Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Chapter 09)

Chapter 09 has Phoebe Spengler, Podcast, and Ray Stantz going to the New York City Public Library and Peter Venkman tests Nadeem Razmaadi.

Cast[]

Listed as they appear in film.

Entities[]

Mini-Pufts (video only)

Equipment[]

Items[]

Orb of Garraka (photograph only)

Vehicles[]

Ecto-C

Environmental[]

Psychomagnotheric Slime

Places/Locations[]

Plot[]

Phoebe asked Ray if he ever wondered what it would be like to be a ghost. Ray lit up and revealed he thought about it every day like how he would materialize or would it be a visual manifestation. Podcast discovered audio on his phone recording of the orb and showed it to Ray. Ray knew it was a dead language and hinted he knew a guy but he paused. Podcast asked if they should investigate. Ray recalled Phoebe was benched. Phoebe recalled Ray was retired. Ray was smitten. They departed for in a motorcycle named Ecto-C.

Nadeem was brought to the Paranormal Research Center. He was outfitted with the Aura Video-Analyzer helmet by Lucky. Peter Venkman assured Nadeem he was only asking garden variety questions. He started with asking Nadeem if he was a human. He noted it was easy to answer unless he was possessed by a cross-dimensional beast. Nadeem confirmed he was human. Peter asked if he loved or killed puppies. Nadeem answered with the former. Peter asked him twice if he felt deja vu. Nadeem caught on. Peter threw a pen at his face. Lucky noticed a Bunsen burner flame reacted. Peter asked if he would eat a small child with its skin on or skinless. Nadeem was appalled and tried to stall by asking he meant a human child. Peter inquired if there were any other kind. Nadeem declared the interview was over. Peter noted he refused to answer. Nadeem panicked and asked if the child was related to him. Peter asked if that was necessary. Nadeem pointed out he brought it up and he didn't want to eat either. Peter threw a pen twice more into his face. Peter, Lars, and Lucky all saw Nadeem, in his highly emotional state, was unknowingly manipulating the flame. Nadeem asked if he passed.

Ray left Ecto-C parked in front of the New York Public Library. Phoebe pointed out it was not a legal parking space but Ray claimed the library knew him. Roger Delacorte stepped outside the library to remind Ray he was still forbidden from coming within 50 feet of the library. Ray greeted him with "been a long time" and proceeded inside. They met with Dr. Hubert Wartzki in his office. They replayed the recording Podcast made of the orb. He thought it was a prank at first because only five people in the world understood the dead language spoken in it and suspected Dr. Jahangiri was the culprit. Podcast stopped him from calling Jahangiri and joked with a straight face he was already dead. Hubert was shocked but Phoebe cleared things up. Hubert asked Podcast what the fudge was wrong with him then pointed out the language was dead for thousands of years and asked how they got the recording. Phoebe asked him if he believed in spiritual inhabitation and spectral possession. Hubert revealed there was a reason he was in the basement: he was the library folklorist, tri-state treasurer of the H.P. Lovecraft Society, and he believed in spirits, self-winding clocks, and the Singing Cheeses of Copenhagen. Ray showed him a photo of the Orb of Garraka and he immediately recognized it. He told them to with him to the library. Phoebe thought they were in the library. They walked through the stacks. Hubert told them upstairs was just for show, gilded research rooms where struggling actors could Twitch-stream and buy crypto currency, and the old library was below.

Trivia[]

The Ray's Occult Books set was at Shinfield Studios in the United Kingdom during Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire production.^[1]
Ray admits he thinks what it would like to be a ghost every day.
The Paranormal Research Center set was at Winnersh Film Studios in Wokingham, United Kingdom.^[2]
At the 0:53:45 mark, the shot of the door with Peter's name on it was filmed at set at Trilith Studios in Georgia during additional photography.^{[Note 1]}
The Aura Video-Analyzer helmet is connected to a Commodore PET 2001 Series personal computer.
Costume designer Alexis Forte fitted Dan Aykroyd for a denim jacket similar to the one he wore in the first movie then aged it, stained it, and sanded down the corduroy. Gil Kenan was impressed by the final product.^[3]
Ecto-C was inspired by Dan Aykroyd's Harley-Davidson Softail motorcycle.^[4]
The helmet Podcast wears for the ride on Ecto-C to the library is yellow and bears a graphic of Pac-Man eating a pellet.
In one take, Dan Aykroyd almost crashed into a pile of dirt and had to drive the Ecto-C out onto the street.^[5]
The exteriors are a mix of second unit filming from New York and a set of the library exterior built at Winnersh Film Studios in London.
The main buildings across from the library and everything beyond the first intersection was added in from footage taken by three camera arrays. Cars and pedestrians in the mid-ground were removed then computer generated cars, roads, and foliage were used to help block and everything else was repainted. The array footage also helped with cues such as the changing traffic lights.^[6]
When Ray, Phoebe, and Podcast arrive at the New York Public Library, a taxi drives by with a Booking.com ad on its roof as they get out of Ecto-C.
On the steps of the New York Public Library, the advertisement has a reference to Dana Barrett as part of a performance of Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor by the Five Boroughs Symphony Orchestra.
After Podcast mentions Patience & Fortitude, he was scripted to slap his knee and say "slay" but Logan Kim believed he could not do that with a straight face. Knee slap and "slay" were excised.^[7]
Roger Delacorte from the first movie appears.
Ray has been restricted from coming within 50 feet of the public library but reason is never revealed.
Interior scenes were filmed at the London Library for the stacks.
For his scenes, Patton Oswalt wore socks with a map of Innsmouth, a locale in the Lovecraft mythos, as its pattern.^[8]
Hubert mentions he is the tristate treasurer of the H.P. Lovecraft Society.

Notes[]

↑ According to a private email correspondence on July 10, 2025 between Ghostbusters Wiki administrator Mrmichaelt and Ghost Corps' Eric Reich, the scene at the 53:45 mark of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was an insert filmed at a Trilith Studios set.

References[]

↑ horacestunts instagram 4/8/2024 Kevin Mangold writes: "Ray’s Occult Books - Shinfield Studios."
↑ horacestunts instagram 4/6/2024 Kevin Mangold writes: "Research Lab Winnersh Film Studios, Wokingham, UK."
↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Production Notes" 3/22/2024 Alexis Forte says: "Dan had the fitting and loved it -- and then we took it away and aged it so it looked like he'd had it for years. We put extra pens in the pockets and aged the pockets; we gave it some stains and sanded down the corduroy. Gil loved it and couldn't stop talking about it that day on set, because it felt like it had been with Ray for years and just now pulled out of the closet."
↑ Gil Kenan (2024). Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire- Commentary (2024) (Blu-ray ts. 53:43-54:03). Sony Pictures. Gil Kenan says: "I'll talk about it more in a few minutes, but it was directly inspired by the Harley Softail that Dan Aykroyd himself used to ride down to--down from Canada to New York City when he was first starting out on Saturday Night Live in 1975."
↑ IMDb YouTube "'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Cast Answers Fan Questions! | IMDb" 1:52-2:04 3/21/2024 Mckenna Grace says: "We almost crashed into a pile of dirt, and he ended up driving the motorcycle, ramping the sidecar off a piece of dirt, so far off camera, and driving out onto the street of the warehouse."
↑ Sony Pictures Imageworks – VFX "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | SIGGRAPH 2024 Production Session" 52:06-53:03 10/2/2024 Andrew Bain says: "And after some trial and error, we found that we could still use the array footage for the main building across the street and everything beyond that first intersection. The biggest challenge for us now was removing any mid-ground cars and pedestrians from the footage. To successfully rebuild the mid-ground, we utilized the CG roads, cars, and foliage to help block what we could and then repainted everything else. The array footage also provided us with some useful cues such as the changing of the traffic light. Animation took this cue to bring the cars to a stop and this eliminated the need to extend the cars' animation into the area of the footage, keeping this divide allowed the area of the background to--to keep the filmed area details in the background which greatly contributed to establishing the atmosphere of New York City."
↑ Yes Have Some Podcast YouTube "Logan Kim Returns to chat Ghostbusters, Megadeth, and Senior Midterms!" 5:18-5:47 12/11/2024 Logan Kim says: "There was one scene where I think, okay, so you know how dan--I'm on the back of Dan's motorcycle and we're rolling up to the library. We get off. We talk about the lions at the New York Library. We talk about Patience & Fortitude and then I slap my knee and I say "slay" and I'm like, "I cannnot do that. I'm sorry." I can't do it with a straight face."
↑ pattonoswalt Tweet 3/27/2024 Patton Oswalt says: "And you can't see 'em, but I am wearing socks with a map of Innsmouth on them (I really was!)."