New Years 1984

"Well, it's New Year's Day," said Dr. Peter Venkman, happily to his fellow Ghostbusting teammates in the kitchen. "Which means we have a clean slate to break new records in Ghostbusters history.

"Well, we got lots to look forward to, Venkman," said Dr. Ray Stantz. "By the way, guess who I met at the restaurant last Friday. Dan Aykroyd!"

"You've met Dan Aykroyd?" reacted Winston Zedmore.

"Yeah," said Ray. "I love that guy. And get this: He wants to do a movie about us!"

"Really!?" said Slimer, the GB's mascot and first ghost they've caught. "A movie about us?!"

"That's awesome! Did you say yes?" asked Venkman.

"On one condition..." said Ray with a smirk. "Only if Dan plays me in the movie. And he said 'Done deal'. So, we're in."

The Ghostbusters and Silmer cheer in excitement.

"Wait," said Dr. Egon Spengler. "If Dan Aykroyd's going to play you, Ray, then who's going to play me?"

"He can't decide between Harold Ramis or Jeff Goldblum," said Ray.

"I... I've no idea what to say because I'm not familiar with those two," said Egon with honesty.

"And what about me?" asked Venkman.

"Chevy Chase, I think," said Ray.

"Well, it'd be an honor to have him play me," said Venkman. "But if Chevy ain't interested, I would go with Bill Murray from Caddyshack."

"Ooh," said Ray. "When I take him to the Fort to meet Lilith, I'll be sure to tell him that."

"You're going to Fort Detmerring again?" asked Venkman. "Wow. You must really love that ghost lady friend of yours."

"Look, I know it's strange to be in love with a ghost girl," said Ray. "But I can't help but love her."

The GBs and Slimer look at Ray in a weirded out way. Ray then sighs sadly.

"Yeah," he said. "I guess you're right. It is a problem."

"Ray, it's alright," said Egon. "As strange as we think it is, we have no problem with you visiting Lilith."

"Just, uh, don't expect having a ghost wedding," said Winston.

"I won't," said Ray. "Well, gotta get going. Dan wants me to meet him at the donut shop for a bit to brainstorm ideas. He already has some for the Gozer thing. Slimer, wanna come with me?"

"Sure, Ray," said Slimer.

"Hey, I wanna come, too," said Venkman. "I wanna meet Jake Blue."

"Alright," said Ray. "You can come, too, Venkman."

Donut Shop

Ray, Venkman, and Slimer enter the donut shop to find Dan Aykroyd sitting at a booth with some coffee. Dan looks over to the two GBs and green ghost and waves to them.

"Over here, guys!" said Dan Aykroyd.

The guys and Slimer go sit with Dan.

"Dan, this is my teammate, Dr. Peter Venkman," said Ray.

"Hi, Venky," said Dan, shaking hands with Venkman.

"Venky? Hmm, no one's called me that before. I like it," said Venkman. "Use that nickname in the movie."

"Sure," said Dan. "And you must be Slimer."

"That's me," said Slimer. "How are ya, Dan?"

"Can't complain," said Dan. "You know, I could've sworn you were yellow..."

"Nope, green," said Slimer. "Slime green."

"Weird, I always thought you were yellow. Don't know why. Anyway, ready to brainstorm, guys?"

"Sure," said Ray, taking out a notebook. "By the way, I got a good idea for an ending."

"Already?" asked Venkman.

"Well, it's my ending. I call it the 'Happy Ever After' ending. It's a montage of great things happening to us."

"Okay, let's hear it," said Dan.

"Okay," said Ray. "The ending montage begins with Ghostbusters becoming a multinational corporation. A chrome and glass building would be there, with multiple Ectomobiles coming in and out. And I made Winston the CEO."

"Hey, no fair!" pouted Venkman. "Why can't I be CEO?"

"Well, I just thought Winston would be a good fit," said Ray, nervously. "Anyway, next we see me going to the Fort, now a tourist attraction, visiting Lilith, holding a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine."

Ray sighs heavenly on that idea.

"Typical," said Venkman, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm," said Dan. "A Ghostbuster in love with a lady ghost... I like it."

"Next, we see Egon and Janine, our secretary, getting married in a Vegas chapel, with our future accountant, Louis, throwing the rice at them with glee."

"Why Vegas? Would it be because they don't have enough money?" asked Dan.

"That's one reason. Finally, for Venkman and Dana, they have a dance scene in her apartment, still under repair work. And remember Dana telling us about the eggs frying on her counter? Well, I had this idea: we zoom into an egg carton, and the egg cracks and... out pops a baby chick, looking around his new world. The end!"

"Actually," said Venkman. "That actually sounds awesome, Ray."

"Yeah, that's wonderful," said Dan. "Give me a Xerox copy of that ending, Dr. Ray. I wanna save that."

"Sure, Dan," said Ray. "So, let's start at the beginning. How about we start at the New York Library where the Library Ghost encounter happened."

"What was the Librarian Ghost's name again?" asked Dan.

"Eleanor Twitty," said Ray. "She's still out there, but one day, we'll catch her."


More to come! Dedicated to Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis the creators of GB.

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"Sorry, folks. Park's closed. The moose out front should've told ya." -- John Candy from National Lampoon's Vacation

Lol...the origin of the earlier script draft ending! Having it be Ray's fantasy is a creative twist on it.

This obviously means Ray ships Egon and Janine too.

Small Nitpick:
There was one instance where you misspelled Winston's last name. "Zeddemore" is the official spelling, though an erroneous spelling of "Zeddmore" is common. "Zedmore" is, well, a misspelling either way.

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Thanks for telling me the misspelling of Winston's last name. Much appreciated.
Yes, Ray loves happy endings. And yes again on Egon and Janine being a couple, too. I prefer Janine to be with Egon rather than Louis. I'm sure everyone else agrees.

I think it's safe to say that the earlier draft ending or in this case, Ray's ending, is my favorite alternate ending to GB1. If you agree to that, let me know.

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"Sorry, folks. Park's closed. The moose out front should've told ya." -- John Candy from National Lampoon's Vacation

"So, suddenly," said Ray to Dan Aykroyd at the donut shop. "A Godzilla sized Stay Puft Marshmallow Man roamed the Time Square streets!"

Dan couldn't help but laugh. "You were responsible for that happening?"

"Sure, rub it in..." Ray said, a bit annoyed.

"Hey, I got an idea," said Dan. "What if... we have the Marshmallow Giant rise above next to the Statue of Liberty?"

"Epic idea!" said Ray, all excited.

"From what I'm hearing," said Venkman. "It sounds like we're gonna need a special effects team to set all the visuals up. Like the Temple of Gozer and stuff."

"Yeah, sounds risky," said Dan. "But we'll figure that out when the time comes."

"Perfect," said Ray. "By the way, Venkman's curious on who your final choice is for the actor for him is."

"How would you feel about Bill Murray, Venky?" asked Dan.

"YES!" cheered Venkman. "That's who I wanted you to pick. Caddyshack is one of my favorites. Speaking of, can you get Rodney Dangerfield to play a part in the Ghostbusters movie?"

"I don't see why not," said Dan. "Well, I'm glad you're pleased with Bill Murray. And you know the movie 'Alien'? Sigourney Weaver will play Dana, your love interest."

"Nice," said Venkman. "Perfect fit."

"By the way," said Dan to Venkman. "Are you and Dana married yet?"

"No," said Venkman sadly. "We're still amigos, but she married someone else recently."

"Ouch," said Dan. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. I guess Dana's heart wants what it wants, right?"

"Yeah," said Ray. "So, what else should we discuss?"

"Oh, your theme song," said Dan, taking out a notebook of his own. "I wrote a catchy tune."

Dan clears his throat and sings: "If you have a ghost,
But you don't want to play host, You can't sleep at all, So
who do you call … Ghostbusters!"

Ray, Venkman, and Slimer look at Dan blankly at that song.

"Eh," said Ray. "That sounds kinda old timey from the '50s."

"This is the 1980s," said Venkman. "So, why don't we modernize it a bit and make it kick ghost butt."

Dan blushes. "I didn't say the song was final, but you've got a good point. Let's give it the MTV treatment."

"Yeah," said Ray.

"Moving on," said Dan. "I'll come by Friday with a fresh draft of the script and we'll give it a read and we'll go from there."

"Cool," said Venkman.

"So, see you then?" asked Slimer.

"Yep," said Dan. "Dr. Venkman, it's been a real pleasure meeting you."

"Hey," said Venkman, shaking hands with Dan Aykroyd. "Everybody loves Venkman."

By Friday at noon, Dan Aykroyd comes over with a close friend, Harold Ramis.

"Hey," said Venkman, greeting Dan. "You made it. Was it hard coming up with the script? Because I know writer's block is a pain in the butt."

"It was," said Dan. "But I called in for help with my friend. Ghostbusters, meet my pal, Harold Ramis. You may know him from doing Animal House, Caddyshack, and recently, National Lampoon's Vacation."

"Is that the one where Chevy Chase takes his family on a wacky vacation to Disneyland?" asked Venkman.

"Not Disneyland exactly," said Harold Ramis. "But a made up theme park called Walley World. Kinda like Disney, but different."

"Ah," said Venkman. "Well anyway, nice to meet you, Harold."

"You, too," said Harold. "And you must be Slimer."

"The one and only. Sometimes I'm called Onionhead, but I prefer Slimer."

"Okay, got it. Oh, yuck! No offense, Slimer, but you smell..."

"I know," said Slimer, blushing. "I smell rank. I get that a lot. I need a shower. But, it's cool."

"Okay," said Dan. "Anyway, here's the script. We'll do a group read. And yes, Ray, I used your ending idea."

"Thanks," said Ray.

So, everyone in the HQ gathered around to read what Dan and Harold have for a script.

....

At this moment, Harold and Dan talk about Ray's encounter with the ghost lady at the fort.

"And then, Ray's zipper on his pants falls down..." said Dan. "And Ray feels..."

"Stop, wait!" interrupted Ray. "I know where you're going, but I think we should tone it down a little. In real life, I wasn't... you know. I was actually given a ghostly kiss on the cheek."

"Hmm..." said Dan. "We can make that work. Besides, you're right. Kids might be watching this."

"Does the ghost lady have a name by any chance?" asked Harold.

"Her name's Lilith," said Ray. "But if you want, you can refer to her as the Ghost Lady."

"We'll think about that," said Harold.


More to come. Hope you're all enjoying this. You can probably tell that I ship Ray with that ghost lady in the fort or in the movie's case, in Ray's dream.

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"Sorry, folks. Park's closed. The moose out front should've told ya." -- John Candy from National Lampoon's Vacation

Proceeding well. Can't really come up with anything else worth saying at this moment.

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