Ghostbusters Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Ghostbusters Wiki

Note that this article covers the 2016 movie version of Slimer. The 1984/1989 version can be found here, and the Real Ghostbusters/Extreme Ghostbusters one can be found here.

Slimer was the green ghost that took a joyride with the Ecto-1 with some of his friends. He appeared in the 2016 movie.

History[]

Primary Canon[]

Slimer pigged out at a hot dog cart near West 38th after Rowan North broke the barrier and flooded Manhattan with ghosts. The Ghostbusters were unable to get into Times Square. Several Sabrett Hot Dog Carts blocked their other path. Jillian Holtzmann remarked it looked like her kitchen. There was a green glow coming from the inside the cart on the left. They slowly approached. The lid popped open. Slimer roared and scarfed more hot dogs. They gasped. Abby Yates asked what the hell that thing was. Slimer turned and burped at them. They gasped. It flew towards them. They side stepped him. Slimer flew right into the driver's seat of Ecto-1. Abby and Patty Tolan yelled at him to stop. The engine started and Slimer reversed out. Abby was annoyed at Holtzmann for leaving the keys in the car. Slimer swung Ecto-1 into a parked car. Patty knew her uncle was going to be pissed. Slimer roared and the gas pedal was pushed down. He charged Ecto-1 towards them. Abby ordered everyone to light him up. Holtzmann interjected and revealed the equipment on the roof rack was basically a nuclear reactor. Patty cast her vote that they don't shoot at it. They gasped and jumped out of the way. Ecto-1 barreled past the carts. He rammed a fire hydrant and water geyser erupted. He rammed a light pole next and drove on. The pole crashed down, narrowly avoiding a man running by. Abby realized they gave a ghost a nuke and proposed they should probably run.

Slimer later was seen with Lady Slimer and the Ecto-1 Party Specters as they passed by the Ghostbusters in front of The Mercado building in the Times Square area. Abby was glad someone was having the time of his life. He and his crew were seen again as the Ghostbusters guided the Ecto-1 to go in the portal. Slimer along with his buddies end up going through the portal and the Divide to the World of the Dead. The Ghostbusters blew up the reactors atop the Ecto-1's roof rack to reverse the polarity of the Portal and force all the ghosts back through. Slimer and Lady Slimer were launched into mid-air atop the seat cushion. They exchanged looks, laughed, and fell back down through the Portal.

Secondary Canon[]

Ghostbusters Activision Video Game (2016)[]

Slimer first appears in the Queen Charlotte Hotel Level in Ghostbusters Activision Video Game (2016).

  • Category:
  • Type: Ghost (must trap)
  • Attacks:

Containment Unit[]

Note that this is copied directly from the game, including misspellings and incorrect grammar.
Slimer
This troublesome little spud has been tormenting high end hotels in the New York area for years. Where he comes from is a matter of dispute, but his voracious appetite and foul onion-like ordor is not.

IDW Comics[]

During the ghost retrieval mission in the prime dimension, Slimer 80-C drove a shuttle to the Firehouse and dropped off the Ghostbusters of Dimension 11-W, Ghostbusters of Dimension 68-M, and Ghostbusters of Dimension 68-Q. Slimer 80-C, Slimer 68-R, Slimer 68-E, and Slimer 68-Q, flew upstairs to the second floor and looked at Slimer in the Paranormal Containment Research Tank. Slimer screamed at them. They got scared and hid behind Jenny Moran then kissed Peck at the same time.

Development[]

Paul Feig and Katie Dippold came up with a backstory that Slimer was a gangster executed for killing a waiter who screwed up his order. Slimer started out as a "more traditional" ghost, but was disfigured when the Ghostbusters were called to the restaurant he was haunting. The equipment was still in the testing phase so the proton streams blew Slimer's legs off and turned him green. He distorted and becomes the Slimer seen in the movie then escapes the scene. The backstory idea was not used.[1][2] Tully Summers did designs for the Old Gangster Ghost on February 24, 2015. Slimer would emerge from it when the ghost was sliced by the Proton Stream.[3] Summers then worked on a sixth version of Slimer on February 25 to 26, 2015. The original design was going to be more alien-like and would have dangling entrails and it ate everything with rows of revolving teeth. Production ultimately scrapped the idea and went with a more classic look.[4]

Paul Feig remembered working with Rick Lazzarini, who worked on Ghostbusters II, and Ronald Binion on a Ford campaign and The Creature Shop was at the top of his list for animatronic work.[5] Feig's people sent over a script. Lazzarini read it, and immediately began brainstorming how to achieve the effects involved. The Character Shop hired a dozen designers, on spec, to help visualize the ghosts from the script, including Slimer. Lazzarini met with Feig and his core crew to go over the designs and renderings.[6] They started talking about how important it was to use practical effects in the movie. After the meeting ended on a positive note, Lazzarini directed his crew to start making 3D mockups. A few weeks later, Lazzarini learned the movie's budget got slashed and there won't be the room for the practical effects and animatronics. The shop stopped working on designs and prototypes. Soon after, it was decided Slimer would be a fully articulated puppet augmented with special effects.[7][8] The stipulation was there was no separate aimatronics budget, there was little time to build it, it was needed quickly, and it was only going to serve as a movement reference for the CG department.[9]

Lazzarini rehired essential crew. They started on a Slimer sculpture, molds were made, cores were made, fabrication began on the suit, and work on animatronic mechanisms for the eyes, brows, tongue, and mouth began. The animatronic functions of the head included three axes of brow movement: upper and lower eye blinks, eyes move side to side, and eyes move up and down, along with the jaw opening and closing, and a tongue that could telescope in and out and have up and down and side to side "tentacle"-type movements.[10] The head was equipped with a helmet custom molded for Ronald Binion. The Slimer puppet and support kit were shipped to Boston. Lazzarini operated the puppet's facial expressions during filming.[11] The VFX teams at Sony Pictures Imageworks and MPC worked on Slimer.[12] Effects added random bits of hair in random places as well as an overabundant amount of slime so that it poured off Slimer's arms.[13]

Classification[]

Secondary Canon[]

Ghostbuster's Handbook[]

Slimer was a Class 5 full-roaming vapor.[14]

Trivia[]

  • Slimer is loosely based on actor John Belushi, which was close friends with Dan Aykroyd.
  • The original Slimer also was in a Sabrett hot dog stand towards the end of Ghostbusters (1984 movie).
    • Slimer also drove a bus in Ghostbusters II, much like him driving the Ecto-1.
  • On April 11, 2016, Adam Ray announced he was the voice of Slimer.[15]
  • Spotlighted briefly in the iTunes-exclusive featurette "The Return of Slimer," Ronald Binion was the Slimer Puppeteer who wore the suit and Peter Epstein was the stuntman who performed the scenes with Slimer driving.
  • There was some debate about putting Slimer in the trailer or not. Once Paul Feig saw special effects for him, Feig decided it was okay to put him in it.[16]
  • The under skull of the Slimer puppet came equipped with speakers for Ronald Binion to listen with, HD video goggles to monitor what the camera is seeing, and a microphone to communicate with the crew.[17]
  • The Slimer puppet only required two people to operate, the puppeteer wearing it and someone to operate the radio control for the puppet's facial expressions.[18]
  • On the Boston set, the street Slimer backs up Ecto-1 into is Water Street. Slimer guns it through the roadblock and passes Milk Street while hitting some lamp posts. The building on the right of this other shot has a blue awning that reads "Travers Hospital Medical Group, Otavia Health" in the movie and is "Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Atrius Health" in real life.
  • The shot of Slimer and Lady Slimer shooting up into the air out of the Portal is a nod to a scene in "Die Hard 2" when John McClane ejects out a jetliner just before several grenades detonate.[19]
  • Slimer makes a non-canon cameo on Credits Page of Ghostbusters 101 #1.
  • On the Subscription Cover of Ghostbusters 101 #5, on the right bottom is Slimer.
  • On the Cover RI of Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Issue #1, Slimer and Abby both grab for the latter's infamous soup order.
  • On the POW Cover of Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Issue #1, Slimer appears left of Stay Puft.
  • On Cover RI of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #4, Slimer appears.
  • On page 2 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #5, in panel 3, the Slimer of Dimension 80-C has on a hat like Slimer wore at the end of Ghostbusters II.
  • Slimer appears on the Regular Cover and IDW Convention Variant Cover of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Answer The Call Ghostbusters.
  • Slimer stars in a series of online spots advertising the features of Quickbooks but the puppet from the 2016 movie was utilized.

See Also[]

Appearances[]

Primary Canon[]

Secondary Canon[]

References[]

  1. Wired "At Last: The Untold Backstory of Slimer From Ghostbusters" 7/15/16 Line reads: "According to Feig, who created a backstory with Ghostbusters co-writer Katie Dippold, Slimer was a gangster executed for killing a waiter who screwed up his order. Slimer started his afterlife as a more traditional ghoul, but was disfigured when the Ghostbusters were called to the restaurant he was haunting."
  2. Wired "At Last: The Untold Backstory of Slimer From Ghostbusters" 7/15/16 Paul Feig says: "When the Ghostbusters come in, they haven't quite tested their equipment yet, so they haven't got the levels right. The proton beams are too hot, so it blows his legs off. Then it turns him green. He starts to distort, and so he becomes Slimer. Then he escaped out into the world."
  3. Tully Summers "Ghostbusters: Gangster Ghost" Artstation 1/2/18 Tully Summers says: "This one was interesting. He starts off a gangster ghost in a speak easy, leaking green from where he was tommy gunned to death. The Ghostbusters cut him in half with their proton packs, and it's revealed he has an otherworldly Slimer ghost hiding within the human shell."
  4. Tully Summers "Ghostbusters: Otherworldly Slimer" Artstation 1/2/18 Tully Summers says: "This was my Slimer redesign back when the ghosts were more alien. He's intended to break out of the Gangster ghost. Sliming everyone with his dangling entrails and eating everything with rows of revolving teeth. Production eventually decided to go with the good old classic design from the first film."
  5. The Creature Shop "Who ya gonna call? The Character Shop!" 2016 Line reads: "What actor likes to react to a chrome-and-silver ball in these days of overly CGI-ed event films? They'd prefer to act with something real and present. Director Paul Feig had this in mind when he chose Rick Lazzarini and TCS to create a couple of very cool animatronic creations for the 2016 reboot of "Ghostbusters". Paul had worked with Rick and renowned puppeteer Ronald Binion on a Ford campaign together, and when it was announced that Feig was going to reboot one of the most iconic films in recent history, Lazzarini reminded him that he'd created several ghosts for "Ghostbusters 2" and would love to be involved. Feig responded that while it was early, Rick was "at the top of my list!"."
  6. The Creature Shop "Who ya gonna call? The Character Shop!" 2016 Line reads: "Feig's people sent over a script, Rick read it, and immediately began brainstorming how to achieve the effects involved. The Character Shop hired a dozen designers, on spec, to help visualize the various ghost types in the script. Slimer, in fact, had his own "origin story" in this early draft, and several takes were sketched. At the first momentous meeting between Rick, Paul, and various other film crew already on staff, including the Production Designer, Producer, Production Manager, Assistant Director, and Visual FX Supevisor, Rick laid out the dozens of sketches, ilustrations, and renderings his Design Team had produced."
  7. Empire Online "Ghostbusters - trailer breakdown with Paul Feig" 3/9/16 Paul Feig says: "But again, the thing with Slimer is we had a fully articulated Slimer puppet we used, and then we augmented him with special effects."
  8. Semlyen, Nick (2016). Empire Magazine Issue 324 June 2016, p. 64. Bauer Media Group, Harborough, Leicester, United Kingdom, ISBN 1234567890. Line reads: "The new movie combines old technology (a fully articulated Slimer was built and operated by Ghostbusters veteran Rick Lazzarini) with new (CG augmentation) to create the most disgusting and deranged version yet."
  9. The Creature Shop "Who ya gonna call? The Character Shop!" 2016 Line reads: "Elated and enthused, Lazzarini returned to the shop and began directing his crew to start making 3D mockups; taking the next step to further wow Feig and Co. However, it was only a few weeks later that bad news was delivered: "Our budget got slashed. There won't be the room for the Practical FX and Animatronics we talked about. Sorry. But Rick, you're the only one we're talking to, the only one we want to talk to, the only one we will talk to. We'll let you know if the situation changes" said the Executive Producer. Deflated and dejected, Rick gave word to his team, who ceased all design and prototyping work, packed their tools, and went home. It was only a temporary blow, however, as not soon after, the situation did change! The Executive Producer was back on the phone with Rick: "Paul would like you to build us a Slimer. But here's the deal, we don't have a separate Animatronics budget, so the budget won't be much. And there's not a lot of time, we need it fast. Oh, and it's just going to serve as a movement reference for the CG Dept., and be a real thing on set for the gals to react to". That's not the most attractive deal ever offered, but Hey! The basics of it was "Will you build us a Slimer for this next Ghostbusters film?" and no one who does this for a living would say no to that!"
  10. The Creature Shop "Who ya gonna call? The Character Shop!" 2016 Line reads: "Rick immediately hired back essential crew and began creating a Slimer sculpture at a frenzied pace. Molds were made, cores were made, and fabrication began on the suit, while animatronic mechanisms for the eyes, brows, tongue, and mouth were begun... The animatronic functions of the head included 3 axes of brow movement, upper and lower Eye blinks, Eyes Side/Side, Eyes Up/Down, Jaw Open/Close, and a tongue that could telescope In/out and have Up/Down, Side/Side "tentacle"-type movements."
  11. The Creature Shop "Who ya gonna call? The Character Shop!" 2016 Line reads: "The head was also equipped with a helmet custom molded to fit Ronald Binion's head, a pair of High-Definition video goggles so that he could see what was in frame on camera, and a walkie-talkie system allowing him to communicate and receive directions. Ron provided the gross body and arm movements, and Rick Lazzarini puppeteered the facial expressions. When finished, Slimer and a support kit were packed and shipped to Boston, where we rolled cameras on him during the hot-dog scene, the stealing Ecto-1 scene, and the scenes of him driving away...and with his gal friend! Here's a final movement test before he was whisked to set."
  12. Semlyen, Nick (2016). Empire Magazine Issue 324 June 2016, p. 64. Bauer Media Group, Harborough, Leicester, United Kingdom, ISBN 1234567890. Line reads: "In the end the coveted job went to Sony Pictures Imageworks and MPC."
  13. Semlyen, Nick (2016). Empire Magazine Issue 324 June 2016, p. 64. Bauer Media Group, Harborough, Leicester, United Kingdom, ISBN 1234567890. Paul Travers says: "We added random bits of hair in random places, like he's an old person. And we've added a bunch of goopy slime to him, just pouring off his arms I mean he is called Slimer."
  14. Narrator (2016). Simon & Schuster- "Ghostbuster's Handbook" (2016) (Book p.76). Page reads: "A Class V full-roaming vapor, Slimer is a rather grotesque entity made of ectoplasm (thus the name Slimer)."
  15. adamraycomedy Tweet 4/11/16
  16. The Verge "Analyzing the Ghostbusters trailer with director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold" 3/3/16 Line reads: "People are obsessed with Slimer. He's probably the most recognizable thing from Ghostbusters, or the thing that people are most focused on. It’s so funny to me. Even Ivan will say that was just a side character. It wasn't really until the cartoons that it took on a life of its own. But we debated a long time, and I was really against putting him in this trailer in the beginning. Then as I saw the special effects come in — he's actually a puppet, and then we CG'd over him to make him more lifelike --- I thought, "Ah, we can put him in. He looks cool." You don't want to put anything out that you don't think is ready yet, but I thought he looked pretty fun."
  17. Rick Lazzarini (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Special Features; The Return of Slimer (2016) (iTunes ts. 0:02:47-0:02:59). Sony Pictures. Rick Lazzarini says: "And then we added in, uh, speakers for him to listen to, video goggles in HD so he can monitor what the camera is seeing and he's got a microphone here so he can to talk back to us and tell us how hungry he is."
  18. Rick Lazzarini (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Special Features; The Return of Slimer (2016) (iTunes ts. 0:03:52-0:04:01). Sony Pictures. Rick Lazzarini says: "It actually takes two people to operate. Slimer, the guy inside Ron, and uh, I was outside with a radio control controlling all his facial expressions."
  19. Paul Feig (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition - Writer & Director Commentary (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 01:55:03-01:55:05). Sony Pictures. Paul Feig says: "This is a tribute to Die Hard 2."
  20. Abby Yates (2017). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters 101 #3" (2017) (Comic p.11). Abby Yates says: "Is... isn't that the ghost that stole our car?"
  21. Jillian Holtzmann (2017). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters 101 #3" (2017) (Comic p.11). Jillian Holtzmann says: "Nah. That one got blown up."

Gallery[]

Primary Canon[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Secondary Canon[]

Advertisement