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The PKE Meter is a hand-held device the Ghostbusters use to detect and track ghosts by reading levels of Psycho Kinetic Energy. It was developed at the Paranormal Laboratory at Columbia University, and the work behind it helped Egon Spengler form the theory that led to capturing ghosts. The meter has a pair of antennas, or wings, tipped with lights that raise and lower to trace the strength of a PKE reading.
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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.
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, which 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.
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.
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 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.
Because the prop was a rental, it appeared in productions beyond the Ghostbusters films. It can be seen in the films Suburban Commando and They Live, the latter offering a clearer look at the meter's faceplate and wings. It also turned up in an episode of The Fall Guy and in several episodes of Knight Rider. An animated version appears in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us," which guest-starred Dan Aykroyd.