Ectozone.com News Archive

Just before the year of the Ghostbusters thirty-fifth anniversary ends, because I can never do stuff in a timely manner:

Ghostbusters: Thirty Five Years Later
June 8, 2019--Timeline Year Thirty-Seven
The present is the transition point between the past and the future; and perhaps this is more true than ever. As Egon, Janine, and many other Ghostbusters past and present celebrate GBI's success, two similar looking vehicles--one a rusted wreck, one a state of the art high tech marvel--hint at the futures about to unfold in more than one universe.

A couple of factors came together to inspire this story. The first was of course the Ghostbusters: Afterlife teaser back in January. Second was the fact that we're just two years away from the "future" Ghostbusters becoming the present day Ghostbusters of the Ectozone universe. Throw in a post a while back where Terrace asked about the transition of the ECTO-1 replivehicle, a few other ideas--including an eccentric new character--gelled together to create what I think is a fun transition piece, and an acknowledgement of the stuff to come in the "real" Ghostbusters universe.

Plus, as promised, no hobbits in this one.

I hope you'll find it interesting.

--Fritz V. Baugh

At this point, I think I have a pretty good chance of having a new story done before the end of the year. No hobbits this time, I promise!

Until then...

It's that time again: the Ectozone Christmas Fan Fic List!

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)

--Fritz V. Baugh

I've been posting a "Christmas Reading List" for the last few years, and then it occured to me...these are the Ghostbusters! Why the heck haven't I posted a "Halloween Reading List"?!?

So consider that oversight fixed:

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One
By Bo Holbrook, Ben King, and Fritz Baugh
September 2003--Timeline Year Twenty One
It seems like just another day for the members of Ghostbusters Nightsquad. The original Ghostbusters are out of town, and a few small jobs keep things from getting too dull. But in the shadows, a sinister plot is being hatched...a plot that will change the team forever...
Guest stars Jeff Nash, Vincent Belmont, and Fritz Baugh.
(First Posted July 17, 2006)

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two
By Bo Holbrook, Ben King, and Fritz Baugh
September 2003--Timeline Year Twenty One
Catastrophe!!! The Extreme Ghostbusters defeated!!! Nightsquad's worst enemy has taken over Central Park!!! And Nightsquad can't do anything about it, because they're in jail!!!
(First Posted July 24, 2006)

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Three
By Bo Holbrook, Ben King, and Fritz Baugh
September 2003--Timeline Year Twenty One
As if the Blair Witch wasn't enough...the cult's plot has drawn in another familiar face, one that had nearly defeated the original Ghostbusters more than once. Will Nightsquad, even with the help of Vincent Belmont, Jeff Nash, Fritz Baugh, and Roland Jackson, have a chance in hell against them?!
(First Posted July 31, 2006)

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Four
By Bo Holbrook, Ben King, and Fritz Baugh
September 2003--Timeline Year Twenty One
It's the final showdown between Nightsquad, their allies, and the Hain Witch. The fate of the world is at stake (again), and even if the Ghostbusters are victorious they will pay a price in dearest blood...
(First Posted August 7, 2006)

Ghostbusters Nightsquad: Aftermath
By Bo Holbrook and Fritz Baugh
October 2003--Timeline Year Twenty-One
One week ago, the Hain Witch destroyed his headquarters and killed two of his friends. Now, the drunken wreck who was once Bo Holbrook is confronted with the chance to rebuild--problem is, he's not sure it's worth it.
(First Posted September 17, 2007)

(Okay, it technically didn't take place on Halloween...but c'mon, SAMHAIN!!!>

Ghostbusters West Coast: Flipped Out
October 31, 2006--Timeline Year Twenty Four
It's Halloween and something extra weird is going on...as our heroes are confronted with a team of opponents who are both shockingly wierd and very familiar. Not the least of them, a woman named Ellie...
(First Posted October 31, 2006)

Ghostbusters West Coast: HELLoween
By Aidan Munroe
With contributions from the entire GBWC team
October 31, 2007--Timeline Year Twenty-Five
Halloween is the busy season for a GBI franchise, and this year's no exception. It starts with a familiar ship full of ghostly pirates...and then gets even wierder from there!
(First Posted October 31, 2007)

Ghostbusters West Coast: The Masks We Wear
By Jason Knetge
October 31, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty-Seven
It's Halloween, and sure enough something weird has happened: everybody has turned into their Halloween costume! Join Doctor Who, Deadpool, The Wolfman, Ash Williams, Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, and the Cat Girl as they try to figure out what caused this--and how to reverse it.
(First Posted October 31, 2009)

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?
(First Posted October 31, 2014)

Thanks for reading!

--Fritz V. Baugh

GenCon 2019 has come and gone. So how did it go?

Pikachu was there.

And the Skittermanders.

On the other hand, I almost lost Ogre to a trash compactor.

My friends at Pointy Hat Games were there with Brimley again. Hey...wait a sec...what's that I see behind him?

You'll be glad to know I've given one of those little guys a good home.

So what else did I get from GenCon?

The usual commemorative dice, and some Meeples. Galactic Toys, who usually carries buttloads of Gundam models, wasn't there this year, but another booth sold me this GM from The 8th MS Team, which have some of my favorite variant designs of the Gundam and GM. So it was all good.

Gale Force Nine first released this game in 2017, I believe, which is why Peter Capaldi is at the center of the packaging. The base set includes minis of him, William Hartnell, Matt Smith, and TOM FUCKING BAKER, so yeah, they hooked Ogre and I. It was his call to get the Patrick Troughdon and Colin Baker expansion; sets with Sylvester McCoy and Christopher Eccleston, and Peter Davison and his son-in-law David Tennant were also available. I imagine sets with Jon Pertwee, Paul McGann, John Hurt, and Jodi Whittaker will make it out eventually.

Yeah...for the first time in my life, I'm actually on the bleeding edge of a new RPG edition--I stood in line and got Pathfinder Second Edition on the first day of release, August 1st. I didn't really get into the first edition, but over the last year Paizo's Starfinder intrigued me, so I'm gonna give this a try. 13th Age Glorantha, you probably remember, was something I thought was going to be out last year but wasn't.

Only 352 days until I can go again!!!

Oh yeah...before GenCon I got this finished:

Tales From The Ectozone: Coda And Terchi
March 21, 1998--Timeline Year Sixteen
After five and a half years of tension between them, it seems that something is about to change for Coda Monkeyfang and Terchi Bagwise. But will it be for good or ill?

This follows up on Tales From the Ectozone: Kyrie Was Here and immediately follows the events of Extreme Ghostbusters: Coda and Terchi's Extreme Adventure, and brings the story of breakout supporting characters (well, at least one of my readers is enthused about them anyway) Coda Monkeyfang and Terchi Bagwise to a resolution, of sorts.

After that, some stories with actual Ghostbusters characters in them, I promise.

Thanks for reading!

--Fritz V. Baugh

June 8, 2019 marks thirty-five years since a little movie called Ghostbusters debuted in movie theaters. It spawned two animated sequels, one movie sequel with a second now in production, a movie reboot, comics from five different publishers, and legions of fans who've kept the fire burning even when there was nothing coming out from Columbia/Sony.

It's sobering a bit to realize, that having had this site running for sixteen of those thirty-five years, I've been doing this for almost half of Ghostbusters entire history! Guys like Chris Stewart, Troy Benjamin, AJ Quick, Paul Rudoff, and Chad Paulson have been doing it even longer, journeying well over that halfway mark.

So here's to thirty-five years of four guys, a girl and a ghost protecting the world from Sumerian gods, Carpathian despots, vampires, cymbal monkeys, the Great Old Ones, Boogeymen, trolls, winged pumas, werechickens, dinosaurs, giant bugs, mutants from other dimensions, and anything else they can charge billable hours for!

--Fritz V. Baugh

Holy crap. It's the Ectozone's sixteenth birthday. Now I gotta worry about it borrowing my car and staying out late with strange boys. Okay, time to start practicing the "I'm not afraid to go to jail again if I have to" line.

News on the fourth Ghostbusters movie continues to dribble out: we know Finn Wolfhard, who's plays a central character in the 80's retro show Stranger Things is playing a role, as part of a family who's somehow involved in the events, but little else as of this writing. The possibility that he's a Spengler-Melnitz grandchild is one that intrigues me. The possibility that he's a Melnitz-Tully grandchild makes me ~~want to throw up~~ lose interest in this movie so fast my head spins. The third possibility that's been suggested is that he's relateed to Dana Barrett. Yawn.

The first possibility would tie the character of the late Harold Ramis into things in a way that would be crowd pleasing; the second would be doubling down on the absolute worst part of Ghostbusters 2, one that many fans and not even most licensees had any stomache for. The third is eye-rollingly boring and derivative. Chose wisely, Jason Reitman.

In more pleasant news, I hope, hey, here's this:

The Diamond Select figures of Ray and Venkman as seen in The Real Ghostbusters are finally here, and now I have all four! Diamond has already said that they're making more. I would think some version of Janine would have to be high on the list. I admit my dream figure would be of her in the RGB#22 flight suit, but the "Janine's Genie" suit (used in the Retro Action line) or the "Mister Sandman, Dream Me A Dream" suit or a "civilian" look would be more than acceptable. The pink flight suit...hell, I'd probably still buy it, but would complain about it.

After than, we're probably looking at ghosts. RGB Louis or Professor Dweeb I could pass on easily.

Oh, and hey, here's this, too:

Tales From The Ectozone: Kyrie Was Here, Part Four
1992--Timeline Year Ten
The mystery of Kyrie Wheatberry's fate has been answered. But she leaves behind a daughter seeking the answers behind her very existence: what combination of romance and tragedy lead Kyrie to live as a single mother an alien world?

This ends the story proper, but I do have one more dip into the well to kind of unify everything we've learned about Coda and Terchi's origins with their most recent adventures to date. The next story I have planned is a follow up to Coda and Terchi's Extreme Adventure, which should bring their story to a more definite resolution.

And then after that some stories with actual Ghostbusters in them!

--Fritz V. Baugh

Item 1:

So maybe you've already seen this:

I admit that it's a neat teaser, and if they're talking Summer 2020 it would suggest things have move pretty far along under the radar.

The movie is slated to be directed by Jason Reitman, Ivan Reitman's son.

More here

But as is my way, I realize, I'm not really going to get very excited until it's practically here. I was skeptical about 2016 too until the promo photos of the flight suits and equipment started to come out.

I hope it's good, but simply cannot summon any expectation good or bad yet.

Item 2:

The first Diamond Select Real Ghostbusters figures are out: Egon, Winston, and Slimer.

I didn't get Slimer; the things are $25 a pop, and since Toys R Us is dead no cheaper versions without the diorama bits. More on the figures here

Item 3:

In part because of Kyrie Was Here, I've moved Fallagar, Styx, Coda and Terchi, and some of the characters from aformentioned story from the Spoilers page to a new page all their own

Item 4: Speaking of "Kyrie Was Here":

Tales From The Ectozone: Kyrie Was Here, Part Two
1992--Timeline Year Ten
Terchi finds himself trapped alone with the Goblinchild, and he may be closer to solving the mystery of Kyrie Wheatberry that he realizes.

--Fritz V. Baugh

Illustration by John Tobias, Rich Rankin, and Suzanne Dechnik

I have a new story for you, but it's something different. I'm releasing it under the "Tales From The Ectozone" label, because though it takes place in the Ectozone version of the Ghostbusters Universe, there is not a single Ghostbusters canon character in it. There are some familiar characters, who have been seen in stories such as The Zodiac Imperative, Enlightenment, and Coda and Terchi's Extreme Adventure, but it's not a Ghostbusters story. It's a little bit Dungeons and Dragons-ish if anything (Or maybe that should be Ghosts and Gargoyles...)

I was somewhat inspired in this experiment by Rosey "EGBFan" Collins and her brother Jake, who've been doing an EGB spin-off fan fic series The Riveras, which while it does usually feature at least one canon character in each episode, also spends a lot of time developing their own cast of original supporting characters.

Tales From The Ectozone: Kyrie Was Here, Part One
1992--Timeline Year Ten
On a hellish desert world inhabited by murderous insect-men, the Archmage Fallagar seeks answers to a mystery that has haunted him for many years. Finding those answers will involve a young halfling making his first journey from home, under the care of his uncle and a hulking hobgoblin--if they can survive their encounter with the savage kreen and their vicious "Goblinchild" that is...

I hope you'll give it a look, especially if you liked "Enlightenment" and "Coda and Terchi's Extreme Adventure"

--Fritz V. Baugh