The Twinkie

"Hold your fire til we see a moment of weakness"

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Specifics: Ghostbusters 101

"What about the Twinkie?"

- Peter Venkman; Ghostbusters

The Twinkie was used by Egon in an analogy to explain to the rest of the Ghostbusters how extreme the current psychokinetic energy, or P.K.E., levels were during the first Gozer incident.

History

Egon warned the other Ghostbusters that the level of psychokinetic energy (P.K.E.) in the city was unusually high, and something "big" was on the horizon. Winston asked him what "big" meant exactly, so Egon picked up a Twinkie from Ray's desk and used it for an analogy: whereas a normal Twinkie would represent a standard amount of P.K.E., the surge Egon was tracking would equate to a Twinkie that was thirty-five feet long and weighing approximately six hundred pounds. Ray was stunned, and Winston observed, "that's a big Twinkie." Egon then ate the Twinkie.

Later, Peter arrived and Winston asked Egon to "tell him about the Twinkie." Concerned, Peter asked, "what about the Twinkie?"

Trivia

Harold Ramis came up with the Twinkie analogy as part of a longer explanation describing the universe as an expanding, four-dimensional balloon. The Twinkie part was the only thing to survive into the movie. ^[1] ^[2]
In The Real Ghostbusters episode "Camping it Up", Twinkies were scripted to be in Slimer's bag at the start. ^[3]
The dimensions of Egon’s twinkie are inconsistent: a 600-pound Twinkie should only be about 6.4 feet long while a 35-foot long Twinkie should weigh about 50 tons.^[4]
On the subscription cover of Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3, both Winston's have a Twinkie.
On page three of the Ghostbusters: The Board Game Operations and Field Manual comic, Peter alludes to Egon's Twinkie analogy. ^[5]
On page 19, panel 2, of Ghostbusters Annual 2015, under the Elon note is a quote of Harold Ramis' "We were delighted with the notion that this script could be so 'out there,' and yet still have a scientific and parapsychological plausibility" which is from an annotation on Making Ghostbusters page 104 about how he and Dan Aykroyd the evolution of the Twinkie metaphor in the first movie.
On page 19, panel 2, of Annual 2015, right of Winston is a nod to his "That's a big Twinkie" line in the first movie and Egon's estimation it would be 35 feet tall and weigh 600 pounds.
On page 19, panel 2, of Annual 2015, left of Egon's boots is "Balloon will pop," a nod to the four dimensional balloon that was originally part of the Twinkie metaphor seen in drafts of the first movie and explained in annotation on Making Ghostbusters page 104
As he does at the Firehouse, Egon keeps a Twinkie handy at his apartment seen in Ghostbusters International #1
In Ghostbusters International #7, page 20, the Twinkie on the ground is the Key Lime Slime Twinkie offered during the theatrical run of the Ghostbusters 2016 movie.
In the Ghostbusters Annual 2017, on page 46, the Primo Spiffies Cakes and ad are based on Twinkies and classic Hostess 1 page ads, for example in old Marvel comics books.

Appearances

Primary Canon

Ghostbusters

Chapter 15: E.P.A. Man

Secondary Canon

The Real Ghostbusters

"The Revenge of Murray the Mantis"
- Winston mentions the Twinkie. ^[6]

IDW Comics

Ghostbusters: Infestation Issue #2
- On page 1, Winston mentioned the Twinkie. ^[7]
Ongoing Series
- Volume One
  - Ghostbusters Issue #2
    - On page 9, a Twinkie can be seen on the dashboard of Ecto-1a.
  - Ghostbusters Issue #4
    - On page 5, Winston mentioned the Twinkie.
- Volume 2
  - Ghostbusters Issue #8
    - On page 8, there is a Twinkie by the phone.
  - Ghostbusters Issue #11
    - On page 4, one of the boy's gifts.
  - Ghostbusters Issue #16
    - Mentioned by Peter on page 7 ^[8]
  - Ghostbusters Issue #17
  - Ghostbusters Issue #18
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ghostbusters
  - Issue #2
  - Issue #4
- Ghostbusters Get Real
  - Issue #1
- Volume 3
- Ghostbusters Annual 2017
  - Peter references Egon's stash on page 43

References

↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "The 'Twinkie' analogy was invented by Harold Ramis as a way to explain the enormity of the psychokinetic energy levels Spengler is detecting within the city."
↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "We were delighted with the notion that this script could be so 'out there,' and yet still have a scientific and parapsychological plausibility. From a physics point of view, Dan was always talking about things like 'holes in the reality envelope.' Well, I didn't know what that would mean to an audience, so I came up with this 'Mr. Wizard' kind of analogy -- describing the universe as an expanding, four-dimensional balloon. And as I was talking, I'd be blowing up this balloon. Then I'd explain, 'If something were to penetrate the envelope of our reality...' -- and the balloon would pop. That then led to the 'Twinkie' analogy. The whole thing made sense in terms of the plot but it was just much too long, so only the Twinkie survived."
↑ Reaves, Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "Camping it Up" Script p. 3. CPT Holdings, Inc.
↑ McTague, Carl (2007). Egon’s Twinkie.
↑ Peter Venkman (2015). Cryptozoic Entertainment- "Ghostbusters: The Board Game" (2015) (Comic p.3). Peter says: "Does it involve a snack-cake analogy?"
↑ Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 10:09-10:10). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Great. Another big Twinkie."
↑ Winston Zeddemore (2011). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters: Infestation Issue #2" (2011) (Comic p.1). Winston says: "I don't even want to know how big the Twinkie is this time."
↑ Peter Venkman (2014). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #16" (2014) (Comic p.7). Peter says: "You gotta slow down on those Twinkies."

Also See

Ghostbusters Key Lime Slime Twinkies

Gallery

Secondary Canon

[1] Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "The 'Twinkie' analogy was invented by Harold Ramis as a way to explain the enormity of the psychokinetic energy levels Spengler is detecting within the city."

[2] Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 104 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "We were delighted with the notion that this script could be so 'out there,' and yet still have a scientific and parapsychological plausibility. From a physics point of view, Dan was always talking about things like 'holes in the reality envelope.' Well, I didn't know what that would mean to an audience, so I came up with this 'Mr. Wizard' kind of analogy -- describing the universe as an expanding, four-dimensional balloon. And as I was talking, I'd be blowing up this balloon. Then I'd explain, 'If something were to penetrate the envelope of our reality...' -- and the balloon would pop. That then led to the 'Twinkie' analogy. The whole thing made sense in terms of the plot but it was just much too long, so only the Twinkie survived."

[3] Reaves, Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "Camping it Up" Script p. 3. CPT Holdings, Inc.

[4] McTague, Carl (2007). Egon’s Twinkie.

[5] Peter Venkman (2015). Cryptozoic Entertainment- "Ghostbusters: The Board Game" (2015) (Comic p.3). Peter says: "Does it involve a snack-cake analogy?"

[6] Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 10:09-10:10). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Great. Another big Twinkie."

[7] Winston Zeddemore (2011). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters: Infestation Issue #2" (2011) (Comic p.1). Winston says: "I don't even want to know how big the Twinkie is this time."

[8] Peter Venkman (2014). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #16" (2014) (Comic p.7). Peter says: "You gotta slow down on those Twinkies."

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Ghostbusters Wiki

The Twinkie

Contents

History

Trivia

Appearances

Primary Canon

Secondary Canon

References

Also See

Gallery

Secondary Canon

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