Friday Reboot: Ghostbusters

Like many children who grew up in the 80s, I pretended to be a Ghostbuster. I had the proton pack, the trap, the fire house playset... The only toys I had more of were my beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's funny looking back now to think how we fought over who got to play as one of the nerdy, balding men. But Ghostbusters has been one of those timeless franchises that when watched when you're older, still seems really cool. You can imagine how crushed I was to here Bill Murray say to David Letterman that there will not be a third movie. When the recent video game was announced, rumors started to fly and it all came crashing down.

But thanks to reboots, not all hope is lost. There's still a chance they'd want to pass the torch on, which was rumored to be the plot of the third movie, and let somebody else take over. It's this dream that I share as part of this week's Friday Reboot.

THE CAST

For starters, you're going to need a terrific cast to pull off the character magic that was Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harrold Ramis. With the current trend in Hollywood, things would have to be full of action and in 3D, but my goal is to pay as much homage to the original while updating for current generations.


Bill Murray was able to pull off a charming and somewhat heroic loser in the form of Dr. Peter Venkman. He was always after the girl and never seemed to take the job seriously. However, he was easily recognized as the leader of the group because of his quick wit and confidence. Whoever stepped up to replace Murray would have a big role to fill and have to bring a lot of character to the table. I admit my choice is a bit biased, but the actor I think would be perfect for the roll is...





James Roday. Roday plays the roll of Shawn Spencer for USA Network's Psych, a charismatic slacker able to get by with pop culture jokes yet commanding and confident enough to have you believe he's the hero of the story. It'd be a bit hard to picture his as a professor of paranormal psychology, but how many people actually remember the Ghostbusters working for a university before being kicked out? For the sake of a reboot, I think that's one detail that can be rewritten. Ghost Hunters is big now, why not cast them as paranormal researchers?



Next up is Dr. Raymond Stantz, more professional than Venkman but always seemed to come off as being a bit immature. He always reminded me of the happy-go-lucky chubby kid, like Chunk to the Goonies if you will. The next Ray Stantz would have to be professional enough to be believable as a scientist yet have that oddball quirk to add some comic relief. Honestly, Ray was my favorite Ghostbuster and picking someone was a bit difficult.







I'm not a big Seth Rogan fan, but he's in practically everything already. I think if you get him away from some of the stoner roles he's been cast as, he has the possibility to truly develop into a believable follow-up to Aykroyd. He's capable of the humor yet still able to pull off a more serious tone. I say give him a shot.








Dr. Egon Spengler was the brain of the group, with jokes delivered so dry, anyone without a sense of sarcasm wouldn't realize the humor hidden inside. This was a role, much like with James Roday, where I instantly had someone in mind.



Neil Patrick Harris is known currently for How I Met Your Mother, but he's already played two doctors, which qualify him enough for me. He's someone who can pull off the geek look but still sound sophisticated and confident enough to believe he's the brain of the group. Throw him in a lab coat again and Dr. Horrible would fit right in hunting ghosts.




Winston Zeddmore felt like a convenient plot device for the first movie, the new guy hired in so the rest of the team could explain to him (and the audience) how they captured ghosts and introduce the containment grid. Other than that he didn't offer a whole lot of character for the team. However, I think a reboot would benefit from a more fleshed out character. Rather than playing the straight man to the rest of the team, a role I found Egon fitting perfectly and probably made Winston more forgettable, he would fit better as more of a wild card for the team. Ernie Hudson deserves credit for what he's done, but my pick for Winston would be...


Wyatt Cenac of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It would be the perfect role for him to branch out into film and he has that every-man quality that would help the audience relate to being the new guy on the team. He's got the comedic ability to really make the role shine.




For Louis Tully, the team's future accountant, attorney and dog-man, Rick Moranis was perfect for the role. You don't see too many people become famous playing the role of a nerdy, wimpy guy, but there's one on the way now that Moranis has left the spotlight.






Christopher Mintz-Plasse has played the role before of the nerdy guy who thinks he'll get the hot chick. I don't know how much of an honor it is to say this, but he's this generation's Moranis. Keep an eye out for him if I ever start drudging up a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids reboot somewhere down the line.





Dana Barrett, the damsel of the story, was played by Sigourney Weaver. She's made quite a career of herself but I've never really believed her as the helpless woman who needed to be rescued by another world from within a fridge. Maybe that's because I saw Alien before Ghostbusters, but who knows.



As a replacement for Weaver, I would pick Anne Hathaway. It'd be a step down from leading in romantic comedies, but she has that adorableness to play a haunted musician who turns into a hell hound from another dimension.







The final cast member to need an overhaul to shake the almost 30 years of dust that had piled up is the Ecto-1. What was a refurbished ambulance that fit well into the original movie's setting has always been instantly recognizable. To change this would almost be like changing the van of the A-Team. But because of age, many people confuse it for a hearse. This again is a sign of my own personal bias, but I would love to see a new Ecto-1.



What mode of transport would be more practical than an ice cream truck? Tear out the freezers to put in a charging station for proton packs and give it a new paint job. It already has exterior speakers which would be perfect for an ice-cream truck version of the Ghostbusters theme.





As far as directors, I think the franchise would thrive in the hands of geek favorite Joss Whedon. He's shown with his catalog of TV series that he has what it takes to fill a story with the right amount of action, comedy and whimsy with believable characters. I believe he's someone who would be able to have his own vision for the series but still be able to make fans happy.

In addition, the original cast making cameos, whether as a group of ghosts hanging out together or squeezing them in anywhere like Stan Lee in the Marvel movies, would be an Easter Egg for the fans of the original.

The Story

As far as the story goes, technology has caught up now where I think Aykroyd and Ramis can do what they really wanted to. Some of the early drafts called for the team to be dimension hopping warriors with glowing wands. I say keep the proton packs but who's to say the inside of Dana's fridge couldn't be another world? Have a bunch of fresh faced ghost hunters running around New York City busting phantoms and find a way to tie the original scripts with a remake of the final product.

However, there is one recognizable cast member that wouldn't make the final cut: the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. Nothing against the guy, he was always one of my favorite, but I don't think there's any way they could do the original justice. As part of the re-imagining, a giant stuffed animal, cartoon character, or fast food mascot would work as a great replacement. Shower the citizens below in stuffing or fried chunks of hamburger and it still pays tribute to the original ending.

As timeless as Ghostbusters is, it could use an update for current generations. I lost it when I went around my office finding that at least half of my department hadn't seen this classic film. I think it's a sign that the generation following my own missed out on some of that wonder that made a franchise like Ghostbusters so great. In the right hands with the right parts, a reboot of the series could pay mountains of respect to the original while updating the story while breathing new life into it.