Let's get right to it....
Ghosts From Our Past (2016)
See here, and here.
Loved it.
Great companion to the movie (GB16).
Both a manual for ghostbusting, and a biography of Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, that gets more into how they met, and got obsessed with paranormal investigating.
The central ghost manual stuff is set in the 90's when they wrote the original edition, then the wraparound and supplemental stuff happens now, right after the movie happens.
Like the movie, a lot of little lines and references from the '84 movie get snuck in.
My big take away for the book overall, I find my self loving Abby (the Melissa McCarthy character) way more.
Her personality was plucky and unflappable from the beginning, and you see where she came from, and it all makes sense.
If you're a misfit nerd, her unbreakable self esteem in the face of shitty people will make you feel great.
The Erin stuff will just make you go "aww, you poor little bitch :-(".
You get a taste of that in the movie when she describes her first childhood ghost encounter, but the book dives into the details.
I would have loved to have seen flashbacks in the movie to this stuff.
Something the book illustrates more that the movie couldn't quite get into as much, was the how and why of Abby and Erin's obsession with long-winded technobabble, including Erin calling Ghostbusters "Conductors Of The Metaphysical Examination", before the media just calls them "Ghostbusters", and it sticking.
There's even a dictionary in the back for the babble.
And that's got babble in it.
Then definitions for that babble.
BUT, real ghost hunters like their jargon, and have since the 1800's.
Which, the book also gets into.
The paranormal investigation history stuff is all real life stuff with some snarky commentary thrown in, not made-up BS.
Well, real, as far as the real life people involved, not that ghosts are real.
You know.
It's all stuff Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis knew and researched for Ghostbusters '84, so it's cool to see this book make it all canon.
Patty, Holtzmann, and Kevin pop in to add their perspective in quick little bits.
Holtzmann's was the best, cuz she tosses in the PKE meter, proton pack, and ghost trap blueprints that have been floating around online, so you get that in dead-tree form, and in canon.
Yeah, if you're a GB fan, and liked the new movie, give this a whirl.
Fun read, I devoured most of it in the first day.
Finished up the last 20 or so pages today.
Might even read it again.
Something to keep me busy until the GB16 Blu-Ray comes out, anyway.
I'm craving more....
Maybe I'll grab "Tobin's Spirit Guide", which is set in the universe of GB1/GB2, and has all the monsters from the first two films, plus some of the best ones from the cartoon.
Well, we'll see.
Next up, probably a third visit with the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment