Ghostbusters

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Ghostbusters is a supernatural comedy franchise about a team of professional ghost hunters.

The franchise began with Ghostbusters in 1984, which starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson as the titular Ghostbusters, with Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, William Atherton and Annie Potts in supporting roles. The movie was a box-office hit and a cultural phenomenon. Catchphrases from the movie, such as "Who you gonna call?" quickly made their way into the pop culture lexicon. The movie's theme song, written and performed by Ray Parker Jr., was also a hit and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

A sequel, Ghostbusters II, followed in 1989 and did well at the box office, but wasn't as successful as the first movie. The 1990s and 2000s saw several abortive attempts at a second sequel, but they paused in 2014 when Harold Ramis passed away. In 2016, a remake film (subtitled Answer the Call in its home video release) which featured women in the Ghostbusters roles appeared, but did not do well. In 2021 a second sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, appeared, with the storyline focusing on the daughter and grandchildren of one of the original Ghostbusters.

The Ghostbusters franchise has also given rise to video games, comic books, and two animated television series: The Real Ghostbusters, which aired from 1986 to 1991; and Extreme Ghostbusters, which aired in 1997. Following the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, an animated film and a live-action prequel television series were in development.

Ghostbusters has been referred to several times in the Simpsons universe.

References to Ghostbusters in The Simpsons

Television episodes

Picture Season Episode number Episode name Reference 13 276 "Brawl in the Family" When the Simpsons first meet Gabriel the social worker, Homer thinks he's an angel, like "Denzel Washington in The Preacher's Wife, or Will Smith in Bagger Vance, or Slimer in Ghostbusters." 283 "Tales from the Public Domain" Homer tells Bart that Hamlet was made into a great movie called Ghostbusters. The family then dance to the theme music. 21 453 "Boy Meets Curl" Ivan Reitman is mentioned as being Canada's "most famous director" for bringing Ghostbusters. The "Ghostbusters" theme is then played. 26 559 "Blazed and Confused" One of the Blazing Guy participants is dressed like Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.

Comic stories

Picture Comic issue Story name Reference Simpsons Comics #111 Know It All in the Family Marge takes a science class from Professor Frink and learns how to rebuild a microwave oven into a portable ray gun. The gun resembles a proton pack from Ghostbusters. When Marge uses it at the dinner table to heat up food, Homer is disappointed, as he thought that she had become a Ghostbuster. Simpsons Comics #207 Snooze Alarm! Chief Wiggum has a dream where he is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, fights the Ghostbusters and eats Ernie Hudson's character. Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #13 Prop, Prop, Whiz, Whiz! Comic Book Guy's shop is shown to have a collection of cursed movie props and DVDs in the back room. Whoever touches an item is transported into the world of that movie. Among the victims were Carl, Lenny, Moe, and Barney, who touched a Ghostbusters DVD and ended up fighting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror #22 Ghøst Bashers The franchise is parodied throughout the story. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Hoodoo Voodoo Brouhaha Comic Book Guy's Best Costumes Ever - Part 2 Comic Book Guy dressed up as Ray Stantz for Aykroyd Con in 1996.

Books

Picture Book Reference Comic Book Guy's Book of Pop Culture Peter Venkman's quote, "Back off, man. I'm a scientist", is mentioned in Comic Book Guy's list of the "Greatest Quotes of All Time".

Common cast and crew

Cast

Picture Name Role in the Ghostbusters franchise Role on The Simpsons Shohreh Aghdashloo Provided the voice of Gozer in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Voiced Mina bin Laden in "MyPods and Boomsticks". Dan Aykroyd Co-writer of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (along with Harold Ramis); creator of The Real Ghostbusters; played Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and Afterlife; had a cameo appearance in Answer the Call. Voiced Postage Stamp Fellow in "The Dad-Feelings Limited". Maurice LaMarche Voiced Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters. Recurring guest voice actor. Cheech Marin Had a cameo appearance as a dock supervisor in Ghostbusters II. Voiced himself in the season 22 episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dreams". Paul Rudd Played Gary Grooberson in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Voiced Dr. Zander in the season 22 episode "Love Is a Many-Strangled Thing", and himself in the season 25 episode "Steal This Episode" and in the season 32 episode "Three Dreams Denied". J. K. Simmons Played Ivo Shandor in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Voiced J. Jonah Jameson in the season 18 episode "Moe'N'a Lisa", a tabloid editor in the season 18 episode "Homerazzi", JJ Gruff in the season 29 episode "3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage", Dr. Jessup in the season 30 episode "Daddicus Finch" and Victor Kleskow in the season 30 episode "Girl's in the Band". Max von Sydow Provided the voice of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II. Voiced Klaus Ziegler in the season 25 episode "The War of Art". Frank Welker Voiced Ray Stantz, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, Slimer and other characters in The Real Ghostbusters; voiced Ray Stantz in Extreme Ghostbusters. Voiced many animal characters, most notably Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II.

Crew

Picture Name Role in the Ghostbusters franchise Role on The Simpsons Derek Casari Dubbing engineer for Ghostbusters II. Dialogue engineer on The Simpsons Movie. Jim Fitzpatrick Sound re-recording mixer for Ghostbusters II. Sound re-recording mixer for 23 episodes in seasons 2 and 3. Greg Orloff Foley mixer for Ghostbusters II. Sound re-recording mixer in seasons 3 through 9. Bill Recinos Visual effects animator for Ghostbusters. Character layout artist for 13 episodes in seasons 30 and 31.

External links

• Ghostbusters (franchise) at Wikipedia

Greatest Quotes of All Time
Pvt. William Hudson (Aliens) • Veronica Quaife (The Fly) • Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters) • Short Round (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) • The Black Knight (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) • Cole Sear (The Sixth Sense) • Superman (Superman)

Cultural references

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