Ep. 61 - Who Ya Gonna Call 2!

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] J.J.: It is the spooky time of year, it is the spooky season, and generally that's when we do the scary movies and stuff. And I know you, not a big scary movie guy, not a horror movie guy. It's not a genre that I go to the well a lot for. Every once in a while there'll be something that will spark my interest. Now, is it because you don't like being scared?

[0:31] Olaf: No. I'm kidding. No. No, that's not it. To me, well, that feeling, I guess it would just depend. I know I've sort of mentioned this before. The Freddy movies, the Jason movies, to me it was almost like gore for gore's sake. It's not real or it's not realistic or whatever. As opposed to sci-fi, where I'm like, I like a lot of science fiction movies. So I'm over the top, blood and gore doesn't really do it for me.

[1:03] J.J.: Sure. I mean, I don't like gore for gore's sake. But I do love the Freddy and Jason movies, but I don't see those as gore for gore's sake. The Saw movies, for me, those are gore for gore's sake.

[1:17] Olaf: Here's the weird irony.

[1:18] J.J.: You like the Saw movies.

[1:19] Olaf: I remember seeing Saw, the first one in the theater when it came out. And I think, oh, this is an interesting concept. Not the gore part of it, everything else. Now, as the franchise went on, was it a lot for gore for gore's sake? Yes. Have I seen all the Saw movies? Yes, I actually have. I like, well, I'm already on this train. I'm fully committed.

[1:41] J.J.: In fact, I've only seen the first one.

[1:43] Olaf: The irony there is that the first one has the biggest cast with the lowest budget. Is there a top three favorite horror movie for you?

[1:53] J.J.: Yeah, I would say so.

[1:54] Olaf: Hocus Pocus.

[1:58] J.J.: That's number four. No, right off the top of my head, I really enjoy The Scream, which we're going to be talking about here in a few weeks.

[2:09] Olaf: So you got two other ones or is it just Scream?

[2:12] J.J.: I mean, Psycho doesn't count. Does Psycho count?

[2:14] Olaf: I don't know if that is necessarily a horror movie.

[2:19] J.J.: Then I would go with Saw. And I'm sure there's a third one there that I'm not thinking of. You put me on the spot in a really good way.

[2:24] Olaf: See, this is exciting because in a couple of weeks, we've got our Halloween-themed trivia where you're going to be in the hot seat with a special guest. And I have never felt more confident about how you're going to do. So it's very exciting.

[2:43] J.J.: There isn't any amount of cramming for a test that I could do to prepare myself. But you know what? That's for a later date. Let's get into what we're here for today, which is a scary genre-type movie, but with some laughs and the one that I love and enjoy.

[3:00] Olaf: Very full of laughs. Very underrated movie. That's right. And we've got a special guest today, that's right. So we got to get into this because he is waiting patiently on us.

[3:11] J.J.: That's right, guys. So let's hurry up and get back to the movie theater because today we are talking Ghostbusters 2.

[3:36] Olaf: Oh my gosh. Ah, did you hear that? It's been that long. It's been a year since we've heard that, which means one thing, we're going back.

[3:49] J.J.: Made lovingly by the genius that is Johnny.

[3:53] Johnny: Well, thank you.

[3:58] J.J.: And that genius is in the theater. He's in the theater. He keeps hearing his voice because he's like, I don't hate an intro. I'm in it. That's right, everybody. Johnny's here in the theater with us today. Guys, it's Johnny.

[4:14] Johnny: Hello.

[4:18] J.J.: That just means we're talking about something that he found remotely interesting enough to want to jump on the show and chat with us. There's no trivia this time. It's just pure love for Ghostbusters.

[4:27] Olaf: Yes. That's right.

[4:28] J.J.: Not only Ghostbusters, it's Ghostbusters 2. That's what we're covering today.

[4:32] Johnny: Yes. The unsung hero of the Ghostbusters franchise.

[4:37] J.J.: Now, before we really get into this, I have a couple of questions for Johnny. Johnny, first of all, do you have anything that you want to plug? It's October. It's the Halloween spooky season. Do you have anything going on? Is there anything you want the people out there to know about?

[4:52] Johnny: They should subscribe to this podcast, but they're probably already doing that if they're listening. And anything that they should be looking out for you specifically. You're in a band?

[5:01] Johnny: Well, I'm in two bands. We've got New Dimes, so www.thedimes.com, and we've got a new holiday tune from our kindy band, Ants, Ants, Ants. That'll be coming out. It'll be coming out around the holidays.

[5:16] Olaf: The music I have heard is so good. I love it.

[5:20] Johnny: I think you got a preview of the New Dimes.

[5:22] Olaf: Yes.

[5:24] Johnny: It's so good. I love it. Guys, definitely check that out. The Dimes, Ants, Ants, Ants. Ants, Ants, Ants is also, yeah, that's a good project that you've had for a while now.

[5:35] Johnny: It's fun. It's almost—

[5:36] Olaf: Holidays is always nice, because there's always that annual holiday tune to look forward to.

[5:41] Johnny: But back to Ghostbusters, because you guys encouraged me to rewatch. And I may have misspoken when we were talking about Ghostbusters 2 before, because I said, I really like this movie, and I just watched it again last night. And I love this movie.

[5:56] J.J.: Oh, yes!

[5:58] Johnny: I was so worried. I was like, oh, no, he's going to hate it. I forgot, maybe because the first one is such a classic, maybe the second one, people were holding it up to impossible expectations. But I forgot how quotable the second one is.

[6:12] Olaf: Well, the second one is very quotable.

[6:14] Johnny: The slinky?

[6:15] Olaf: You didn't even have a slinky?

[6:17] Johnny: I had half a slinky.

[6:18] Olaf: I had half a slinky, and I straightened it.

[6:21] Johnny: Straightened it.

[6:21] Olaf: Now, it's interesting, you mentioned, was there pushback on the second one? And we're going to jump into why that might be. Because I, too, rewatched this. And while I still really like Ghostbusters 2, there are reasons why I'm like, oh, maybe this doesn't hold up as much as it used to for me. But we'll get into that as we jump into it, because it's still a good movie, and it really is.

[6:42] Johnny: Because I have always been out there on the picket lines, trumpeting the brilliance of this movie. Because is it the first one? No. And does it get a bad rap because of that? Yes. I think a lot of the hate that a lot of people have for this movie is because it just wasn't the first one. But if you really give it a chance, you realize how funny this movie is.

[7:06] Olaf: It's just so underrated.

[7:08] Johnny: It is so hilarious. And I love this.

[7:12] J.J.: It is funny on a different level. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they were able, for the first one, they were able to kind of toe the line between comedy and the scary elements of it. There are scarier elements in the first one than there are in the second one, for the most part.

[7:27] Olaf: Yeah. It's a bit more of an adult tone in the first one.

[7:31] Johnny: It's grittier. It's a little grittier.

[7:32] Olaf: It's certainly more kid-friendly, because you had this very successful cartoon.

[7:38] Johnny: That's why.

[7:38] J.J.: That's what I was going to ask you.

[7:40] Johnny: And this was a response to that. They were like, hey, now you have to be this cartoon now.

[7:46] J.J.: But they still brought the funny. They still brought this appeal to adults.

[7:52] Johnny: And they still catered to the kids without really sacrificing too much. I'd say the biggest sacrifice, the biggest complaint that I have was Janine.

[8:01] Olaf: Yeah, I was going to say that, too.

[8:03] Johnny: Honestly, everything else, I can live with it. I wouldn't say that they really gave up all that much. Janine was like their sacrificial lamb.

[8:10] Olaf: Yeah.

[8:12] Johnny: It was the huge, not overcorrect, but it was an overcorrection. It was a huge correction.

[8:16] J.J.: Well, it was just like, okay, they want the cartoon, but we still want to make our movie. What do we give them? All right, we'll give them Janine. We'll basically turn Janine into the cartoon character.

[8:28] Olaf: Right.

[8:28] Johnny: So, Johnny, you said you had a question. What was your question was about?

[8:32] Johnny: No, you highlighted what my question was going to be was, was there a marketing choice based on the popularity of the cartoon?

[8:40] Olaf: Absolutely.

[8:41] Johnny: Because you could see it in two or three spots. And I wasn't looking for it. At the beginning, he says, I'm a voter. Aren't you supposed to lie to me and kiss my butt? Now, he would not have said, but in the first.

[8:52] Olaf: No, he wouldn't have.

[8:52] Johnny: Okay. So that jumped out at me. I was like, that's weird. That's a little off brand. And then Slimer is featured a couple of times.

[8:59] Olaf: Right.

[9:00] Johnny: And he gets a credit at the end.

[9:02] Olaf: Okay.

[9:03] Johnny: Well, that's because he was like this hugely popular character in the cartoon. And then you have the scene at the end that they're kind of recreating the mayor's office scene from the first one. One of our favorite lines about Mr. Peck.

[9:16] Olaf: Oh yeah, yeah.

[9:16] Johnny: And that's what I heard.

[9:18] Olaf: Yeah.

[9:18] Johnny: And in this one, it's the same exact setup. And he says some goofy like what Bunchy brains here doesn't understand. And I was like, what is it? What is even that?

[9:26] Olaf: Oh, when they go into the mayor's when they go into the office.

[9:30] Johnny: And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's true. They were definitely catering because I mean, I watch the cartoon every week, every Saturday, whenever it was on. The cartoon was awesome. And Slimer was part of the crew and they were like friends with them. And it was a weird thing for me as a kid because I loved Ghostbusters. And I loved the cartoon, but I was still able to kind of separate them. So when the second one came out, I could see where they were trying to be the cartoon. And I was like, you don't need to do that.

[10:03] J.J.: You can see where they really dulled some of the points of their jokes so that it was more family friendly.

[10:10] Olaf: Family friendly.

[10:10] Johnny: Yeah, exactly. That was a little disappointing. As much as I loved the movie, that was a little disappointing. I saw it in the theater. We were 11, around 8 to 11 was sort of the age range. I was 11 and I remember loving it. I was like, this is great. That first thing five years later and you're like, OK, so they're right there. It's going to be five years after the first one. Perfect. We're picking things up. And then, yeah, you get Janine. I was like, whoa, even then I was aware. That was such a drastic change.

[10:40] Olaf: They made Janine. I mean, as everybody knows in the first one, she's like tough as nails in the first one.

[10:46] Johnny: She's very real in the first one.

[10:48] Olaf: Very real New Yorker.

[10:49] Johnny: The second one, it's like very fake. This zany, very cartoony type of caricature of Janine. Like hairstyle, different glasses, her personality. Even her voice is different. It's more the cartoon voice than the voice she used in the first film.

[11:08] Olaf: But what I will say is what they did to help that for the second one is because obviously in the first one, they're trying to sort of she's interested in Egon and all of that. So they overcorrect her character in the second one. And so it makes sense for them to try and pair her with Lewis.

[11:25] Johnny: Yes.

[11:26] Olaf: With Rick Moranis, which works because he is.

[11:29] Johnny: And that I love that they gave Rick Moranis more to do, I guess, in this movie without having to turn him into it.

[11:37] Olaf: Yeah.

[11:37] Johnny: Without having to turn him into an animal, I guess, and have him possessed. The courtroom scene.

[11:44] J.J.: Oh, God.

[11:45] Johnny: Is so great.

[11:48] J.J.: Before we go any further, before we go any further, let's get the important stuff out of the way.

[11:54] Olaf: Oh, OK. I'm sorry. You're right. The important stuff.

[12:00] J.J.: All right, guys, that's right. We're talking about Ghostbusters 2. It is an unsung hero. It is a criminally underrated movie. Came out in 1989. It was five years after the first one. It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of, can we take a guess? Does anybody know?

[12:20] Johnny: Fifty five.

[12:21] Olaf: No idea.

[12:22] J.J.: I love it when Johnny plays these games.

[12:24] Johnny: Right.

[12:25] J.J.: One of the headburns.

[12:26] Johnny: One of the headburns.

[12:29] J.J.: Rotten Tomatoes score is fifty.

[12:31] Johnny Clay: Whoa. I don't know that you guys talked about this before this.

[12:41] J.J.: No.

[12:43] Johnny Clay: I like to guess 'cause I know that the audience score is probably, I don't, I think the audience score is probably only like...

[12:49] J.J.: 74?

[12:52] Johnny Clay: 61%.

[12:54] J.J.: That's how he diffuses suspicion.

[12:57] Johnny Clay: Right, way off on the other one. That's to me, that's still, that's low like you said before.

[13:03] J.J.: No, I, the expectation of the first one, it was too much to...

[13:08] Johnny Clay: Yeah, I mean the first one was such a massive hit. You take five years to come out with a sequel that everybody wanted, so you have this fervent desire for it, and then when it comes out, it's kind of a slightly dumbed-down version because of a cartoon. It's disappointed a lot of people.

[13:25] J.J.: So yeah, the critics score and the audience score is gonna be low, but there was a reason why it took them so long to come out with the second one. There's a lot of studio heads changing, and the cast, Bill Murray was a big reason. But hey, we got the whole band back together. Director Ivan Reitman returns.

[13:42] Johnny Clay: We did not get the same composer. Elmer Bernstein did not return, unfortunately, and I think the movie suffers a little bit without Elmer Bernstein not returning because the composer for this one is Randy Edelman, who has done some good stuff. He did Last of the Mohicans among other movies, but they modernized it a little bit, sure.

[14:05] J.J.: I mean, it's the end of the decade, so they're probably, and they're also really leaning into Bobby Brown and all of that right style.

[14:12] Johnny Clay: Yeah, but I mean, if you look at the original Ghostbusters, they also threw in a lot of pop songs and not as well, but just the style of music was changing too, I think, as well. The script was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.

[14:26] J.J.: But yeah, now you've got your cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, your new people: Peter McNichol, Kurt Fuller, and Wilhelm von Hamburg as Vigo the Carpathian, your big baddie, and the two twins, Oscar.

[14:51] Johnny Clay: Okay, yeah, sorry. Well, we'll get to that in a minute, but yes, yeah. Actually, yeah, so Vigo is like, I guess, considered the main baddie, but really, I guess the main baddie is the slime.

[15:05] J.J.: Well, yes, but yes, the slime would be the pink slime. Is that the MacGuffin? I guess would be, you know, the fact that it's the cause of, or it's what brings out the worst because you could say Peck in the first one, is he the bad guy? No, the ghosts are the bad guys, but Peck is the one that sort of starts...

[15:25] Johnny Clay: I mean, sure, because if you don't shut down the reactor because of Peck, then you don't have other things. If Peck was like anti-capturing of roaches and he went to, right, like it's, I know, Minator's place and he's like, "Free the roaches," and all the roaches went back into the city. It's not the roaches that are the antagonists, right?

[15:46] J.J.: Okay, I think if this, yeah, this is so... I think Gozer was the reason for the uptick in the ghosts, so I think Gozer still gets main baddie status.

[15:57] Johnny Clay: Oh, that's true. Gozer, very baddie. Well, then Ghostbusters 2, we have got three baddies: we've got Vigo, we've got the slime, and then we've got the mayor's assistant.

[16:12] J.J.: No, you're not gonna blame Janos, you know, Nickel, if we're gonna talk about cats.

[16:17] Johnny Clay: Janos is like just a good tool.

[16:24] J.J.: I know, but the whole time, Peter McNichol, I've got here on my notes, I put Peter McNichol, genius in all caps, all exclamation. He's great because just take a side detour here on him alone. Prior to this, there was a movie that his very first movie was called Dragon Slayer, where it's like this medieval movie where he's the hero. He's like the main guy who's got to fight this dragon and free the girl, and then he was in Sophie's Choice, and any just casual movie girl would be like, "Oh, Meryl Streep." They're not gonna know that Peter McNichol's in it unless they're like diehard fans. Other than that, he was doing random stuff, and then this is the first time I actually ever like, "Oh, who is this guy?" 'Cause he is hilarious.

[17:05] Johnny Clay: That accent, yeah, it's so spot-on for whatever it is.

[17:15] J.J.: You're not gonna get a green card with that attitude.

[17:22] Johnny Clay: The joyfulness is over the joyfulness.

[17:25] J.J.: You and these go, I think you go...

[17:27] Johnny Clay: Moving like beyond this movie, he is so great in everything he does, but every scene he's in, he owns that scene. Yeah, even at night when he's knocking on the door and the power goes out and knocking on Dana.

[17:42] J.J.: But I would...

[17:45] Johnny Clay: You with that, with the baby.

[17:48] J.J.: With the baby.

[17:53] Johnny Clay: He's brilliant in this movie, yeah, and wow, what a scary, creepy nanny, flying nanny.

[17:56] J.J.: Yeah, she was able to notice that that was him 'cause he seems really far up in the sky when he takes that, when the long ghost arm stretches out.

[18:05] Johnny Clay: But his eyes glow, and that I know, but the close-up is big for us, not for him, not for her. That's for us. We don't know that the close-up. She's so far away.

[18:16] J.J.: Oh man, he might assume... Did JJ, JJ with the tower with the plot holes in the flying ghost carriage, you know, I don't know how she recognized the flying ghosts. He was far away. He's boring. You're right, that was so unreal.

[18:31] Johnny Clay: Negative, yes.

[18:40] J.J.: As we watch this movie, you go, "Oh, there's certain parallels to the first movie," like the hotel scene in the first movie where they have their big moment where they become...

[19:02] Johnny Clay: Right, Gozer.

[19:07] J.J.: Was is very parallel to the courtroom scene where they have to come back, and that courtroom scene is a lot of, it's not as good, right? It's not as strong as the hotel scene. It's really good though, but the courtroom scene is great.

[19:20] Johnny Clay: Your next bubbles, yeah.

[19:22] J.J.: You gotta help me. I guess if you wanted to draw it, would be exposing themselves to whatever, and you don't want us exposing ourselves. I love the courtroom scene for a lot of reasons. Well, I ran is giving his opening remarks.

[19:36] Johnny Clay: That's good. Lewis, we got arrested at night.

[19:42] J.J.: Lawyer was just genius. Well, and Bill Murray feeding Lewis like what to say.

[19:52] Johnny Clay: No, we've helped him enough.

[19:57] J.J.: If you try to draw comparisons to that in the first movie, yeah, you can see it, but I think it's original enough to where other than when they're putting the gear back on and they're capturing whatever ghosts are in the room, to draw a comparison between the hotel scene from the first movie and the second movie is honestly when they walk into the museum and they're like, "Yes, second, you're sucking the gun." To me, that's the library scene at the beginning.

[20:26] Johnny Clay: There's a show up and...

[20:29] J.J.: They just show over the museum. I mean, they've got a tip because they show up at the hotel and they got the people there. The woman walks by and Bill Murray, "Anybody seen a ghost?"

[20:40] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[20:44] J.J.: But you and you get your camaraderie vibe the same way as the hotel in the courtroom scene.

[20:49] Johnny Clay: Yes, they're there. Is that the dough ray Egon in the courtroom?

[20:52] J.J.: Two in the box, ready to go. We be fast and they be slow.

[20:57] Johnny Clay: Lewis Tuttle just slides up to the trap. He's like, "Wow."

[21:01] J.J.: Yeah, you're writing the courtroom scene. You know that this is the moment where you're gonna have to save the day as the Ghostbusters. If you're Ernie Hudson...

[21:10] Johnny Clay: I know, I was gonna ask, you're Winston. You're that guy.

[21:14] J.J.: You're the guy that's gonna save the day. You're the guy that's gonna save the day.

[21:18] Johnny Clay: If you're Ernie Hudson, I know I was gonna ask, you're Winston. You're there.

[21:26] J.J.: Right, he was there in the court, but he wasn't, he didn't get arrested 'cause he wasn't there.

[21:29] Johnny Clay: Yeah, so he's there. So when things start to go sideways and they take proton packs on, he's not anywhere to be seen, and it's weird.

[21:36] J.J.: Save the day with the other three.

[21:42] Johnny Clay: There wasn't a paycheck involved. I feel like it's because they were trying to recreate the hotel.

[21:49] J.J.: This is what I'm saying. So, and there may be, there were only three proton packs, even though it's not like they got arrested with proton packs, so there should have been four proton packs on the table, so there would have been one for Ernie to grab, right?

[22:02] Johnny Clay: When they got arrested, Ernie wasn't there, so they may have only had the three packs, but they weren't arrested with proton packs. They were just down there in construction.

[22:09] J.J.: Here, I think they probably had the packs in the car. That's a stretch.

[22:15] Johnny Clay: Well, they don't, they just take the car without gear.

[22:19] J.J.: They probably don't know down the pole, threw a pad on, threw their packs in the back and left.

[22:25] Johnny Clay: Well, you're assuming that the fire station has still been up and running for five years. The Ghostbusters haven't been a thing for five years. Who's staying at the fire station? Nobody. Who's there?

[22:34] J.J.: Like three mortgages on that place.

[22:38] Johnny Clay: Three mortgages. There's a big hole there where they could have easily wrote in Winston to be a part of this courtroom.

[22:46] J.J.: Well, he could have been outside doing crowd control.

[22:50] Johnny Clay: That's even worse. I don't know if that makes it any better.

[22:54] J.J.: And then when they capture him and they do the two in the box, which is to show up, it's Lewis.

[23:03] Johnny Clay: Oh.

[23:10] J.J.: He's doing birthday parties with Ray, and he doesn't get a chance to come over here and save the day in the courthouse.

[23:16] Johnny Clay: I don't know. Yeah, I'm with you. It is weird. No, he should have been there.

[23:21] J.J.: I agree, but I just feel like they were trying to recreate the chemistry.

[23:25] Johnny Clay: And that's totally, again, at the end of the day, it is these three characters are the central core. Like these are the three that even in the first movie, it's the three of them before Winston even shows up for the last third. They, I think they felt they needed to have a big scene at the beginning of the movie just to say, "We're back."

[23:45] J.J.: Right, right. No, it's, I get it. I mean, I'm just glad that even though they really didn't, we know that there's four of them.

[23:51] Johnny Clay: Hey, I'm just glad they included Winston in the Ghostbusters commercial during the "We're back" montage.

[23:58] J.J.: Okay, half price.

[24:00] Johnny Clay: And we all gone mad.

[24:04] J.J.: I'm afraid so, Pete. The collector's mug and balloons for the kids. Who are you gonna call?

[24:14] Johnny Clay: I know, and that's the other thing. If you're Annie Potts and you're going, "Hey, we're making a second one. We're bringing you back," have you seen the cartoon? Because this is where we're taking your character.

[24:22] Johnny Clay: But...

[24:30] J.J.: Saw the cartoon and was like, "I'm gonna wear this wig instead." Yeah, I guess in the cartoon, whatever hairstyle she's got in that is no...

[25:02] Johnny Clay: She's fantastic in this scene. You bought me a drink?

[25:08] J.J.: So your alien had a room on his spaceship. So your alien had a room at the Holiday Inn, Paramus. Yeah. It might have been a room on his spaceship.

[25:13] Olaf: On our next episode, Hairless Pets. Hairless Pets. Weird. Weird. Give me Ira. No, I mean.

[25:25] Johnny Clay: And then Kevin Dunn, who's like, whoa, you're cutting a little close there, aren't you? I mean, just from a sales standpoint, you're not going to see paperback sales for at least a year.

[25:30] J.J.: It's going to be another year before you get that movie of the week or miniseries deal. I mean, devil's advocate here. What did you guys ultimately think about the slime?

[25:37] Johnny Clay: Well, I think they needed something to drive the story a bit. They tie it in with the painting. I thought the creepiness factor of what like zooming in or the spectrometer or whatever they do with the photos where they see the river of slime. I know what that is. I saw it when I was when you guys had me like a worm on a hook or whatever. I mean, that was kind of that was cool. That brought it home because it's a little campy before that. You're like, I don't really get what you're doing with the slime.

[25:53] J.J.: Well, it is a very it's the very first scene you see in the movie, too, right? The slime coming, bubbling up from the crack of the tree.

[26:03] Olaf: Now, are you asking about the slime in general or like what they did with it? Because obviously in the first movie, it's clear it's this thing that's sort of a byproduct of the ghosts that they're capturing.

[26:11] Johnny Clay: In this movie, you're right. They not only make it a centralized movie, it's like ectoplasm.

[26:18] J.J.: Right, right. We call it slime because Peter's like he's slimy. But in this one, we have this pink slime that is essentially a central character of the movie. It's this through plot. We're dealing with it throughout the whole movie. Like if we're not dealing with Vigo, if we're not dealing with the mayor's assistant or anything else going on, the slime is always there in the background.

[26:41] Johnny Clay: Right. So to go off of that courtroom scene, it's obvious it's a courtroom scene. The bathroom scene when it comes to the tub, if you're going to use it as a central character, which they do, then I like the fact that they gave it a different color. They make it pink. They make it bright. It does sort of play into the kid factor, too, because of the type of color it is.

[27:01] J.J.: It's yeah, it's this playful color. And they sort of give it personality where you're going with that. I hadn't thought of it till you just went there. You're right. Way more family friendly than Gozer's ghost dogs, because those are scary.

[27:14] Olaf: I mean, that's like the reason the first one. What was the rate? What were the ratings of the two? That was a PG, but it came out. It was the same year it was. It came out in eighty four, but it was it wasn't the reason why PG-13 exists, but it was it could have easily because it would have been a PG-13 if PG-13 had really been finalized at that time.

[27:41] Johnny Clay: But can you imagine this was a hard PG?

[27:45] J.J.: Yeah. Can you imagine in the bathroom, in the tub, if it had been like the creepy hands coming out of the right of the chair instead of some pink slime reaching for it?

[27:53] Johnny Clay: But she has the same reaction as when she opens the fridge and sees the, you know, the door.

[27:58] Olaf: Yeah. Right. And this time there's no super creepy ghost voices like slime reaching for her and the baby. But there are some very unsettling or scary moments in this movie because some would say that the tub scene is pretty scary.

[28:14] Johnny Clay: The flying nanny can be pretty scary when he's walking down the hall and the eyes when he's walking down the hall with the eyes. But the train tunnel. Yes, with the head is quite scary for a lot of people.

[28:26] J.J.: They're down there and you got the heads. You just have when there's nothing just like the sound effects on the faint train and they're just scared. I mean, right. All of that is very unsettling.

[28:36] Johnny Clay: What's interesting about that train sequence is they went through a first edit and Ivan Reitman realized that they had spent so much time on the Venkman Dana subplot that there wasn't enough of the other three. So they came back and reshot and they added in the whole train scene at the bar with the three of them and the scene where they get caught. Egon and Ray get caught in developing the photos and it gets caught on. They get locked in and Winston has to say they should reshot and did rewrote added that.

[29:06] J.J.: I'm glad they did because they needed that stuff. Because back to my previous question about the slime, I think there was too much of it. Like, I didn't mind the slime in certain aspects, like coming down and seeing the river of slime or like you said, with the photo and seeing it in the photo, that was cool. And like in the courtroom, that was fine. But just the good slime and then the cone of slime around the building and you didn't like the toaster.

[29:30] Johnny Clay: No, but the toaster was, would you say exposition for to give you a preview of what they're going to do with the Statue of Liberty?

[29:36] J.J.: Right. Without the toaster scene, why would you assume slime can make something move?

[29:41] Johnny Clay: Right. But they paint themselves in a corner, I guess. Again, I'm just saying I was getting my feelings about the slime. There's too much of it. And yeah, they could have done something else maybe to get the Statue of Liberty to do something. I don't know.

[29:53] Olaf: Because I love the whole Titanic bit. That was awesome. That was hilarious. Which was originally supposed to be like. There was a bunch of stuff in this movie that was supposed to be in the first one.

[30:02] Johnny Clay: Well, they were going to use a Zeppelin crash instead of Titanic for the second one also.

[30:07] J.J.: Well, there was the whole thing with the mink coat and the minks coming alive. That was supposed to be in the first one. They had that storyboarded and everything.

[30:14] Johnny Clay: So go back to your slime, because there's a good question about the slime, because it is the central thing that drives the whole movie. I just would have rather have had more Vigo than slime.

[30:24] J.J.: Yeah, Vigo is sort of trapped in the painting. Like he's sort of confined to that one space. And then all of a sudden he's out of the painting and you're like, why didn't he get out of the painting earlier in the film? I would have rather have had that over the slime.

[30:39] Johnny Clay: Yeah. We were talking about how it kind of drives the story. I mean, that was a choice that they made. But think about, I mean, when he says, you're not sleeping with it, are you?

[30:46] J.J.: Oh, I know. It had some great jokes.

[30:48] Johnny Clay: It's always the quiet ones.

[30:49] Olaf: It's always the quiet ones.

[30:50] Johnny Clay: Yeah. It had some great jokes. I'm not denying that.

[30:52] J.J.: You dog.

[30:54] Johnny Clay: I'm just saying that there's just too much with the slime.

[30:58] J.J.: Well, and that's the problem is at that point they've committed to it because now it's like in the first one, what are we going to get these ghosts out of here? Well, we're going to shut down the reactor and then that's how the ghosts get freed. Well, in this movie, it's this river of slime because of the negative energy of the city is now, now these ghosts are coming everywhere.

[31:18] Johnny Clay: Everybody's just mean and that turns into bad slime.

[31:21] J.J.: Well, yeah. Recharge into good slime.

[31:24] Johnny Clay: This is part of the movie where, like I said, I like this movie still, and I loved it when I was a kid going back and rewatching it now. And this might have some, my reaction to this movie and opinion of this movie might have something to do with the fact that I really enjoyed Afterlife, the third one.

[31:39] J.J.: Yeah.

[31:40] Johnny Clay: And they kind of went, they stripped it down and kind of went back to just a different type of storytelling, which I really liked that movie. And I was like, oh, this is great fan service and all that stuff.

[31:49] J.J.: So now going back to the second movie, which I still like, I start to notice some of the things that I don't like about it that aren't as strong. Like all of a sudden these ghosts are here and this doesn't make sense.

[32:01] Johnny Clay: And the Janine character, which I always didn't like, but I was like, okay.

[32:05] J.J.: And I mean, the Janine character, it was just, it's just so blatantly we're appeasing the cartoon.

[32:09] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[32:10] J.J.: Other than the, oh, it's the negative energy of the city. It's making the slime if they just want to left that out.

[32:15] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[32:16] J.J.: And it's the slime is connected with the arrival of the Vigo painting.

[32:20] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[32:21] J.J.: They established that at the beginning. It's being wheeled in. It's clearly like, oh, this wasn't here. And now it's here. Has it been shipped from Europe or something?

[32:30] Johnny Clay: And the guy's premonition on the world of the psychic about New Year's Eve.

[32:34] J.J.: So all that lines up to where it's like, oh, there's something's happening. Something's bubbling up because of this evil force.

[32:41] Johnny Clay: Then when you're like, no, it's the negative energy from the city. You're like, huh?

[32:45] J.J.: Yeah.

[32:46] Johnny Clay: And I feel like that was a stretch for Ramus and Ackroyd because this is like late eighties, New York, the city itself was super still grimy and gritty and dirty. It hadn't gotten cleaned up yet by, you know, it got cleaned up in the early nineties.

[32:58] J.J.: So it's clearly a choice to drive a story.

[33:01] Johnny Clay: It felt more like a studio note to me.

[33:03] J.J.: And it could have been. It could have been like a clearly a lot of people were not happy with what they ended up having to make.

[33:10] Johnny Clay: Rick Moranis was like, I didn't like this. I didn't like anything about that. I didn't know the movie, the story.

[33:14] J.J.: Bill Murray is on record as saying the same thing. He just didn't like what they ended up having to shoot.

[33:18] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[33:19] J.J.: Bill says he showed up and the script he was handed was not what he had agreed to.

[33:23] Johnny Clay: Which is a shame because I again, I love the second movie. I think it's hilarious and I don't think it gets enough credit.

[33:30] J.J.: And it's a shame that they don't they're not happy with it.

[33:33] Johnny Clay: I don't think he comes off all that different from the first one.

[33:36] J.J.: No, I agree.

[33:37] Johnny Clay: I don't.

[33:38] J.J.: Having said that, you're absolutely right. Whether they like it or not, you can't tell because it's not like any of them are really phoning it in.

[33:43] Johnny Clay: I don't think I think they're still giving the performances and the characterizations that we've come to enjoy from the first one.

[33:49] J.J.: Other than the four Ghostbusters, everybody's character is the same.

[33:52] Johnny Clay: Yeah.

[33:53] J.J.: I last night saw it last night and just laughed out loud so many times.

[34:00] Johnny Clay: I got a question.

[34:01] J.J.: Yeah.

[34:02] Johnny Clay: For the audience here. Is Dana Barrett not the worst mom in the world, but she and her baby have just been somewhat attacked by the slime tub and they run over to Bankman's.

[34:10] J.J.: That's great.

[34:11] Johnny Clay: And the next night they're going out on a date like she's not concerned about her child.

[34:16] J.J.: I mean, she is, but we're going to leave them with Lewis and Janine and we're going to go out on a date, even though like less than 24 hours ago, we were almost like taken out by this slime baby.

[34:25] Johnny Clay: No, she's not the worst mom in the world.

[34:27] J.J.: But I mean, is that like, I don't know, I don't know.

[34:30] Johnny Clay: I think it's movie time where we need to try and get Bankman and Dana back together.

[34:34] J.J.: Everything is fast forwarded.

[34:35] Johnny Clay: I think more time has passed.

[34:37] J.J.: Whoa, hold on.

[34:38] Johnny Clay: Hold on.

[34:39] J.J.: Not time has passed.

[34:40] Johnny Clay: It hasn't.

[34:41] J.J.: New Year's Eve is the time hasn't passed.

[34:43] Johnny Clay: I mean, movie time where it's like you're supposed to assume that, oh, but that was then and now you're at Bankman's and she's coming off the first movie.

[34:50] J.J.: It was yesterday.

[34:51] Johnny Clay: Because I was I thought you were going to bring up the window and I was going to be like, OK, well, there's a baby.

[34:56] J.J.: No, I think the window right next to a window without a lock.

[34:59] Johnny Clay: Also, yeah, but that's Bankman's.

[35:01] J.J.: It's Bankman's.

[35:02] Johnny Clay: And that's not her.

[35:03] J.J.: That's but you can you can credit it back to her because she left the baby can't open a window.

[35:08] Johnny Clay: But no, I don't. I think also she brought her she brought her baby to a safe place.

[35:12] J.J.: She showed concern and Bankman also gave a very convincing argument that she needs a dinner out and he has Janine from his staff.

[35:20] Johnny Clay: We've seen we've we just talked about Janine in length already, like other than the fact that she's now a cartoon character.

[35:26] J.J.: If you base and she's not taking care of the baby at all.

[35:29] Johnny Clay: Lewis is the one that puts the baby to sleep, probably leaves the window open.

[35:32] J.J.: She comes home caring for this baby.

[35:34] Johnny Clay: And he still got captured.

[35:36] J.J.: No, she comes home from the date. Everything's fine.

[37:33] J.J. Gonzalez: Welcome back to the Movie Theater! Today, we’re diving into the spooky season with a discussion about Ghostbusters 2.

[38:03] Olaf Adsit: That’s right! We’ve got a special guest joining us today, Johnny Clay!

[38:33] Johnny Clay: Hey, thanks for having me! I’m excited to talk about this underrated sequel.

[39:03] J.J. Gonzalez: Absolutely! Ghostbusters 2 often gets overshadowed by the original, but it has its own charm.

[39:33] Olaf Adsit: For sure! I think it’s time we give it the love it deserves. What are some of your favorite moments from the film, Johnny?

[40:03] Johnny Clay: One of my favorite moments has to be the river of slime scene. It’s just so iconic and captures the essence of the Ghostbusters franchise.

[40:33] J.J. Gonzalez: I agree! The visual effects in that scene were groundbreaking for the time.

[41:04] Olaf Adsit: And the humor! The way they balance the spooky elements with comedy is just perfect.

[41:13] Johnny Clay: Exactly! Plus, the character development in this sequel is really interesting, especially with Peter and Dana.

[41:25] J.J. Gonzalez: Right! Their relationship adds depth to the story.

[41:33] Olaf Adsit: And let’s not forget about the music! The theme song is a classic, but the new songs in the sequel are catchy too.

[42:03] Johnny Clay: Yes! The music really enhances the overall vibe of the movie.

[42:33] J.J. Gonzalez: Speaking of vibes, how do you think the film captures the essence of New York City?

[43:03] Olaf Adsit: It really showcases the city’s character, especially with the scenes in the subway and the iconic locations.

[43:33] Johnny Clay: Absolutely! It feels like a love letter to New York, even amidst the supernatural chaos.

[44:03] J.J. Gonzalez: And the way they incorporate the city’s culture into the story is brilliant.

[44:33] Olaf Adsit: It makes the film feel more relatable, even with all the ghostly shenanigans.

[45:03] Johnny Clay: Plus, the cameos from real New Yorkers add an extra layer of authenticity.

[45:33] J.J. Gonzalez: Definitely! It’s those little details that make it special.

[46:03] Olaf Adsit: So, what do you think makes Ghostbusters 2 stand out compared to other sequels?

[46:33] Johnny Clay: I think it’s the heart. It has a strong message about friendship and believing in yourself, which resonates with audiences.

[47:03] J.J. Gonzalez: Well said! It’s a film that not only entertains but also inspires.

[47:13] Olaf Adsit: And it’s perfect for the Halloween season!

[47:23] Johnny Clay: For sure! It’s a great movie to watch with friends and family.

[47:53] J.J. Gonzalez: Alright, let’s dive deeper into some specific scenes after the break!

[48:03] Olaf Adsit: Sounds good! Stay tuned, everyone!

[48:14] J.J. Gonzalez: We’ll be right back!

[48:24] Johnny Clay: Can’t wait!

[48:55] J.J. Gonzalez: Back to the Movie Theater is hosted by J.J. Gonzalez and Olaf Adsit.

[49:05] Johnny Clay: Produced by me, Johnny Clay, J.J. Gonzalez, and Olaf Adsit.

[49:15] J.J. Gonzalez: Theme song and incidental music by The Dimes.

[49:26] Johnny Clay: Visit us at www.bttmtpodcast.com for trivia play-alongs, merch, and more.

[49:32] J.J. Gonzalez: That’s www.bttmtpodcast.com.

[49:37] Olaf Adsit: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok and find us on YouTube at Back to the Movie Theater with J.J. and Olaf.