All right, let's talk that GBA trailer.

Meedyah Morsels #182.

-OR-

"All right, let's talk Ghostbusters 3", Part 3.

• Part 1.
• Part 2.

So, now that we've seen the trailer, I can do something I couldn't do with GB:ATC, try to figure out the plot details.
I couldn't do that with ATC, cuz that was a brand new story in a new timeline.
Here, we've got a sequel to the original continuity, so we've got the history of the other 2 films to play with.

First of all, yep, I was right, all four new Busters are kids.
We're going Goonies style.

Here's Busters 1 & 2....

...and here's 3 & 4.

And 2 & 4 are Trevor and Phoebe Spengler.

And here's a detail I missed last time...

...the haunted mine from the first set of preview stills?

It's the Shandor Mining Company!
As in Ivo Shandor, as in the architect of Dana Barret's apartment building, and leader of the Gozer cult.

Hmm, a mine?
Dana's building had girders with cores of selenium!
Selenium you'd have to mine somewhere!
There's our direct plot link with GB1!

The selenium in this mine has the same properties as the building from GB1....

...as we can see from the funky portal here...

...and the very clear arrival of a classic Terror Dog here.

It could very well be that closing the portal in GB1 simply flipped one open in the mine in Oklahoma.
Which is presumably what brought Egon there to study it, and plan.

My money is on that Paul Rudd's Mr. Grooberson, and Callie Spengler, the mom, get possessed, and become the new Key-master and Gatekeeper.

But will Gozer come back?
It's a good bet.
But, will he/she/it manifest as Stay Puft again?

Man, I honestly hope not.
I hope they do something new based on the fears of the kids.

I hope this image is really all we see of Stay Puft.
That's enough if a nostalgia dive.
We got Stay Puft in the cartoons, the video game, the comics, and as a balloon in ATC.
We've done Stay Puft.
Time to move on.

Speaking of Ivo Shandor, what of his good-guy nemesis, John Tobin?

 

I'm thinking we see Tobin's Spirit guide in the same Ghost-Bunker where Phoebe finds the spores, molds, and fungus, the jumpsuits, and the proton packs.

And I hope we get a good lingering look at that sucker.
Its been 30 years, let us gawk a little.
We got 5 minutes to eye-fuck the Enterprise in "Star Trek The Motion Picture", I want triple that for Egon's study.
...probably won't happen.
But I can dream...
And I'll be wearing out the pause button when I get the flick on blu-ray.

Hey, yeah, this time next year, I'll have that!
Holy shit!

Oh, and remember when I said...

and...is that Slimer?
I can't get the pause button to lock on him, it's too blurry.
...it's probably Slimer.

...last time?

Yeah, it's not Slimer.

Here he is zoomed in on....

...from this scene.

The mouth is wrong, the cheeks are wrong, the eyes are wrong, and the color's wrong.

But, it is a ghost seemingly in a similar food-group as Slimer.
Maybe it's his cousin, or brother-in-law, or something.

And I'm betting he's the guy that chomped this stop sign....

...and this bench.

So, he's an inanimate matter muncher instead of a food muncher like Slimer was.
He's like Pac-Man, he can eat anything.
Will this creature get a name?
I'm betting on it.

That splices in all the set pics I collected.

Now, for a big question only seeing the film will solidly answer.

Is Ghostbusters 2 canon anymore in this universe?

First of all, the Ecto-1 is exactly that, the Ecto-1.
Its been downgraded.
Remember, in Ghostbusters 2, it got upgraded to the Ecto-1A.
And in the video game, it became Ecto-1B.

Now, the gunner seat is probably an upgrade on top of the downgrade, but....where'd those 1A and 1B gadgets go?
And why the license plate changes?

OR, were 1A and 1B separate cars, and Egon only kept the original?
That would clear that right up.

Egon took the 1, Ray took the 1A, Winston took the 1B.

But, even if we fan-canon the Ecto-1A/1B away, there's the problem of there's no reference to GB2.
The events of GB1 have faded away to where some people who were alive for it don't even believe it, and of course, these new kids were born after, and need to be told about it.

But this gets trickier to cover up if it keeps happening over and over.
The timeline of the games and comics picks up after GB2, and if we follow that timeline, there'd be no denying ghosts.
Stay Puft came back repeatedly, other giant monsters marched down time's square, and let's not forget the Statue Of Liberty walking in GB2.
Everyone would remember that.
David Copperfield and David Blaine can't do that shit.
Even working together.

So...it's looking to me..like Afterlife discounts GB2, and everything after.
Like how Halloween 2018 erases everything from Halloween 2 onward.

I guess IDW comics are gonna have to splice Afterlife back in as yet another multiverse dimension like ATC, RGB, EGB, and SOS.

Fine and dandy by me.

Now, for three questions the trailer absolutely can't answer.
Unless the next one has way more detail.
But, I'd rather find this shit out in the movie, not have it all spoiled.

Who's Callie's mom? Janine?

If Trevor and Phoebe's grandma is Janine, de-canonizing GB2 makes this easier, because Janine never runs off, and fools around with Lewis.

I mean, I'm adult enough to handle an on-again-off-again Egon and Janine, or even an open relationship Egon & Janine.
But, these are ostensibly family comedies, this new one more so, what with it being kid-Busters.
So...yeah, easier to sweep this under the rug, than have to explain "Uncle Lewis".

But, the followup question all this naturally raises, is how WILL the classic-Busters (plus Janine and Dana) integrate into this thing?

Do they all come to the town to help out in the third act?
Do we just get little moments of them in their new lives, and they see the kids fighting Gozer on TV?
I'm betting on some mixture.

Second...
Did Egon die of Ghostbusting, or something mundane?
I kinda hope they don't address it.
Unless killing him in battle with ghosts is vitally and diabolically important to the plot, let it be unmentioned.

Third...
Will we get Ghost Egon?
Or flashback Egon?
Or both?

This is a franchise built on the idea that dead people come back.
Dancing around it with "he's at peace", just won't do.
They're gonna have to do something.
Whether it's an overt visible Ghost Egon, or a more subtle invisible "guided by his hand", deal where the kids pick up on the pattern of being helped, and go "thanks, grandpa!".

I'm leaning towards it being more towards the latter.

I guess that's everything.

See you next time for more trailers, posters, stills, toys, foods, and whatever else comes next...



Previously with GBA/MM-

Ghostbusters Afterlife (TRAILER!!) (MM #181)