Yet More on the Current Obsession
May. 19th, 2009 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaI need to figure out what I'm going to do with Ghostbusters by Gaslight if no one local wants to play but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bassfingers. I am vaguely tempted to try it as a play-by-LJ and open it up to some of the out-of-towners and the time-shifted. Maybe in two weeks when I have free time . . .
I'm leaving this one public because I'm vaguely hoping some of the Random LJ Fandom will spin by and help me out here. I'm trying to get a chronology together for the existing canons that's internally consistent.
Chronology as we have it:
Known events from the films -
- Ray's parents are deceased long enough before the Gozer event for Ray to have clear title to the house
- Ray, Peter, and Egon all have doctorates; Peter, at least, has two, and Egon probably does as well
- The Gozer Incident occurs in 1984
- The original Ghostbusters franchise is bankrupted by lawsuits resulting from the Gozer incident, and the four Busters go their separate ways; Dana and Peter break up
- The Vigo Incident occurs in 1988 or 1989 (the film ends at New Year's; presumably that's the end of 1988)
Known events from the cartoon -
- Ray was born in 1959
- Ray was raised in Morrisville, NY, at least for his high school years
- Egon was raised somewhere in Ohio (the novelization specifies the suburbs of Cleveland)
- Peter's father traveled throughout his childhood
- Peter worked at a carnival during at least one summer in high school, probably more than one
- Peter, Ray, and Egon met in college
- A film was made of the Gozer Incident sometime after it occurred
- Peter's father is still living, and reappears in his son's life somewhere around 1986 (Note: the novelization suggests that both of Peter's parents are dead by 1984, although (a) potentially Peter merely thinks his father is dead, and (b) the author of the novel is also the author of the first episode in which Charlie Venkman appears, so presumably Mueller changed his mind)
- *CONTRADICTION* There isn't sufficient time in the cartoon chronology (Season 1: 1985-6, Season 2: 1986-7; Season 3 - 1988; Season 4 is clearly post-Vigo-Incident based on Janine's hairstyle, Egon's direct reference to the incident, and the presence of Louis Tully as a contract employee of the Ghostbusters) for the business to have been shut down long enough for the Busters to have taken the other jobs shown in the second movie. In fact, there doesn't appear to have been any break in service at all. This is explainable in cartoon continuity as exaggeration of (presumably real) legal issues in the wake of the Gozer Incident to add dramatic tension.
- Egon's parents were both living while he was a college undergraduate
- As of Season 4 (1989), both of Winston's parents are still living
- As of Season 5 (1990?), Egon's mother is still living
Implied events from the cartoon:
- Peter makes several statements suggesting that he was raised in NYC
- Ray's parents died when he was fairly young, and he has no surviving siblings (Note: the novelization of the movie claims that he has two living siblings, and that his parents died after he met Venkman)
- It is strongly implied that Peter's mother is deceased by 1986 (the novelization suggests she is dead by 1984)
- It is strongly implied that Egon's father is deceased by 1987 (the novelization suggests that he is dead by 1984)
Serious issue: I am having an extraordinarily difficult time getting the chronology to work out such that Ray can be born in 1959, take out a year to work in the private sector, and still have a doctorate by 1984. And I don't see a way around it - he has to be Dr. Stantz and employed as at least a post-doc if not a lecturer at the beginning of the events of the first film.
Less serious issues: Even if I accelerate Ray a year in school and don't accelerate Egon, I have trouble getting Egon, Peter, and Ray all as undergraduates at the same time. If I interpret Peter's "we met in college" broadly enough to encompass grad school, I can make Egon a graduate student when they meet, which makes things a little easier, but it's still awkward.
Not a serious issue but it bugs me: If we go by the ages of the movie actors, Egon is the oldest, then Winston, then Peter, then Ray. I happen to like that order, although I think the cartoon implies that they are closer in age than the actors are (there's an 8 year gap between Ramis and Ackroyd, which would more or less preclude Egon and Ray meeting in college at all). However, if we work backwards from Ray's 1959 birthdate, I have a hard time getting Winston drafted without making him older then Egon. Now, it's fanon that he was drafted for Vietnam, not canon - we only have a couple of allusions to his military service in the movies and the cartoon, never a direct reference. The novelization states, and the cartoon suggests, that he has a college degree, which might be consistent with him signing up for a tour of duty near the end of Vietnam, getting out and going to college, then going back into the military for a second stint, leaving again in time for his mother to shove the Ghostbusters' classified ad at him. I think it works better for his personality for him to have been drafted rather than volunteered, but I think I can make it work for him to have signed up out of fear of the draft. Still makes him older than I'd like, although I can live with him and Egon being the same age.
bassfingers. I am vaguely tempted to try it as a play-by-LJ and open it up to some of the out-of-towners and the time-shifted. Maybe in two weeks when I have free time . . . I'm leaving this one public because I'm vaguely hoping some of the Random LJ Fandom will spin by and help me out here. I'm trying to get a chronology together for the existing canons that's internally consistent.
Chronology as we have it:
Known events from the films -
- Ray's parents are deceased long enough before the Gozer event for Ray to have clear title to the house
- Ray, Peter, and Egon all have doctorates; Peter, at least, has two, and Egon probably does as well
- The Gozer Incident occurs in 1984
- The original Ghostbusters franchise is bankrupted by lawsuits resulting from the Gozer incident, and the four Busters go their separate ways; Dana and Peter break up
- The Vigo Incident occurs in 1988 or 1989 (the film ends at New Year's; presumably that's the end of 1988)
Known events from the cartoon -
- Ray was born in 1959
- Ray was raised in Morrisville, NY, at least for his high school years
- Egon was raised somewhere in Ohio (the novelization specifies the suburbs of Cleveland)
- Peter's father traveled throughout his childhood
- Peter worked at a carnival during at least one summer in high school, probably more than one
- Peter, Ray, and Egon met in college
- A film was made of the Gozer Incident sometime after it occurred
- Peter's father is still living, and reappears in his son's life somewhere around 1986 (Note: the novelization suggests that both of Peter's parents are dead by 1984, although (a) potentially Peter merely thinks his father is dead, and (b) the author of the novel is also the author of the first episode in which Charlie Venkman appears, so presumably Mueller changed his mind)
- *CONTRADICTION* There isn't sufficient time in the cartoon chronology (Season 1: 1985-6, Season 2: 1986-7; Season 3 - 1988; Season 4 is clearly post-Vigo-Incident based on Janine's hairstyle, Egon's direct reference to the incident, and the presence of Louis Tully as a contract employee of the Ghostbusters) for the business to have been shut down long enough for the Busters to have taken the other jobs shown in the second movie. In fact, there doesn't appear to have been any break in service at all. This is explainable in cartoon continuity as exaggeration of (presumably real) legal issues in the wake of the Gozer Incident to add dramatic tension.
- Egon's parents were both living while he was a college undergraduate
- As of Season 4 (1989), both of Winston's parents are still living
- As of Season 5 (1990?), Egon's mother is still living
Implied events from the cartoon:
- Peter makes several statements suggesting that he was raised in NYC
- Ray's parents died when he was fairly young, and he has no surviving siblings (Note: the novelization of the movie claims that he has two living siblings, and that his parents died after he met Venkman)
- It is strongly implied that Peter's mother is deceased by 1986 (the novelization suggests she is dead by 1984)
- It is strongly implied that Egon's father is deceased by 1987 (the novelization suggests that he is dead by 1984)
Serious issue: I am having an extraordinarily difficult time getting the chronology to work out such that Ray can be born in 1959, take out a year to work in the private sector, and still have a doctorate by 1984. And I don't see a way around it - he has to be Dr. Stantz and employed as at least a post-doc if not a lecturer at the beginning of the events of the first film.
Less serious issues: Even if I accelerate Ray a year in school and don't accelerate Egon, I have trouble getting Egon, Peter, and Ray all as undergraduates at the same time. If I interpret Peter's "we met in college" broadly enough to encompass grad school, I can make Egon a graduate student when they meet, which makes things a little easier, but it's still awkward.
Not a serious issue but it bugs me: If we go by the ages of the movie actors, Egon is the oldest, then Winston, then Peter, then Ray. I happen to like that order, although I think the cartoon implies that they are closer in age than the actors are (there's an 8 year gap between Ramis and Ackroyd, which would more or less preclude Egon and Ray meeting in college at all). However, if we work backwards from Ray's 1959 birthdate, I have a hard time getting Winston drafted without making him older then Egon. Now, it's fanon that he was drafted for Vietnam, not canon - we only have a couple of allusions to his military service in the movies and the cartoon, never a direct reference. The novelization states, and the cartoon suggests, that he has a college degree, which might be consistent with him signing up for a tour of duty near the end of Vietnam, getting out and going to college, then going back into the military for a second stint, leaving again in time for his mother to shove the Ghostbusters' classified ad at him. I think it works better for his personality for him to have been drafted rather than volunteered, but I think I can make it work for him to have signed up out of fear of the draft. Still makes him older than I'd like, although I can live with him and Egon being the same age.
