Ectozone.com News Archive

It's that time again!

GenCon 2022 was held on August 4-7, and of course Ogre and I went. We haven't missed one since 2011 (except for 2020, but there wasn't an in-person one so I'm not counting that one.)

It was a little closer to "normal", but of course...

Normal can be a fairly relative term. Even as a guy who leans to the left side of the political spectrum, it did seem a little odd that the health and safety standards this year were actually more restrictive than last year's. The fact that they were expecting a lot more people is about the only reason I can think of that begins to make sense.

Fortunately, my friends at Point Hat Games made it this year. Their talking hat Brimley got them some great buzz this time (we think that Exploding Kittens and their lolcat-run booth not showing up greatly helped) and PHG actually ran out of some of their product on Sunday afternoon. I saw it happen! These are great people and I'm glad to have known their CEO for almost twenty years; I wish I could tell you about some of their exciting future plans, but I don't want to get turned into a frog.

"Anyone else feeling a bit stiff?"

"No, I'm not that Digimon that Fritz likes. Sheesh."

I hear Bezier's game "Cat In The Box" is pretty good...but dammit...

I'm not the only one who said they'd have made a lot more money if they were selling those stuffed cats!!!

So back at my very first GenCon in 2005 I almost got to meet Ernie "Winston Zeddemore" Hudson. Well, my streak of almost meeting Ghostbusters actors is now up to two: here to promote a game based on A Goofy Movie was...

Jason "Garrett Miller" Marsden. But since the booth was charging forty freakin' dollars for autographs or pictures, well, I had to pass on that one.

Now if only Maurice LaMarche or Laura Summer would show up somewhere I could end up failing to meet them at...

In better news, Naomi VanDoren showed up again, and this time I found a print I liked and bought it. Which is the one above.

Okay, time for the usual pictures of the haul.

The GenCon dice from Crystal Caste and Gatekeeper (once again, fortunately they're nowhere close to Keymaster Games), along with a Beholder mini and a Pathfinder mini. Being a blonde female human, dressed in red, brown, and some gold, with a bladed weapon in her left hand, this is as close to her as I'm ever likely to get to one my characters without ordering a custom.

Speaking of Pathfinder, the latest book Dark Archive was out, and as a guy with a wierd affection for the psionic classes, which Paizo mostly stayed away from in PF1, I was interested to see this. Their Focus Point mechanics looks to blend well with the classic Power Point flavor of previous DnD editions.

Also got to talk with Rob Heinsoo when I bought the Drakkenhall book for 13th Age. They're getting ready to do a kickstarter for a revised core book; I hope to get into that one.

Kind of a surprise purchase was Renegade Games' new Power Rangers RPG. It's the Essence 20 engine, the same as their recent GI Joe and upcoming Transformers RPGs; maybe with that in mind it should have been called the "Hasbro Essence 20" system. Anyway, it looks interesting. Go Go Power Rangers!!!

Yeah, I'll show myself out.

Just 252 days until the next one!!!

In other news, no new story yet, but I've been working on it. It should be complete before the end of the year, I hope.

--Fritz V. Baugh

Small update from Deadline about the Ghostbuster Afterlife sequel:

The Ghostbusters sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife that Sony teased at CinemaCon in a sizzle reel and which director Jason Reitman and writer Gil Kenan confirmed on Ghostbusters Day, June 8, is getting a theatrical release of Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023.

As hinted at in the end credits of Afterlife, the next chapter will return to the original films’ New York City and firehouse setting.

That's about the same amount of time after the announcement of Afterlife in January 2019 that the movie was scheduled to be released before that whole Covid thing kinda sprocked it up. This also suggests that once again Jason Reitman and the rest have most of their ducks in a row before even admitting that it's duck season.

Hopefully no pandemics or societal collapses will delay this one.

--Fritz V. Baugh

News from Ecto-Fest 2022 via Hollywood Reporter and GBFans:

Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan are letting a few details out of the ghost trap about their upcoming entry in the live-action supernatural comedy franchise. The duo is also spilling on the plethora of content coming fans’ way via two films, an animated Netflix TV series, video games and a Dark Horse comic series.

The Afterlife sequel now has the codename "Firehouse".

And if the next live-action film was not enough for fans to be thrilled about, another animated film is in the works with Sony Pictures Animation. The creative team behind the project includes directors Jennifer Kluska (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania) and Chris Prynoski (executive producer, Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe) and writer Brenda Hsueh (supervising producer, Disjointed).

There is also a new animated series on the way with production handled by Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix and Ghost Corps, Inc., which is based at Sony’s Columbia Pictures.

Other than my Old Man Yelling At Clouds reaction of "Why does everything have to be on fucking streaming nowadays instead of a real TV network?" I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Dark Horse Comics is working with Reitman and Kenan on a Ghostbusters comic book series that will help bridge the gap between Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the upcoming sequel.

So yes, that's wrapped up in a bit of bad news: IDW has officially lost the license.

Interestingly, the backdrop for the comic announcement, seen behind Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, was some artwork from Now Comics' most well regarded arc, "The Father Thing Trilogy." I doubt it means anything, though.

Looks like there's a lot to look forward to in the coming years.

--Fritz V. Baugh

The Ectozone's very first header picture

Nineteen years. Nineteen years plugging away on a crappy site devoted to a movie that came out thirty-eight years ago. That means I've now been around for half of the life of the entire Ghostbusters franchise!

So a couple years ago I put out the story Thirty-Five Years Later, inspired by the Ghostbusters: Afterlife teaser. It basically suggested how the movie is going to fit into the Ectozone's Multiverse, by introducing the movies-only timeline 681. Well, now that the movie has been released (a year and a half later than planned) and we've all proccessed it, time for Deek's follow-up report to Professor Ulforce...

Tales From The Ectozone: Deek's Report
2022--Timeline Year Forty
It's hard to shock the Chronicler of Realities and a Chronomancer, but recent events in timeline 681 have done just that.

Thanks for sticking around.

--Fritz V. Baugh
Once known as "Veedramon"

Ghostbusters Afterlife Sequel Teased At CinemaCon 2022

Sony Pictures has greenlit a third installment in the Tom Hardy-led “Venom” franchise, following the back-to-back box office successes of 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” ($502 million globally) and 2018’s “Venom” ($856 million globally).

The studio also announced plans for another “Ghostbusters” installment, which will serve as a follow-up to 2021’s reboot “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” ($200 million globally). Sony revealed its plans for both sequels during its Monday evening presentation at CinemaCon, the annual trade show for theater owners. Though the studio did not share any details about either movie, it revealed that new installments were on the way.

And that's basically all we know right now.

--Fritz V. Baugh

Sad news today from GBFans

It is with great sadness that we must report that Ghostbusters director, Ivan Reitman passed away on Saturday. He left behind a legacy, a large collection of amazing movies including Ghostbusters 1 & 2, Stripes, Meatballs and many others. He was 75.

My deep condolences to Jason Reitman and the rest of his family and friends. And my deep thanks to Mister Reitman and the vital role he played in creating the masterpiece that inspired millions, and brought all of us together in places like this one.

I had just completed a series of drawings of the new characters in Ghostbusters: Afterlife before the news hit. Here's a look at the new faces brought to us by Reitman's final movie:

These characters may not exist in the Ectozone universe, but that doesn't mean I can't try to draw them, right? See Phoebe, her brother Trevor, Lucky Domingo, and "Podcast" here

--Fritz V. Baugh

EGB Fan is a longtime member of the Ectozone forum and one of my first collaborators on stories such as For Worse Or For Better and Dreams Reborn, as well as being Coda and Terchi's biggest cheerleader.

More importantly, she's the one who basically singlehandedly plotted out the lives of the Ectozone version of the Extreme Ghostbusters all the way from 1998 to the present and even into the future. And that's what today's post is about.

Not long ago, she wrote me asking if I'd approve of her rewriting the future of one of the EGB kids, Conchita Rivera, the older daughter of Eduardo and Kylie. She admitted looking back at the old stories and felt bad about some of the twists and turns she put young Miss Rivera through; I agreed, remembering saying at the time "Yikes, this is a lot of turmoil for one of the nicest characters in the cast" but she was, after all, EGB Fan's character.

So when she said she wanted to remake some of that stuff, I certainly didn't say no. A combination of it being her characters, and it being stuff that still "hasn't happened yet" as far as 8932 continuity is concerned, meant that I was all for it, especially as she had some other non-romance ideas for making Conchita a better character.

And then one last thing, she asked, since she didn't feel right about putting these OC-heavy stories on fan fic sites like FFN and AO3, would I mind hosting them on the Ectozone? Hell no!

Read and enjoy. You'll also see some familiar (for this site) characters show up in Part Two.

Tales From The Ectozone: Maybe This Time, Part One
By EGB Fan
September 2024--Timeline Year Forty-Two
A professional opportunity leads to a romantic proposition for Conchita Rivera. Not for the first time, she risks an emotional investment, little knowing of the surprise her suitor has in store.

Tales From The Ectozone: Maybe This Time, Part Two
By EGB Fan
October 2024--Timeline Year Forty-Two
Conchita spends some time with Jessica Venkman and the current women of Ghostbusters as she sorts out her feelings. A Halloween party, thrown by her sister's beloved, is drawing closer, and with it--opportunity, should she choose to take it.

--Fritz V. Baugh

Illustration by John Tobias, Rich Rankin, and Suzanne Dechnik

Gregorian: Saturday, 1 January 2022
Mayan: Long count = 13.0.9.2.18; tzolkin = 13 Etznab; haab = 16 Kankin
French: 12 Nivôse an 230 de la Révolution
Islamic: 27 Jumada I 1443
Hebrew: 28 Teveth 5782
Julian: 19 December 2021
ISO: Day 6 of week 52 of 2021
Persian: 11 Dey 1400
Ethiopic: 23 Takhsas 2014
Coptic: 23 Kiyahk 1738
Chinese: Cycle 78, year 38 (Xin-Chou), month 11 (Geng-Zi), day 29 (Jia-Yin)
Julian day: 2459581
Day of year: Day 1 of 2022; 364 days remaining in the year
Discordian: Sweetmorn, Chaos 1, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3188
Order of Hermes: XI Day of Capricorn, XXXI Age of Aquarius

Yeah, that's cool and all, but what's coming up this year?

I'm currently starting the follow-up to The Werewolf of Notre-Dame: it'll be something interesting happening to the Spengler Twins and Eric Stantz while Marie and TJ were in France.

Also, I'll inevitably do a follow-up to Thirty-Five Years Later. Now that Deek's seen what happened in Timeline 681 (and I've seen Ghostbusters: Afterlife) she updates Professor Ulforce...and maybe he's got an update or two for her too. (Probably after it comes out on home video and I watch it again.)

I hope you'll stick around and give it a look.

Have a safe and happy Thirty Second Year of the Age of Aquarius.

--Fritz V. Baugh