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November 28, 2014

The Christmas season is upon us. I should have at least one more chapter of "Enlightenment" done before the end of the year, which means no new Christmas special...

But here's a few from years past, in order of their occurance in the Ghostbusters Timeline:

Ghostbusters: Mr. Stay Puft's Christmas Adventure
December 24, 1983--Timeline Year One
It's Christmas Eve. Venkman's in a foul mood. Ray misses his family. Egon is not sure how to react to Janine's elf costume. Winston has a fateful meeting. And then the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shows up. Wait, what? How is that even possible?
(First Posted December 12, 2011)

Ghostbusters: Spirit of the Season
By Jason Knetge
December 17, 2003--Timeline Year Twenty-One
The Ghostbusters (???) are called to help stop a spook during the holiday season. .
(First Posted December 20, 2008)

Ghostbusters West Coast: Silent Night
By Mick Nielson
December 25, 2008--Timeline Year Twenty-Six
It's Christmas in LA...and everyone's lost their voices!
(First Posted December 25, 2008)

Hope you enjoy this little Christmas treat, even if they are reruns!

--Fritz V. Baugh

October 31, 2014
Can it be? A new Ghostbusters West Coast story?

Yes!

Ghostbusters West Coast: One Froggy Halloween
October 31, 2014--Timeline Year Thirty-Two
It's Halloween, which is seldom a quiet time for any Ghostbusters franchise, and this year is no exception for the West Coast office. A literature professor with personal ties to one of their own is being stalked by a froglike monster. Can they save him before he croaks?

--Fritz V. Baugh

October 14, 2014
[Sigh] I guess I better do this.

Yes, I heard...

Katie Dippold, who wrote Paul Feig’s female buddy action comedy The Heat, is reteaming with the director for Sony's new Ghostbusters movie.

Dippold has been tapped to co-write the script with Feig for the long-gestating third installment.


Feig came on board to rejuvenate the project in August, with a twist: the Ghostbusters would now be a female team, and the project would launch a new series instead of being connected to the earlier movies.

So what do I think?

1. First of all, before anything else, this doesn't mean it will happen. We've had directors and scripts before, with Ivan Reitman working with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, then Etan Coen, and of course before that Dan Aykroyd's Hellbent treatment.

2. "Female team". Guess what? I'm all for it. I can't believe some of the dudebro whining about this idea on...let's just say several spots on the internets. It's 2014 guys (and if the movie even happens it'll be even later. We may even have a female President by then). You can't convince me that the idea of kicking ghost ass is a male-only profession--Janine Melntiz-Spengler, Dr. Kylie Griffin, Melanie Ortiz, and numerous other female Ghostbusters from fanon would like to have a word with you. What next? Fedoras for your Ghostbuster uniforms? Sheesh.

3. "A new series instead of being connected to the earlier movies". On the one hand, yeah, it's disappointing to see them chucking out the characters I love. On the other hand...well, I don't trust Hollywood, and (this is a rare and minority view, I realize) I didn't completely trust Aykroyd and Ramis after GB2. I realize that maybe a "new universe" might be the least objectionable option after all this time.

It's like those shitty Star Trek movies JJ Abrams made. Yeah, I know, they revitalized the franchise, lots of people love them, and they made assloads of money, but I barely made it through ST-XI and couldn't finish ST-XII it was getting so stupid. But here's the important thing: except for Spock, and the Romulan homeworld, nothing in those turkeys affects the "real" Star Trek universe, the one with Picard and Q and Odo and a James T. Kirk who actually had to put in years of hard work to get his Captain's chair instead of having it handed to him straight out of Starfleet Academy.

If NuGB sucks ass, it won't affect the characters I love one single solitary bit.

And if NuGB is awesome...it still won't affect the character I love one single solitary bit.

Now in some less controversial news:

Diamond Select Announces New Toys

From Jay Tigran

First off, if you visited the Diamond Select Toys booth, they had a new Translucent Green Minimate with a rather familiar logo on it

As well as an announcment during their panel

- Select Figures (using movie likenesses!, the reign of Mattycollector may be over)
- Electronic Vehicles! (but will they roll?)
- More Minimates! (that's what I'm excited about!) and banks
- and more!

I don't know about you, but DST has yet to disappoint me, this is exciting!

I'll wait to see some RGB-based stuff before I get too excited, but this is promising.

I doubt Mattel is out of the picture completely, though it would be some sort of sick irony that we find out they are out of it just when another round of rumors is going around.

--Fritz V. Baugh

September 9, 2014

Sorry it took longer than the last couple chapters; GenCon and some real life stuff slowed me down. But here we go!

Ghostbusters: Enlightenment, Part Four
June 9, 1994--Timeline Year Twelve
Ray, Liz, and Barney arrive in Dragonsfall--and are immediately attacked!

--Fritz V. Baugh

August 19, 2014
First, a bit of Ghostbusters news: Erik Burnham has posted GBFans that the comic series may not be dead. There is at least the possibility that after the TMNT crossover, a Volume 3 may be coming after all.

But your suppositions about the cancellation are incorrect. The real reason isn't sales related (I assumed it was myself, but it turns out not so much.) I say that and it's inside baseball to say why, so it sounds like a playground retort "nuh uh!" But trust me, I had a long talk, if it WAS just sales, you wouldn't be seeing, say, a crossover beginning the next month with the same guys involved. So hooray, less people agree with you than you think!

Again, it's also not me. (Sorry, dude!) Or Dan. (Sorry again!)

Owing to conversations at SDCC, we may be sticking around. (;

[[snip]]

I do think a volume 3 will happen (not set in stone.)

I do think Dan and I will be involved (if it does happen.)

I know this is from the writer, not an IDW editor or executive, but it's a glimmer of hope.

Now...on to GenCon 2014!

First, breathe easy, no internet-breaking pictures this year.

Ogre and I went Thursday through Saturday; he did really really REALLY well with something, but I don't think he'd want me to talk about it so I won't. As for me..

Highlight of course was meeting up and hanging around Vincent Belmont and his fiance (soon to be wife by the end of the month). We jawed about Ghostbusters stuff, of course, and some things he has in the fire that, again, I don't think he'd want me talking about yet but it sounds really exciting. But then there's the people I met that I hadn't before...

That's Rob Heinsoo, designer or co-designer of three of my favorite games: The Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the hilarious Battle Wizards card game, and his latest project, Pelgrane Press's 13th Age alongside Jonathan Tweet, co-creator of another of my very favorite games, Ars Magica. I got 13th Age's core book last year, but I got more books this year:

It's funny...I didn't have my core book with me Thursday, when I bought those, and I asked if I brought it in later in the week if he'd sign it. I brought it Saturday, went by the Pelgrane booth about four times, and he wasn't there. I had just called for our ride home when, literally on our way to the door, I made one last "hail mary" at the Pelgrane booth...and there he was.

Awesome guy, awesome stuff he makes.

I met another awesome inside guy when I bought all this stuff at the Atlas Games booth:

He saw me looking through the Ars Magica books, and struck up a very energetic conversation about it. His badge was turned over, so I couldn't read his name, but finally when I could--it was Erik Dahl, who's been one of the line writers for almost a decade now. Lol...no wonder he was so excited about it. Once again, really great guy.

And then there was the great guy from Texas who demoed Cthulhu Dice. He was actually--small world that this is sometimes--one of my Dad's coworders.

And then, the odd case of another longtime Ghostbusters message board contributor and resident of Central Indiana, whom I somehow missed meeting in person. Until Saturday.

That's Borzou, of the Circle City Ghostbusters. He's really nice, and the scout trooper armor attests to his prop making skills. I doubt this will be our last meeting.

So the rest of the haul:

Doctor Who had another good year, with the all-new Twelfth Doctor Sonic Screwdriver; in-story, it hasn't changed, but the prop toy has improved it's action. Or so the people that bought the Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver tell me; I also found a booth selling Character Building singles, so picked up a few I hadn't got yet.

Some stuff to help our DnD campaign if we ever get it going again; I have my preferences, but I'm not an edition warrior--I have no trouble mixing DnD4 and Pathfinder stuff, since none of this stuff is rule-specific anyway.

And some odds and ends:

Atlas basically gave me those two board games with Grand Tribunal (in the Ars Magica stuff, above); some more dice stuff, including my new Escalation Die; the GenCon 2014 commemorative set from Crystal Caste; and something I was truly honored to recieve, a Circle City Ghostbusters patch from Borzou.

A great time had by all, and looking forward to next year! Only 345 days to go!

--Fritz V. Baugh

July 22, 2014

Still smarting after the news that IDW's ongoing series is being cancelled we got a little bit of a reprieve:

Ghostbusters to team up with Ninja Turtles in new mini-series

There's two good things about this:

1. It's not the shitty Micheal Bay "ninja turtles", it's the IDW Turtles (which have the involvement of co-creator Kevin Eastman)

2. The entire Ghostbusters creative team--Burnham, Schoening, etc--is there, joined by IDW GB editor and IDW TMNT writer Tom Waltz. Best of all, prodigal GB writer/artist Tristan Jones--who, by the way, has quite a bit of TMNT experience of his own--is contributing variant covers.

It's not a return of the ongoing series, but it's four more months of the same quality creative team who's spoiled us silly the last three years. And if sales are good, who knows what the future could bring?

--Fritz V. Baugh

July 15, 2014

Ghostbusters: Enlightenment, Part Three
June 8, 1994--Timeline Year Twelve
As Ray and Liz prepare to journey to Dragonsfall, unexpected--but very welcome--help arrives.

--Fritz V. Baugh

June 24, 2014

Well, bad news, folks.

The solicitation of Ghostbusters Vol.2 No.20 (Or, as I prefer to call it, No.36) reads as follows:

THE FINAL ISSUE OF GHOSTBUSTERS! Mass Hysteria comes to an end and the Ghostbusters discover the price of driving Tiamat from the city, county, and state of New York! But just because the Big Bad is beaten, it doesn't mean psychokinetic shenanigans are on the wane -- there's always another job on deck for the boys (and girls!) in grey! Don't miss the bombastically chaotic conclusion to IDW's ghoulishly ground-breaking GHOSTBUSTERS run!

And comments from Tom Waltz, the editor of IDW's Ghostbusters comics, on GBFans:

Ghostheads --

It's my sad duty to confirm that, yes, Ghostbusters #20 is not only the final issue of our Mass Hysteria! event, but also of our current ongoing comic, as well. A variety of factors went into this decision and IDW will be saying something official soon, but please know that it was very difficult for everyone involved in the decision to bring our beloved ongoing GB series to an end.

That said, we do have a few BIG surprises in store yet, not the least of which is the magnificent ending Erik, Dan and Luis have put together for Mass Hysteria! It's easy to look at decreasing sales numbers and think it's a reflection of a monthly comic book's quality, but when it comes to our Ghostbusters series, I can honestly say those numbers are an unfortunate anomaly because our book was only getting better and better with each new issue… story AND artwork!

So… if we gotta go, you can be damn sure we're doing it in high, rockin' fashion, folks!

You guys are the best! Thanks for all the spirited (yes, I said it) support throughout the years! This is the best editing gig I've been blessed to have in my career.

Your friend,

Tom Waltz
GB Editor

I'm very disappointed to hear this. But more importantly, I wish to deeply thank Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, Tristan Jones, Louis Delgado, Neil Uyetake, Tom Waltz, and everyone else who gave us the last three years of pure awesomeness.

--Fritz V. Baugh

June 8, 2014

Does much else need to be said? Thirty years ago today, Columbia Pictures released one of the best movies of all time to the world, which spawned two cartoons, many comics, some video games, and scores of web sites, some of which are filled with crap fan fiction, like this one.

Just last week came the news many had been hoping for:

Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Coming to Blu-ray This Fall

Sony Entertainment just announced its plans to release Ghostbusters 1 & 2 in a new Blu-ray pack! The new Blu-ray will be completely remastered from new transfers and is scheduled to be released on September 16th. This is the first time Ghostbusters II has been released on Blu-ray and will be the first full 1080P release as well. The Ghostbusters II Blu-ray will feature bonus features including never before seen deleted scenes. Complete list of special features:

GHOSTBUSTERS™ Blu-ray Special Features:

• NEW! Who You Gonna Call: A Ghostbusters Retrospective - Roundtable Discussion with Director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd (Part 1)
• NEW! Poster Art Gallery – Gallery 1988 artwork
• NEW! “Ghostbusters” Music Video – Ray Parker, Jr.
• Legacy Content:
• Slimer Mode – Picture in Picture and Trivia Track
• Commentary w/ Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis & Joe Medjuck
• 10 Deleted Scenes
• 1984 Featurette
• Cast and Crew Featurette
• SFX Team Featurette
• Multi-Angles
• Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car
• Ghostbusters Garage: Ecto-1 Gallery Storyboard Comparisons

GHOSTBUSTERS™ II Blu-ray Special Features:

• NEW! Time Is But A Window: Ghostbusters II and Beyond - Roundtable Discussion with Director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd (Part 2)
• NEW! Deleted Scenes
• NEW! “On Our Own” Music Video – Bobby Brown

Ghostbusters Fans will giving away several copies of the new Blu-ray directly from Sony Entertainment, so look forward for details on that!

The new transfer of Ghostbusters will also be making it's way back into theaters for 1 week starting on August 29th at over 700 theaters across the US.

There was also a major overhaul of Ghostbusters.com

Pretty nifty. The "combo logo" is kinda weird looking, and I'm not sure there's any of the GB2 scenes worth shelling out for (Probably Good: The "Ray goes nuts and crashes ECTO-1A scene". Maybe: The Eugene Levy scene. The Bad and Ugly: More of the Janine/Louis and Louis/Slimer shit that there was still too much of in the final cut of the movie)

But for anyone who doesn't have it yet--how can you say no?

Oh, and speaking of the crap fan fiction thing mentioned above...

Ghostbusters: Enlightenment, Part Two
June 8, 1994--Timeline Year Twelve
So where has Liz Hawthorne been for the last three years? Why did she go? And can Ray Stantz help her even without the rest of the Ghostbusters?

--Fritz V. Baugh

May 13, 2014
The Ectozone's Eleventh Birthday. Not as big a milestone as the Tenth, of course, but it's today.

Some new stuff:

The Timeline section has undergone some updating. The most notable is the New Timeline, which has now been updated up to issue 12 of Ghostbusters Vol.2 with some citations of things up to the current issue; I'm not going to give the "full" treatment to #13-on until the "Mass Hysteria" storyline is finished.

Aforementioned "Mass Hysteria" has been a great anniversary story; Tiamat, a figure of real Sumerian and Babylonian mythology (not to mention a major role in the cosmology of the Dungeons and Dragons default scenario) is the villain. I mean, I gotta admit to rolling my eyes at the "sister of Gozer" thing; "A rival member of Gozer's pantheon" would have been more than sufficient, but it's the anniversary and I certainly can't say that IDW flogging Gozer is a totally new and unexpected development.

On the down side, they brought back Louis Tully. Ungh. Sorry, this was a character I was just simply not missing. I know, I know, "anniversary" blah blah blah.

But here's my own treat for you all:

Ghostbusters: Enlightenment, Part One
June 8, 1994--Timeline Year Twelve


Liz Hawthorne, the maga known as Lady Enlightenment, is in deep trouble. She turns to Ray Stantz and the Ghostbusters for help, unaware that things have changed drastically in the three years since she's seen them...

This is a story I've had floating, in one form or another, in my head for over twenty years, but never got around to telling really, well, anywhere. Readers familiar with Chronicles of Gozer Part Six and the various tales of the Ghostbusters of 2021 and on will be able to see where some of this is going, and it will eventually lead into GBOT Ray's romantic destiny being resolved, but I think you'll like some of the other surprises Ogre and I have in mind for this story.

I'm hoping that, at long last, I have enough of a creative tailwind on me to actually get this story done, too. (Fingers crossed)

--Fritz V. Baugh

February 25, 2014

Harold Ramis (Nov. 21, 1944-Feb. 24, 2014)

The Ghostbusters world was rocked this week by the death of comedian, actor, and director Harold Ramis who, among his many accomplishments, was co-writer of the two Ghostbusters movies and depicted one of the four titular characters in the two movies and the 2009 video game.

He was instrumental in taking Dan Aykroyd's high concept sci-fi scenario and grounding it in a much more manageable world. He was the creator of Dr. Egon Spengler and one of the two men to bring him to life (the other being actor Maurice LaMarche of The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters), who went on to become one of my personal favorite characters in all of fiction.

Mr. Ramis was gifted writer and comedian who's work touched the lives of many. Certainly, this web site wouldn't be here without him.

Rest in peace.

--Fritz V. Baugh

February 3, 2014
Joined: February 3, 2003

Yeah, since it's my eleventh anniversary, it also means it's the tenth anniversary of the first self-indulgent anniversary post I made on GBN.

In real news, Lego just announced that they'll be doing a Ghostbusters set for the thirtieth anniversary. See more about it here.

Not a whole lot to report today from me. I've gotten some good work done on a fan fic, but then again I've thought that before and stalled out, so I'm not saying anything else until I actually have something to release.

Do have a couple of "new" pictures up a the Janine Melnitz Spengler gallery page; as I do every once in a while, following the example of the cartoon show, I change her haircut every few years. (Really only the heads are new--the bodies are previously used artwork) The 2014 look borrows from the look given to her by Dan Schoening in the IDW comics; basically the classic 1986 look with a shorter back more evocative of the hairstyle Annie Potts wore in the first movie.

Hope to have some more stuff up soon. In addition to the fan fics, the New Timeline is badly in need of updating.

Thanks everybody.

--Fritz V. Baugh

January 1, 2014

Ghostbusters turns 30 this year.

Sony seems to have some plans

Sony Pictures is getting ready for the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters next year by lining up a raft of licensees for apparel, toys, collectibles and publishing. The all-new program will target the classic film’s core fan base with products and events.

Licensees signed on to support the anniversary include Mattel, IDW Publishing, World Tech Toys, Quantum Mechanics, Factory Entertainment, Diamond Select and Medicom Toys, Mad Engine, Titan Figures, Uniqlo, Kaientai, BCI, Funko and Underground Toys. Additionally, gaming partners such as Beeline, Ubisoft, GSN, Path, XMG and IGT will create interactive, gaming and slot machines items, and MDI is planning a series of state lottery programs.

Sony has also partnered with the pop culture art gallery Gallery 1988 to create a traveling art show that will feature top artists’ interpretations of Ghostbusters over the last 30 years. Limited edition screen prints and posters will be available during each stop of the tour, which will conclude in July at Comic-Con International in San Diego, Calif., in July.

"This franchise is very important to the studio, and we wanted to give fans new and exciting ways to participate," says Greg Economos, senior vice president, global consumer products, Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Ghostbusters continues to gain fans and recognition year after year, and we are thrilled to extend the brand through products and events to celebrate this milestone event."

I guess we'll all see, right?

Have a safe and happy New Year.

--Fritz V. Baugh

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