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 Post subject: GBOT and GBVG
PostPosted: March 14th, 2008, 9:30 am 
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I feel the need to clear some air on some issues here. I've been a bit muddled since this whole Ghostbusters Video Game (GBVG) was announced, and I apologize for that. As Ben and Vincent especially know, I've been metaphorically pulling my hair out over this, and wrote (but didn't release) a "fan fic suicide note" where I basically treat the game as Infinite Crisis or One More Day and say "I quit--you guys can have the new universe."

Well, now that calmer heads have prevailed, at least for now, let me make my definitive statement on the GBVG and the GBOT continuity:

1. No final decision on any continuity issue will be made until the game is actually out, and we have a good, firm grasp of it's content. That may be the better part of a year from now.

2. Until those final decisions is made, the game will not be reflected in the GBOT continuity. There will be no "pre-retconning" made to the GBI Timeline or upcoming stories like the conclusion of Chronicles of Gozer

3. Even with that said, my operating first instinct is to treat this as I would any new story: if it violates prior continuity, even if (for this purpose) that continuity is "unofficial", it is eligible to be downplayed or ignored.

It basically puts the GBOT continuity in a somewhat similar unsteady boat that the RGB producers and James Van Hise were in when GB2 came out. Aykroyd and Ramis practically willfully disregarded the animated series ("We went out of business right after Gozer"), and "pure" RGB, in turn, downgraded the movie from a "Major Event" to practically just another Run Of The Mill Monster of the Week. Even the most lasting element of GB2 introduced to the show, Louis Tully as an employee of GBI, ended up fading fast as half the "justification" for his appearance in the sequel was superceded by a return to an older, better idea. If we have to downplay GVG similarly, we will do so.

The preceeding represents a fairly solid concensus between Vincent, Ben, and I. The following is solely my own feelings, but I think it delineates exactly why I've been a bit ambivalent--or even negative--about the new game. There's very little I've heard about it that doesn't give me continuity problems.

Extreme Ghostbusters: This is still going to be part of our continuity. I liked the show, and I liked how it actually let time pass instead of the later onslaught of reboots and retcons. I wish I could convey the true depth of the disdain for reboots and retcons I have aquired in recent years. It was there first. And I don't want Rosey Collins coming all the way from England to murder me.

Marty Stu: As we know, the player avatar is a newly-hired "fifth Ghostbuster". There's something to this idea that grates on my nerves like fingernails on chalkboard; personally, I hope the character will end up so vague and undefined (to make him a better "Pretend he's you!" figure) we can ignore it instead of trying to explain where he's been for the last seventeen years.

"New Love Interest". Another fingernails on chalkboard line. Vincent makes the wise speculation that she'll be Marty Stu's love interest instead of any of the real Ghostbusters--which does make a great deal of sense. The others are mostly off-limits in GBOT: Venkman's pretty much hitting on other women only out of habit by late 1991, Winston has a steady girlfriend, Egon has a steady girlfriend, and Ray...well, in the outside chance it's Ray, this is four years before he actually gets married. But as Ray's wife is set to be revealed in Chronicles of Gozer Book Six, and with "no Pre-Retcon" as mentioned above, the odds will be stacked against her.

Since we're in the territory: Egon and Janine are dating steadily and seriously at this point. It basically takes Janine suffering genuine brain damage to mess that up this time. If Ramis sticks to his deranged guns, it gets ignored. (Grife, Ramis was Joe Q before Joe Q was...) I hope Moranis passing on the project is a good sign--if nothing else, fixing GB2's mistake would lessen (never eliminate, alas) the flood of Egon/Mary Sue stories.

The Shrink: Bill Murray's brother is reportedly going to be the team shrink. This might not be too bad, though I admit it smells just a little like "Bill only agreed to do the game if we gave his brother a part in it." Anyway, I don't see him having a huge part in our stories either way.

Peck. I admit, this sounds like one of the more interesting ideas of the game, with Pecker being a Mayorally-appointed "overseer" of the team. We've mostly stayed away from him in GBOT continuity; the GBI board suggested he ran for Vice President as Jack Hardemeyer's running mate in 2004, and a GBWC story said he has a niece who works for Governor Schwarzenegger. The Mayor of New York in 1991 GBOT-wise is Arnie Lapinski, and having a bit of an edge in his relationship with the Ghostbusters does resonate some with the mostly-Apocryphal "The Return"

ECTO-1. Shit, actually, we're already there: the "ECTO-1A with the original logo" idea has been GBOT Canon for years. Really the only major modification made since then would have been restoring it and adding Garrett's ramp in 1997.

Electron Gun: Frankly, this thing makes no sense as GB Universe physics has been defined for the last twenty plus years; it sounds more like something stupid that Jake Kong or Paul Smart came up with. I hope the actual in-game explaination improves it, but as nobody anywhere has had one for seventeen years, it looks to eventually be ruled (in GBOT continuity) either a failure or an apocrypha.

Gozer: First of all, I admit hearing about Gozer in connection to the game sets off my "This is just another lame retread to make money" alarm. Still, GBOT continuity as it stands right now says Gozer does not return until 2004. If Mister Stay Puft is let out of the ECU, whatever happens in the game he "really" gets put back because he's still there in 2004.

"Franchising Rights". Yeah, it's fun to see the GBI idea entered into an official work (other than the West End Games RPG) but GBOT had already established GBI existing as early as 1984 (see "Busted") to canonize the Northern Virginia Ghostbusters and Norm Gagnon. Janine mentioned "franchises" in "Shadow of the Inquisitors". Hell, there was even mention in the GBWC story "Love Sucks" about an LA franchise that "was born and died back in the Mid-80's". They just tended to wither up and died when GBNY did: the first time, it was because GBNY was legally prohibited from supporting the franchises, the second time because of the damage to the ectosphere making it tough for just about everybody.

The Time Frame. This is something I mentioned to Ben and Vincent; they weren't really receptive to the idea, but here goes: we could reduce some continuity snarls by actually moving the events of the game to when it comes out, October 2008. Less retconning of events over the last seventeen years. It would mean retconning or invalidating elements of the video game, but we'd be doing some of that anyway. Gozer cults could be explained by the rather large Gozer event in 2004, including a sighting of Mister Stay Puft. Marty Stu doesn't have to be shoehorned into seventeen years of continuity, he's a new GBNY hire (no guarantees that Rosey and I will use him, but he'd be there).

The Ending. You know one of the other problems this sorta gives me? Unless the game has a really depressing, downbeat ending, whatever "victory" they gain will be--to keep GBOT intact--undone pretty quickly. Triumphant hero Marty Stu? Fired. Franchise rights granted? Unnecessary and the company goes under shortly afterward. I hate it when people pull shit like that (**cough** "Sure we saved the world from Gozer, but we got shut down right after that")

Is it any wonder that a voice in my head is still telling me "Ignore it, and if everybody else bitches, go ahead and quit?" The minute I feel like JMS(Oh the irony) being told to write a crappy story by Joe Quesada, I'm out of here.

(Coming soon: Ghostbusters: One More Day. When Venkman gets badly hurt, is Egon's only recourse to sell his love for Janine to Dib Devlin, and reset everthing that's happened since 1991? :puke: )

Like I said, nothing will be decided until the game is out and we know what's in it. After that, it will be up to all of us to decide what to do with it; maybe I'll still need that "suicide note" --but I hope not.

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 Post subject: Re: GBOT and GBVG
PostPosted: March 14th, 2008, 11:35 am 
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And all of that makes sense to me, too. That's what I'm doing: wait till the thing's even out, if it DOES ever come out, then go from there.

And why did the Ghostbusters: One More Day bit make me laugh hysterically?

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 Post subject: Re: GBOT and GBVG
PostPosted: March 14th, 2008, 2:34 pm 
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Okay I want to ask a stupid question:

Why can't the game just be a game in the timeline? We know from EGB that Peter was trying to get a third movie made, maybe he gave up and settled for a generic ghostbusters video game, just something to fund the expansion projects, the research, college funds...

It can be a real video game in our world, and a real video game in the GBOT. What do you think?

ghostdiva

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 Post subject: Re: GBOT and GBVG
PostPosted: March 14th, 2008, 5:12 pm 
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It could certainly be on the table. It boils down to, though, would I be able to get away with it? There's lots of people who might gripe "Your Timeline is lame because you put all that dumb stuff from EGB in it but said the video game, which was immaculately crafted from the holy hands of Danny The Creator and Saint Harold The Inerrant, was only a video game!"

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 Post subject: Re: GBOT and GBVG
PostPosted: March 15th, 2008, 3:29 am 
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Fritz wrote:
It could certainly be on the table. It boils down to, though, would I be able to get away with it? There's lots of people who might gripe "Your Timeline is lame because you put all that dumb stuff from EGB in it but said the video game, which was immaculately crafted from the holy hands of Danny The Creator and Saint Harold The Inerrant, was only a video game!"
well you can say that it is a game but one that is made up of a bunch of case files that has happened over the years . you can also say that do to marketing they decided to have it set in specific time to appeal to fans .

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