The Subway Ghost was one of many ghosts that escaped from the Containment Unit during the 1984 Manhattan Crossrip.
History[]
Primary Canon[]
At some point after their first bust, the Ghostbusters caught the Subway Ghost and placed it in their storage facility. When Walter Peck barged into their Firehouse with a warrant, he forcibly shut down the facility's protection grid. This caused the Containment Unit to explode, releasing all the ghosts the Ghostbusters had caught. Upon being freed, the Subway Ghost retreated to a subway. It emerged at street level, on Broadway & Murray Street, flailing his arms and mouth tentacles and wailing and howling. It frightened away surrounding citizens in the process.
Secondary Canon[]
Legion Mini Series[]
The Subway Ghost was part of the Ghost Legion under the control of Michael Draverhaven, who sent the ghost to terrorize passengers in a subway train as part of an information gathering session. The Ghostbusters rappelled down onto the roof of the train and chased after the Subway Ghost inside before it suddenly stopped. When the ghost's ectoplasmic cortex shorted out, the Ghostbusters easily trapped it. Michael observed some of the Ghostbusters' tactics and weaknesses from this bust.
IDW Comics[]
Although the Subway Ghost was recaptured years after the Gozer incident, it later escaped when the Containment Unit was vented during the Tiamat incident. Three months later, it haunted the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship building. The Ghostbusters took three hours to capture it. Upon leaving the building, Winston Zeddemore saw his former wife Tiyah Clarke, whom Tiamat stole a portion of her soul and erased a chunk of her life experience from the world, at a Pequod's nearby. Peter Venkman elected to let the ghost go so that Winston could save Tiyah and rekindle their relationship.
Development[]
Originally, the Subway Ghost was designed by Brent Boates as a three headed creature. It was deemed too expensive and time consuming to create the rubber-suit for just a brief amount of time on-screen.[1] Instead, Steve Johnson sculpted a "small non-humanoid flying creature" as the replacement.[2] The finished model was cast in a hot melt vinyl material, which provided flexibility, with an armature constructed from brass and aluminum. It was was painted with pearlescent powders then filmed in a large water tank in order to have it float properly. It was filmed in in reverse. This was achieved by attaching monofilament to the tail and pulling the puppet backwards. By reversing the film, they made it appear as if the ghost was flying towards the camera.[3] The filmed material then went through additional diffusion and optical alteration. It was then composited into the corresponding live-action scene shot in New York.[4]
Classification[]
Secondary Canon[]
IDW Comics[]
The Subway Ghost was stated to be a Class 5.[5]
Description[]
The Subway Ghost is a blue ghost with numerous long thin tendrils coming down the jaw of his lizard-like head and long thin arms with webbed claws.
Trivia[]
- The scene with the Subway Ghost was shot in October 1983 before principal photography.[6]
- Cruster, a ghost in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, bears a resemblance of sorts to the Subway Ghost.
- The ghost appears on Cover A of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #4.
- The Subway Ghost makes cameo appearances in Lego Dimensions, both in the main story and in the Ghostbusters Level Pack.
- The Subway Ghost had two different preliminary designs before its final design was used. Its first design was a three-headed creature with a feminine torso, dinosaurian legs, and a tail while the second a large bat-like ghoul.
Appearances[]
Primary Canon[]
Secondary Canon[]
- 88MPH Studios
- Ghostbusters: Legion
- IDW Comics
- Ongoing Series
- Volume 2
- Issue #20
- Alluded to on page 20 and 24
- Issue #20
- Volume 2
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ghostbusters
- Issue #1
- On page 10, appears on front page of the The New York Today newspaper
- Issue #1
- Ongoing Series
References[]
- ↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 144. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "The original subway ghost - as rendered by Brent Boates - would have been a major rubber-suit assignment for the 'ghost shop,' and was ultimately deemed just too expensive and time-consuming for its minimal on-screen time.'"
- ↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 144. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Instead, a small non-humanoid flying creature - being sculpted by Steve Johnson - was devised as a replacement.'"
- ↑ Craig Caton-Largent deviantArt "Ghostbusters Subway Ghost" 7/7/13 Paragraph reads: "The Subway Ghost from Ghostbusters inside the cloud tank. This was made from hot melt vinyl with an armature constructed from brass and aluminum and was painted with pearlescent powders. The shot was filmed in a "cloud tank" in reverse by attaching monofilament to the tail and pulling the puppet backwards. After reversing the film, it appeared to be swimming towards the camera."
- ↑ Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 144. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "To achieve a suitable floating effect, Jon Schreiber maneuvers the finished creation - cast in a flexible vinyl material - through a large water tank. The resulting image would then undergo additional diffusion and optical alteration before being composited into the live-action scene shot on location in New York.'"
- ↑ What Happened Next! (2014). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #20" (2014) (Comic p.24). Sentence reads: "And after Winston saved her from a nasty little Class 5, she invited him out for coffee."
- ↑ Ivan Reitman (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 1:09:26-1:09:30). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "This is all part of that very early shooting we did back in October as I remember. "
Gallery[]
Primary Canon[]
Secondary Canon[]
Behind the Scenes[]
