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99-507: The proton pack, designed and built by Dr. Egon Spengler , is a man-portable cyclotron system (and indeed Dr. Peter Venkman refers to the proton packs in one scene as "unlicensed nuclear accelerators"), that is used to create a charged particle beam —composed of protons—that is fired by the particle thrower (also referred to as the "neutrona wand"). Described in the first movie as a " positron collider ", it functions by colliding high-energy positrons to generate its proton beam. The beam allows

198-405: A half-life of 5,000 years. Knobs on the main stock of the proton pack can perform various functions to customize the proton stream, including adjustments for stream intensity, length, and degrees of polarization . In the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters , the maximum power setting for the proton packs is "500,000 MHz," which possibly refers to the rate of positron collisions occurring within

297-669: A logo on a bag of marshmallows in Dana Barrett 's apartment , on an advertisement on a building near the Ghostbusters ' headquarters , and finally as the physical manifestation and form of the apocalyptic Sumerian deity Gozer . Gozer returns in this form multiple times; however, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in The Real Ghostbusters animated series is the manifestation of

396-423: A mentorship role; in one episode where the original Ghostbusters guest starred on an episode the audience clearly sees middle adulthood has affected the speed and weakened the stamina of the original Ghostbusters. Although Egon Spengler does not appear in the 1990 The Earth Day Special , his character and status as a Ghostbuster is mentioned, and Harold Ramis portrays his twin brother, named Elon Spengler, who

495-540: A Ghostbuster to contain and hold "negatively charged ectoplasmic entities". This containment ability allows the wielder to position a ghost above a trap for capture. The stream is also quite destructive to physical objects, and can cause extensive property damage. The name proton pack is not used in the original movie at all, and is not used until the subway tunnel scene in Ghostbusters II , when Egon says that they should get their proton packs. The doorman to

594-414: A Ghostbuster, the children thinks Egon was a ne'er-do-well. Though unseen by his family as a poltergeist (Class 2 or 3, noncorporeal and telekinetic), Egon's presence guides Phoebe into continuing with his plan to defeat Gozer, and she eventually stages an ambush after forming her own Ghostbusters team. In the process, Egon establishes a familial bond with Phoebe which he was unable to do with Callie when he

693-667: A burst of energy to travel down the stream and deal a massive amount of damage to the player, while also knocking them off their feet for a short time, due to a new "safety" that was installed on the neutrona wand. In the extended version of the reboot film Ghostbusters (2016), shows that its iteration of the Ghostbusters (Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzman, and Patty Tolan) had initially tried to close Rowan North's portal with their crossed streams before resorting to use their Ecto-1's reactor to detonate an explosion to create

792-525: A demon, have his molecular structure destabilized to the point that it stranded him in the Netherworld (requiring him to be rescued by the others), regress into a baby, turn into a were-chicken, and have his intellect switched with Slimer 's. He has however, ceased his sugar junkie ways, only to briefly be tempted by a candy store when in Slimer's body (a likely fact that Slimer was an overt glutton). It

891-472: A desperate effort to stop the powerful Gozer the Gozerian , Egon noted that the door to Gozer's temple "swings both ways" and that by crossing the streams, they may be able to create enough force to close the door on Gozer and its control. As the Ghostbusters cross the streams, the combination of that much energy closes the door to Gozer's dimension and severs its ties to our world. The resulting blast destroys

990-434: A family history of witchcraft (three ancestors, Zedekiah, Eli and Ezekiel, were wizards), of which he is not so much ashamed as "strongly" considers irrelevant, mainly because he sees science as relevant. Egon's faith in science was also tested in one episode where the Ghostbusters get abducted to the ghost world by the ghost of Al Capone . Egon's scientific equipment fails until he is told by former capos of Capone (who aid

1089-495: A fully formed Class 4 Full Torso Apparition (much like the Library Ghost when in human form in the first film) beside Phoebe to help them one last time. He embraces his family and acknowledges his colleagues before fading away to the afterlife. Outside of archived audio clips, Egon has no speaking lines throughout the film and his face was obscured in present-day shots until his return as a ghost. The likeness of Harold Ramis

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1188-559: A giant mantis too powerful for the Ghostbusters to fight on their own. Stay-Puft is controlled with the help of Slimer (a green blob-like creature). After defeating the Mantis, Stay-Puft floats behind the Ghostbusters in a parade. He later helps them again in the episode "Sticky Business" number 85, when the president of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Company asks the Ghostbusters if he can use their large Stay-Puft in

1287-544: A good portion of the roof and blows up the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man . In Ghostbusters: The Video Game , the Ghostbusters mention that "crossing the streams" during the Gozer Incident (events of the first Ghostbusters film) only worked due to the presence of a cross-dimension portal (a tactic which is referred to as the "Gozer gambit" by Ray) and should only be used as a last resort. During

1386-787: A life-threatening cardiovascular disease . In June 2021, Egon captured one of Gozer's minions, which Gozer needed to successfully manifest on Earth, and used the creature in an attempt to lure Gozer into the trap field. When the ambush failed because the traps' capacitors malfunctioned, Gozer sent the other minion to attack Egon, who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest and died before Gozer could learn its trapped minion's whereabouts. Egon's death results in Callie and her two children, Trevor and Phoebe, moving from Chicago to Summerville to take possession of his house and belongings. Because of knowing that their grandfather left their mother and them never had acquainted with him as well as not knowing his past as

1485-526: A little bit, letting his sense of humor show and even giving Dana a smile and Peter (who was carried away with photographing Vigo's portrait), a knowing smile. It is implied by Peter that two years prior to the film's events, the team had used their proton packs. Not limited to John H. Tobin's books, Egon and Ray rely on the latter's resources at Ray's Occult Books, and through Leon Zundinger's article in Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen found information about Vigo

1584-521: A lot of time focusing on the stability of the storage facility and was concerned about the possibilities of a P.K.E. surge of dangerous proportions. Egon was particularly critical of Walter Peck's actions, and his attitude that the Ghostbusters were responsible for the explosion of the containment unit that occurred when Peck ordered a utility worker to shut the unit down. After their encounter with Stay Puft, Egon suggested an atypical solution when he recommended blasting Gozer's dimensional portal while crossing

1683-563: A nearby building, all over Times Square. Towards the game's climax, the characters realize that Gozer assumed the form of Stay-Puft again because he can only have one destructor form for each dimension he enters; he was locked into the form of the Marshmallow Man when summoned back to the Earthly plane. This causes Ray to admit he had not selected such a bad destructor after all due to it having strategic disadvantages; as demonstrated in

1782-545: A proton pistol attachment to the movie pack being used by Winston while hunting down Slimer. There's something very important I forgot to tell you! Don't cross the streams… It would be bad… Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Crossing the streams was initially discouraged, as Egon believed that "total protonic reversal" would occur: this effect would have catastrophic results (see quote above) if they are crossed over three seconds. However, in

1881-470: A puppy. He was the first person Dana Barrett contacted when her baby carriage took off by itself. Egon recommended bringing in Ray, and they both performed a physical exam on Dana's son Oscar. Egon, along with Peter and Ray were later arrested after digging a large hole under First Avenue as part of their paranormal investigations to help Dana. At trial they were found guilty by judge Stephen Wexler (whom Egon said

1980-578: A regular (with Maurice LaMarche reprising his role), acting as a mentor to the new Ghostbusters (the others appeared for a two-part episode, "Back in the Saddle"), monitoring and sustaining the Containment Unit and taking care of Slimer while working as a paranormal studies professor at a university. He is the de facto leader of the new, younger team of Ghostbusters; although the old team had gone into retirement after they apparently dealt with all

2079-503: A scientist for his abandoning her. Despite the Ghostbusters successfully closing the "Manhattan Crossrip of '84", at some point after the "Vigo Incident of '89", Egon had discovered prophecies written by the Cult of Gozer's prophets saying Gozer would return in 2021, but his insistence that the Ghostbusters prepare for this strained their relationship (a nod to the real-life estrangement between Ramis and Bill Murray after their collaboration in

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2178-402: A solution to complaints by the actors about the weight of the original prop. These mid-grade pieces featured many details cast in as part of the mold, instead of separate fittings. The electronics and mechanisms were also cut down greatly, reducing the total weight. The original GB1 props would appear in close-ups, the mid-grade in other scenes, and new rubber "stunt" packs were made for whenever

2277-427: A television commercial. Once again Slimer goes into the containment unit to bring Stay-Puft out. An episode explains that Egon took a sample of the marshmallow ectoplasm and positively charged it, thus creating a friendly version of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man that would assist the Ghostbusters when needed. When questioned by a policeman in the series about the abrupt personality change, Peter replied that Stay-Puft

2376-403: A white sailor cap with a red ribbon attached on top, and a blue hatband . Around his neck is a traditional blue sailor's collar and a red neckerchief . After images of him are seen on an advertisement and a bag of the marshmallows earlier in the film, he is then seen in the climax of Ghostbusters as one of the physical manifestations and forms of Gozer , a god who is defeated when Stay-Puft

2475-724: Is 3.5 inches (89 mm) tall) on the outside. However, the Mini-Pufts are chaotic, like their master, and can do plenty of damage as a swarm. In Ghostbusters terminology, they would be Class 5 manifestations, similar to the Marshmallow Minis in Ghostbusters: The Video Game . Numbers of voice actors including Ira Heiden , Sarah Natochenny , and Shelby Young voiced the Mini-Pufts. The Mini-Pufts also appear in Ghostbusters: Rise of

2574-429: Is a junk food junkie, due to his affection for sweets and snack crackers. In the second film it is revealed that he and Ray like takeout foods like pizza, Asian, Greek, and Mexican cuisine; in the first film, there is also a scene where Egon dines on Chinese takeout with Peter and Ray, during which he eats egg rolls while he finishes building the proton packs. Despite being a stereotypical timid professor-like figure, Egon

2673-465: Is an amalgamation of the name Egon Donsbach, who was a Hungarian refugee classmate of Ramis' at Senn High School , and the name of German polymath Oswald Spengler . Christopher Walken , John Lithgow , Christopher Lloyd , and Jeff Goldblum were all considered for the role of Egon Spengler, before Ramis, who had gotten close to the character while writing him, felt compelled to play it himself. Maurice LaMarche stated that when he auditioned for

2772-432: Is created – however, whatever is created disappears when the person awakens. In the episode "Dedcon 1", Stay-Puft appears as a guest of honor at a ghost convention. After another episode, "Cry Uncle", he is accidentally freed from the Ghostbusters' containment system and later recaptured. He reappears in episode 65, "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis", where he is "released" from the Ghostbusters' containment unit to help defeat

2871-433: Is destroyed. Stay-Puft's exact to-scale height in the movie is 112.5 feet (34.3 m) tall, while his height in the novelization of the movie is given at 100 feet (30.5 m). In Ghostbusters: The Video Game , Stay-Puft is categorized as a Class 7 Outsider Avatar. He is then resurrected and subsequently captured a number of different times by the Ghostbusters. Although mean and destructive at first, he later befriends Slimer and

2970-729: Is mentioned in the film's novelization that Egon's mother is alive, and he calls her after finding a payphone to inform his termination of his employment at Columbia University, while Peter and Ray discussing plans for the Ghostbusters business, explaining his absence on this scene. Egon was usually the first to interview case subjects, adding to their mantra, "we're ready to believe you." Examples were Dana Barrett from her Zuul encounter and her carriage phenomenon with Oscar. Even people Peter called "schizo" always went to either Egon or Ray to describe their paranormal experiences, no matter how far-fetched their stories were. For his part, Venkman once took back everything negative he said about Egon, rewarding

3069-704: Is prone to violent reactions when pushed too far temperamentally, as demonstrated by his attempt to assault Walter Peck. After Egon dies, the haunting in his farmhouse reveals that, like Ray, he was a skilled automotive mechanic, able to repair the Ecto-1's engine with his grandson Trevor as a poltergeist. Egon was very interested in paranormal phenomena, even while working with Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman at Columbia University . He and Ray Stantz studied paranormal literature in their spare time, and Egon personally follows John Horace Tobin's works including Tobin's Spirit Guide , and were interested in theories of reincarnation. It

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3168-462: Is revealed in "The Boogieman Cometh" that, as a child, Egon was stalked by the boogieman , a supernatural monster that fed on the fear of children and hid in their closets, and was particularly fond of Egon's fear; it was these encounters with the creature that inspired Egon to study the paranormal, and as an adult, he would battle the Boogieman twice and defeat him. It is implied in one episode of

3267-513: Is revealed that since the defeat by the Ghostbusters, Gozer has been trying to assume a more powerful avatar to correct its mistake. In the reboot film Ghostbusters (2016), which sets in another narrative universe, Stay-Puft makes a brief appearance as a possessed Thanksgiving parade balloon that pinned the Ghostbusters Abby Yates, Jillian Holtzmann, and Patty Tolan to the ground before being saved by Erin Gilbert, who bursts

3366-429: Is so important to our company mission". Additionally, in the film itself, a bronze bust of Harold Ramis as the film's version of Spengler is seen just as Erin Gilbert leaves her office. During the credits of Ghostbusters , the words "For Harold Ramis " are seen. Ghostbusters: Afterlife , which serves as a direct sequel to the original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II , opens with a portrayal of Spengler's death. In

3465-757: Is the President of the Wastebusters. A likeness of Ramis circa 1991 (the year in which the game takes place) appears in the Ghostbusters: The Video Game that was released on June 16, 2009. Ramis also reprised his role for the game by voicing him. In the game, Egon becomes significantly more 'hands-on' during the course of the video game. He and Ray instruct the Rookie in the use of the Proton Pack and its eventual PCS upgrades. Over

3564-475: The 2009 Ghostbusters game , Ray explains how the proton pack works early in the game; the energy emitted by the proton stream helps to dissipate psychokinetic (PK) energy which ghosts use to manifest themselves. Draining them of their PK energy weakens them, allowing them to be captured in their portable ghost traps. According to a line spoken by Egon in Ghostbusters II , each pack's energy cell has

3663-708: The Pillsbury Doughboy and Bibendum (a.k.a. the Michelin Tire Man)." Stay-Puft is seen only briefly in the movie. He is "conjured up" as a new form for the Sumerian god Gozer, who previously arrives atop an apartment building at 55 Central Park West in New York City in the form of an androgynous woman with metallic skin and blood red eyes. After a quick battle with the Ghostbusters, Gozer vanishes and in its disembodied voice demands

3762-464: The dream of a child holding a bag of Stay-Puft Marshmallows during the attack by the Sandman . Subsequently, he has been incorporated into many other types of Ghostbusters media , including the animated series The Real Ghostbusters , comic books , a stage show , and several video games. Stay-Puft is a large obese white humanoid -like figure made of conjoined marshmallows . He wears

3861-463: The 2016 Proton Pack™ in collaboration with nuclear engineer and munitions expert Dr. Jillian Holtzmann. Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai commented "The perfection of the Proton Pack™, long a dream of the world’s greatest engineers since first pioneered by Dr. Egon Spengler of Columbia University , is an example of Sony’s relentless pursuit of innovation. It absolutely delivers the wow factor that

3960-495: The 21st century components, include reverse-engineering his ecto-containment unit into a machine that can extract spiritual energy. Like Egon's granddaughter Phoebe, Pinfield's appearance and behaviors are eerily similar to Egon's despite not being related to him. Egon is mentioned occasionally, and old photographs and footages of Harold Ramis as Egon appeared briefly, and Phoebe keeps her grandfather's original proton pack as hers since Summerville and later plates it with brass to fight

4059-493: The Carpathian. Although the 2016 Ghostbusters film is a reboot, the film's marketing confirms that a version of Egon Spengler does exist in the film's fictional universe . According to a tie-in video to the film, Kate McKinnon 's character Dr. Jillian Holtzmann and Harold Ramis' character Dr. Egon Spengler created the film's proton packs. The paragraph accompanying the video read: Engineers at Sony Corporation developed

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4158-821: The Ecto-1 with Ray and added a taser configuration on the team's PKE meters for defense against the spectral entities they hunt; he uses the taser against Gozer's minions after he settled in Summerville, an innovation which even frighted Zuul. He is revealed to be a collector of strange artifacts, like a death whistle from the Aztec culture similar to the ones first discovered by archaeologist Francisco Rivas Castro in 1999, some witch bottles , and Sentinel figurines from Shandor's Gozerian Temple, and still eating junk food. He remained in contact with Janine and had called Ray once, again trying to warn him about Gozer. Due to his advancing age, Egon's health had declined and he struggled with

4257-656: The Ghost Lord . They returned in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as the Ghostbusters' captives. In the film, Ray Stantz keeps the surviving Mini-Pufts for company in his bookstore because of his fondness with the Stay-Puft Marshmallows Man, but Podcast hates them ever since they attacked him in the Ecto-1 at Summerville and would try to destroy them with his mallet without Ray's knowing. Later, rival deity Garraka usurp command of

4356-575: The Ghost World, can charge itself with spiritual energy to make itself stronger, taking five Ghostbusters with every upgraded arsenal that they have to defeat. In the realistic version, the player can listen to one of the in-game answering machine messages from an upset member of the fictional company that owns the Stay-Puft Marshmallow brand (voiced by Chuck Huber ), who is unhappy with the recent Gozer/Stay-Puft attack, believing it

4455-440: The Ghostbusters in revenge for Capone double-crossing them) that only magic can harm ghosts in the ghost world as opposed to science harming ghosts in the human world, thus forcing Egon to accept the wizardry methods of his ancestors to defeat Capone. He is the love interest of Janine Melnitz , the Ghostbusters' secretary, in the first film and both animated series ( Ghostbusters II excluded their romance due to Ramis' dislike of

4554-447: The Ghostbusters in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters , and helps them out with various problems. Dan Aykroyd conceived the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man for his initial script for Ghostbusters . He created the character to show that "it seems harmless and puffy and cute—but given the right circumstances, everything can be turned black and become evil". Stay-Puft was only one of many large-scale monsters in this early draft of

4653-411: The Ghostbusters is real scientific work and therefore a waste of Egon's genius, tries to make him come back to Ohio (where Egon grew up) to work at his uncle's lab, but fortunately, after his uncle accidentally releases the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the containment unit, he realizes that ghosts are real and accepts Egon's work. Throughout the series, Egon would have his soul switched with that of

4752-490: The Ghostbusters were sued by nearly every county and city agency in New York. Additionally a judicial restraining order was enacted which barred the Ghostbusters from performing services as paranormal investigators and eliminators, effectively putting them out of business. Five years after the events of the first film Egon returned to teaching at Manhattan College , working at its Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research and

4851-404: The Ghostbusters' secretary Janine Melnitz , and his reliance on Peter Venkman as a spokesperson for the group. Egon is the most serious and rigid member of the team. Of his hobbies, Egon states that he collects " spores , molds , and fungus ", and claims that, as a child, the only toy he ever had was "part of a Slinky ", which he straightened out. As implied in the second movie, Egon apparently

4950-472: The Ghostbusters, "Choose the form of the Destructor" – whatever they think of will be the form it will assume to destroy their world . The other three Ghostbusters proceed to think of nothing at all in an attempt to deny Gozer this wish. Ray Stantz ( Aykroyd ) instead makes the decision to think of this marshmallow mascot when the Ghostbusters are given a choice as to which physical form Gozer will destroy

5049-425: The Ghostbusters. Peter, Ray, and a new rookie escort Dr. Selwyn to the roof of a tall building. In pursuit, Stay-Puft climbs the side of the building while Egon, at street level, is preparing a large trap. The rookie burns Stay-Puft's face with "Boson Darts" from an upgraded proton pack, causing Stay-Puft to fall to street level, where he exploded upon impact, scattering his marshmallow body, and his hat, which hangs on

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5148-579: The Mayor's mansion also uses the term proton pack , asking the Ghostbusters if he can buy one from them for his little brother. Egon replies that "A proton pack is not a toy". In the 1984 novelization of Ghostbusters , the Proton Packs are mentioned, eg. “Stantz hauls out the formidable weaponry from the back of the Ectomobile and the four men kit themselves up, buckling on their proton packs…” In

5247-500: The Stay-Puft scenes: he is seen with and without his bow tie , while in another scene the optical rendering was so poor that he passes through a church rather than crushing it. Also, the blue portion of his sailor suit is worn backwards . The face of Stay-Puft was puppeteered by Terri Hardin . She used remote controls while lying down below the miniature street on the set as Bill Bryan walked around for his scene. Following

5346-477: The U.S. Toy proton packs were formerly made by Kenner as part of the Real Ghostbusters toy line. They consisted of a plastic hollow pack and gun, with a yellow foam cylinder attached to the front of the gun to represent the beam. In late 2021, Hasbro announced a 1:1 scale replica of Spengler's Proton Pack as a Haslab crowdfunding campaign, with preorders opening in late October 2021. The project

5445-563: The actor needed to take a fall. The proton pack props from the Ghostbusters movies are some of the most wanted and collectible props ever made. Several GB2 packs have surfaced for auction. In September 2004, one rubber stunt and one fiberglass midgrade prop were auctioned by Profiles in History . The midgrade prop fetched well over $ 13,000. All three variations of the GB2 pack have been displayed at various Planet Hollywood restaurants around

5544-504: The animated series that Egon accidentally burned down his family's garage. In both this series and its follow-up, Egon is voiced by Maurice LaMarche . LaMarche has said in interviews that he was instructed by the producers not to impersonate Ramis when he auditioned for the role. However, he did so anyway and ultimately got the part. Egon is the only original Ghostbuster to return for the Extreme Ghostbusters series as

5643-405: The balloon. Stay-Puft's role as a hundred foot tall rampaging monster is replaced by the sketch ghost from the Ghostbusters' logo who was morphed into a giant-sized version of its self assumed by Rowan North, the film’s antagonist. 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife revealed that the events of the original Ghostbusters did not tarnish the reputation of the mascot (obviously because, as revealed in

5742-410: The components of the proton packs and PKE meter to barricade the portal with crossed streams, as well as setting a ghost trap field with an array of 198 traps for Gozer on his property. He earned the nickname "Dirt Farmer" from Summerville's residents for not growing anything on his land, and for his eccentricity. At some point before the Ghostbusters disbanded, he added a scissor seat on the right side of

5841-452: The course of the game, it becomes evident that he was somewhat traumatized by their exhausting trek up the stairs of 55 Central Park West. While in the alternate dimension of the library, Egon is heard to groan, "Oh no," and when Ray asks if he saw something scary, Egon replies, "Stairs, lots of stairs". Before the "Return to Sedgewick Hotel" mission, Stantz comments that Egon was once a coroner , to which he replied that he maintains interest in

5940-487: The deity in their 198 ghost traps. The game features a modified version of the proton pack (an experimental prototype) which is given to the player (the Ghostbuster's new experimental equipment technician /guinea pig) for field testing. This new proton pack is equipped with other features (and upgrades) besides the standard proton stream. The props representing proton packs were originally thought to have been made by

6039-459: The fellow scientist with his favorite candy bar (a Crunch bar). Egon's only weakness is evidently junk food (or at least snacks), as he is seen, on occasion, snacking on candies, crackers (like Cheez-It ), and egg rolls. When house-hunting for their headquarters, Egon was against Peter leasing the firehouse at North Moore Street due to its conditions and location (dilapidated wirings, neighborhood being plagued by criminal elements, etc.), but Ray

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6138-724: The film Groundhog Day ), and preparing for the events of the prophecies is the reason for his distance with his daughter, who he intended to protect. Ten years after the Manhattan Crossrip, Egon stole equipment and the Ecto-1 and moved to Summerville, Oklahoma, where Ivo Shandor had mined the selenium used to build the Shandor Apartments building in New York City. Shandor had built another gateway for Gozer in his mine, and Egon spent years preparing to stop Gozer's eventual return, building automated energy cannons with

6237-419: The film Ghostbusters (1984), a gargantuan Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is too slow because of its weight and lack of bones, and had less offensive capability beyond its massive size, therby making Gozer vulnerable to proton streams and boson darts fired by even just one Ghostbuster when under this form. In comparison, Gozer's Destructor Form is weaker than Ivo Shandor's, which is much faster and agile, and, while in

6336-410: The film Ghostbusters II and even in the video game, that the Ghostbusters were blamed for conjuring up the rampaging monster.) Tiny-sized versions of it (labeled as "Mini-Pufts") make their appearances as Gozer's mischievous minions for purposes of sabotages, deceptions, and distractions. Like Gozer's Destructor Form, they look funny, adorable, seemingly innocent and, additionally, harmless in size (each

6435-474: The film, it is retroactively established by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan (with acknowledgements from two of the franchise's creators Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis's family as canon), that Egon fathered his daughter Callie in 1982 with someone before the events of the first film. Even Peter and Ray are unaware of her, though Janine does know. However, he became estranged from his family, and Callie grew resentful of her father and blames his life as

6534-429: The firehouse doing research while the team handle the actual 'Ghostbusting', though when the situation calls for it he will help. Janine is still carrying a torch for him, which leaves him a little flustered. He celebrates his 40th birthday during this series, which would put him in his late twenties when The Real Ghostbusters began. Age is the largest factor causing Egon to having transition from active ghost hunting to

6633-422: The game's climax, the Ghostbusters are pulled into Ivo Shandor's ghostly realm and come face-to-face with Shandor's Destructor form, forcing them to resort to "crossing the streams" to defeat Shandor. The resulting blast not only destroys Shandor but also sends the team flying back to their dimension. During gameplay, it is possible for the player to cross the streams with another Ghostbuster, but this will only cause

6732-478: The ghost, Janine angrily told Egon he would have to pay for the damages to her home) and when he rushed to her rescue in "Janine, You've Changed"; he also embraces her in "Ghost Busted" after she was kidnapped and held for ransom by a gangster, and became jealous when she was briefly involved with a slimy businessman named Paul Smart. In the episode "Cry Uncle", Egon's well-meaning but skeptical uncle Cyrus, visits him and, since he does not believe that Egon's work with

6831-415: The ghosts in the city, after the digging of a new subway tunnel resulted in the release of an ancient ghost, Spengler was forced to recruit his only four current students to act as the new Ghostbusters. Although willing to do his share of the legwork, Egon overestimates his abilities and his aging becomes apparent when he is no longer able to work at the same level as in his younger days, generally working at

6930-452: The horned deity Garraka. Egon's hair was changed from brown in the films (Ramis' natural hair color) to a blond pompadour in the animated series (Egon wore his hair in a ponytail on Extreme Ghostbusters ). This was explained as they didn't want everyone to have dark hair, and wanted the characters to each have a distinguishing feature so the audience would be able to easily recognize each one. Despite his leanings toward science, Egon has

7029-423: The idea of shooting at the portal through which the god emerged, by crossing the streams of all four of their packs. The plan triggers an explosion that destroys the gate and Stay-Puft, reducing the latter into molten marshmallow cream that rains down onto the roof of the skyscraper and bystanders on the street below. The character is also briefly visible in an ad on the side of a building (a matte painting) during

7128-417: The original film, the television series The Real Ghostbusters brought Stay-Puft back; in fact Joe Medjuck, the executive producer of the show, states that Stay-Puft was in the first script they received from Dan Aykroyd on the series. In the episode titled, "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream", a spectral Sandman creates versions of anything which a person is dreaming of – in this way a new version of Stay-Puft

7227-526: The other in which he tried a more " Woody Allen "–like approach that did not suit the character's physicality. Egon Spengler is a tall, lanky, laconic , bespectacled , handsome, awkward member of the team responsible for the main theoretical framework for their paranormal / quantum studies, having earned over a dozen advanced degrees including parapsychology and nuclear engineering from New York University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology , respectively, as demonstrated by his stiff interactions with

7326-411: The pack's accelerator system. In the cartoon the packs also have a self-destruct mechanism capable of affecting at least a half-mile radius. The Real Ghostbusters also made proton packs less efficient with power cells, allowing them to run out of energy when appropriate for dramatic tension. For the 1997 animated spinoff Extreme Ghostbusters , the proton packs and ghost traps are redesigned to combat

7425-474: The part of Egon in The Real Ghostbusters , he was asked not to do an impression of Ramis, which he ignored because impressions were one of his strengths as a performer, and there was no other way he could imagine properly portraying the character other than to follow Ramis' example. He got the part anyway and said in an interview that he did two different takes: one in which he impersonated Ramis,

7524-497: The prop department of Columbia Pictures . Information released during the auction of a hero prop proton pack from the first film in July 2012 revealed that the hero proton packs could have been made by Boss Film Studios , a prop studio started by ILM veteran Richard Edlund. The hero prop packs were made of molded fiberglass shells on aluminium backplates (or "motherboards") bolted to military surplus ALICE frames. The basic shape

7623-407: The proton streams to reverse the particle flow and send Gozer back to its dimension; he was also aware of the inherent risks involved in crossing the streams. Egon once tried to drill a hole in his own head (a process known as trepanning ), which he says "would have worked" if Peter had not stopped him. Due to the large amount of collateral damage New York City suffered from the battle with Gozer,

7722-612: The released ghosts and effectively putting the Ghostbusters back in business. Egon had a dry sense of humor which he would use to bewilder Peter, and smirked at his friend's cluelessness as to what the word " epididymis " meant. Egon primarily worked with Ray (both of whom still lived at the Firehouse), conducting research on the pink slime. Eventually they developed "slime blowers", consisting of large metal tanks and handheld nozzles that fire positively charged substance. Still very scientifically minded, Egon here seemed to have loosened up

7821-451: The same mould that lacked the electronics of the hero props. Some packs from Ghostbusters were used in the follow-up Ghostbusters II . These packs were slightly redressed, and the angle of the gun, or "wand" mount was changed to pitch forward slightly, in order to make the prop easier for the actor to use. In addition to these redressed props, one of the originals was used to make a new mold to produce lighter-weight "mid-grade" props as

7920-500: The scene where the Ghostbusters headquarters roof explodes. During the egg frying scene in Dana's apartment, a bag of Stay-Puft marshmallows can be seen. The character as seen in the movie was created by Linda Frobos by using miniatures and optical compositing with Bill Bryan in a latex suit. The suit was made of two layers, an outer flammable layer and inner fire-proof layer. Some of the finished movie's most noticeable errors appear in

8019-606: The script, but after Aykroyd worked with co-writer Harold Ramis and director Ivan Reitman , the team scaled back the intended sequence until only Stay-Puft remained out of the original large-scale monsters. The likeness of Stay-Puft was inspired by Peter O'Boyle, a security guard at Columbia Pictures whom Reitman met while filming his previous movie, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983). According to Sam Delaney of The Guardian , "Stay-Puft's familiar mascot combined elements of real-life brand ambassadors

8118-466: The subject as a hobby. Like other Ghostbusters, Egon remains carrying a grudge against Walter Peck and struggles to control his anger when Peck is around. According to a message left on the Ghostbusters' answering machine, Peck made calls that canceled Egon's orders for parts that he needed with pleasure. Egon appears in Beeline 's Ghostbusters game for iOS alongside his niece, Michelle Ying. The game

8217-465: The subplot, thus having Janine date Louis Tully instead). Egon sometimes appears to be unaware of Janine's romantic interest in him, but at times he displays having similar feelings for her, such as when he gave her a geranium as a gift when she expressed an interest in plants (which backfired horribly when it was revealed that the geranium was possessed by a ghost and nearly destroyed her apartment, along with much of Brooklyn; though Egon managed to thwart

8316-479: The threat of the malevolent Achira, an ancient disease-provoking entity accidentally released by workers constructing a new subway tunnel. Egon, with the help of Roland, Kylie and Eduardo, increased the proton packs' nuclear capability (to deal with Achira and other subsequent enemies, much stronger than what the original Ghostbusters had faced) and modified the power system; now, the packs required replaceable proton canisters to be loaded in for them to function. The trap

8415-441: The tip for the visual effects crew to synchronize the 'streams' to. They were then finished with various surplus 1960s resistors, pneumatic fittings, hoses, ribbon cable , and surplus warning labels and custom-made metal fittings, including an extending barrel mechanism. The overall weight of these props is said to be around 35 pounds (16 kg). The proton packs used in stunt scenes were lightweight foam rubber versions made from

8514-426: The total protonic reversal powerful enough to seal it. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife , Egon built proton cannons with the parts of the proton packs and a PKE meter in Summerville, Oklahoma , to keep Gozer's portal closed with safely fired crossed streams. Later, the Ghostbusters again crossing their proton streams against Gozer to counter its energy-based powers and to weaken its physical form, allowing them to capture

8613-438: The video games Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Ghostbusters Beeline . Egon was portrayed by Harold Ramis in the films and voiced by him in Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Lego Dimensions , and voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the cartoon series. He is a member of the Ghostbusters and one of the three doctors of parapsychology , along with Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Ray Stantz . The character's name, Egon Spengler,

8712-435: The world in. As he explains, "It just popped in there", and that he "tried to think of the most harmless thing", describing Mr. Stay-Puft as "something that could never possibly destroy us". Moments later, a giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is seen walking towards the apartment building. The Ghostbusters shoot at Stay-Puft with their proton packs , setting him on fire , but do not succeed in stopping his advance. They then get

8811-534: Was "all better now". The character was voiced by John Stocker , and later by Frank Welker in this series. The Terminal Reality game Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), set two years after the events of Ghostbusters II , brings back the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to ravage Times Square while searching for Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn. Stay-Puft has the ability to spawn Class 5 Manifesting Outworlders, labeled "Marshmallow Minis" that vaguely resemble Gozer's minions Zuul and Vinz Clortho, to do his bidding like overwhelming

8910-607: Was a publicity stunt by the Ghostbusters. Another message, implied to be left by a hobo, asks the Ghostbusters if it is safe to eat Stay-Puft's remains. A Stay-Puft Figurine appears as one of the collectible paranormal objects found in the game; it is found in the kitchen area of the Sedgewick Hotel and, after being collected, will appear in the Ghostbuster Firehouse's bunkhouse. In the Tobin's Spirit Guide, it

9009-414: Was alive, as Phoebe takes after him. In turn, Phoebe is affectionate to her ghostly grandfather, respecting Egon as a fellow scientist and chess player, and feeling hurt when her mother expresses contempt for Egon. He also guides Callie to realize that, even if he was not present, he had always kept an eye on her life. When Ray, Peter and Winston arrive to aid the family in stopping Gozer, Egon materializes as

9108-541: Was attached to the building due to his fondness for its bronze fireman's pole and the fact it was a place they could afford with their then-pitiful budgets. In time they renovated the building to suit their needs after their business took off. With Ray's assistance, Egon developed the technology behind the P.K.E. Meter, the Proton Pack, the Trap, the Aura Analyzer, the para-goggles, and the storage facility. He spent

9207-523: Was conducting experiments on human emotions, during which he invented the Giga Meter, a device similar to the PKE Meter designed to detect and measure psychomagnotheric energy in gigaelectron volts. A negative test involved keeping a couple with marriage problems locked in a room for hours and gradually raising the temperature. A positive test involved a girl in a room with dozens of stuffed animals and

9306-553: Was known as "The Hammer") of willful destruction of public property, fraud, violating their judicial restraining order, and malicious mischief. While angrily insulting the trio, judge Stephen Wexler inadvertently released the ghosts of the Scoleri Brothers, two murderers he sentenced to death by the electric chair. In the ensuing chaos judge Wexler dismisses the charges against the Ghostbusters and rescinds their judicial restraining order, allowing Egon, Ray, and Peter to capture

9405-406: Was recreated digitally for key shots in conjunction with body doubles ( Bob Gunton and Ivan Reitman ). In the beginning of the credits at the end of the film, the words "For Harold" are seen once again. In the sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire , the Ghostbusters' new recruit Lars Pinfield ( James Acaster ) took over Egon's position as the team's resident inventor, modifying his equipment with

9504-472: Was redesigned as well, into a gold-colored, round-shaped device with an opening hatch atop it. Kylie would typically carry it; due to this, she did not carry a normal proton pack, instead carrying a not-as-powerful proton pistol. The IDW monthly Ghostbusters comic storyline has shown the movie pack, a boson dart capable pack and the Extreme Ghostbusters pack in use. The IDW comic also shows

9603-531: Was released on January 24, 2013. Egon appears in Lego Dimensions , with archival audio of Harold Ramis being used to represent his character. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise , who sometimes appears as a giant , lumbering, and paranormal monster . He first appears in the 1984 Ghostbusters film as

9702-502: Was sculpted from foam; later, a rubber mold was made of it, from which fiberglass shells were made. The electronics were quite advanced for the time. The packs have a lightbar with 15 blue scrolling lights in a box on the left-hand side and 4 red lights in the circular " cyclotron " portion of the bottom of the prop that light up in rotation. The "wand" also featured numerous light features; the most elaborate versions had fluorescent bargraphs , incandescent bulbs , and strobing flashes in

9801-470: Was successfully backed by the deadline and was put into production, with the first shipping in January 2023. Egon Spengler Egon Spengler , PhD is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise . He appears in the films Ghostbusters , Ghostbusters II , and Ghostbusters: Afterlife , in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters , and in

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