The heroes operated out of a converted New Jersey gas station and faced spectral threats, including a skeletal biker who terrorized a small town.” In the climax, “the Ghostbusters traveled to alternate dimensions.” As director Ivan Reitman relates in the book’s introduction, he received an updated outline in 1983 featuring “a group of men, acting much like firefighters, would trap and catch ghosts as part of a new protective emergency service for the universe at large.” Reitman suggested that Aykroyd reconceive “the story in modern-day Manhattan and frame the adventure as a 'going into business’ tale.” He also encouraged Aykroyd to bring in Harold Ramis as a co-writer. Per Wallace, the story “threw audiences into the deep end of the pool, with a near-future setting and innumerable procedural details concerning high-tech parapsychological tactics. The original story was really out-thereĭan Aykroyd dreamed up his initial treatment for Ghostbusters around 1981 - the original title was Ghost Smashers. “I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan, and pretty much every page in this book contains some sort of fact that either wowed me or gave me an acute case of nostalgia,” Wallace tells Yahoo Movies.Ģ. Those mind-blowing details are chronicled by Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History, author Daniel Wallace’s revelatory, self-explanatory new book.

Who you gonna call? Ghost Smashers!īy the time it became an instant classic upon its release in 1984, Ghostbusters had morphed through radically different iterations, featuring bonkers plot points and unrecognizable creatures. Imagine Eddie Murphy and his fellow paranormal firefighters battling a motorcycle-riding skeleton and a giant lizard monster from their gas-station base in a futuristic New Jersey. With this week’s launch of Paul Feig’s new Ghostbusters film, we thought it was worth revisiting.

26, 2015 to coincide with the release of the book Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History. Bill Murray in ‘Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)Įditor’s note: The original version of this story ran on Oct.

Images of slimer from ghostbusters