, who shows no signs of the rampant stupidity that he did in the movie. Already, I'm liking this book better than the movie.

Patty sees a ghost in a train tunnel, calls the Ghostbusters, and on the next page she's a part of the team heading to a haunted rock concert. From here on, certain parts of the story are altered slightly to trim it down. For example, after busting Mayhem on stage at the concert, the Ghostbusters find Rowan backstage planting one of his devices, and proceed to follow him to the Mercado Hotel basement. Because this is a Children's book, Rowan does not commit suicide, nor does he possess Abby and Kevin. Oh, thank God for "The Power of Patty compels you" line being exercised. One of the worst pieces of dialog in the entire movie. Anyway, instead of killing himself, Rowan unleashes a horde of ghosts, and the story jumps to the parade balloon attack in Times Square. The ghosts are defeated, Rowan transforms into the logo ghost (no reference to the logo, though), the Ghostbusters fire into the portal, thus sucking everything into it...The End!

Had the movie been this concise, I think everyone would have liked it better. It also would have been about 10 minutes long. Interestingly, while the first book uses snippets of dialog from the 1984 film, this one uses 100% original dialog, and does not use a single line from the 2016 film. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that John Sazaklis knew that Fieg's & Dippold's script didn't contain any worthwhile dialog.

The only bad thing I can say about the story is that John Sazaklis, pretty much, copy and pasted his ending from the first book.

The heroes were greeted by thousands of cheering fans. "I love this town!" Winston said. Now the city knew exactly who to call - THE GHOSTBUSTERS!

The Ghostbusters had single-handedly saved the city from paranormal peril. Now everyone in New York knew exactly who to call!

The third book is Ghostbusters (A Big Golden Book), and it is a compilation of the other two books, reprinted in a much larger size (9"x11"), over 44 pages. The gold spine on the Big Book has No Ghost logo, Slimer, and Stay Puft drawings. The Little Books have the series' standard bunny, duck, flower, etc. drawings.


The Big Book is printed on higher quality paper, but leaves out some artwork and reformats a few pages from the original Ghostbusters story. The Ghostbusters 2016 story is complete in the Big Book. Since it only results in a 4-page decrease, I have to wonder why they didn't just include every page "as is" in the Big Book. The scan above shows a two-page spread from the original Ghostbusters story that is formatted differently from the Little Book. In the Little book, Gozer gets her own left-side page, the guys are on the right, and the Stay Puft drawing is actually a two-page spread that shows the Ghostbusters on the roof on the left-page (that half of the drawing is completely omitted here; the text has been moved to the lower right corner).


Before I wrap this up, I'd like to bring attention to a printing defect that was present in both of the Big Book review copies I was sent by Penguin Random House. In the Big Book (not the Little Book), on page 3 of the GB2016 story, there are black streaks running down the center of the page. In the first book they sent, it ran down the entire page, heavy at the top (across the text), and lighter at the bottom (across Abby's face and hands and the food box). In the second copy, it's at the bottom only (across Abby's hand and body). It's a little more discreet in the second copy because Abby's dark blouse hides it. This printing error does not exist in the Little Book's rendition of the same page. In the first copy, there was also the same type of printing error a few pages later on the left-page of the two-page Ecto-1 spread.

In an effort to help Penguin Random House know how widespread the issue is, if you bought the Big Book, please post a comment to let us know where you bought it, and if your copy has this same error. Maybe the problem is just relegated to the copies Penguin Random House has in their warehouse.

[UPDATE - 12/3/2016]
I just purchased another copy from Target.com and I'm happy to report that it does not contain any printing errors at all! I guess Penguin Random House just had a bad batch of books in their werehouse/review stock. That's a relief!

The two Little Golden Books carry a MSRP of $4.99, while the Big Book has a MSRP of $9.99. You can buy them all right now at Amazon: Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters: Who You Gonna Call?, and Ghostbusters (A Big Golden Book). I highly recommend all three books, whether you have little kids or not. I only wish Penguin Random House had the rights to reprint some of the art as posters.

Halloween is fast approaching, and if you're in the need for a costume, TV Store Online literally has you covered. They have an officially-licensed, exclusive Ghostbusters Venkman Costume Jumpsuit that was produced by Mad Engine, the same company that made all of those Ghostbusters t-shirts about 10 years ago that were popping up in Hot Topic and everywhere else.


This is being called a "costume", but that's kinda misleading. What we have here is a basic beige/khaki jumpsuit adorned solely with the No Ghost logo and "Venkman" patches. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't get a Proton Pack, pads, belt, and other accoutrements. So, you'll look a little "naked" using this "as is" as a costume. Of course, you could just say that your pack is in the shop :-)

The jumpsuit is made from 100% cotton, so it has a soft feel to it, especially with the woolen cuffs and collar. You could even wear it as pajamas. Unsure of what size I should wear (I never wore a jumpsuit before), I went with "Large", which is approx. 66 inches (5.5 feet) from collar to toe. It's large and baggy enough to wear a full set of clothes underneath, so I think I'll be good. The zipper runs from collar to crotch.


Bear in mind that this is a jumpsuit, not a flightsuit, like the guys wore in the movie. So, if you're looking for screen-accuracy, you'll have to look elsewhere. If you're looking for something that looks close enough, something you can just put on and go, then this will do the job. That said, I wish it were a little more like a flightsuit, as I prefer many pockets. The jumpsuit only has side pockets, one on each hip.


The "Venkman" patch is on the left breast, and it is sewn and glued on very well. I see no indication that this will come off after lots of wear and washing.


The logo patch is on the right sleeve, and it's sewn into the fabric, so it certainly won't come off. The quality on mine is a little "off". Notice the bits of white peeking through the red. It's not really an issue, and most people won't pay attention enough to notice it, but I still felt I should mention it since it's easy to see in my photo.


The jumpsuit even looks good on this State Home For The Ugly escapee.

The Ghostbusters Venkman Costume Jumpsuit is currently priced at $69.95 and is available in S, M, L, XL, and 2X sizes. If you use coupon code TVTEN to get 10% off, you'll pay $62.95 (shipping is free).

If you went to Ghostbusters Fans, you'll be paying $89.46 ($66.99 + $22.47 shipping) for the khaki flightsuit ($44.99), Venkman name patch ($10.00), and No Ghost logo patch ($12.00). However, you'd have to sew on the patches yourself, and if you're like me, that's more work than you want to put into it. So, you're trading off screen-accuracy (and LOTS of pockets) for convenience and a cheaper price.

By the way, add Rubie's Deluxe Costume Proton Backpack to complete the look. It says that it's for kids, but the customer info says that it can fit adults, though it will look a little small (apparently, it's 18" tall, whereas a real pack is about 26" tall). (The photo below depicts a Rubie's model wearing their pack on one of their jumpsuits, but it serves as good reference to what their pack would look like on an adult wearing any jumpsuit.)

Pull up a chair and settle in at The Corner Penthouse of Spook Central.

http://www.thecornerpenthouse.tk

The new, yet not new, sister site of Spook Central, that's both separate from it, yet a part of it at the same time.

This is where I will be posting all of the stuff that isn't about Ghostbusters. The site/blog already contains a bunch of articles I wrote elsewhere back in 2014 and 2015 that "came home" to live under the Spook Central roof.

In addition to the site/blog, there's also a Facebook page and a Twitter page.

I think we have most of the kinks worked out, but if you see something, say something. Erin told me that's a good motto. The only design tweak I wanted to do, but couldn't quite work out, was to have a flat infinitely-tiled background of the side of the Shandor Building. Raffaele found an image which would have worked, except it didn't tile seamlessly. Oh well, the wood planks have that "home"-type of feeling that I'm going for.

Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally & Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal by Andrew 'Sybil' Shaffer and his two multiple personalities, "Erin Gilbert" and "Abby L. Yates" is a book published by Three Rivers Press, as a tie-in for the new Ghostbusters movie. The 5.25"x8" paperback tome, consisting of 222 pages, features text in a medium-sized font with lots of supportive black & white photos and drawings. This book carries a list price of $15.00 ($20.00 Canadian), but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon, where an eBook version is also available.

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Colin Robinson from Cryptozoic Entertainment sent me a package (no thanks to FedEx for nearly destroying it) containing some of their Ghostbusters goodies. The first thing I saw in the box was a few "2016 Event Exclusive" packs of their Ghostbusters Mighty Meeples. The beloved Meeple, an iconic board game icon shape in Europe, is a 1" wooden cut-out of classic characters from the original Ghostbusters films. These distinctive figures are highly collectible and can even be used in your favorite board games. I know I've seen something like this when I was a child, but I can't remember what of. These little guys are cute, and being that they're little "blocks" of wood - approx. half an inch thick - they stand up quite easily, making them perfect to display on a shelf or a desk.


The "2016 Event Exclusive" packs, which have been distributed at the Cryptozoic booth at various conventions this year, contain the following three figures:

#7 - Slimed Peter Venkman
#8 - Slimed Ray Stantz
#9 - Exclusive Slimer

Unlike so many other things of this nature, they are not "blind bags". The figures depicted on the front of the bag are exactly what you'll find inside. You'll notice that these figures are numbered starting with #7. If you're wondering where figures #1 through #6 are, they'll be here soon enough. These event packs are meant to be a PREVIEW of what's to come...


Coming in January/February 2017 is the Mighty Meeples Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Collection Tin. Stored inside a metal case designed after the Ecto-1 are Meeples of all four original Ghostbusters, Slimer, and an appropriately oversized Stay Puft. You can pre-order it now at Amazon

If you want the "2016 Event Exclusive" pack, you can either scope out the Cryptozoic website for any future conventions, or buy from one of the scalpers on eBay. The extras that I was sent to giveaway have already been claimed.

Whether there will be more Ghostbusters Mighty Meeples after these nine will depend on how well these sell. Currently, there are no plans for more.


The other item in the box was the Ghostbusters Stay Puft Apron & Chef Hat, which is available for purchase right now at Amazon. Part practical item, part costume, the Stay Puft apron & hat combo is perfect for grilling, or rampaging through the streets of New York, and would make for a nifty "last minute" Halloween costume. Quick thought: If you're toasting marshmallows on the grill while wearing it, is it considered cannibalism? It's made of 100% cotton and is an adult "one size fits all" size. I certainly had no problems fitting into it. The only downside I could find to the apron is that it lacks a front pocket, which would come in handy when using it for practical purposes. If you want to see more photos of it being used, check out Fear's Confections and Tracey's Basement on Instagram (alt url).

You may recall that TimeLife released The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection DVD box set back in 2008. This is NOT a review of that set. The set that I am reviewing today does NOT contain the complete series, nor is it being advertised as such. In fact, this set is just a collection of the individual volumes that are also sold separately.

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