Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Chapter 03)

Chapter 03
Type:	Scene
From:	Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Character(s):	Callie Spengler Trevor Spengler Phoebe Spengler Lucky Domingo Rufus Zahk Roller Granny Swayze Bunny Skittles Reseda Egon Spengler Gary Grooberson Podcast
Run time:	07:45 (12:13 to 19:58)

Chapter 03 introduces Gary Grooberson and Podcast.

Cast

Listed as they appear in film.

• Crystal
• Callie Spengler
• Trevor Spengler
• Phoebe Spengler
• Lucky Domingo
• Rufus
• Zahk
• Roller Granny
• Swayze
• Bunny
• Skittles
• Reseda
• Egon Spengler
• Gary Grooberson
• Podcast
• Thick Neck
• Burner Girl

Equipment

• Tobin's Spirit Guide
• P.K.E. Meter

Vehicles

• Ecto-1

Locations

• Summerville
• Spinners Roller Hop
• Farmhouse
• Summerville Middle School

Plot

Callie was surprised a place like Spinners Roller Hop still existed. She took her seat belt off. Trevor was still concerned with having to spend the summer in a heap like Summerville. He stressed they had lives. Callie countered she left a life behind, too. Trevor disagreed she had a life because she was a mom and lived for her children. Callie grunted in disgust. Lucky skated up to the van parked across from them. Trevor noticed her and was instantly enamored. She took an order from an older man wearing a cowboy hat. Trevor took his seat belt off and told Callie he would be right back. She was lost at first but saw Lucky and understood. She turned to Phoebe, in the back seat, and mused maybe she will make a friend. Phoebe quipped back asking what she would make them out of. Callie stressed she was serious and advised her to keep an open mind and using a new home as an opportunity to start fresh.

Someone chose number 27 on the jukebox inside Spinners. "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" played. Trevor filled out a job application. Lucky rolled by and posted up a new order. Two teenage boys, Rufus and Zahk, were the cooks nearest to the front. Lucky read the new order out loud: two taters, three Spinners, grilled onions, one no cheese. Rufus, the boy in military camoflauge, informed Lucky there was something wrong with the meat. Zahk, the boy in the red shirt, stated he didn't feel so food and pretended to barf raw meat. Rufus laughed. Trevor remarked it was a cool place. Lucky turned around and informed him she was not the owner. Trevor rambled on about how she looked pretty young to own a business. She nodded and was about to leave but Trevor blurted out that he saw the help wanted sign out-out front. Lucky leaned over and skimmed the application. She noticed under experience, he wrote "friendly" with a smiley face. Trevor admitted he really did not know what to put. Lucky surmised friendly did not "qualify" as an experience. Zahk looked over at them. He took an order slip. Trevor guessed it was more a quality. She thought, laughed, then slid the application back to him and rolled to the counter to grab a finished order. She asked Trevor how old he was. Trevor replied he was 17 and asked her to put in a good word for him. Lucky remarked she could tell them he had a pulse. He told her his name was "Trevor." Both Rufus and Zahk imitated him. Zahk made fun of him. Rufus joined in and joked he really had a chance with Lucky. They turned back to the grill.

The Roller Granny brought Callie her order. She asked Callie where she was heading. Callie informed her they were staying at the Farmhouse off the highway and it was her father's. Roller Granny was surprised the Dirt Farmer had a family. Callie asked if she knew him. Granny scoffed and informed her no one knew him. Callie mused he would be missed. Granny replied "Nope," pushed off Callie's car and rolled away. Callie contemplated the exchange. Trevor exited the diner and avoided colliding into a skating employee. Lucky and other co-workers were seated on the bed of a truck. Skittles referred to Trevor as "Cassanova." Everyone giggled. Lucky punched him in the arm.

In her bedroom upstairs, Phoebe lied on her stomach and read Tobin's Spirit Guide. Behind her on the night stand, the P.K.E. Meter activated. It went unnoticed. A chess board and the pieces fell onto the floor. She sat up and looked to see what fell. She reset the chess pieces on the stand next to her bed. She lied down on her side and faced the chess board.

Trevor walked around outside, still trying to catch a signal on his phone. He bumped into the branch of the tree with bottles hanging from it. Trevor slid the door open on the bar. There was a car that was covered up. Trevor turned on the flashlight on his phone and lifted up part of the cover, revealing the No Ghost logo of Ecto-1. The light went out and it becomes pitch black inside the barn. Trevor cursed his bad luck.

The next morning, Phoebe woke up and noticed a white pawn had been moved. She was confused, got up, and put her glasses on. Callie called out to them to get ready to leave in 15 minutes on "the bus." Phoebe moved a black knight forward.

Callie, Trevor, and Phoebe drove by a grain elevator. Phoebe played with a Rubik's cube in the back seat. Callie looked at Phoebe in the mirror and advised her to start a conversation at summer school. Trevor reacted in disagreement. He stated that was horrible advice and she was setting Phoebe up for failure. He turned to Phoebe and asked her how her jokes were coming along. Phoebe told one of them. She asked Trevor why he should never trust atoms. He shrugged. Phoebe answered because they made up everything. Trevor silently turned back to Callie. Callie though that was funny. He disagreed and told her to drop him off right where they were. Callie quickly caught on and asked him if he was embarrassed to be seen with them. Trevor confirmed it and left. As Trevor crossed the street to Spinners, Callie made a turn, honked, and yelled out "Love you!" Trevor kept walking. Zahk threw a wad of trash as Bunny skated by. He dryly stated that almost killed her. Bunny retorted with "Yeah, with your face."

Callie walked Phoebe into Summerville Middle School. She noticed something was up and asked her what was wrong because she loved school. Phoebe clarified she loved learning and called what she was walking into a state-sponsored work camp for delinquents. Callie offered her the chance to help scrape asbestos out of the attic. Phoebe decided she would take her chances with public education. Callie took her sunglasses off and stopped at the entrance. Callie advised her to "don't be yourself." Gary Grooberson opened the door next to her. He asked her if she was okay. Callie told him it was her child's first day and asked him if he could imagine who they got to teach summer school. Gary revealed he was one of the teachers. Callie apologized. Gary told her it was okay and let her in on a secret that most of the kids that go here were not very bright. He greeted a boy named Colin. Colin pushed past Callie without acknowledging Gary at all. Gary revealed he could kind of do whatever he wanted. Callie thought that was a score. He agreed and called it a dream job. She walked outside, turned her head once, then resumed walking.

Gary wheeled in an old CRT television. Phoebe got out her notebook. Gary greeted the class and introduced himself as "Mr. Grooberson." He admitted he knew they did not want to be in summer school and neither did he. He shared his discovery about the school still operating on VHS but presented a copy of the movie "Cujo" that he found in the teacher's lounge. He informed them it was about a rabid Saint Bernard but he stopped himself from giving too much away. Phoebe was shocked he was showing a movie instead of teaching anything. Gary likened Cujo to Beethoven if he contracted rabies and just started mauling children. A red headed boy smirked. Gary played the VHS and walked into another room connected to the classroom. "Rabbit Chase I" from Cujo's soundtrack played. The boy seated next to Phoebe talked into his boom mike and after a countdown of three to one, he started to narrate like it was a TV episode about her, "secret? Perhaps she's on the run. On the run... from herself." The boy moved the boom mike to Phoebe and implored her to speak. She corrected him and revealed her grandfather died and as her mother said, they came to pick through the rubble of his life. He asked if that meant she came to uncover the mystery of his death. Phoebe informed him it was natural causes. He asked her if she was sure it was not unnatural causes. Phoebe was sure and informed him she was pretty sure it was just a heart attack. He recalled its moniker of "the silent killer." Phoebe introduced himself. He introduced himself as "Podcast." They shook hands. Phoebe asked why people called him Podcast. Podcast clarified he called himself "Podcast" because of his podcast.

Trivia

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trivia

• "Baby It's You" plays when Trevor sees Lucky Domingo for the first time.
• "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" plays at 13:02 when the jukebox plays and Trevor is filling out the job application.
• Lucky's name was first revealed on Amazon U.K. for the Plasma Series figure pre-order that was accidentally posted around March 28, 2021. It read, "LUCKY: Lucky works at the local drive-in diner and isn't afraid to stir up a little trouble."
• Near Lucky is standing near a soda fountain advertising Coca-Cola, a product also in the first movie.
• Lucky wears a vanity necklace of her name much like Patty Tolan did in the 2016 movie.
• Danielle Kennedy was on a vacation in Sun Valley, Idaho when she was called by her manager about a role in a movie called Rust City that involved the Roller Granny character on roller skates. Kennedy couldn't locate any so she donned a pair of ice skates and taped her audition video at an ice rink. She did one take running lines with a child at the rink. The sides given to Kennedy hid the family aspect of the movie. Instead of the "Dirt Farmer had a family?" it was "Dirt Farmer had friends?"
  • During filming of the scene with Roller Granny, Jason Reitman told Danielle Kennedy the line was "Dirt Family had a family?"
  • Roller Granny's "Nope" was improvised by Danielle Kennedy for her audition video. Jason Reitman liked at and kept it in the final version of the movie.
  • During filming of the scene with Roller Granny, Jason Reitman told Danielle Kennedy the line was "Dirt Family had a family?"
• Danielle Kennedy was on the set for two weeks. The first week was rehearsals then she spent five days on the set during filming.
• Danielle Kennedy had no idea, even during filming, that the Dirt Farmer was Egon Spengler.
• Phoebe is actually reading a copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide on her bed. It is later seen in Chapter 7.
• Phoebe's bedroom only existed in the Farmhouse set in the Calgary Film Centre. The Farmhouse set out on location did not have a completed second floor.
• Since the movie was shot out of order, the art department, paint department and the assistant directors had to identify Ecto-1 by four stages: under the tarp, after the tarp is off, after driving through the field, and after being splashed by the hydrant. The Ecto-1 wasn't simply covered in dust for earlier scenes, the crew had to do it in paint so that it stayed on.
• On the way to summer school, Phoebe plays with a Rubik's cube in the car. She previously played with it on the drive to Summerville in Chapter 2 when they're at a motel.
• In one cut of the movie, Callie advised Phoebe to start winking so people would know when she was kidding.
• The Summerville Middle School was filmed at the W.G. Murdoch School at 1020 Mountain Avenue, Crossfield, Alberta T0M0S0, Canada.
• Phoebe states she loves learning.
• Colin is wearing a New Era Oklahoma City Thunder NBA New Era Casual Classic Primary Cap and a Shepard Fairey T-shirt
• "Cujo" was chosen so the script could dovetail into a joke about "Beethoven," a nod to Ivan Reitman. Reitman was a producer on "Beethoven."
  • "Rabbit Chase I" from the movie's soundtrack can be heard at 18:58.
  • The "Cujo" reference was not meant as an allusion to the Terror Dog.
• Podcast has Sony headphones.
• Podcast's real name was originally in script but it was later removed. Logan Kim does know what it is.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Trivia

• In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, on the second floor of the Firehouse, on the table is a chess set, a nod to Egon and Phoebe's match in Chapter 3.

Miscellaneous Tertiary Canon Trivia

• On page 32 of Egon's Journal, a supplement of the Hasbro Haslab Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler's Proton Pack, there is a reference to Chapter 3:
  • The photo of Trevor was from the Spinners scene.

Gallery

Primary Canon Images

Images were grabbed from the Blu-ray by Paul Rudoff. Black bars have been removed, which leaves all images at a 2.40:1 aspect ratio.

Tertiary Canon Images

Chess reference seen on Firehouse second floor in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Behind the Scenes Images

Seen in Summoning The Spirit special feature

Promotional Still 6/8/2021 (Credit: IGN)

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