Function
The PKE Meter is the team's primary survey tool. It points the Ghostbusters toward paranormal activity and indicates how strong that activity is. The wings rise as a reading climbs and drop as it falls, and the lights along them respond to the energy the device is picking up. The meter works alongside the team's other detection gear, including the Ecto Goggles, to locate and identify ghosts. It complements the field equipment the team carries on a call, the Proton Pack and Ghost Trap, by handling the detection and tracking step before a capture.
By the time of Ghostbusters II, Egon Spengler had developed the specialized Giga Meter to read psychomagnotheric energy specifically; other team members continued using the standard PKE Meter alongside it.
In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a red button on the back of the meter switches it from detection to a taser mode, a modification Egon added during his years in Summerville. The taser setting delivers enough of a shock to drive away a corporeal entity such as a Terror Dog, and a direct application to a Mini-Puft causes it to explode.
The film prop
The original prop used in the films was not built from scratch. It was a rented piece supplied by a company called Modern Props. The main shell turned out to be a hand-held Iona shoe polisher, specifically the SP-1 model, whose patent was first filed on March 2, 1965. The unit was gutted and redressed with lights and other electronics to give the prop its on-screen effects. Iona shoe polishers of that vintage are uncommon and surface only occasionally on the secondhand market.
During production of the first film, only Harold Ramis knew how to operate the PKE Meter prop. An early concept by production designer Stephen Dane had the device resembling a metal detector rather than the final handheld form. The novelization Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular refers to it as an "Aurascope."
The LED lighting sequence on the wings was changed between the two original films. In Ghostbusters the sequence runs 3, 5, 7, 4, 1, 6, 2; in Ghostbusters II it runs 3, 1, 6, 4, 7, 5, 2. The screws on the back of the prop are believed to have been covered with electrical tape. Two hero-grade PKE Meter props were made for the films; one of them was later stolen.
Because the prop was a rental, it appeared in productions beyond the Ghostbusters films (see below). A numerical readout appears on-screen in Ghostbusters II, Chapter 5, where Ray Stantz records a reading of 1,118 from the psychomagnotheric slime flow under the intersection of 77th Street and First Avenue. This is the only time a specific PKE reading is stated aloud in either original film.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife props
The PKE Meter props used in Ghostbusters: Afterlife were made by referencing the original 1984 props directly: the originals were 3D-scanned and the Afterlife versions were fabricated from those scans. Prop fabrication was handled by Studio Art & Technology, with additional work on the props by ISS. The Afterlife props include practical button controls for brightness and light animation on the screen.
The 2016 film version
The Ghostbusters (2016) film features a distinct PKE Meter designed and built by Abby Yates and Jillian Holtzmann. Rather than raising and lowering wings, this version uses a pair of spinning pink glowing antennae. Anything paranormal appears on its built-in display as pinpoints in a sonar-style graphical interface, and the antennae spin faster as the user approaches the source of a reading. Erin Gilbert compared the device's appearance to a cotton candy maker upon first seeing it. The back of the 2016 film prop carries a label referencing Ray and Egon's readings of 1,118 on the PKE Meter and 2.5 GeVs on the Giga Meter from Ghostbusters II.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Ray Stantz uses a PKE Meter on his show "Repossessed" to verify whether items brought in by sellers contain a ghost. When Nadeem Razmaadi brings in his late grandmother's possessions, Ray scans the Orb of Garraka and the meter breaks outright, its components unable to handle the energy within the orb.
Mattel replica
Mattel's PKE Meter was the company's first 1:1 scale Ghostbusters item. It was announced for San Diego Comic-Con in the summer of 2010 and went on sale exclusively through Mattycollector.com on December 1, 2010, priced at $60 each and limited to ten per customer. Shipping and warehousing delays meant the units did not go out until more than two weeks after the sale.
The replica works much like the screen prop. The wings can be set lowered, halfway-raised, or fully raised. The screen shows a green light moving across it and offers two display settings in addition to a blank mode. A roller on the back of the handle, positioned where the user's forefinger rests, speeds up or slows down the lights on the screen and wings, and it also changes the rate of a beeping sound, which is about the only feature that differs from the movie prop. The light patterns can be switched between a Ghostbusters mode and a Ghostbusters II mode, a subtle but welcome detail.
The packaging is built to look like a shipping crate covered in warning labels and Ghostbusters logos. Once opened, packing peanuts hide the meter to sell the idea that it is a real piece of equipment, though the unit itself sits secured in a plastic mold so it does not shift during shipment. Mattel was unable to ship the meter to Europe because of an issue with the warning labels. The company indicated that how well the PKE Meter sold would weigh heavily on whether it produced more 1:1 scale props for the Ghostbusters line.
Hasbro HasLab replica
In October 2023 Hasbro launched a crowdfunded HasLab campaign pairing a PKE Meter replica with a Ghost Trap replica in a single set priced at $299.99, with a limit of five per customer. The campaign ran from October 27 to December 11, 2023, required 10,000 backers to go into production, and was funded within days of launch on October 30. All four stretch goals were eventually unlocked.
The PKE Meter in this set was scanned from the actual screen-used prop and reproduces the Afterlife-era version, including Egon's taser upgrade. Features include motorized LED-lined wings, a multi-LED display panel with multiple animation modes and speed settings, entertainment-accurate sound effects sourced directly from Ghost Corps and Sony, and a functional real-world EMF detection mode. A mode slide switch selects between ghost detection (with low ionization, high ionization, and mute settings) and taser mode. The battery compartment is in the handle and takes AA batteries. Both the PKE Meter and the paired Ghost Trap include an IR sensor so that when both are on idle at the same time, the PKE Meter will randomly send a signal and trigger a sound in the Trap. A threaded hole on the bottom of the handle allows the attachment of a D-ring. Units shipped to backers in December 2024.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
In Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), the PKE Meter has several functions. Scanning with it reveals hidden ghosts and objects, and paired with the Ecto Goggles it identifies the exact makeup of a ghost. The meter is also the interface for buying upgrades, reading entries in Tobin's Spirit Guide, and adjusting game settings. The in-game version is larger than the film prop, hangs from the belt, and makes noise to warn the player when a ghost is nearby.
The meter uses three indicator colors to tell the player what it is detecting: red for ghosts and other entities, green for paranormal substances, and blue for Cursed Artifacts. Scanning an entity, substance, or artifact adds its entry to the electronic Tobin's Spirit Guide built into the device.
The PKE Meter was originally going to connect to the internet within the game to pull ghost information and save data, but that plan was dropped, and Tobin's Spirit Guide took its place.
Appearances in other productions
Because the original prop was a rental, it appeared in productions beyond the Ghostbusters films. In They Live (1988), the meter appears in the hands of alien characters who use it as a walkie-talkie, offering a clear view of the prop. It can also be seen in Suburban Commando (1991), where Hulk Hogan's character Shep Ramsey uses it to locate an alien spacecraft, providing one of the better on-screen looks at the faceplate and wings. The prop also appeared in an episode of The Fall Guy and a few episodes of Knight Rider. An animated version appears in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us," which guest-starred Dan Aykroyd.
The PKE Meter is one of the most-built props among GBFans.com community members, second only to the Proton Pack in the prop replica forums. The Iona SP-1 shoe polisher shell is the key starting point for any screen-accurate build, and GBFans.com maintains a dedicated sub-page covering the Iona SP-1 including dimensions, markings, and sourcing guidance. The Mattel replica also sees frequent community modifications for improved accuracy, including replacement wing tips, alternate LED sequences, and electronics upgrades.
External links
References
- Ghostbusters (1984 film)
- Ghostbusters II (1989 film)
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021 film)
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024 film)
- Ghostbusters (2016 film)
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009)
- Spook Central, "Movie Props: PKE Meter" (props-pke-meter.html), sourcing Mattel Fun Facts Sign
