'Ghostbusters' from Script to Screen Quiz

Answer: "Of course you forget, Peter, I was present at an undersea, unexplained mass sponge migration."

This exchange takes place as the pair is entering the New York Public Library, on their way to their first encounter with a "free-roaming, vaporous, full-torso apparition". Venkman has been dragged away from a meeting with a sexy young college student, and is less than enthused to be there.

When Ray makes his claim about the mass sponge migration, Venkman groans and replies: "Ray, the sponges migrated about a foot and a half." In the shooting script, Ray claimed to have been present at "an unexplained multiple high-altitude rockfall" rather than the sponge migration.

In this sequence we also meet the third founding member of the Ghostbusters, Spengler, have our first taste of slime, and get our first glimpse at a ghost. Their journey through the stack of the library is one of the most memorable moments of the film and it was almost entirely improvised.

Answer: By sliding down a fire pole

The script indicates Ray's open enthusiasm for the property as opposed to the efforts of Venkman and Spengler to remain circumspect, but this is much more overtly (and humorously) portrayed in the version of the scene set to film. In the film, just as Venkman and Spengler are outlining the building's flaws, Ray cries, "Hey, does this pole still work?" slides down the fire pole and ends all price negotiations by saying, "This place is great! When can we move in? You've gotta try this pole. I'm gonna get my stuff."

Answer: She saw an elephant in the sky outside her window.

In the shooting script the incident in Dana's kitchen unfolds much as it does in the movie: beginning with eggs frying themselves on the counter and proceeding to Dana's encounter with the possessed refrigerator. In the movie the last thing we see in this scene is Dana screaming and slamming the fridge door shut.

In the script this is followed by Dana looking around the kitchen to find the eggs intact in their box. The decision to leave the evidence lying around the kitchen provides Bill Murray (Venkman) with an enjoyable comedic moment wiggling cold fried eggs around as he investigates.

At this stage in the plot, Venkman is in hot pursuit of Dana's romantic attention, but she regards him rather contemptuously. As he wanders around her apartment waving a detection device she says: "You knows you don't act like a scientist." The script called for her to tell him he acted like "a used car salesman", but Sigourney Weaver (who plays Dana) instead describes him as "more like a game show host".

Answer: A fancy hotel

In the script a honeymooning couple staying in this fancy hotel (the Sedgewick) has a confrontation with the ghost before the Ghostbusters receive the call. This scene was filmed but not included in the final edit. The ghost the boys are off to catch is Slimer, the bright green ghost who proved so popular with the film's fans that he even got his own television show.

In the script, Slimer is described as "translucent, foul, yellow, feeding off table scraps and leftover beverages, knocking dishes off the cart and scattering refuse...[and looking] like a misshapen potato with a pushed-in face and spindly arms." The version of the ghost that appeared in the film was pretty ugly, but cute enough to make audiences relate to him, too.

Answer: They hire a fourth Ghostbuster.

Winston sees the job advertised in the paper and comes in to apply. Janine (the receptionist) asks: "Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full-trance mediums, the Loch Ness Monster, and the theory of Atlantis?" To which Winston replies: "Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say." Both of these are slight variations on the characters' scripted lines. Venkman and Ray return from a job, clearly exhausted, and Winston is hired on the spot.

Answer: He is caught by the beast and turned into the Keymaster of Gozer.

We have already seen the beast (referred to in the script as a Terror Dog) lurking in Louis's bedroom, but when he hears some growling coming from behind the door he simply asks his guests: "Okay, who brought the dog?". This is followed by the Terror Dog bursting through the bedroom door, scattering the food and the guests. Louis starts running and ends up sprinting through the park to a fancy restaurant, where he is finally caught and turned into the Keymaster of Gozer.

The scene with Aykroyd and Murray dressed as bums was filmed but not included in the film.

The two bums alternate between debating international foreign policy and a possible showdown between a heavyweight boxer and a karate champion. They pay little attention to Louis and the Terror dog as they run by.

Answer: She levitates three feet above her bed.

Ivan Reitman, the director, recalls being impressed by how well the actors (Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver) improvised during the filming of this scene, but also how artfully they incorporated some really funny lines that were in the script:
Dana throws Venkman onto the bed and leaps on top of him.
Venkman: "I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people."
She kisses him "with supernatural lust".
Venkman: "Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule."
Dana: "I want you inside me."
Venkman (to himself): "Go ahead! No I can't!" (to Dana) "Sounds like you've got at least two people in there already. Might be a little crowded."

Answer: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Peck forces the Ghostbusters' containment system to be shut down, which sets a frightening number of ghouls loose on the city. Initially, this lands the Ghostbusters in jail, but when the entire city of New York hits panic mode, our heroes are called to the mayor's office. Here they have a showdown with Peck which is a witty combination of scripted and unscripted comedy. One of the most entertaining unscripted lines comes from Venkman at the conclusion of an almost hysterical string of statements made by the other three Ghostbusters:
Venkman forecasts a disaster of Biblical proportions should the mayor fail to allow the Ghostbusters to get back to work.
Mayor: "What do you mean, Biblical?"
Ray: "What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor. Real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling."
Spengler: "Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes."
Winston: "The dead rising from the grave."
Venkman: "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!"

Answer: "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say, 'YES!'"

The Ghostbusters climb the twenty-two flights of stairs to Dana's floor, and then another flight that have appeared inside her apartment. They discover a temple has emerged on her rooftop and arrive in time to see Dana and Louis turn into Terror Dogs.

The script had Venkman responding to this by saying: "I've been out with some real dogs, but this is ridiculous!", but this didn't make it to the film. Then Gozer emerges. In the shooting script, this character was male, but by the time it hit the screen, Gozer appears in female form, played by Slavitza Jovan and voiced by Paddi Edwards.

Answer: Cross the streams from their proton packs

In the ballroom at the Sedgewick hotel, when the three original Ghostbusters are trying to catch the Slimer, Spengler describes the consequences of crossing the streams like this: "Try to imagine life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." As they face death by giant marshmallow man, Spengler is the one who suggests the option of crossing the streams in order to reverse the particle flow through the gate which had allowed the marshmallow man and associated ghouls into the human realm in the first place. All of the Ghostbusters understand the gravity of this suggestion and are little comforted by Spengler's comment: "There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive." To cut a long story short, they cross the streams, everyone ends up covered in marshmallow, Louis and Dana are rescued, and the Ghostbusters are New York's heroes.