Peter Venkman

Peter Venkman, Ph.D., is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise. He appears in the films Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II and in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters. In both live action films, he was portrayed by Bill Murray, and was voiced in the animated series first by Lorenzo Music and then by Dave Coulier. He is a parapsychologist and the leader of the Ghostbusters.

In 2008, Peter Venkman was selected by the magazine Empire as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time,[2] described by Empire's Nick de Semlyen as "the ultimate New York hero: cynical, sarcastic, secretly sweet-natured",[2] "a man possessed by manic spontaneity, with a wont to twirl in circles around a public concourse or declare undying love for a woman he's just met", and the "most popular" character played by Murray.[3]

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Character[edit]
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Peter Venkman is one of three doctors of parapsychology on the Ghostbusters team. He holds Ph.D.s in both parapsychology and psychology. Originally his professional interests were focused on paranormal phenomena like ESP; he appeared not to believe in ghosts until he actually saw one. In the movies, he is characterized by his flippant persona, his approach to his profession as a scientific charlatan, and his womanizing demeanor.[4] Fred Pfeil sees in him a postmodern hero, whose level of "crass self-interest" safeguards him from being ensnared by a stereotypical role.[5]

Despite Peter's lackadaisical attitude, from time to time he has created inventions that help the Ghostbusters save the day, and he is shrewd and more street-smart than either Ray Stantz or Egon Spengler. Peter serves as the front man for the group and possesses more social ability than the more academically inclined Ray and Egon. For instance, he is the one who is able to persuade the city mayor to release them after being arrested, return their equipment and otherwise support their attempt to stop Gozer.

Ghostbusters (1984)[edit]
Main article: Ghostbusters

Peter Venkman was a professor working with Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz at Columbia University. The trio were researching the supernatural but, unlike his partners, Peter wasn't as enthusiastic about the topic. Despite having a passing interest in ESP, he appears not to have believed in ghosts until witnessing one personally. The team of three discovered the librarian ghost, but were unable to catch and show her off to the public. Subsequently, their funding was cut and they were fired from their university positions, though Peter seemed happy to look for new opportunities. After being fired, the three of them decided to build some advanced paranormal equipment and go into a career of freelance ghost catching.

Peter encouraged and prodded Ray to mortgage his house in order to find the capital needed to purchase the firehouse. Whether motivated by the prospect of becoming rich or just the fact that he no longer had to work under the thumb of the board of regents, Dr. Venkman was very motivated to begin a new career. Peter soon became the first to meet the company's first client, Dana Barrett and formed a romantic interest. Dana had claimed that there were monsters in her fridge even though Peter could not find any such thing. After that incident, Peter, Egon, and Ray were eating dinner at the firehouse when their secretary Janine got a call. Peter and his team came to the Sedgewick Hotel, where Peter came face to face with the ghost that would one day become known as Slimer. Peter was slimed during his first encounter with the ghost, which Ray greatly praised as "actual physical contact." Peter and his team eventually captured the ghost, which soon made them popular and busy around town with other ghosts.

Peter had stopped by at one of her orchestra rehearsals. He happened upon her talking to a colleague whom played in the orchestra with her that was interested her as well. He asked her, "Who's the stiff?" She answers, "The stiff happens to be one of the finest musicians in the world." Peter has found some answers for Dana, but say they can find out more on another night. Peter continues to compliment and flirt in confidence and Dana reluctantly says trying to keep down commotion, "I'll see you Thursday." He says, "We'll eat and read." As she walks away with her male colleague, he addresses her somewhat jealously, "So, who the hell is that?!" and Dana replies, "A friend. An old friend." She counted smile because of Peter constant compliments towards her appearance which now he was stating in front of her male colleague.

Not too long afterwards, Janine is overrun with calls and stressed out. She tells Peter there is a man waiting in his office from the EPA and she has been working two weeks without a break and states that he promised he would hire more help. He pretty much praises her experiences in order to let her know the door is open to discover more opportunities if she was unsatisfied with her present one working for him. As the phone is ringing once more, Peter replies to her, "Are you going to Answer that?". Peter soon met an EPA representative named Walter Peck, who got angry that Peter refused to show him the storage facility.

As Peter was coming to see Dana and take her out on a date, he noticed that she had undergone a radical change and was now acting very strangely. She barred entrance to her apartment, asking him if he was "The Keymaster". After getting the door slammed in his face he tricked her in order to gain entry. Once inside Dana referred to herself as Zuul, "The Gatekeeper" and told Peter she was awaiting the coming of Gozer, "The Destructor". Peter replied, "Oh..." and noticed slime seeping through the kitchen door and furniture. The possessed Dana quickly led Peter to the bedroom where she tried to seduce him asking him "Do you want this body?" which he rebuked asking if its a trick question. The possessed Dana was unrelenting in her seduction, telling Peter "Take me now subcreature." Peter ignored her and Dana slammed him onto her bed, pouncing on him and pinning him to the bed with supernatural might. She passionately kissed him and rolled him over on top of her telling him "I want you inside me" alas Peter told her she must have two people inside of her already. Peter proceeded to try to talk to the real Dana Barrett, ignoring her seductive advances in the process. While asking for Dana she replied in an inhuman growling voice that "There is no Dana, only Zuul". Peter gave Zuul to the count of three to leave Dana's body to which she responded by turning her eyes white, thrashing her head back and forth on her bed then growling furiously like a beast at him and levitating above her bed. Peter, realizing the seriousness of Dana's condition, sedated her and called Egon to explain what was going on. He soon learned from Egon that her building was renovated by an evil architect named Ivo Shandor and she was being possessed by Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer. After Peck returned and shut down the Containment Unit, the ghosts all escaped, Peter and the other Ghostbusters were imprisoned for EPA violations. Peter convinced the mayor that an apocalypse of "Biblical proportions," was coming to destroy the city.

The Ghostbusters were released and toward Dana's building, escorted there by a police and army motorcade as a dark cloud started to cover the entire city. After an earthquake struck, nearly trapping them in rubble, the Ghostbusters made it to the top of the building. However they were too late to stop Dana and Louis Tully from releasing the evil Gozer and transforming into their possessors' Terror Dog forms. The Ghostbusters confronted Gozer, who electrocuted them before being zapped by the their proton packs, vanishing and returning in the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (which Ray had been thinking of). Peter and his team then crossed their streams and forced the door to Gozer's dimension to close, destroying the Marshmallow Man in a blaze of flames and saving the city. Peter rescued Dana, no longer possessed, from the rubble of Zuul's charred body, finally winning her affections for saving her.

Ghostbusters II (1989)[edit]
Main article: Ghostbusters II

Despite saving the town from Gozer, the Ghostbusters were put out of business due to being sued for all the damage that was done during the battle. Also, Peter and Dana's relationship faltered due to his fear of commitment and taking her for granted. She left for her male colleague in the orchestra, married him and had a child. He unexpectedly "ditched" her for an opportunity leaving her and his son behind.

In the years since, Egon described Peter (even to Dana) as being borderline(manic) until he eventually, "crossed the border." Peter became the host of a psychic reality talk show in the years after the Gozer battle. He and his teammates went to Dana's aid after she claimed her baby stroller rolled away from her by itself, and pinpointed there was "something brewing under the street," of First Avenue. Egon, Peter, and Ray start to dig under the surface of the road where Ray is lowered down into the hole where he discovers a River of Slime. The three Ghostbusters were summoned to court, where they stand trial on the grounds of violating a restraining order and destroying a section of First Avenue. They got back into business after the slime sample in the courtroom absorbed the judge's negative energy while shouting and exploded out two ghosts named the Scoleri Brothers. After the judge rescinded the order and dismissed the case(while under duress from the ghosts), the Ghostbusters were allowed to put on their equipment and bust the ghosts, declaring to the public afterwards that they were open for business once again. While his teammates investigate the river of slime underneath the city, Peter renewed his relationship with Dana, whose baby Oscar was being targeted by the ghost of Vigo the Carpathian. Peter and his team in the end defeated Vigo and saved the city once again.

Even when paralyzed, Peter's tongue was still as sharp as ever and he still managed to provoke Vigo's ire with a variety of pointed insults, including referring to him as a "dumb blonde".

The Real Ghostbusters[edit]
Main article: The Real Ghostbusters In The Real Ghostbusters series, Peter's womanizing is toned down somewhat (though he is still quick to approach attractive women), but he retains his quick wit and cynical demeanor, and his arrogance is played up more. While not the official leader of the group, Venkman is the closest thing they have to one, and often makes the decision whether the Ghostbusters will take a case or not. He often reinforces the prospect of Ghostbusters being a business and, with rare exceptions, opposes ghostbusting without the promise of equity. He is originally opposed to the idea of Slimer living in the firehouse, but quickly develops a love–hate relationship with the ghost; mostly hate whenever he is "slimed" on an episodic basis.

The episodes "Venkman's Ghost Repellers", "Cold Cash and Hot Water", and "Treasure of the Sierra Tamale" feature Peter's father, a con artist/businessman who could not make an honest dollar and was often away on business during Peter's childhood, as mentioned in "X-mas Marks The Spot". He is depicted as a selfish, even obnoxious father; his relationship with Peter is estranged. Peter has claimed to be a Scorpio, as mentioned in "Mean Green Teen Machine". In "Last Train to Oblivion", one of Peter's favorite hobbies is trains, and he used to dream about driving a big locomotive when he was a child (Peter even studied engineering in college for two years before discovering it had nothing to do with trains). Peter Venkman was voiced by Lorenzo Music during the first season. At the start of the second season, Music was replaced by Dave Coulier when Murray complained to the studio that the character sounded too much like Garfield the cat (who was also voiced by Music). Coincidentally, Murray voiced Garfield in the 2004 live-action film and its 2006 sequel.

Extreme Ghostbusters[edit]
Main article: Extreme Ghostbusters

Peter only appears in the two-part series finale. After the closing down of the Ghostbusters, Peter went to Hollywood and tried to sell an idea for a Ghostbusters movie, but never got it going because he was waiting for Brad Pitt to become available to portray him.

The Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters keep a statue of Peter Venkman, complete with uniform and working original Proton Pack, in the Ghostbusters Firehouse.

Ghostbusters II (NES)[edit]
Main article: Ghostbusters II (NES)

Peter was featured as a playable character in Ghostbusters II for NES.

New Ghostbusters 2[edit]
Main article: New Ghostbusters 2

Peter was featured as a playable character in New Ghostbusters 2 for NES and Game Boy.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game[edit]
Main article: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Venkman shows some initial distrust when Ray and Egon hire the Rookie, jealous that he gets issued new equipment and gets a 'title'. However, upon Egon and Ray explaining to Peter that the equipment the Rookie is issued is "highly experimental and, if not handled properly, could blow the user clear into New Jersey," Peter immediately lost interest in both the Rookie and his gear. Peter eventually warms up to the Rookie and occasionally praises his developing skills, but his interest is soon lost once they encountered Ilyssa Selwyn who, true to himself, he took an instant liking to. Peter flirted with her, but she wasn't interested. At the end, he won her heart and shared a brief kiss with Ilyssa before she was slimed by Slimer.

Peter still maintains the smooth-talking slacker identity from the previous two movies, willing to jump at any chance to get out of doing work or going into a dangerous situation. He offers to take Marine Ecto-8 to avoid going onto Shandor Island. These attempts are transparent at best, prompting the other Ghostbusters to roll their eyes or glare at him.

Peter is still primarily motivated in his own best interests. He can be goaded into expending effort if an attractive female or a lucrative payoff is involved. But in the end he will still come around to doing the right thing when it's really important.

Beeline's Ghostbusters[edit]
Venkman appears in Beeline's Ghostbusters game for iOS. The game was released on January 24, 2013.

Lego Dimensions[edit]
Main article: Lego Dimensions

Venkman appears as a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archival audio of Bill Murray being used to represent his character. Out of the four, Venkman is the default Ghostbuster that is selected.

Comparison[edit]
Bruce G. Hallenbeck, author of Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914–2008, compares Peter Venkman to Groucho Marx, who hosted the 1950s quiz show You Bet Your Life. Hallenback said, "With a quip for every situation, a put-down for everyone who deserves it and an ability to rise above it all, Venkman is a lot like Groucho." The comparison is also reinforced by the scene in the original movie where, waiting for Dana Barrett to finish the day's rehearsals with the orchestra Peter jogs up and down a bustling New York square hopping on a single foot, alternately, just as Groucho Marx used to do.