Ghostbusters Tributes, Spoofs, & References

Ghostbusters Tributes, Spoofs, & References addresses: events, items, characterizations, or dialog lifted from the Ghostbusters Franchise. For cameos, being characters or props please visit Ghostbusters Cameos.

Movies

In Zombieland Bill Murray appears as himself and there are tons of tributes.

Be Kind Rewind- The main characters make a very cheap and poor remake of the movie Ghostbusters. Sigourney Weaver even made an appearance in the film playing a Walter Peck-like role in wanting to destroy the "Sweded" version of Ghostbusters along with all other "Sweded" movies.

In the 1990 film Gremlins 2: The New Batch, one of the gremlins near the end of the film is wearing a t-shirt with a symbol similar to the No-Ghost Sign with Gizmo the mogwai replacing the ghost.

Though it may be a coincidence, the movie 9 features a device that bears a strong resemblance to the ghost trap used on Extreme Ghostbusters. It was capable of sucking out the souls of living creatures.

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Cracked Magazine have made numerous spoofs of Ghostbusters Related canon.

Mad Magazine did two spoofs of Ghostbusters: A parody of the first movie entitled "Ghost Dusters", as well as a spoof of Ghostbusters 2 later.

Star Invaders- Ghoswtbusters II
Knights of the Dinner Table #201 (Sept, 2013) features a cover homaging Ghostbusters with the main characters in Ecto-1 blasting at Stay Puft chasing them.

Television

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: Slime Busters was a spoof for Ghostbusters, even though it uses actor Ernie Hudson.

Robot Chicken: Squaw Bury Shortcake had Jamie and Adam from MythBusters donning the Ghostbusters uniform and equipment to solve the myth about masturbation causing blindness, which was asked to them by a mother concerned about her son. They drive to the house in Ecto-1 talking about the myth and when they get there, they capture the boy as if he was a ghost. Another episode of Robot Chicken had a clip of two Ghostbusters using urinals and a joke in the phrase "don't cross the streams".

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends When the guys have a ghost problem they ask themselves "Who you're gonna call?" and Coco answers "Co-CO-CO!" (In an identical way to the "Ghostbusters!" theme song) Wilt answers that they have been out of the business for years.

Family Guy has many spoofs of Ghostbusters:
- Road to Rupert- This episode of Family Guy included a quick joke where Peter was in the refrigerator and said "There's No Peter, Only ZUUL!"
- Family Guy: The Story on Page One- In a cutaway gag, Peter Griffin reminisces about his first summer job, where he was a Ghostbuster and busted the ghost of Sam Wheat from the film Ghost during the famous pottery scene.
- Family Guy: Spies Reminiscent of Us - Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd guest star. In an early scene, Peter says they are dining with two of the three Ghostbusters, but Chevy tries to correct him by saying he was not in Ghostbusters(Peter is also incorrect in saying that there are three Ghostbusters when there were actually four: Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore). In addition, Dan uses a tracking device that looks just like the PKE Meter.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Zach and the Alien Invaders had a reference in the season five episode "Zach and the Alien Invaders", in the form of a parody called Bugbusters. In the earlier episode "The Fifth Turtle", Raphael sarcastically says "Who ya gonna call? Mutant Busters?"

Doctor Who: Army of Ghosts The Doctor says "Who you gonna call?" and Rose replies with "GHOSTBUSTERS!".

In the cartoon series "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper" in episode 12, short "Y Files" Casper says "I got to do something, Who do I call?" and two guys posing as Ghostbusters jump out (with music like Ghostbusters theme) and state "Somebody else!" and then leave. A few seconds later Casper calls on a phone 911 and the operator says "Press 1 if you'll being threatened by a Ghostbuster".

In the cartoon Histeria!, a comedic show about history, there was a parody of the song called "Trust Buster" in the episode The Teddy Roosevelt Show. In it, president Theodore Roosevelt was dressed as a Trust Buster and destroyed symbols of trust, including a giant piggy bank possibly meant to parody the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

In the cartoon series "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" in episode 58, short "Billy & Mandy Begins" during Grims story about how they all became friends, he said that Billy captured him with a proton pack and trap.

The show Ben 10 and its successor Ben 10: Alien Force has many references to Ghostbusters. One is that Ben Tennyson's grandfather Max Tennyson is a member of the Plumbers, a team similar to the Ghostbusters except they capture aliens rather than ghosts with a device called the Null Void projector full filling the role of the proton pack and trap and the Null Void itself similar to the Containment Unit. However, it is shown that it is easy and possible for a human or other living thing to enter the Null Void. Another possible Ghostbusters is made in a cutscene of the video game Ben 10: Protector of Earth. Before the boss battle with Ghostfreak, the alien tells Ben to behold the form of his destruction, which could be an homage to Gozer's line of "Choose the form of the Destructor."

In the "Hell House" episode of Supernatural Dean Winchester yells out "Who you gonna call?" to get the cops to chase after two wannabe paranormal investigators.

The Muppet Babies had an episode where they became the "Bug-Busters" and imagined themselves entering Scooter's computer to hunt down a computer bug. This episode used footage from Ghostbusters. Another episode had Bunsen inventing a suit to help kids sleep better with a parachute in case they fell out of bed and a laser gun similar to a proton pack to chase away bad dreams. This second device involved footage from the movie of Slimer retreating from his close encounter with Ray.

In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Pranks-A-Lot", Mr. Krabs says "I ain't afraid of no ghost!"

Disney's The Replacements- The episode "Todd Busters" features a con man who wears a costume based on the Ghostbusters' uniforms (complete with a proton pack!).

In the end of the Garfield and friends episode "Home Sweet Swindler", Al Swindler wears a "Ghost-Extermination" uniform, similar to a Ghostbusters uniform. He also wears a proton pack.

In the anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt the character Brief is a "paranormal investigator" that wears a jumpsuit with a similar No-Ghost symbol on both arms. He also wears a backpack that looks like a proton pack but serves as a P.K.E. meter with a metal detector attached to it for scanning. The series itself is about the title characters destroying ghosts, but have no interest in the paranormal. In the episode "Sex and the Daten City" of the dub, Panty says "I don't see no ghost." Stocking responds "Who ya gonna call, mother bitches?"

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic when the main cast used the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon it resembled crossing the streams when the Ghostbusters defeated Gozer and later in a named episode Boast Busters resembled the name from the Ghostbusters franchise.

In the Inspector Gadget episode "Ghost Catchers", a vague Ghostbusters reference is made when Dr. Claw has his M.A.D. Agent Dr. Spectrum run a scam where he uses a chemical to haunt wealthy citizens of Metro City with illusions of ghosts and get paid to eliminate them. The series itself was made by DiC, which later made The Real Ghostbusters one year after Inspector Gadget was cancelled.

The Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning animated series had an episode entitled "Ghost Busted". Aside from the pun-based title, the episode itself had nothing to do with the Ghostbusters franchise and was about Sonic, Tails, and Antoine camping out and telling ghost stories, Tails and Antoine eventually fearing that the ghosts in the stories are real. Like Inspector Gadget and The Real Ghostbusters, this cartoon was made by DiC.

The The Fairly Oddparents series had some references to Ghostbusters. In the episode "Pipe Down!", Timmy Turner's father yells at him for being terrible at charades, one of his complaints is demanding Timmy to tell him how imitating a rowboat means "Ghostbusters 2". In "Mr. Right", Timmy's fairy godparents Cosmo and Wanda grant his wish of being always right while they still have roasted marshmallows on their wands, the result being a poof balloon reading "Stay Puff", in reference to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Much later, the episode "Fairly OddBaby" has the anchorman Chet Ubetcha say "Dogs and cats are living together! It's mass hysteria!", in reference to the Ghostbusters' rant about the fate of New York in the original movie.

An episode of Dexter's Laboratory has Dexter invent a ghost capture unit to try to capture the ghost of the family goldfish. The ghost capture unit is similar in appearance and function to the Proton Pack and the ghost trap.

In Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man, two episodes reference the Ghostbusters franchise in season four. In Dammit, Hollywood, Duckman mentions one of the pros of his new job as a movie producer is that he met "the black Goosebuster". In the later episode Role With It, Duckman insults his sister-in-law Bernice by calling her "Stay Puft Marshmallow Butt".
Two episodes of Men In Black: The Series reference the Ghostbusters franchise. In the episode "The Jack O'Lantern Syndrome", Frank the Pug says "Who ya gonna call?" in response to Agent K telling him that the Men In Black deal with aliens only and have no jurisdiction over the supernatural. In the later episode "The I Want My Mummy Syndrome", Agent J jests to Agent K that a mission after an animate mummy(which turned out to be an alien in disguise) would be a more appropriate assignment for the Ghostbusters. The references may have something to do with the fact that Men In Black: The Series was made by Adelaide Productions, the same company that made the Extreme Ghostbusters animated series. Extreme Ghostbusters also referenced Men In Black in their episode Grease with F.B.I. agents Jack Stone and Harry Gannan.

In the episode "Raised by Another" on Lost, Sawyer calls Hurley "Stay Puft".

In Danny Phantom Series episodes "Mystery Meat" and "Million Dollar Ghost" make reference to Ghostbuster related designs.

The sitcom The Goldbergs is set in the 1980s, and features many references to Ghostbusters:
- The character of Adam Goldberg has the Ghostbusters movie poster hanging in his room.
- The season 1 Halloween episode "Who Ya Gonna Telephone?" not only takes its title from the phrase "Who ya gonna call?" but also features the character of Albert Solomon wearing a Venkman costume with homemade proton pack. The promos for the episode included the Ghostbusters theme song.
- The season 1 episode "Call Me When You Get There" includes a clip of Ecto-1A from the montage of Ghostbusters II.
- The season 1 episode "You're Not Invited" featured a Ghostbusters birthday cake in the home movie opening and the first movie playing in the background during Adam's birthday party. Consequently, the episode took place on the date of the opening of Al Capone's vault, which was later spoofed in an episode of The Real Ghostbusters.

In the 2002 sitcom Do Over episode "Hollyween (aka Halloween Kiss)," the main character Joel Larsen dresses up as a homemade Ghostbuster. However, as the series was set in 1981, nobody knows what he is.

In 2014, Tokyo ESP: Scene 03 Penguin and Girl has a group of Penguin-Hunters which look to be spoof of the three Ghostbusters: Egon, Ray, and Peter.

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report often make reference to or use clips from the Ghostbusters movies as part of a joke on the news item they are spoofing.

Video Games

The PlayStation 2 game Ghosthunter has many similarities to several aspects of the Ghostbusters franchise including: The main antagonist Lord Hawksmoor is similar to Vigo, the protagonist Lazarus Jones resembles Eduardo Rivera, and the grenade Lazarus Jones uses to trap the ghosts bears a slight resemblance to the trap used on Extreme Ghostbusters. In early designs, Lazarus Jones had a patch similar to the No-Ghost Sign on his jacket.^{[citation needed]}

Little Big Planet for PS3 has a level based on Ghostbusters, featuring Containment Unit, Slimer-like beings and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.^[1]

Ghost Town was a flash app game for Facebook which shares common concepts about trapping ghosts. It was created by Siena. The game had been online from middle 2009 to late 2010. The game had a male avatar user that would go around collecting candy and fighting of zombies. The user also got rid of ghosts at the houses with methods sold at Henry's Traps (shop).

YoVille has mini Job "Ghost Hunter" which has the user bust ghosts with a flashlight. However in Feed posts on Facebook for free energy, the icon for the job is a red haired girl wearing a uniform that is tan.

The Nintendo game Luigi's Mansion(which was also the very first game for the GameCube) has some similarities with the Ghostbusters franchise. The overall premise consists of Luigi having to save his brother Mario from King Boo while exploring a haunted mansion and helping an eccentric scientist/ghost hunter named Professor Elvin Gadd recapture his escaped Portrait Ghosts. Luigi captures ghosts by stunning them with his flashlight and then sucking them up in the Poltergust 3000, which acts like a combination of the proton pack and ghost trap. When a Portrait Ghost is captured, it is inserted into a machine called the Ghost Portrificationizer, which is similar in function to the Containment Unit, except the captured ghosts are forced through the machine to be imprisoned in portraits rather than being imprisoned in the machine itself.

In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, Travis Touchdown says "Time for some pro bono ghostbusting" before he fights the 24th ranked assassin: Matt Helms.
In The Darkness 2 you can unlock an Achievement called "Should Have Called 555-2368..." which is a reference to the phone number that was used in the commercial in the Ghostbusters movie. It was shown when Dana Barrett arrives home and sees the commercial on her TV.

Web Based

Channel101.com has had a three-episode series called McBusters, an amalgam parody of Ghostbusters and McDonald's. The show had Ronald McDonald represent Peter Venkman, Hamburglar represent Egon Spengler Mayor McCheese represented Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore was represented by Mac Tonight, and Grimace represented Louis Tully and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They even had their own version of Slimer called Frymer. The first episode was pretty much like the first movie, with Walter Peck working for the FDA and acting much more impolite than he was in the movie. The second and third episodes parodied Ghostbusters 2 and had Janosz Poha represented by Morgan Spurlock and Vigo represented by the Burger King. The show is known to feature a lot of mild language and violence.
HowItShouldHaveEnded.com, a website showing flash-animated videos of alternate endings to movies, had one video that showed two alternate endings to the original Ghostbusters movie. The first ending had the Ghostbusters die when they cross the streams, with the second ending having the Ghostbusters easily defeat Gozer when Ray tells Gozer that he is a god and uses the lie to trick the Sumerian deity into getting captured in a ghost trap.
On YouTube, a user named James Farr created a series called the Saturday Morning Multiverse which included shorts "Super Mario Busters" and "The New Super Mario Busters".

References

↑ "Little Big Planet Ghostbusters Level" on Youtube

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[1] "Little Big Planet Ghostbusters Level" on Youtube

[1]

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