The History of Ghostbusters International

[Fritz]

As some of you might remember, three years ago I released the semi-famous Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline.

More recently, I've been working on a supplement and expansion based on the Ghostbusters New York, Extreme Ghostbusters, and GBI fan fics written by myself and many others.

This is the working version:

www.ectozone.com/gbtimeline/gbi.html

After too long an amount of time, I'm wanting to put some work into this thing, to get it into shape, and more inclusive of the variety of teams in GBI.

This is the working list of items to be added on the revision scheduled for June 13. Items preceeded by an asterisk (*-) are already on the Timeline, and included for reference purposes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1960's or 70's
Andrew Williams' father serves in Vietnam; his hand is shot off, and replaced with a prosthetic.

1976
November 14. Mark Lucas born in Tampa, FL

1977
July 11. Mick Nielson born in Redbank, NJ

1980
October 23. Damon Lucas born in Tampa, FL; he is the younger brother of Mark Lucas.

1981
June 14. Julie Madison born in Belmont, MA

1982
Kyle Peterson is born 1-13 in North Carolina

1983
*-Ghostbusters Inc./Ghostbusters New York formed

1984
*-Ghostbusters International first commissioned.

1985
Kevin Kemarly is born 11-19 in Onarga, near Chicago, Illinois.

1986-late 1988
*-GBNY shut down by court order.

1991
*-GBNY deactivates

Mid 1990's ()
College student Mick Nielson is involved with the Shadow Chasers. At some point during this period, they encoutner Valeck, Viceroy of the Night, Heirophant of the Winged Harbingers

1996
Bill Malkin, Dave Mallozzi, and Tim Mabes encounter the Jersey Devil while on a camping trip in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. They become interested in the paranormal, and form the Jersey Devil Paranormal Society Club.

1997
*-GBNY reactivated.

*-Nightsquad forms; Vincent Belmont hired by GBNY

1998
*-GBI officially reactivates; Louis Tully becomes CFO.

Rich Roy founds New Jersey's first GBI franchise, the JerZee Ghostbuster (JZGB)

2002
May. The Jersey Devil Paranormal Society is recruited into GBI by Rich Roy, the CEO of JZGB. They become Ghostbusters New Jersey (GBNJ)

2003
February: Tim Mabes leaves GBNJ; Rob Wurm is hired as his replacement.

Louis Tully goes on a leave of absence, and Rich Roy of JZGB becomes Director of Ghostbusting Operations of GBI

New Years Eve, 2003:
Kyle Peterson becomes an official Mobile Agent of GBI.

2004
Dr. Cedric London (parapsychologist), Rob Statler (engineer), Salina Duran (cryptozoology), Andrew Williams (monster hunter), and Brian Roig (a non-Hermetic sorcerer from the fringe Order of Ra) form Ghostbusters Doom Patrol. Erin Cummings is hired as Client Administrator. In their first case, they encounter madman Adrik Thorsen.

The Gem of Odin surfaces in Onarga; Kevin Kemarly, Ryan Price, Josh Kanosky, and Andrew Thomas form the Onarga Ghostbusters.

Due in part to Rich Roy's workload with GBI, JZGB is closed and it's operations merged with GBNJ.

Early Summer 2004:
Western Nnorth Carolina Ghostbusters officially open for business, albeit on a part-time basis. Kyle tries in vain to get Deven, his supervisor/mentor, to join up.

Just before Halloween 2004: a Ghostbusters International strikeforce, spearheaded by GBNJ, is formed to defeat the Baccardio entity. While they are victorious, Baccardio manages to escape...

Mick Nielson (formerly of Shadow Chasers, and Damon and Mark Lucas join GBI, and become Ghostbusters: Tampa Division. Julie Madison joins the team.

2005
Tampa Division aquires their own ECTO-2 (not to be confused with the helicopter long used by GBNY)

Brian Roig's old friend Jason Riddle appears, just as reanimated Iraq War corpses attack a bar in Philadelphia. Tim Bondo is a witness, which I mostly mention because he's cool. CJ is apparently killed by Adrik Thorsen.

2006
Dr. James Ferguson, a friend of Tampa Division's Damon Lucas, is believed deceased after an incident in Pompeii; he resurfaces soon after, in accordance with a prophesy that Rome would rise again. An outbreak of zombie attacks related to the incident is seen worldwide.

(some events related to Kyle Stevens' "United Darkness")

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not as much as I'd like. So this is where you come in...

Want to be included? Give me the info. Extremely useful information...

--Birthdates. But be sensible--if your character has multiple PhDs and you're only 19 in "real life", your character should probably be at least 5-10 years older than the "real" you. Sure, Egon got his first degree at age 12, but he's an exceptional case.

--When did your team form? When did members join or leave?

You get the picture...

A couple of caveats:

--Just because you aren't on here doesn't mean you "don't exist" or your team will not be acknowledged.

--Events that are contradictory to the Timeline will not be included on it. One big one: According to the Timeline, GBI is totally inactive between the years 1986-1988 and 1991-1997. Anybody who says "We became an official franchise in 1996" will not have that event cited. I can't stop you from putting it in your stories or your website, but it will not be cited in the Timeline.

--If for whatever reason you want me to remove any reference to you, let me know. Anything above will go in the Timeline June 13th unless you tell me otherwise.

I thank you for your time and consideration, and hope to be hearing from you soon.

--Dr. Fritz V. Baugh
Official Historian

PS...I'm just wondering what kind of hell I'm going to catch for this...

[Mick Nielson]

Thanx a lot for including us, Fritz, I know I must have bugged the hell outta ya, lol.

Just make sure everyone knows that WE own the Extreme Ghostbusters' old car. I dont want anyone else getting that idea. . Also, I noticed you mentioned Global Conflict in there, would you like me to let you in on the ending of Global Conflict so that you can include it in the timeline?

Thanx again, mate!
Mick Nielson, Heart of the Tampa Ghostbusters

[Fritz]

tampabuster1 said:

Thanx a lot for including us, Fritz, I know I must have bugged the hell outta ya, lol.

Just make sure everyone knows that WE own the Extreme Ghostbusters' old car. I dont want anyone else getting that idea. .

There may be a problem with that. For one thing...then what are the GBNY crew driving now?

The working assumption has been that the current ECTO-1 was the same one the EGBs drove, which was in turn the same car called ECTO-1A in the movies.

www.ectozone.com/gbny/ecto1.html

Also, I noticed you mentioned Global Conflict in there, would you like me to let you in on the ending of Global Conflict so that you can include it in the timeline?

Not necessary yet. You wouldn't want to spoil the ending for the readers, right?

[Mick Nielson]

The vehicle in EGB was a different type of '59 Caddilac. It had no rear windows, meaning it was a hearse. Also, Eduardo refers to it as such in one episode where he takes a driving school.

and yes, your right, I wouldnt wanna spoil the ending.

[Kingpin]

tampabuster1 said:

The vehicle in EGB was a different type of '59 Caddilac. It had no rear windows, meaning it was a hearse. Also, Eduardo refers to it as such in one episode where he takes a driving school.

and yes, your right, I wouldnt wanna spoil the ending.

I wouldn't take Eduardo's comment or the design at face value... the legal allowances the XGB art team had are debatable... you can conclude that there seemed to be some problems relating to RGB designs...

The Ecto-1 on show does not reflect the design of a 1959 Cadillac, but it has 59 caddie fins and it's fair to conclude it was their take on it...

This is verging on internet fanboy style nitpicking, but if I had to say what the car was; I'd say it was a butchered 1959 Cadillac... although if I'd written it, I would have stuck with the classic design...

[Mick Nielson]

So does it work for me to have that car then? Because wouldnt the Ghostbusters still be using the Ecto-1a at this point?

[Fritz]

tampabuster1 said:

So does it work for me to have that car then? Because wouldnt the Ghostbusters still be using the Ecto-1a at this point?

There would have to be a major continuity snarl to be resolved. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it would involve disregarding events actually seen in the TV show and in previously posted fan fics. The questions the idea raises in GBOT continuity are these:

Question 1: If the EGB car is not the second ECTO-1 (the ECTO-1A) where did it come from? Why was it sitting in the firehouse garage, run down? In "Darkness At Noon", that's where the EGB car comes from--it's sitting run down in the firehouse, and is always referred to as ECTO-1.

Question 2: Why did the Ghostbusters replace the ECTO-1(A) with another car? The TV show certainly doesn't give any such indication...but then again, RGB never even acknowledged that there was more than one ECTO-1. It's the movie canon that hints that there were two ECTO-1s.

And the original ECTO-1 has been claimed already. Vincent Belmont laid claim to it's fate before I even came along into the Ghostbusters community.

Question 3: Why would the team then at some point go back to the ECTO-1A? One specific modification, the wheelchair ramp, would presumably have to be replicated for Garrett's use. Garrett is still a Ghostbuster in the GBOT fan fics.

If the "ECTO-EGB" was damaged badly enough to have to drag the aging 1A out of storage...would there be enough left for you to use?

And yes, I've found three stories of mine, so far, that made reference to the assumption that the ECTO-1A, the car driven by the RGBs in Season 4-6, and the EGB ECTO were (sylization differences aside) the same vehicle.

www.ectozone.com/ff/gbci.html

The familiar shape of the ECTO-1 sat as though waiting for another call to carry it's passengers to another "zap and trap" job. Technically the second ECTO-1, it was also covered with dust, and some of the electonics on the roof rack had been cannibalized, possibly for use in experiments upstairs. The second? It was a miracle that they only went through two of those cars, what with the abuse they'd seen...

gozer2.ectozone.net/gozer5.html

In truth, the vehicle WAS the original ECTO-1, purchased by Ray Stantz in 1983, and retired when the team reunited in late 1988. The original Ghostbusters and their successors had driven the second ECTO-1, briefly known as the ECTO-1A due to the vagarities of license registration law, for the fifteen years since. In 2000, when Vincent Belmont and Gabriel Martin formed their own Ghostbusters franchise, Venkman had given them the original vehicle as a "launch gift"...complete with its non-working engine. It was something it took Ray Stantz a while to forgive him for...the fact that Ray got to help with getting the old girl running again had helped, though.

www.gbwc.net/fic/hometurf.html

They walked into the garage. Joey gasped as he saw the world famous ECTO-1, sitting there ready for its next job. It was similar to their own vehicle, the ECTO-1N, but it's reputation was in the next galaxy--Joey at times could scarcely believe it was only the second ECTO-1, what with all of the abuse it had reportedly suffered over the years...

and

"Yeah, but our vehicle isn't the famous ECTO-1, the one the Ghostbusters drove to their fights with Vigo, Boogaloo, or Al Capone in!!!"

I can't tell you how the write your stories. I can't tell you you can't say the ECTO-2 is the same car driven by the EGB crew. I don't own the RGB or EGB characters. But I can say that it is a "fact" that would be hard to rectify within the continuity of past stories.

[Kingpin]

Mick: Sorry if this comes off as being really pompous and stuck up... it wasn't my intent:

Such is the problem with 'adopting' something that's existed in the established canon for so long... Vincent Belmont and the original Ecto-1 is an amusing little plot pothole as it actually explains a plothole from the film... was Ecto-1A a modified Ecto-1 or a whole new car?

I can't tell you what to do either... but from how I understand it the car on EGB was and always has been meant to be Ecto-1... unfortunately it means you might have to devise a new vehicle as...

Which isn't specifically a bad thing, it allows you to go and make something unique... GBUK used to operate out of a Fire Station (Seems almost every team uses a Firehouse these days)... but we went and blew it up, and now the team's based in a disused asylum... and we can happily say we did it first.

West Coast Ghostbusters and Arcane Devision use modified warehouses, and Nightsquad's considered using a Police Station.

[Mick Nielson]

Oh I dont have a problem with changing the car's story, I was jus worried about clarifying what the "accepted" facts were on the possibility of it happening. I do have some questions tho...

(keep in mind, I'm not trying to make this an argument, I'm just having a discussion)

1. Fritz mentioned that there were several theories which suggest that the (later) RGB and EGB cars were in fact the aging Ecto-1a, if so, where did the original car go?

2. If the Ecto-1a was NOT the car they are now using, where did the Ecto-1a go?

3. Would it be more possible for the Ecto-1a to be the car we now possess?

4. Is anyone annoyed by my questions yet? ;D

[Fritz]

tampabuster1 said:

Oh I dont have a problem with changing the car's story, I was jus worried about clarifying what the "accepted" facts were on the possibility of it happening. I do have some questions tho...

(keep in mind, I'm not trying to make this an argument, I'm just having a discussion)

1. Fritz mentioned that there were several theories which suggest that the (later) RGB and EGB cars were in fact the aging Ecto-1a, if so, where did the original car go?

2. If the Ecto-1a was NOT the car they are now using, where did the Ecto-1a go?

3. Would it be more possible for the Ecto-1a to be the car we now possess?

4. Is anyone annoyed by my questions yet? ;D

I breif, here's the current understanding:

The original ECTO-1 is purchased by Ray in 1983. It serves the Ghostbusters throughout the Gozer crisis and the first three seasons of the cartoon. When the team is forced out of business, Ray continues to drive it to children's parties with Winston, but without the income of being Ghostbusters they aren't able to adequately maintain it. When GBNY goes back into business in late 1988, the original ECTO-1 is retired. It sits in storage until 2000, when Venkman gives it to the Arcane Division (albeit without the engine--the Arcane Division, with Ray's help, puts a new engine in it.) As of June 2004, this vehicle is still being driven by the Arcane Division.

The Ghostbusters purchase a second ECTO-1 in late 1988, which is dubbed the ECTO-1A. After New Year's 1989, the registration of the original ECTO-1 expires, and the second car is registered as ECTO-1. This car is driven by GBNY through seasons 4-6; after GBNY breaks up in late 1991, it sits in the firehouse garage and rots (though since it isn't being driven either, it never degrades to the extent the first ECTO-1 did.) When the EGB team is formed in 1997, this car is restored and modified (the wheelchair ramp) and is still being used by GBNY to this day.

Saying your car is the same one as the ECTO-1A leads to much the same questions as before: our working theory is that the EGB ECTO-1 and the ECTO-1A are physically the same vehicle. It would still have to be explained why GBNY went about aquiring a third ECTO at some point.

[CJ]

If I can make a suggestion:

Since the Ecto-1A seemingly "disappeared" from regular continuity and, after going through your site and noticing you have a connection to Universal Studios Orlando, why don't you come up with the idea that the Ecto-1 seen at Ghostbusters Spooktacular for so long was really the 1A (after all, that Ecto-1 bore more than a passing resemblance to the 1A anyway).

Anyway, that's my estimation of a possible route that does not screw with continuity and adds something to continuity as well (Spooktacular, I don't think, has never been mentioned or used in a fanfiction).

By the way, pleased to meet ya Mick. I'm a fellow Floridian myself (the Jacksonville/Fernandina Beach area) and the leader/founder of the Ghostbusters Doom Patrol fanfiction team ( you can check out my work here). Hit me up online whenever you want to talk.

[Kingpin]

cj said:

If I can make a suggestion:

Since the Ecto-1A seemingly "disappeared" from regular continuity and, after going through your site and noticing you have a connection to Universal Studios Orlando, why don't you come up with the idea that the Ecto-1 seen at Ghostbusters Spooktacular for so long was really the 1A (after all, that Ecto-1 bore more than a passing resemblance to the 1A anyway).

Anyway, that's my estimation of a possible route that does not screw with continuity and adds something to continuity as well (Spooktacular, I don't think, has never been mentioned or used in a fanfiction).

By the way, pleased to meet ya Mick. I'm a fellow Floridian myself (the Jacksonville/Fernandina Beach area) and the leader/founder of the Ghostbusters Doom Patrol fanfiction team ( you can check out my work here). Hit me up online whenever you want to talk.

...

You know, if Mick's up for that... then that's actually a really good idea.

Not sure if there's anyone who is usually a bit gullible on the TD... but an amusing annecdote could be made of "He honestly thought he was buying the car from the New York office... we thought he'd seen pictures of the real thing..."

[Fritz]

(Am I the only one reading my posts? I thought I explained the ECTO-1A deal in the GBOT continuity...)

If what CJ and Ben are suggesting is that Tampa is driving is the car from the Universal Studios show...hell, I'm all for that. "We bought this car when they discontinued the show."

Though the idea Ben suggests, that Venkman (gasp)...mislead the Tampa bunch about their vehicle's origin has the most humor potential.

Heck, both aren't mutually exclusive...

Mick: You told me it was the ECTO-1A!

Venkman; It is...

Mick: But it's the ECTO-1A from Universal Studios! I thought we were getting the real one...the one you guys drove! Instead we got a knock-off!

Venkman: An authorized knock off. Dude, all I said was that it was the ECTO-1A. I mean, think about it, how could I sell you the original when Roland and his guys are still using it? And I even threw in the window stickers for free!

[CJ]

admin said:

(Am I the only one reading my posts? I thought I explained the ECTO-1A deal in the GBOT continuity...)

You know, I'll say I read it, but I didn't absorb it.

[Cliff]

admin said:

(Am I the only one reading my posts? I thought I explained the ECTO-1A deal in the GBOT continuity...)

If what CJ and Ben are suggesting is that Tampa is driving is the car from the Universal Studios show...hell, I'm all for that. "We bought this car when they discontinued the show."

Though the idea Ben suggests, that Venkman (gasp)...mislead the Tampa bunch about their vehicle's origin has the most humor potential.

Heck, both aren't mutually exclusive...

Mick: You told me it was the ECTO-1A!

Venkman; It is...

Mick: But it's the ECTO-1A from Universal Studios! I thought we were getting the real one...the one you guys drove! Instead we got a knock-off!

Venkman: An authorized knock off. Dude, all I said was that it was the ECTO-1A. I mean, think about it, how could I sell you the original when Roland and his guys are still using it? And I even threw in the window stickers for free!

This has got to be one of the single greatest threads ever.

..."'authorized' knock-off?" Okay...