Miner Ghost

The Miner Ghost is a skeletal zombie-like miner seen during the Summerville cross-rip.

History[]

Primary Canon History[]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife[]

While the Summerville cross-rip was happening, the Miner Ghost manifested at Spinners Roller Hop where a waitress served it coffee before looking up to take a good look at her customer.

Tertiary Canon History[]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife ScARe[]

After the recruit obtained a power cell for their Proton Pack, the Miner Ghost crawled out of a hole and blew up a Sentinel Terror Dog statue with dynamite before engaging the recruit, lobbing dynamite. The recruit neutralized the dynamite attacks with a Proton Beam then trapped the ghost.

The Miner Ghost was eventually freed from the Containment Unit by Gozer. However, it was recaptured by the recruit using the Trap Field.

Development[]

Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer, realized there was not a ghost similar to the Zombie Taxi Driver and pitched his idea to Jason Reitman. There were several ideas for the ghost, including a school bus driver and a ghost that talks to the kids on the phone. Tuiten eventually got an idea to make him a ghost of one of Ivo Shandor's miners. It was approved. Tuiten assembled a puppet from what was still lying around his shop. Danny Glicker worked on the costume outfit.^[1]^[2] Tuiten mechanized an old legless skeleton in the shop, Tanner White mechanized the hands, and Bill Sturgeon did the eyes. Tuiten used old foam latex leftover from work on the Terror Dog and sculpted a face. The Miner Ghost was the first practical ghost Tuiten and his team filmed on the set. Three puppeteers operated the Miner Ghost, Tuiten, Ron Binion, and Richard Landon. Landon puppeteered the eyes off-camera with a remote control. Tuiten cable controlled the facial expressions underneath the counter. Binion operated the arms and hands. Initially, the Miner used his left arm. On the morning of rehearsal, Jason Reitman decided it would be the right arm instead. Filming only took one day.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Classification[]

Tertiary Canon Classification[]

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife ScARe, the Miner Ghost is a Class 3.

Trivia[]

The Miner Ghost's name was first revealed in the Clue Ghostbusters: Afterlife Edition board game.
The Miner Ghost is visually based on the Zombie Taxi Driver from the first film, as both are skeletal zombie-like ghosts portrayed using practical effects.^[8]
- Similar to the Zombie Taxi Driver in Tobin's Spirit Guide (Insight Editions), the Miner Ghost is classified as a Class 3 in Afterlife ScARe.
There are unused concepts of several Miner ghosts, each named after a trait: "Dynamite," "Pick Axe," "Lunchbox," "Coats," and "Shovel."^[9]

Appearances[]

Primary Canon Appearances[]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
- Chapter 15

Tertiary Canon Appearances[]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife ScARe
- Episode 6: "Rest in Pieces"
- Episode 8: "Sumerian Showdown" (cutscene)

References[]

↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 26:27-27:06 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And I remember a moment in the shop. Y'know, I kinda-after reading the script, it kind of dawned on me, it was kind of missing a human form or skeleton-like ghost that was equally cool or a shout out to the Cabbie Driver in 1984. I emailed Ja-I think I called him or something. We were on the phone about something else and I was 'Y'know, I miss the skeleton like that-' He's like 'You're absolutely right. We need to find a spot somewhere.' And he said 'What can you do?' Let's see what I have lying around and we'll just build something."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 27:08-27:55 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And we didn't know where he was going to appear. At some point he was going to be in the school bus. The school bus driver and at some point he was on the phone with the kids. Like he panned back to the other side of the line and he hanged up the phone. Like they realized they talked to a ghost. There was a bunch of ideas coming around. And eventually Jason was 'I got it! He's at Spinner's Diner-he's at the roller hop' and I'm like 'Ooh, perfect. He's at the counter.' He's like 'Yeah, he's drinking coffee and he was a miner.' It fit because he-I figured it out-he's one of Ivo Shandor's miners. Perfect, it's meant to be. I'm like that's exactly what it needs to be and Danny Glicker did an amazing costume outfit for him and there he was."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 28:11-28:18 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And coincidentally, the Miner Ghost were first-was the first practical ghost we showed up with on the set."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 29:15-30:12 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "I basically took an old skeleton I had laying around and mechanized him. Tanner White, one of my guys, mechanized the hands. And I think Bill Sturgeon did the eyes. And I built him out of just pieces of old foam latex that were leftover from the Terror Dog. Like little skins and stuff. Sculpted a face for him. And it took three puppeteers on set. He has no legs when he's sitting at the bar stool at the counter and I was underneath the counter with another master puppeteer Ron Binion. Richard Landon puppeteered the eyes off-camera. And then his facial expressions from the brow to the mouth to the jaw even though you don't see him opening up are all cable controlled which I was doing underneath the counter and then Ron was doing the arms and the hands."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 30:21-30:24 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "The eyes were RC."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 30:50-30:55 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "But then the morning of rehearsing, Jason switched from the left arm to the right arm."'
↑ Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 31:02-31:05 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "We shot one day with him and he was wrapped."'
↑ IGN YouTube "Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Exclusive Trailer Breakdown with Director Jason Reitman" 07:25-07:37 7/26/2021 Jason Reitman says: "You're also gonna see a skeletal ghost in this section. That was a piece of puppetry designed by Arjen obviously meant to echo the taxi driver ghost from the original."
↑ Inguanzo, Ozzy (2021). Ghostbusters: Afterlife The Art and Making of the Movie, p. 155. Titan Books, London UK, ISBN 1789096529. Caption reads: "Unused concept illustrations by Brynn Metheney for miner ghosts-described left to right: Dynamite, Pick Axe, Lunchbox, Coats, Shovel."

Gallery[]

Primary Canon Images[]

Tertiary Canon Images[]

Behind the Scenes Images[]

[1] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 26:27-27:06 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And I remember a moment in the shop. Y'know, I kinda-after reading the script, it kind of dawned on me, it was kind of missing a human form or skeleton-like ghost that was equally cool or a shout out to the Cabbie Driver in 1984. I emailed Ja-I think I called him or something. We were on the phone about something else and I was 'Y'know, I miss the skeleton like that-' He's like 'You're absolutely right. We need to find a spot somewhere.' And he said 'What can you do?' Let's see what I have lying around and we'll just build something."'

[2] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 27:08-27:55 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And we didn't know where he was going to appear. At some point he was going to be in the school bus. The school bus driver and at some point he was on the phone with the kids. Like he panned back to the other side of the line and he hanged up the phone. Like they realized they talked to a ghost. There was a bunch of ideas coming around. And eventually Jason was 'I got it! He's at Spinner's Diner-he's at the roller hop' and I'm like 'Ooh, perfect. He's at the counter.' He's like 'Yeah, he's drinking coffee and he was a miner.' It fit because he-I figured it out-he's one of Ivo Shandor's miners. Perfect, it's meant to be. I'm like that's exactly what it needs to be and Danny Glicker did an amazing costume outfit for him and there he was."'

[3] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 28:11-28:18 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "And coincidentally, the Miner Ghost were first-was the first practical ghost we showed up with on the set."'

[4] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 29:15-30:12 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "I basically took an old skeleton I had laying around and mechanized him. Tanner White, one of my guys, mechanized the hands. And I think Bill Sturgeon did the eyes. And I built him out of just pieces of old foam latex that were leftover from the Terror Dog. Like little skins and stuff. Sculpted a face for him. And it took three puppeteers on set. He has no legs when he's sitting at the bar stool at the counter and I was underneath the counter with another master puppeteer Ron Binion. Richard Landon puppeteered the eyes off-camera. And then his facial expressions from the brow to the mouth to the jaw even though you don't see him opening up are all cable controlled which I was doing underneath the counter and then Ron was doing the arms and the hands."'

[5] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 30:21-30:24 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "The eyes were RC."'

[6] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 30:50-30:55 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "But then the morning of rehearsing, Jason switched from the left arm to the right arm."'

[7] Ghostbusters Interdimensional Crossrip "#743 - Arjen Tuiten, Special Make-Up & Live Acton Creature Effects Designer" 31:02-31:05 11/29/2021 Arjen Tuiten says: "We shot one day with him and he was wrapped."'

[8] IGN YouTube "Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Exclusive Trailer Breakdown with Director Jason Reitman" 07:25-07:37 7/26/2021 Jason Reitman says: "You're also gonna see a skeletal ghost in this section. That was a piece of puppetry designed by Arjen obviously meant to echo the taxi driver ghost from the original."

[9] Inguanzo, Ozzy (2021). Ghostbusters: Afterlife The Art and Making of the Movie, p. 155. Titan Books, London UK, ISBN 1789096529. Caption reads: "Unused concept illustrations by Brynn Metheney for miner ghosts-described left to right: Dynamite, Pick Axe, Lunchbox, Coats, Shovel."

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