The Zombie Taxi Driver (also known as The Driver) [1] was seen driving a man in a rather reckless way right after the events at the firehouse.
History
Primary Canon
Ghostbusters
It appears in a scene as one of the ghosts who escaped after the Containment Unit blows up. This spirit entered a New York City Taxi Cab through its exhaust pipe. It assumed a physical form after entering the cab. When a passenger entered the cab and asked to be taken to the Columbia building, he said "I'm in a hurry, so let's not dawdle". Doing as his passenger said, the taxi ghost drove like a madman to the destination, causing cars to crash as it sped by.
Secondary Canon
IDW Comics
The Zombie Taxi Driver apparently continued working. During the short stint of the New Ghostbusters, the entity took on Ron Alexander as a customer and drove him to the Parkview Psychiatric Hospital. The driver refused to give Ron a break on the fare, noting he wasn't a real Ghostbuster, and charged $38.50. Months later, on October 30, Special Agent Melanie Ortiz took the Zombie Taxi Driver's cab to the Firehouse. During the end of the Tiamat incident, Winston cut off and raced past several motorists in route to Tiyah's Apartment. One of them was the Zombie Taxi Driver.
Insight Editions
While this ghost has consistently manifested in the same general location - Madison Avenue - and always in a taxicab, capturing a specific one has been borderline impossible because of its random manifestations and the relative difficulty in successfully hailing a cab in New York City. In addition, it has been difficult to identify - giving way to several theories about its origin. One theory suggested the entity was originally a driver for the fleet of electric hansoms that began in 1897 and preceded the modern day taxi service. A second theory posited the entity as a casualty in the fatal incident where a taxicab drove into the Harlem River in the 1950s. Another disagrees the entity was a driver at all and could have been a passenger or someone with a strong desire to drive that carried through to the afterlife.
Ghostbusters: The Board Game
Ghost Card Information
Side A
- To Hit: 3 or higher
- To Trap: 1 stream
- When Hit: See When Trapped
- When Trapped: If the Zombie Taxi Driver is on the Ecto-1, move Ecto-1 3 spaces in a random direction then place it on your character card.
- When Missed: If Zombie Taxi Driver is on the Ecto-1, the Ecto-1 and this Ghost both move together 3 spaces in a random direction, twice.
- Special: At the end of each round, each Zombie Taxi Driver moves 1 space towards Ecto-1.
Impossible Mode Side A
- To Hit: 3 or higher, add a Stream
- To Trap: 1 Stream
- When Hit: See When Trapped
- When Trapped: If this Ghost was on the Ecto-1, move the Ecto-1 3 spaces in a random direction, then place this Ghost on your Character Card.
- When Missed: ALL Zombie Taxi Drivers and all Ghosts within their Lines of Sight move 2 spaces towards Ecto1. If this Ghost is on the Ecto-1, the Ecto-1 and any Ghost on it move together 3 spaces in a random direction twice.
- Special:
- At the end of each round, this Ghost and each other Ghost within its Line of Sight move 1 space towards the Ecto-1.
- At the start of each round, if this Ghost is on the Ecto-1, move the Ecto-1 and any other Ghost on it 3 spaces in a random direction.
Side B
Zombie Taxi Drivers are even crazier than living New York City Taxi drivers. These Class 1 ghosts are continuously "On Duty," looking for a vehicle to commandeer and passengers to fleece. It's best to keep them out of your car and yourself out of theirs.
Impossible Mode Side B
The worst driver this side of the physical plane has pulled up with a need for speed. Hellbent on taking the Ecto-1 on a nightmarish joy ride, his obsession for reckless driving has inspired other Ghosts to tag along.
Incorporating Impossible Mode:
- To incorporate your Impossible Mode Ghosts into a normal scenario: Roll the six-sided Proton Die before placing each Ghost for which an Impossible Mode counterpart is available. For each "No Ghosts" symbol rolled, replace with an Impossible Mode Ghost of the same Class level
- When an Impossible Mode Ghost causes other Ghosts to move, move the Ghosts in order of proximity to Ghostbusters (closest first).
- When an Impossible Mode Ghost is in the Spirit World, it is always summoned before its non-Impossible counterpart.
- The Impossible Mode Zombie Taxi Driver does not need Line of Sight to the Ecto-1 in order to move toward it.
Classification
Secondary Canon
Cryptozoic Entertainment
In Ghostbusters: The Board Game, Zombie Taxi Drivers are Class 1 ghosts.
Insight Editions
On page 10 of Tobin's Spirit Guide (Insight Editions), the Zombie Taxi Driver is a Class 3 and noted to take on a corporeal form only when it manifests inside a cab. [2]
Trivia
- The license plate of the taxi the entity drives is "6365-TI"
- One of the manifestations in the original January 20, 1983 script was a skeletal biker terrorizing residents of a small upstate town. This entity became the skeletal cab driver in the final script. [3] [4]
- The scene with the Zombie Taxi Driver was also done during the first week of shooting on Madison Avenue. [5]
- In Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular, the driver is noted as "a palpable reconstructor-type three" and had "been dead for over 15 years." [6]
- Issue 4 of Marvel comics' Real Ghosbusters features a character that's either the animated universe's equivalent of the driver or a character heavily inspired by him.
- The Zombie Taxi Driver appears on the Second Printing Cover for Ghostbusters Issue #2. [7]
- The Zombie Taxi Driver appears on the RI Cover for Ghostbusters Issue #14.
- On February 15, 2015, the 7th stretch goal, $550,000 of Ghostbusters: The Board Game, was introduced: 5 Zombie Taxi Drivers (Class 1 Ghosts) with Ghost Card and Scenario Add-On. [8] The Zombie Taxi Driver Add-on was revealed to be $10. [9]
- On February 16, 2015, the Zombie Taxi Drivers were unlocked. [10]
Appearances
Primary Canon
Secondary Canon
- IDW Comics
- Ongoing Series
- Insight Editions
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
- Section I: Ghosts of New York
- Pages 10 to 11
- Section I: Ghosts of New York
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
- Cryptozoic Entertainment
References
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.10). Paragraph reads: "The "Driver" is an entity that randomly manifests in taxicabs, taking control of the vehicle and embarking on a wild, and potentially dangerous, joyride."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Comic p.10). Paragraph reads: "Class III. Corporeal only when it manifests in the confines of a taxicab. Location: Madison Avenue."
- ↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 146 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "One of the many supernatural manifestations encountered in Dan Aykroyd's first script was a skeletal biker who has been terrorizing the residents of a small upstate town.'"
- ↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 146 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "Often, in early drafts of a script, you have one scene with good dialogue, another scene with a great visual impact, and yet another scene that makes a really expositional point. But what makes a really dense comedy is when you can take the good dialogue and the physical business and the raw exposition for all these different scenes and load them into one strong scene with a definite reason for being. That's what happened with the skeletal biker. It was a wonderful concept, but it was too far removed from the main story. With the skeletal cab driver, we were able to save the visual effect from that original scene and put it in a place where it made better sense.'"
- ↑ Ivan Reitman (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 1:09:40-1:09:45). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "Also from the first week of shooting on Madison Avenue. "
- ↑ Mueller, Richard (August 1985). Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular, p. 201. Tor Books, New York NY USA, ISBN 0812585984. Narrator says: "The cabbie, a palpable reconstructor-type three, had been dead for over 15 years but it still remembered how to drive, and it had nothing to lose."
- ↑ Tristan Jones post 12/26/11 Ghostbusters Fans
- ↑ Ghostbusters: The Board Game Update #11 2/15/15 "Ghostbusters, What Do You Want?"
- ↑ Ghostbusters: The Board Game Update #12 2/15/15 "A couple notes..."
- ↑ Ghostbusters: The Board Game Update #13 2/16/15 "Going downtown?"
Gallery
Primary Canon
Secondary Canon
Behind the Scenes
Images provided by Paul Rudoff and are from "Get Slimed: The Making Of The Classic Animatronic Character".
