Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline: Years Fifteen-On

(Extreme Ghostbusters First and only Season)

Earlier versions of this Timeline treated EGB as having started in September 1997, assuming that Roland was 19 by that point and the rest of the new team were 18. As of 2017, though, the beginning of EGB has been moved back to January 1997, basically making all of the new characters born a year earlier than before, but no longer cramming all forty episodes into four months. Spreading them over the entire year of 1997 spaces them better (meaning an average of one story every nine or ten days) and works better with direct references to the date in episodes such as "The Luck of the Irish", "The Jersey Devil", "Ghost Apocalyptic Future", "Rage", and "Home Is Where The Horror Is". At the same time, I rejiggered some of the order of episodes based on production order, and suggestions by EGBFan. Some of the notes about episode timing come from her website. I've pretty much adopted her order except for a few cases that will be noted as I go along.

Janine Melnitz, having recently ''downsized'' (possibly from the DMV), finds out about Egon Spengler's posting at New York City College, and decides it's time to see him again.

Just prior to "Darkness At Noon". She apparently worked at the DMV during the RGB/EGB hiatus per ''Casting The Runes''

"Darkness at Noon, Part One" (XGB-101;#101)
Parapsychology 101, being taught by former Ghostbuster Egon Spengler: Kylie Griffin, new age enthusiast; Garrett Miller, paraplegic athlete; Roland Jackson, electronics whiz; and slacker Eduardo Rivera. Janine Melnitz surprises Egon during their first class. City construction drills into a sealed chamber and releases an entity; Spengler's equipment detects the release, but Mayor McShane derides him as a fraud. Egon tries to confront the entity, but the equipment is too old and underpowered to be effective, and he's infected with a strange disease. Eduardo, Garrett, Roland, and Janine find him in the run-down Ghostbuster headquarters; there's no way he can battle the creature now...

"Darkness At Noon, Part Two"(XGB-140;#102)
Garrett, Eduardo, and Roland search the city; they find Kylie, acting strange, and discover that she was possessed by the spirit. Again, the aged Ghostbuster equipment proves ineffective. Egon identifies the spirit as a Sumerian disease goddess, Achira; he and Roland subject the proton packs and ECTO-1 to upgrading, and create a micronized proton pistol and a radically different ghost trap design. Roland, Garrett, Kylie, and Eduardo take up the mantle of Ghostbusters, and using the new equipment apprehend Achira easily, clearing up the infection suffered by Egon and hundred of others.

"Darkness At Noon" wasn't planned as a two-parter, which is why it's production number is 140--it was actually added to the production line last when Adelaide realized that the script wouldn't fit into one episode.

"Sphinx"(XGB-102;#139)
The Sphinx is going around lobotomizing intellectuals who can't solve it's riddle. Egon, meanwhile, is having a midlife crisis (he's thirty-nine, and birthday number forty is looming), and tries to prove himself by behaving like Rambo. Ending up trapped in a UN elevator with Garrett, he comes to a better sense of peace with himself, and solves the Sphinx's riddle, banishing it and restoring the minds of all of it's victims.

I moved this episode to after ''Darkness at Noon'' due to it's place in the production order, and because of the issue of Egon's birthday. This episode gives Egon's age as 39. I place it before his birthday in "Back In The Saddle" because Janine goes to the extraordinary length of bringing together the original Ghostbusters, a feat worthy of a 40th birthday celebration, because Egon no longer seems to dread his age in that story, and in fact tries to prevent his old comrades from hasty antics of the type he does in "Sphinx". This assumption was later confirmed by EGB Production Supervisor/Coordinator Shannon Muir in a post on the TV.com forums Plus, having Egon's 40th birthday in 1997 would be consistent with the 1957 birthyear I derived years ago.

"The True Face of a Monster"(XGB-107;#103)
A Jewish mystic summons up a golem to deal with some neo-Nazi lowlifes, including Garrett's old friend Spence.

"Grease"(XGB-115;#114)
Two FBI agents investigate the Ghostbusters and arrest them, until a troublemaking imp sabotages the plane they're on.

This episode was a wealth of biographical details, including the new Ghostbuster's last names and other background details--including about Eduardo's brother, who is not seen until "Rage". Per EGBFan, this is moved earlier into the continuity than production or air date, as events in this story are referenced in "Eyes of a Dragon", which takes place in February. Yet, we see the date "4/7/97" on Garrett's laptop screen...maybe that's how screwed up USOnline was at the time? (lol)

"Fear Itself"(XGB-103;#104)
A night club owner uncovers a series of catacombs which are protected by a ghost who can make people's fears into reality. Garrett must triumph over his claustrophobia to stop it.

"Deadliners"(XGB-104;#105)
Eduardo recognizes a monster as Crainiac, character from J.N. Kline's young-reader horror novels. The other Ghostbusters tease him mercilessly (Garrett:"You read J.N Kline books?" Kylie: "You read?")until the monster answers to the name; the team discovers that the creatures are called the Vathek, and have imprisoned Kline to write them "into reality"

"Eyes of the Dragon"(XGB-134;#128)
A Chinese crime lord tries to lean on the owners of a small shop to give him the Eyes of the Dragon, which will allow Gu-Moh to be awakened

Takes place around the Chinese New Year, which in 1997 was on February 7th

"The Pied Piper of Manhattan"(XGB-110;#112)
"The Piper" deals with a supernatural infestation, but when McShane stiffs him on the bill he summons children to be dumped into the sea. The Ghostbusters intervene, discovering that the Piper was behind the infestation in the first place. With the help of Roland's bad violin playing, they trap him.

Moved to earlier than production or airdate order, as it takes place before "The Luck of the Irish", in which the Ghostbusters know mayor's assistant Jensen by name, having met him here. "Luck of the Irish" clearly takes place on March 17th

"Dog Days"(XGB-133;#132)
A ghost dog turns all of the dogs in New York into it's slaves

Per EGBFan, moved earlier into the year as, in her words. "The team don't seem to know each other so well yet."

"Casting the Runes"(XGB-105;#106)
Small-time hood Steve Riffkin steals a pouch of ancient runes and learns that he can use them to mark people to be taken to the other side by a demon. Eduardo is sucked into another dimension to become the slave of the Nordic god Kahlil

"Luck of the Irish"(XGB-114;#121)
The Leprechan is taking revenge on the descendants of the Irishmen who bound it--and Edwin McShane, Mayor of New York, is on the list

Moved earlier that it's place in the production or airdate orders, because it takes place on March 17. EGBFan notes: "Eduardo does some supervised driving, so let's just say he hasn't got his licence yet!"

"The Jersey Devil" (XGB-128;#115)
The Ghostbusters road trip uncovers the Jersey Devil

EGBFan: "Spring break, and a basketball thing that Garrett calls 'March Madness' (I'm sure many Americans know what that is)." Lol..I live in Indiana, so yeah, I do.

"The Infernal Machine"(XGB-106;#107)
Luko, a demon intent on destroying humanity with it's own inventions, compels Roland to build a really strange device.

"Heart of Darkness"(XGB-131;#136)
A Toltec crystal skull, on loan from the Russian government, is stolen. A similar skull is stolen from rich collector Wilhelm Reichart. Egon knows the third skull of the set is possessed by a former colleague, Edward Kirillian. But it turns out Kirillian is controlling the ghosts stealing the skulls, in hopes of completing the set and opening a dimensional gate, from which will pour a horde of ghosts under Kirillian's control. Instead, Kirillian falls into the dimension and faces eternal torment.

Trivia: Kirillian was voiced by John DeLancie, "Q" of Star Trek: The Next Generation EGBFan moved this episode to much earlier in than its production or air dates; I went with that in part because Roland makes a reference to the Ghostbusters never encountered paranormal creatures interested in physics of the non-ethereal plane. Since Lilith does just that in "A Temporary Insanity", this has to take place before that (even though it aired later).

"Killjoys"(XGB-113;#109)
A gang of vampire clowns is going around town attacking people, and "embrace" a new recruit: Eduardo Rivera!

A calendar seen this episode coincides with May 1997

"The Unseen"(XGB-118;#110)
A rash of missing eyes leads to Tinnebraug, guardian of the Orb of Moldova, who is compelled to suck the eyes out of everyone who looks at the "sacred stone". Meanwhile, some thugs steal Eduardo and Kylie's proton packs and go on a crime spree.

"The Crawler"(XGB-109;#111)
Cojilla, Incan god of evil insects, escapes his crypt and goes to New York, posing as "Gregor Samsa", looking for a mate. He runs into Janine Melnitz, in a round of despair over Egon Spengler's inattention, and is flattered by his efforts to cheer her up. But things turn sour when Cojilla kidnaps her and mutates her into an insect creature worth of being his "queen"; in a telling move, Egon leads the Ghostbusters into the attack on Cojilla, breaking through to Janine and turning her back to normal.

For those who didn't know...the name "Gregor Samsa" is an in-joke to the great story by Franz Kafka, "Metamorphosis", about a guy who wakes up one morning thinking he's turned into a bug. EGBFan puts this one later in the year, but I leave it closer to airdate/production order. I think Egon and Janine wasted enough time being reset to "he doesn't even notice" at the beginning of EGB, and this edges them slightly closer to where they'd be by the end of the year.

"Moby Ghost"(XGB-124;#126)
The embittered, Ahab-esque Markab tries to catch his ancient foe, the great beast Lotan

In the later episode "Slimer's Sacrifice", Lotan is seen in the Containment Unit. Lotan is blown up at the end of the episode, but perhaps like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man his remains are collected, dumped into the Unit, and recongeal (as well established in "Robo-Buster", ghosts can't really be "destroyed")

"Ghost In the Machine"(XGB-127;#131)
An ancient spirit that has been trapped for years escapes when an abandoned oil mine is reopened. The ghost possesses vehicles and makes them look like demons.

EGBFan: "Eduardo needs to take his driving test for subsequent episodes, and he's done with college for the time being." So yeah, put this in June

"Be Careful What You Wish For"(XGB-112;#113)
Duophines offers everyone their fondest wishes, with evil twists. Eduardo, for example, wishes Kylie would treat him as well as she treats her can Pagan, and ends up stuck in the cat's body.

"Home is Where the Horror Is"(XGB-108;#108)
A haunted house is more than haunted: the entire house is a soul-sucking demon!

This is one case I didn't follow Rosey's order. "Home is Where The Horror Is" has two contradictory date references: a direct reference to the Summer Solstice (June 21, 1997), but also a reference to "the longest night of the year"--which is the Winter Solstice (December 21, 1997). I figure the Summer Solstice reference is the intended one, and it keeps the epsiode slightly closer to its production/airdate order

"Sonic Youth"(XGB-117;#117)
Roland falls for the bewitching muse Syren. But Syren has a dark secret: she is one of the Glostic sisters, and Banshee is compelling her to steal people's life forces.

EGBFan: "This has to go before 'Slimer's Sacrifice' as Siren and Banshee will be in the containment unit. Eduardo drives." Which means it takes place some time after "Ghost In The Machine"

"Slimer's Sacrifice"(XGB-121;#123)
Slimer is accidentally trapped and contained (and Venkman isn't here to see it...), but as an accomplice of the Ghostbusters, is chased and tortured by the inhabitants of the containment unit. Slimer is found by the demon Surt, who hopes to use Slimer to escape the containment unit and free Fenris, bringing about Ragnarok. Eduardo enters the containment unit to foil Surt and free Slimer.

Surt had been imprisoned by the original Ghostbusters, but there is no time frame given for that battle. I conjecture that that battle happened "off camera" as part of the bigger battle in "Ragnarok and Roll". The Glostic Sisters ("Sonic Youth") and Lotan ("Moby Ghost") are seen in the Containment Unit, so this takes place after those two episodes. As for the timing of the episode, per EGBFan: "Civilians are enjoying the sunshine at the beginning."

"Ghost Apocalyptic Future"(XGB-119;#118)
Kylie changes places with a man thirty years in the future, and learns of the horror that has transpired since the demon Tempus took over the world. But the switch provides them a unique opportunity to prevent that future, if the present day Tempus is prevented from killing Egon Spengler and opening the containment unit EGBFan: "The (present) date is written up in lights in big letters: 'JULY 30'."

"Grundlesque"(XGB-122;#124)
Roland's bratty younger brother Casey falls into the sway of the Grundle, which confuses the rest of the Ghostbusters, as the Grundle had been contained by the original Ghostbusters in 1985. Kylie releases the original Grundle to get answers, and discovers that the new Grundle was her childhood friend Jack, put into suspended animation by the old Grundle twelve years earlier.

This episode states that the original Grundle was contained "ten years ago", which would either invalidate some of the chronology's precepts and place the battle in 1995, or we can assume that Egon was rounding off the number of years. Of course, the real explanation is that this episode aired ten years after "The Grundle", part of the 1987 ABC run. This is also the only direct Extreme Ghostbusters sequel to a Real Ghostbusters story.

Note from EGBFan: Egon's invented something that would have been handy in 'Simer's Sacrifice'. The gang are finding new depths in their friendships. Eduardo drives.

"Till Death Do Us Start"(XGB-137;#129)
A man unwittingly releases a ghost-bride from an old boarded-up wishing well. He hires the EGB to protect him from becoming her groom on the other side. A spirit called "The Wishgiver" is behind this...

EGBFan: "Must go before 'The Ghostmakers' because of a mirror reference, and after 'Slimer's Sacrifice' and 'Grundelesque' because Egon uses the PKE signature finding machine. The gang don't know each other intimately but are comfortable being in pyjamas together."

"Dry Spell"(XGB-116;#116)
Famous oceanographer Francois Rousseau steals a dangerous water spirit from the Ghostbusters, intending to study it--before it, of course, gets out of his control.

EGBFan: "This aired close to some of the summer episodes, but they must be back at college because Eduardo is writing a paper."

"In Your Dreams"(XGB-125;#125)
The EGB find their nightmares becoming more real as Morpheus tries to leave the dream world and enter ours by using a radio show, that makes listeners fall asleep.

EGBFan: "Again, back at college, as Garrett mentions he should be writing a paper. Also the relationships are getting along."

"Mole People"(XGB-132;#133)
Persephonetheus, one of the dwellers in an underground civilization, incurs the wrath of her people in calling in the help of "outsiders"--namely, the Ghostbusters--in dealing with a gang of "power demons". Things get worse when she falls for Garrett.

"Witchy Woman"(XGB-130;#140)
A coven of college witches dedicated to the charismatic Cernunous casts evil spells on the pretty, popular girls and try to recruit Kylie into thier group, in hopes of completing their "Circle of Power"; they fail and recruit the hormonally deranged Eduardo, and Cernunous completes transferring his life force to Earth. But the Circle, realizing they've been used, band together and help the Ghostbusters defeat the demon.

Like EGBFan, I've moved this one earlier than its airdate, and is actually a little closer to production order. As she noted, the episode takes place during college football season, meaing American handegg rugby football, which is played in the fall and early winter. Putting it earlier than airdate--it's actually the final episode of the series by airdate--means it didn't trash Kylie and Eduardo's relationship development as much.

"Rage"(XGB-126;#135)
Bug bombing at Ghostbuster HQ forces Egon to temporarily relocate to Eduardo's house. The main problem is that it isn't Eduardo's house, it's space he's renting from his hard-headed cop brother Carlos (and Carlos's wife Beth), who goes ballistic when he finds out Eduardo is a Ghostbuster. Eduardo redeems himself and the other Ghostbusters when he and nephew Kevin save the city from trolls taking over the Brooklyn Bridge.

EGBFan: "Eduardo's calendar says September."

"Bird of Prey"(XGB-119;#119)
The Harasfelg, a Norse dragon spirit, is playing havoc with the weather.

EGBFan: "It's nearly time for the crops to come in; also, Kylie and Eduardo seem to be making some progress."

"Seeds of Destruction"(XGB-123;#120)
A blob goes around sucking people's life forces, including Garrett's; at first, the Ghostbusters think it's a confused but benevolent entity called Coojah, thought they quickly learn their error: it's a much meaner critter called Shambahok.

"The Ghostmakers"(XGB-111;#122)
A monster is using a mystic mirror to entrap souls in his dimension, sending minions to inhabit the "empty" bodies--including Eduardo and Garrett's

"Fallout"(XGB-129;#127)
While Janine goes on vacation with her sister Doris, the Ghostbusters find themselves up against a radiation eating ghost. They're helpless until Egon finds a way to counter the radioactive energy.

"A Temporary Insanity"(XGB-135;#134)
Janine takes some vacation time, so Egon hires a temp, Lilith, when things fall completely apart at HQ. But, of course, Lilith isn't what she seems, and Janine returns in time to save the day with Venkman's old proton pack.

Two items of interest: one, that this episode was in many ways a re-tread of "Till Death Do Us Part" (Janine goes on vacation, ghost chick gets designs on Egon). Two, that a mannequin of Venkman is seen in the display case, but his face is digitized out. I've wondered if some licensing restriction is in place, keeping Adelaide from using the exact character designs from DIC's cartoons, as Egon, Janine, and the other original Ghostbusters (seen in "Back In The Saddle") have been redesigned at least slightly.

There's some inconsistencies in the coloring of the collars and cuffs--sometimes they're RGB style, sometimes they're not--but Janine is either wearing one of Egon's flight suits, or at times I can almost think it looks like the RGB#22 flight suit. It is in my head canon now.

As noted on GBWiki: "The post date of the vacation invite is November 4, 1997." I now have to wonder if Janine used some of her time away from New York to help set up the surprise to come on November 21st.

"Glutton For Punishment"(XGB-138;#130)
Rovanna the Rakshasa goes on an eating spree that makes Slimer look like an anorexic supermodel.

"Back In The Saddle, Part One"(XGB-136;#137)
Janine takes Egon out for his fortieth birthday, and back at the firehouse there's a big surprise waiting for him. Or, more accurately, three surprises: Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore, the original Ghostbusters! They meet the new Ghostbusters and reminisce about old times, and when a call comes in Venkman fires the old team up and they go out and just kick butt. Venkman, Ray, and Winston start talking about regrouping permanently; Egon is clearly caught in the middle, trying to remind his old friends that "the torch has already been passed" The two teams of Ghostbusters put their differences behind them and work together to defeat a swarm of "feeder" entities, but Egon's PKE readings ominously foretell a larger menace to come...

This, of course, was the episode that brought all of the Ghostbusters, old and new, together for the first time. To make it complete, Dave Coulier, Buster Jones, and Frank Welker reunited as well to voice Venkman, Winston, and Ray. (Too bad they couldn't have gotten Lorenzo Music and Arsenio Hall) One inexplicable detail: Venkman and Winston wear their old Ghostbuster uniforms, but Ray is wearing one of Egon's!

"Back In The Saddle, Part Two"(XGB-139;#138)
Peter Venkman's cruise about Hudson Bay is rudely interrupted by something approaching New York, something big...the Ghostbusters must work with their legendary predecessors to stop a massive entity that turns out to be the Bermuda Triangle gone bad.

After defeating the entity, the original Ghostbusters stay for Thanksgiving dinner.

As if context clues didn't establish it enough, Janine had said on Egon's birthday "I hope you guys will stay for Thanksgiving next week" (November 28, 1997)

Remember how Filmation Ghost Buster voice actor Peter Cullen did Doctor Destructo back in "Captain Steel Saves The Day"? The other FGB voice actor, Pat "Jake Kong Jr." Fraley does him one better, according to TV.com, by filling in some of Ray's lines for Frank Welker! Fraley also previously worked with Pat Musick (EGB Janine) on the dub of Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs.

This timeline forms the basis of my Fan fiction canon, and a separate timeline detailing it (aka "universe 8932") can be found here

As Venkman indicates in "Back In The Saddle", in the late 1990's there were tentative plans afoot for a third Ghostbusters movie...The script outline Dan Aykroyd (the strongest proponent of the project) and Harold Ramis were working on featured Ray, Egon, and Winston (referred to as "Doctor Zeddemore") as mentors to a younger team that IGN reviewer Stax derided as "bland and interchangeable": Franky, a body piercing New Jersey punker; Lovell, a dread-locked dude; Moira, a pretty but uptight gymnast and science major; Carla, a Latino beauty, and Nat, a prepubescent genius with a large cranium. Bill Murray might or might not have appeared--in one draft, he apparently dies in an early scene and Venkman is a ghost for the rest of the movie. Dana Barrett isn't even referred to, and Janine and Louis would appear in cameos near the end (knowing Harold Ramis's infuriating and inexplicable hostility to the Egon/Janine dynamic, that's probably a conspicuously bad placement). Chris Farley was attached to the project before his untimely death. The main plot of Ghostbusters 3:Hellbent would've featured Siffler, the Lord of Hell, dealing with the overcrowding issue by shipping undesirables to New York City. The last script revisions were in 1999. The failure of EGB probably kept it in production hell as well.

Shameless Plug: I did recycle some of the ideas in this outline in a fan fic, Gemini Rising

In 2004, 88MPH Studios launched a "reboot" Ghostbusters title restarting after the events of the first movie and featuring character designs closer to the movie actors; iBooks published Ghostbusters: The Return set "two years after GB2" but not taking real time into account. Thus, neither actually "continues" the story that ran from 1984-1997, and weren't actually intended to be part of it. (See the comments on the Timeline main page for more)

In 2009, it was confirmed that Sony had commissioned two writers from NBC's The Office, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, to do a script for a potential third movie. By early 2010, according to Ivan Reitman, they were working on a second draft, but at that time the project had not reached the stage of being officially greenlit. Dan Aykroyd made statements indicating the movie, should it be made, would center around a "new generation of Ghostbusters", possibly led by a woman.

In 2008 IDW started publishing a number of mini-series and one-shots. They are reflected in the New Timeline; some of them aren't really contradictory to Classic Timeline continuity, but many of them would be rather repetitive; "The Other Side" repeats some themes from "Live From Al Capone's Ghost" and "Partners in Slime'. "Displaced Aggression" has some similarities to "Tobin and the Maze of Time". "Past, Present, and Future", however, is fairly similar and thus contradictory to "X-Mas Marks the Spot". The cycle of ongoing series and ''maxi-series'' beginning in 2011 were a lot better, included many in-jokes and call-backs to RGB, and characters from Extreme Ghostbusters showed up in modified form, notably not in continuity with EGB. They have become a little too reliant on crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other versions of the Ghostbusters, though.

The death of Harold Ramis on February 24, 2014 threw things into further confusion, with Ernie Hudson suggesting there's be no point doing another movie now, while Dan Aykroyd and Sony seemed even more gung-ho than ever. Six months after Ramis's death, Sony announced they had tapped "Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold to do a "Reboot" of the franchise, set in a new continuity. Oh, and it would star an all-female team, including Feig's frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy.

To say that the internet exploded into a mass spectacle of misogyny would be an understatement; the low point came when the new cast, during filming, appeared at a children's ward and the trolls quickly flooded the hospital's Facebook page with some of the most vile stuff imaginable.

The third Ghostbusters movie, subtitled Answer the Call, debuted on July 15, 2016, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon, with cameos by Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and a bust of Harold Ramis. The storyline of the 2016 movie may be reflected in a separate Timeline at some point, and some "fun nods" (to borrow a phrase) eventually made it into the GBI/Ectozone fan canon Timeline.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by Jason Reitman, was released on November 19, 2021. It's pretty incompatible with the backstories of the characters built up during Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, particularly Egon, so it's not part of this timeline, other than a few items which aren't contradictory, and will be noted. As I've said before, a movie-only timeline ("universe 681") would definitely include it, and I may get around to doing one. It would also be the place to find any post-Afterlife material, since it will presumably take all of the retcon revelations of that movie into account.

PERIOD THREE: 1997-On