[jonogunn]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

Anyways I know actors usually overhype their love of the properly they are working in so it's not surprising if I am correct about it.

I just found it funny because it totally reminded me of actor Adrian Pasda when he was cast to play General Talbot in Agents of SHIELD. He said in the article that he asked his young nephew if he knew who General Talbot was and his nephew replied "of course I do! everyone does!". I'm thinking yah no he didn't say that...no one knows who that really minor comic character is lol

[mrmichaelt]

Still it's pretty much kismet for Nanjiani, as he did pop in to help with trivia during Josh Gad's Reunited Apart back in 2020. Around 20:22, he said something along the same lines as that tweet he made this past week, it was the first thing he remembered loving.

[prodestrian]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

Actually, he's talked about this before.

At 14:54 into this interview (from 2012):


"I learned English from Ghostbusters and Gremlins".

So although he grew up in Pakistan in the 1980s, he had access to Hollywood movies (possibly bootlegs).

I'd say Ghostbusters was just as much of a key part of his childhood as it was for you and I, and probably played a role in his interest (and subsequent career) in comedy too.

[robbritton]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

While the "horror/comedy" bit feels like a retrospective add-on justification to adults of Twitter, the guy is basically the exact same age as me and I also didn't grow up in the US and well... here I am, y'know? I feel if you were six in 1984 it's kind of inevitable Ghostbusters was your first favourite film wherever you were in the world!

[Alphagaia]

Can confirm, I was about 5 when I saw GB in the Dutch theatres.

[Chicken, He Clucked]

When Kumail says something about his appearance is different, SURELY he’s just talking about his hair? I think people are reading too deep.

[jonogunn]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

Actually, he's talked about this before.

At 14:54 into this interview (from 2012):


"I learned English from Ghostbusters and Gremlins".

So although he grew up in Pakistan in the 1980s, he had access to Hollywood movies (possibly bootlegs).

I'd say Ghostbusters was just as much of a key part of his childhood as it was for you and I, and probably played a role in his interest (and subsequent career) in comedy too.

Thanks for sharing that. That clears it up more

[Alphagaia]

A cool storyline could be the ghosts in containment unit get a chance to move on, just like Egon did.

Perhaps the Busters need to find the unfinished business for the captured ghosts as they are sued for inhumane practices by Kamil or something. (Or just because it's a very dangerous machine to have in a city environment).

It could lead to very touching or ludicrous situations as some ghosts just want to see a loved one or ride their favorite sled and sometimes they don't want to accept they are dead and done for.

In before Casper is canon now.

[starang11]

When Kumail says something about his appearance is different, SURELY he’s just talking about his hair? I think people are reading too deep.

He did voice a CGI character in the last Men in Black movie (that the world collectively forgot about), but if he's on set I guess that means he's either playing a human or doing motion capture. Are people really considering him as a villain though? I can't see it.

[joezlo]

Never saw it. But, like the rest of us I'd like to see some Real Ghostbusters stories worked into the movies. They surprisingly had some decent writers.

Might be a bit of a hot take, but I'm not one who wants to see RGB episodes get turned into movies. Sure, Samhain and the Boogeyman would be great to see in live action, but I've also seen them before. I want new stuff to be in that same league.
That said, a rival team or company would be so cool to see, because there are so many ways you can play that.

Said every Marvel fan who has read the comics.

RGB, XGB, Real, 88MPH, IDW, etc are great ways to turn something fun into a new take for a larger audience.

They should embrace it, there are only so many "new ideas."

GB2 faced a backlash from the RGB because Gross and Medjuck kept telling Aykroyd and Ramis their ideas were already used in the cartoon. If its a good idea bring it off the cartoon into practical fx.

2 cent hot take.

[timeware]

RGB did have a lot of decent writers for a cartoon series. Just depends on which plot they want to expand on and if it's re written well.

[GuyX]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

Anyways I know actors usually overhype their love of the properly they are working in so it's not surprising if I am correct about it.

I’m sorry. But…This post rubs me the wrong way. You are basically calling the guy a liar because his experience isn’t yours and because he didn’t grow up in the USA? “I’d touch on the fact”…

You did touch on that fact.

Here we have a person of colour telling us he’s a big fan of the franchise. Instead of celebrating that fact we see it getting nitpicked. And where he grew up is mentioned, all because you don’t know what the media landscape was?

We gotta do better than this folks.

[deadderek]

RGB did have a lot of decent writers for a cartoon series. Just depends on which plot they want to expand on and if it's re written well.

I loved making the thread of what RGB episode do you think would make for a good GB movie. There's so many good options to expand on like you say.

[Kingpin]

We gotta do better than this folks.

I agree, we don't have any reason to distrust what Kamail said, and it seems like he's very much one of us when it comes to excitement and love for the franchise.

I appreciate the concern you've raised here GuyX, and the mod team will keep will continue to keep an eye on the discussion. In the meantime, let's focus on discussing the movie.

Working for the moment on the proposal that a scientific experiement gone-away is part of the basis of the ghost activity in the new film, I feel it's necessary that even if the worst of the paranormal flood is stemmed by the new Ghostbusters, the door between the spirit world and our own is rendered permanently open... Possibly even torn off its hinges.
I feel this is necessary to establish a constant, on-going need for an operational Ghostbusters team/company, and a flow of business to keep it profitable.
The next film needs to set it in stone that ghosts are now a permanent part of our world.

[mrmichaelt]

I feel it's necessary that even if the worst of the paranormal flood is stemmed by the new Ghostbusters, the door between the spirit world and our own is rendered permanently open... Possibly even torn off its hinges.
I feel this is necessary to establish a constant, on-going need for an operational Ghostbusters team/company, and a flow of business to keep it profitable.

The next film needs to set it in stone that ghosts are now a permanent part of our world.

But seriously, yes. This exactly. Don't have to deal with anymore back into business/out of business/back in story lines. And a perpetually open portal in NYC sounds about right. Could even account for the internal code Hell's Kitchen. Maybe it happens in Clinton? There's also a lot of particle physics research going on in NY. Besides college campuses themselves, there's places like Brookhaven in Upton on Long Island.

[jonogunn]

This is gonna be a nitpicking at something meaningless but I doubt Kamail's first favorite movie growing up was Ghostbusters. I'd touch on the fact he didn't grow up in the US but I can't say what media they were exposed to in his hometown. But his follow up comments about horror and comedy being in one movie doesn't really sound like something a young child would say as a Ghostbusters fan growing up. I'd think kids were mostly interested in the Proton Packs and capturing scary ghosts aspect. If I recall the comedy stuff didn't really catch on for me as much until I became older.

Anyways I know actors usually overhype their love of the properly they are working in so it's not surprising if I am correct about it.

I’m sorry. But…This post rubs me the wrong way. You are basically calling the guy a liar because his experience isn’t yours and because he didn’t grow up in the USA? “I’d touch on the fact”…

You did touch on that fact.

Here we have a person of colour telling us he’s a big fan of the franchise. Instead of celebrating that fact we see it getting nitpicked. And where he grew up is mentioned, all because you don’t know what the media landscape was?

We gotta do better than this folks.

Lol yah this is fair. It’s my fault. I knew when posting that that it may open a negative can of worms that I didn’t intend on. I’m not very good at articulating what I am trying to convey. In reality the comments reminded me of the actor casted in agents of shield that made me laugh and I wanted to share that. It was tiny doubt on his comments brig untrue but it doesn’t matter at all it’s not a big deal whether he was exaggerating it or not. He’s a fantastic actor whose career I followed since Silicon Valley and I’ve posted how excited I am to have him onboard.

I appreciate prodestrian posting an old video of him talking about ghostbusters and put an end to it. It wouldn’t have mattered though because it’s not a big deal and doesn’t offend me either way.

This was more like a random thought that would come up in a casual conversation just for the sake of discussing ghostbusters news.

Anyways I knew how it would come across to some people and I apologize again for making it seem like I may have been trying to discredit him. I’m a person of color myself and as a diehard fan of not just ghostbusters but anything, I am not above gatekeeping what it means to be a “true” fan.

Sorry kingpin I’m not trying to keep this topic going I just wanted to apologize and clear things up a bit. In the future I’ll either make sure I can articulate exactly what I’m trying to say or keep it to myself

[robbritton]

Working for the moment on the proposal that a scientific experiement gone-away is part of the basis of the ghost activity in the new film, I feel it's necessary that even if the worst of the paranormal flood is stemmed by the new Ghostbusters, the door between the spirit world and our own is rendered permanently open... Possibly even torn off its hinges.
I feel this is necessary to establish a constant, on-going need for an operational Ghostbusters team/company, and a flow of business to keep it profitable.
The next film needs to set it in stone that ghosts are now a permanent part of our world.

God yeah - it's ludicrous that all four Ghostbusters films follow basically the same narrative pattern. The beauty of RGB was that it continued how the viewer felt the world of that film could continue- ghosts are everyday, these guys deal with them. It's exactly what every sequel should have been. By all means have a next level threat for stakes, but the constant resets are exhausting.

The Video Game got it, at least, but the fact the OGBs were only in business in the cinema canon for a few months in 84 and then again in 89/90 just feels really drab.

No more clean slates!

[GuyX]

Working for the moment on the proposal that a scientific experiement gone-away is part of the basis of the ghost activity in the new film, I feel it's necessary that even if the worst of the paranormal flood is stemmed by the new Ghostbusters, the door between the spirit world and our own is rendered permanently open... Possibly even torn off its hinges.
I feel this is necessary to establish a constant, on-going need for an operational Ghostbusters team/company, and a flow of business to keep it profitable.
The next film needs to set it in stone that ghosts are now a permanent part of our world.

God yeah - it's ludicrous that all four Ghostbusters films follow basically the same narrative pattern. The beauty of RGB was that it continued how the viewer felt the world of that film could continue- ghosts are everyday, these guys deal with them. It's exactly what every sequel should have been. By all means have a next level threat for stakes, but the constant resets are exhausting.

The Video Game got it, at least, but the fact the OGBs were only in business in the cinema canon for a few months in 84 and then again in 89/90 just feels really drab.

No more clean slates!

I’m of 2 minds on this. I agree and yet…I see the benefit of doing it the way they’ve done it. I do think Ghosts exist all the time. It’s just that the major supernatural events in the movies make everything spike. Like Slimer was always haunting the hotel but the PKE energy or whatever caused by the “pulling in and concentrating of spiritual turbulence”(a great line I’ve always loved) made it more frequent.

I think it’s important, and I saw someone else mention this a few months ago, to keep ghosts relatively rare. It has to be that there’s a problem and only the Ghostbusters can solve it. That’s why I don’t like franchising. It’d be like…imagine if every city had “The Avengers”. Suddenly the Avengers become way less important & special. Ghosts have to be rare. They have to be rare enough that it makes sense before 1984 no one could really confirm it one way or another. Then Gozer comes, increases the ghost volume, they defeat Gozer, ghost volume settles back down to normal levels. Mood slime & Vigo, similar idea.

I’m also not sure if the Ghostbusters shut down right after Vigo. Did they? I think they were still in business until things dried up a few years later. But I could be wrong there.

All that being said. A huge issue I always had with Ghostbusters 2 is the containment unit problem. So in Ghostbusters 1 business is booming. They catch ghosts after ghost. It’s nuts. Then the ECU blows and all that work is released. Our heroes blow up Central Park West, have a court order to ban them from being GB’s, and yet…where are all the ECU ghosts? Slimer’s still hanging around.

In Ghostbusters 2 we don’t even see the ECU. That’s always a problem I’ve had that I think this movie might address. I think we are going to get a lot of questions answered in this new movie.

[BatDan]

Not seein the ECU in gb2 never bothered me. Theres that shot of Janine taking the traps from Winston and Peter. I assume she was taking them down into the basement.

Unlike the first film, The ECU wasnt a major mcguffin in gb2 so we didnt need to see it. Could also theorize it wasnt done being rebuilt yet and the boys were just storing up all their traps.

[jonogunn]

Not franchising does make sort of sense I. The GB world. Despite all that happened most ppl still don’t give much attention to the existence of ghosts. In gb2 a lot of ppl deny it still. Kids in 2021 don’t know about the stories. Similar to real life where there are actual exorcists and records of demonic possessions but it never makes the news. So it doesn’t seem like a hot demand for them to franchise or other people thinking “oh we gotta get a piece of that pie!” I’m sure they were making a good living when things were going well but on the scope of things it was still pretty niche.

What is most unrealistic is that they just advanced technology forward exponentially with the proton packs there’s no way that would draw the attention of the government both in making it illegal for them to carry such dangerous weapons and their own interest in applying the technology for their own applications

[Rookie99]

Franchising can also expand the type of ghosts seen. In a place like NYC there's a little bit of everything, but the Dallas Ghostbusters are going to run into different ghosts than the UK ones, who have way different ghosts compared to the Tokyo Ghostbusters.

[Bison256]

Not franchising does make sort of sense I. The GB world. Despite all that happened most ppl still don’t give much attention to the existence of ghosts. In gb2 a lot of ppl deny it still. Kids in 2021 don’t know about the stories. Similar to real life where there are actual exorcists and records of demonic possessions but it never makes the news. So it doesn’t seem like a hot demand for them to franchise or other people thinking “oh we gotta get a piece of that pie!” I’m sure they were making a good living when things were going well but on the scope of things it was still pretty niche.

What is most unrealistic is that they just advanced technology forward exponentially with the proton packs there’s no way that would draw the attention of the government both in making it illegal for them to carry such dangerous weapons and their own interest in applying the technology for their own applications

Ghosts can only manifest if they is enough ambient pke. So in most normal situations there aren't many ghosts worth note. Pke is a bit nebulous, but what I gather it's a form of energy made up of human emotions but it can be amplified or stored in a battery like electrical energy. Without some one like Shandor messing around there is not enough ghosts to run a business. Even then it took 50 years before people started to notice spirits in mass.

[Alphagaia]

Yeah, they should and could easily change that.

[Davideverona]

Yeah, they should and could easily change that.

Yes. If dealing with this movie supernatural problem they blow away the door between our world and the ghost world (as suggested here some posts ago) maybe the pke flow between worlds will be consistent enough to provide a constant ghost presence.

[timeware]

How's this hell mouth going to be opened? An Ozzy concert? A Jack Black Concert, Barney on Ice, or a Barbra Streisand solo? I think it would be fun to throw in a banshee trying to become the next Madonna.

Do a live version of Banshee Bake a Cherrie Pie. If anyone remembers the janitor with the mop that would be a good comedic add.

Skip to about 1:30 seconds into the vid.

[SpaceBallz]

A cool storyline could be the ghosts in containment unit get a chance to move on, just like Egon did.

Perhaps the Busters need to find the unfinished business for the captured ghosts as they are sued for inhumane practices by Kamil or something. (Or just because it's a very dangerous machine to have in a city environment).

It could lead to very touching or ludicrous situations as some ghosts just want to see a loved one or ride their favorite sled and sometimes they don't want to accept they are dead and done for.

In before Casper is canon now.

...Great Auntie Mabel? Is that you?!

[Alphagaia]

She wants her scabs back Spacy, or she will haunt your dreams forever.

[mrmichaelt]

...Great Auntie Mabel? Is that you?!

Nah, ghosts like the Theatre Ghost that I would guess is a Class 5 is not a human ghost (i.e. Class 3-4) that can peacefully disperse, imo. Those Class 5's (and probably 6) should stay in the Containment Unit. Slimer might be the exception - hard to say since he's portrayed a bit differently between the 2 movies - and if the movie version is capable of total reform like the RGB one.

[Bison256]

...Great Auntie Mabel? Is that you?!

Nah, ghosts like the Theatre Ghost that I would guess is a Class 5 is not a human ghost (i.e. Class 3-4) that can peacefully disperse, imo. Those Class 5's (and probably 6) should stay in the Containment Unit. Slimer might be the exception - hard to say since he's portrayed a bit differently between the 2 movies - and if the movie version is capable of total reform like the RGB one.

The way formerly human ghosts in the franchise can become inhuman monsters makes it hard to know. Over time there maybe nothing left tell them apart from congealed emotions "ghosts" that we also frequently see.

That said I wonder what makes some ghosts like the taxi driver or miner appear like realistic rotten zombies while other become distorted monsterous caricatures?

[mrmichaelt]

The way formerly human ghosts in the franchise can become inhuman monsters makes it hard to know. Over time there maybe nothing left tell them apart from congealed emotions "ghosts" that we also frequently see.

That said I wonder what makes some ghosts like the taxi driver or miner appear like realistic rotten zombies while other become distorted monsterous caricatures?

Perhaps.

I took them as high functioning Class 2's - basically a Class 3/4 that does not fully manifest for whatever reason. Not enough P.K.E., horrific death, etc. but high functioning enough to have the faculties of a repeating entity (always manifesting in a taxi and taking fares or always showing up to Spinners for coffee).