We're approaching the first new canonical addition to the original storyline in over thirty years and so now seems a good point at which to look back at the Ghostbusters storyline and on where it may go from here. The supernatural action comedy may seem on the surface like a simple 80's box office movie but there are some threads that could be pulled due to the investment Aykroyd has made into the franchise over the decades and the various aborted attempts to breathe new life into the property, all of which leads us to the upcoming new movie.
The film opens with the infamous library ghost that sets the scene for the creation of the Ghostbusters themselves and the increasing emergence of the dead within New York. Whilst Aykroyd has often dabbled with the idea of multiple HQs around the world dealing with paranormal threats the canon of the movies establishes a much more limited and nuanced set up which is largely consistent throughout the films. The first real suggestion of this deeper narrative comes from later in the first film when during the scene where the team are locked up in prison they go over the pattern of hauntings that Manhattan has been subject to for the last few months.
Rather than a natural emergence of hauntings, the spirits are being channelled up from the building Dana lives in which was designed by Ivo Shandor, also a lead member of the cult of Gozor who intended for it to funnel the dead up to end the world.
Ivo Shandor
And here lies the key to the franchise. Shandor's plan is thwarted by the Ghostbusters on the rooftop by crossing their streams to defeat Gozer. This doesn't just stop the threat but it stops nearly all paranormal activity within New York for five years. This almost forces the Ghostbusters out of business until the spirits return coinciding with the painting of Vigo the Carpathian arriving at the city museum. Following the possession of the pram of Dana's baby in the city streets the team goes underground to discover a river of slime running beneath the city through an abandoned pneumatic rail tunnel.
This tunnel exists in real life with the film suggesting work on it reached a further point than it did. The canonical videogame further elaborates on Shandors history in the early 1900's and his use of Gozor followers to seed them within powerful positions in New York. Included in this is the head of the Natural History Museum, The New York Public City Library and the Sedgewick Hotel which contained Mandalas aimed to aid Gozer's return with key allies overseeing each. It's considered that Shandor and the cult used this influence in the city to repurpose the pneumatic rail tunnel as a method to funnel pink slime through the city so it could affect the citizens mood helping their overall purpose of driving paranormal spirits up.
Now, there are a lot of areas where people try to join the dots but whilst the second film leans the least on Ivo Shandor as a driving mythological force his fingerprints are there and this video seems to do a good job of mapping where the river of slime would flow and how that maps onto the real world locations of in film Ghostbusters ghost events.
This continues into the videogame which is set in 1991 and as things stand remains the third piece of existing canon. The Gozer exhibit arrives in Manhattan and due to being kept in the History Museum at the epicentre of Shandors Mandala's and reignites the ghost attacks. They face off with the Librarian Ghost again learning that she died after refusing to relinquish the Gozerian Codex and this leads the team to face the Collector and to learn about the spiritual network running through the city and out into the Hudson River where the submerged Shandor Island lies. The villain of the game is Shandor's spirit itself who is angered by Gozer's failure to return and seeks to become a God himself.
The films treat the mythology as a very light reference aspect of the storylines but in reality everything hangs off one core plot which appears to be continuing with the upcoming movie. From the trailer for Afterlife we see further evidence of Shandor being the core behind all franchise events as Egon's family has been raised nearby to the Shandor Mines
The mines are expected to be tied to the mining of the materials used in the Manhattan projects Shandor influenced and looks to be a haunted site itself, the mine is listed as opening in 1922 which is seven years before the construction of the Shandor Building. Rudd also states that there hasn't been a ghost sighting in thirty years which almost exactly times back to the timing of the videogame in 1991 and continues to establish that the Ghostbusters can only operate when something relating to Shandor rises.
Whilst some have speculated about the idea of Gozer returning and how that may be too much of a callback to the original film it seems as though continuing that narrative would be the most natural as the canon has never been particularly about anything other than Shandor and Gozer. The events of The Real Ghostbusters and the 2016 movie aren't part of the mainline canon so it creates a very specific through line for the new film even if it limits the idea that the world could have lots of other HQs as Aykroyd has always been keen on.
Is this mythology rich enough to continue making films on?
Would it be better if ghosts were just natural events?
The film opens with the infamous library ghost that sets the scene for the creation of the Ghostbusters themselves and the increasing emergence of the dead within New York. Whilst Aykroyd has often dabbled with the idea of multiple HQs around the world dealing with paranormal threats the canon of the movies establishes a much more limited and nuanced set up which is largely consistent throughout the films. The first real suggestion of this deeper narrative comes from later in the first film when during the scene where the team are locked up in prison they go over the pattern of hauntings that Manhattan has been subject to for the last few months.
Rather than a natural emergence of hauntings, the spirits are being channelled up from the building Dana lives in which was designed by Ivo Shandor, also a lead member of the cult of Gozor who intended for it to funnel the dead up to end the world.
Ivo Shandor
And here lies the key to the franchise. Shandor's plan is thwarted by the Ghostbusters on the rooftop by crossing their streams to defeat Gozer. This doesn't just stop the threat but it stops nearly all paranormal activity within New York for five years. This almost forces the Ghostbusters out of business until the spirits return coinciding with the painting of Vigo the Carpathian arriving at the city museum. Following the possession of the pram of Dana's baby in the city streets the team goes underground to discover a river of slime running beneath the city through an abandoned pneumatic rail tunnel.
This tunnel exists in real life with the film suggesting work on it reached a further point than it did. The canonical videogame further elaborates on Shandors history in the early 1900's and his use of Gozor followers to seed them within powerful positions in New York. Included in this is the head of the Natural History Museum, The New York Public City Library and the Sedgewick Hotel which contained Mandalas aimed to aid Gozer's return with key allies overseeing each. It's considered that Shandor and the cult used this influence in the city to repurpose the pneumatic rail tunnel as a method to funnel pink slime through the city so it could affect the citizens mood helping their overall purpose of driving paranormal spirits up.
Now, there are a lot of areas where people try to join the dots but whilst the second film leans the least on Ivo Shandor as a driving mythological force his fingerprints are there and this video seems to do a good job of mapping where the river of slime would flow and how that maps onto the real world locations of in film Ghostbusters ghost events.
This continues into the videogame which is set in 1991 and as things stand remains the third piece of existing canon. The Gozer exhibit arrives in Manhattan and due to being kept in the History Museum at the epicentre of Shandors Mandala's and reignites the ghost attacks. They face off with the Librarian Ghost again learning that she died after refusing to relinquish the Gozerian Codex and this leads the team to face the Collector and to learn about the spiritual network running through the city and out into the Hudson River where the submerged Shandor Island lies. The villain of the game is Shandor's spirit itself who is angered by Gozer's failure to return and seeks to become a God himself.
The films treat the mythology as a very light reference aspect of the storylines but in reality everything hangs off one core plot which appears to be continuing with the upcoming movie. From the trailer for Afterlife we see further evidence of Shandor being the core behind all franchise events as Egon's family has been raised nearby to the Shandor Mines
The mines are expected to be tied to the mining of the materials used in the Manhattan projects Shandor influenced and looks to be a haunted site itself, the mine is listed as opening in 1922 which is seven years before the construction of the Shandor Building. Rudd also states that there hasn't been a ghost sighting in thirty years which almost exactly times back to the timing of the videogame in 1991 and continues to establish that the Ghostbusters can only operate when something relating to Shandor rises.
Whilst some have speculated about the idea of Gozer returning and how that may be too much of a callback to the original film it seems as though continuing that narrative would be the most natural as the canon has never been particularly about anything other than Shandor and Gozer. The events of The Real Ghostbusters and the 2016 movie aren't part of the mainline canon so it creates a very specific through line for the new film even if it limits the idea that the world could have lots of other HQs as Aykroyd has always been keen on.
Is this mythology rich enough to continue making films on?
Would it be better if ghosts were just natural events?
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