Ghostbusters 2 Coloring Book

If you were like me, you LOVED Ghostbusters as a kid. As in, the Real Ghostbusters, not the stupid ghost busting ape that Filmation had. (Don’t be fooled, that phrase makes it sound much cooler than it actually was). In the summer of 1989, the feature film Ghostbusters 2 came out and a 4 year old Sean saw it in theaters. Why would my parents take a 4 year old to a film that has scary ghosts, a painting trying to possess a baby and a mink coat coming alive to try to eat its owner? Because they loved me.

I had many pieces of Ghostbusters merchandise.A few years ago, I found an odd piece of memorabilia - the Ghostbusters 2 coloring book. What makes it odd? Well, let me walk you through a bit of it.

Keep in mind this has spoilers for both the movie and coloring book of Ghostbusters 2. So ... yeah.

Pg. 5

We can see why Viggo picks Oscar as a surrogate as he’s already the creepiest baby that’s ever lived.

Pg. 7  

Ah, yes. As we’ll see, the books takes some “liberties” with the way most of the Ghostbusters look. For instance, they decided to give Ray a mustache. One reserved for say, a member of the pornography industry, 1950s PSA pervert or either Hall or Oates.

Seen here switching facial hair

Pg. 11

Ah yes, the old soft shoe. Or as children in the late 1980s called it, "The what? What's wrong with their shoes?"

Pg. 13

Oops! Another face change! Though, I may be remembering Ghostbusters 2 incorrectly. Was Peter Venkman played by Superman?

Pg. 17

Another odd piece of trivia, though the book shows Jack Hardemeyer (the Mayor's assistant) a few times we never actually see his face. Not even like a side of it. Why? Did they run out of ways to draw men's faces?

Pg. 19 

Look, I'm going to shit a lot on their ability to draw faces a LOT, but that's a solid Peter MacNicol.

Pg. 21

Oh! They had to recast Peter Venkman because Bill Murray was too busy playing Egon. Also, this reminds me - the hardest thing in the world to draw apparently? Glasses. You know, the thing that really, kind of comes up when people think of Egon. That and that weird haircut from this cartoon.

Yep, that's the one

Pg. 23

I know I mentioned Ray’s pervy mustache before, but those are some questionable looking jars.Or maybe it’s “Egon”’s accusatory look. Or Ray’s sheepish face. In any case, I'll just be upfront with you and say this is pretty much going to paint my impression of Ray for the rest of the article.

Pg. 28

See? It's things like this. Like him stalking behind Egon, oddly close, yet with a dead, distant look in his eyes, as if to say, "I wonder what you would look like with no skin."

Pg. 37

, Ray said, intrigued.

Pg. 58

One of my many theories: Hardemeyer is clearly Klaw from Inspector Gadget. Either that or he wears glasses. And we know how these illustrators feel about glasses. Bad. They feel bad about them.

Pg. 73

This is where the coloring book first deviates from the plot of the movie. (You have no idea the sadness in my eyes when I realized I just typed that sentence). Viggo tries to kill the Ghostbusters by taking control of Ray and causing him to crash the Ecto-1A. I don't know if this was in the original script or what, but apparently this same scene was in the comic book adaptation as well. 

I'm not sure why it got cut, but tell me you don’t want to see Ernie Hudson fight it out with a possessed Dan Akroyd. You can’t.

Pg. 74-77

Another divergence from the plot of the film. Weirdly, this is the only time Louis appears in the book despite having a much larger (though fairly ineffectual) part in the movie. Also, this reminds me of the marketing idea that kids just LOVED Slimer. That’s why they got rid of The Real Ghostbusters in favor of that “Slimer!” cartoon. Because I always wanted to know what he was doing when he wasn’t around all those cool-looking scary ghosts and laser battles.

Pg. 85

 

Ray’s excitement is palpable. 

Pg. 89

Oh is that what happens? I'll have to take your word for it, as I can't see the ghost. Hey, you know what else is hard to draw? Ghosts. Ghosts in glasses? Now you’re just talking crazy my friend.

Pg. 97

Another plot divergence. I don’t remember Peter trying to get Firemen to sing to weaken the slime, especially as they didn’t even know that was a thing until they’re already in the museum. Ugh, Coloring Book, it's like you don't even care!

Pg. 97

Hey! Look’s who’s not-face makes yet another non-appearance!

Pg. 124

So, we’ve already seen that Viggo can possess Ray and yet here he acts like he’s trying to get out of the bank he just robbed. In the film, when he possesses Ray, though, I don’t know if, as a child, I’d really want to color in this:

High-octane nightmare fuel

So the coloring book, probably made the right choice. However, then Ray says, this:

Pg. 125

Well, we all this this coming didn’t we? 

Pg. 138

Lastly, in the book, Mayor asks Peter to put the Statue of Liberty back where he found it. Peter agrees, only if the Mayor agrees to pay the bill. Seems like it might be illegal to hold a National Park hostage like that Dr. Venkman.

So, that’s it. We get a few weird plot divergences and a lot of weird faces, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t color the hell out of this as a kid.