Latest / What Do You Call It? Podcast! / 👻ONTARIO GHOSTBUSTERS🔫 talks Ghostbuster films, Proton packs, paranormal gusts, charity & more

Transcript

👻ONTARIO GHOSTBUSTERS🔫 talks Ghostbuster films, Proton packs, paranormal gusts, charity & more · What Do You Call It? Podcast!

• 0:06
  Hello and welcome to a very spooky episode of What do You
• 0:10
  Call It podcast. I'm Your host GB.
• 0:15
  Today's guests represents a nonprofit fan based group
• 0:20
  dedicated to celebrating the epic Ghostbusters franchise
• 0:26
  through cosplay, charity and community engagement.
• 0:31
  Please welcome the Ontario Ghostbusters.
• 0:35
  First of all, can you just introduce yourself as one of the
• 0:37
  members of this fan group? Well, I am Briley Lapine.
• 0:42
  I'm one of the presidents of the Ontario Ghostbusters.
• 0:45
  I've been doing this now for almost 20 years.
• 0:49
  Awesome, welcome, welcome. It's pretty cool that you do
• 0:51
  that and you get to celebrate something you love, but you get
• 0:54
  to do it for a good 'cause as well.
• 0:56
  We will break that down as well. But what I have to ask you
• 0:58
  first, what was your first experience with the Ghostbusters
• 1:01
  film and what got you hooked? Oh man, this is where I'm going
• 1:06
  to earn all this Gray hair you're seeing.
• 1:09
  My first experience with Ghostbusters was actually seeing
• 1:13
  it at a drive through or drive in drive in movies.
• 1:18
  And it was actually the very first movie I'd ever seen in
• 1:23
  that it I think it's the first movie I'd ever gone to.
• 1:27
  My parents took me and my brother.
• 1:29
  It was a double bill. I don't remember what the first
• 1:32
  movie was. All I remember is Ghostbusters
• 1:36
  and like you're seeing it through the the seats of your
• 1:40
  parents car and you've got like this tinny old audio that's
• 1:45
  hooked up to the window and it was like it made an impression.
• 1:50
  Clearly, clearly it made an impression on me.
• 1:53
  How many times have you seen the Ghostbusters?
• 1:55
  The original one first. And I don't think I can count
• 1:58
  that high enough that I probably can see it in my head without a
• 2:05
  television. I can probably just close my
• 2:07
  eyes and beat for beat, note for note, replay it in my mind as I
• 2:12
  need it. Fair play mate.
• 2:14
  Fair play though. I'm not going to test your
• 2:16
  fandom, but I do want you to rank the Ghostbusters films from
• 2:21
  best to worst. The first.
• 2:25
  And that is including the 2016 one as well.
• 2:28
  Yes, yes, naturally. Well, I mean, for me, I'm going
• 2:33
  to rank the 1st, the 1984 first and Ghostbusters 2 second.
• 2:39
  They're the ones I remember as a kid.
• 2:41
  I look at them with rose colored glasses.
• 2:43
  I don't see the very problematic things in it, the very 80s
• 2:48
  problematic things in it. I see something that brought me
• 2:51
  joy as a child and that's what I see in it, right.
• 2:56
  Third, I think I would put Afterlife.
• 3:00
  It's just it's a beautiful movie just because you also see the
• 3:05
  director's love of his father reflected in it.
• 3:09
  So you have a meta narrative in the story as well as everything
• 3:13
  else. For 4th and 5th.
• 3:16
  I don't know if 2016 The Frozen Empire, I think I might tie them
• 3:21
  for four. Like I like them both.
• 3:24
  I recently rewatched the 2016 movie couple of weeks ago just
• 3:28
  because there's some stuff in that I still quote.
• 3:32
  Frozen Empire is I think it suffers because it's the newest.
• 3:36
  I've sat with it the least. I've had the least time to
• 3:40
  overindulge and over obsess and over make ideas about it that
• 3:46
  you know, as a fan you kind of get lost in the weeds.
• 3:50
  That's the stuff where you like, hey, what about this?
• 3:53
  Have you ever thought if they had this actor play that role?
• 3:56
  Have you ever thought if they changed these two scenes around?
• 4:00
  If you ever thought whatever, whatever crazy theory you like
• 4:04
  and then just hash it out with your friends, that's the joy of
• 4:08
  it. That's the joy of groups like
• 4:10
  this, where you can have a very similar knowledge base with
• 4:17
  which to spin your own tails with.
• 4:20
  Yeah, no, that's fair, man. I like that.
• 4:22
  That's why you get to sort of have these movie debates.
• 4:24
  And I like mine. The 2016 one, I know it got a
• 4:27
  lot of shit, and that was even before it came out, especially
• 4:29
  with the trailer. And I think they automatically
• 4:32
  hate it without seeing it just because it isn't the original
• 4:35
  Ghostbusters. And, you know, fair enough.
• 4:38
  I get that, you know, being attached to what you you loved
• 4:40
  as a kid. But at the same time, I don't
• 4:43
  think it disrespects the original Ghostbusters films.
• 4:45
  The premise, you know, the fan base.
• 4:47
  I think it does as best as it can with it's material.
• 4:51
  I thought the cameos are OK. I thought, don't get running.
• 4:54
  There's some bad things in the film I didn't like.
• 4:57
  I thought, Mr. McCall, there's some bad.
• 4:58
  Things in the original films too, like no film is flawless,
• 5:02
  no film is perfect, especially as it ages right.
• 5:06
  I think the 2016 suffered from people expecting an 80s kind of
• 5:12
  humor, and it wasn't that. It was an early 2000s sort of
• 5:16
  humor. Look at who is in it.
• 5:18
  Look at who is directing it. Of course they're going to have
• 5:21
  that style of of humor. That's not a bad thing.
• 5:24
  That's just how a subjective sense of humor works.
• 5:29
  Yeah, no, like it mate. OK.
• 5:31
  I don't mind it personally. I've already watched it.
• 5:32
  I mean the first time they watched I was like it's all
• 5:34
  right. It didn't really pissed me off
• 5:36
  or anything like that, but as if we watched them.
• 5:38
  It's OK. But I'm sure the people in the
• 5:40
  comments that are still going to bad mouth it and that's fine as
• 5:42
  long as you've seen it and it's your opinion.
• 5:44
  Awesome. Yeah, that is something I agree
• 5:47
  with. I cannot stand the people who
• 5:50
  are like, I won't see this. It's bad.
• 5:52
  It's bad and I refuse to see it. And it's like, well, you know,
• 5:55
  it's bad. Like if you liked it, if you saw
• 5:58
  it and liked it or saw it and don't like it, that's your
• 6:01
  opinion. Everyone's welcome to that.
• 6:03
  But to say I'm not even going to try is like, well, then why?
• 6:08
  Why bother with you? No, I agree. 100% agree mate.
• 6:13
  Tell me about the formation of the Ontario Ghostbusters.
• 6:18
  How long has this group been together?
• 6:19
  I think you mentioned actually earlier, nearly 20 years now,
• 6:22
  but just tell the origins, the formation and sort of how it all
• 6:26
  came together. The clouds parted and the hand
• 6:31
  of God descended and it pointed at me and it said get off your
• 6:36
  ass. And then I woke up and it turned
• 6:39
  back into a light post and I shook off the the hangover.
• 6:46
  Really, it started for me. It started because I had always
• 6:49
  wanted a proton pack. I had always wanted one.
• 6:53
  And finally one of my friends said, well, shut up and do it or
• 6:57
  shut up. But you know, stop holding back.
• 7:01
  So I made it. And from making it, you ask
• 7:05
  around, you have to look for parts.
• 7:07
  Some of these things have not become easier to find since the
• 7:10
  1980s. And several people had contacted
• 7:16
  me saying, hey, we're you know, we're doing an event in your
• 7:19
  area. You want to come out and dress
• 7:21
  with, put on that pack and walk around and do some charity work.
• 7:25
  And I went, yeah, that sounds like something I can do and
• 7:30
  never, never stopped since then. Talking about the sorry listen
• 7:34
  my voice a little bit, tell me about the proton pack.
• 7:36
  OK, I get emotional about it too.
• 7:38
  Good. Tell me mate, like how much
• 7:40
  money I mean roughly have you spent over the years on it?
• 7:43
  And also what are fans reactions when they do meet you at these
• 7:47
  comic cons and these events and charity events?
• 7:50
  You know what is it like for them to take a photo with it?
• 7:53
  So I have probably spent into the thousands now on it.
• 7:59
  The nice thing is once it's up and running, you, you know,
• 8:03
  right, if you don't drop it off a building, you're pretty good.
• 8:07
  And you can make these things as over industrialized and
• 8:10
  mechanical as you want. If these days we have people who
• 8:15
  will make parts out of aluminum, aluminium, they will have parts
• 8:21
  that just stand up to all sorts of abuse.
• 8:25
  And yeah, you pay more for that, but you also get a longer life
• 8:28
  out of it. As for the fans, it's
• 8:33
  interesting, especially now. We mentioned the 26th movie and
• 8:37
  or the 2016 movie. And now is a interesting time
• 8:42
  because before the 2016 movie, you'd get a lot of parents who
• 8:48
  would look at us and go, Oh my God, Ghostbusters.
• 8:51
  I love that. This looks fantastic.
• 8:54
  And then you get a lot of kids who are like, what is this?
• 8:57
  Why should I care? This is not a Pokémon.
• 9:00
  I don't care about it. But now, thanks to the 2016
• 9:05
  movie and then Afterlife and Frozen Empire, you get a lot
• 9:08
  more youth who are looking at us and going, oh, I, I recognize
• 9:12
  what this is. I know what this is.
• 9:14
  I know. What you guys?
• 9:14
  Having to tell me and that's where it gets really positive.
• 9:21
  It gets something that we really like engaging with because,
• 9:25
  again, you'll always have some people who will look at this and
• 9:27
  go, what is that? Is that a jet pack?
• 9:30
  What is it? An engine of some sort?
• 9:31
  What are you doing with it? But you will still get people
• 9:34
  who, like, instantly clock it and go, wow, that is that is
• 9:40
  something so unique to those movies.
• 9:43
  I never thought I'd see it in real life.
• 9:45
  Yeah. You might get one that's like a
• 9:47
  foam one, like a child's one, you know, like costume that you
• 9:50
  get for like, you know, £30 or people or whatever.
• 9:54
  But to see like, Oh my God, is this actually from the film?
• 9:57
  Let me take a fire, let me touch it or whatever.
• 9:59
  Let me be near it. It has the IT has the feel of
• 10:02
  being a real object. It has the weight and the
• 10:04
  gravitas of it where you want to look at it and go, Oh my God,
• 10:08
  this thing actually feels like it's got weight.
• 10:10
  And yeah, they do. When you see them helping each
• 10:14
  other with the packs on in the movies, that's not just like
• 10:18
  acting. That's actually those things are
• 10:20
  a little heavy sometimes. But yes, you get kids and we
• 10:25
  love seeing all the kids who have made their own homemade
• 10:28
  pack. That was, I mean, I gave you the
• 10:30
  nice little story about building my own.
• 10:32
  But I suppose my first pack was like a cardboard box that my my
• 10:37
  parents put like wrapping paper around and like an armored cable
• 10:42
  going to a flashlight. It had duct tape straps I was
• 10:47
  made of. TLC mate, that's the.
• 10:51
  Thing oh so much. Get it?
• 10:53
  Oh, clearly, clearly. I love it still.
• 10:56
  Like I think I went as a Ghostbuster, like until that
• 10:59
  thing fell apart. Yes, you'll get picked.
• 11:03
  You get kids like that. And it's like, this is what I
• 11:06
  made or this is what my folks made for me.
• 11:08
  And it's it's great because that's a story that's Evergreen.
• 11:12
  That is a story that connects us to everybody.
• 11:15
  Everybody, whoever did this could have this story.
• 11:18
  It's a story that I can have with a 10 year old who is coming
• 11:23
  to see our booth for the first time.
• 11:25
  And I get to look at them and I get to have an interaction with
• 11:27
  them and connect with them on a real like, yeah, kid, you're
• 11:32
  looking at us and you think that's pretty good, but you're
• 11:35
  on that same path. I can tell you that that story
• 11:38
  came back for me. That's wonderful.
• 11:40
  It's wonderful to see that you could grow up to pursue this.
• 11:44
  You could grow up to pursue whatever love you like.
• 11:48
  That's pretty cool, man, that you get to have that influence
• 11:50
  on the kids and, you know, yeah, by yourself.
• 11:52
  You wants a kid as well. And a Ghostbusters fan.
• 11:56
  It's also good to see it from the adults, like to see the
• 11:58
  parents because again, sometimes, especially as adults,
• 12:02
  we get too much into our own heads and we get too much into
• 12:05
  the idea of, well, I have to be responsible and put away
• 12:09
  childish things. And you know, I have to go pay
• 12:12
  my taxes and shovel the lawn and do whatever.
• 12:16
  And then occasionally it's nice to be like, well, I'm going to
• 12:19
  do something just because I like it.
• 12:22
  And it doesn't matter if it's a fully grown adult thing to do,
• 12:26
  I'm doing it for me. That's great, man, that's great.
• 12:31
  Tell me about the trailer that you appeared, the Ontario
• 12:35
  Ghostbusters appearing in the Ghostbusters Paranormal Blast at
• 12:39
  Mobile. Yeah.
• 12:40
  What was that like, mate? Obviously, I bet you kind of
• 12:42
  marked out at the experience of that opportunity.
• 12:46
  It was really awesome. It was a wonderful day of
• 12:49
  shooting. It was a really interesting day
• 12:51
  of shooting. Definitely a little surreal
• 12:56
  because we're so used to doing things for ourselves, you know,
• 13:01
  or for our charities. To be contacted by a company who
• 13:06
  wants us in a kind of professional sense was very,
• 13:10
  very unique. It was a fun day.
• 13:14
  It was really neat. By the end of it, we were all
• 13:18
  like, you know, it's tiring. I'm tired and I, I'm ready to go
• 13:23
  home. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we
• 13:25
  could do this all the time? Wouldn't it be awesome if we
• 13:29
  could? How do we do more of these?
• 13:31
  When will this game be an expansion?
• 13:33
  Because I we think you should have a a trailer for that
• 13:36
  expansion and we'll do it. We'll be back.
• 13:40
  Are you going to call the Ontario Xbox?
• 13:42
  Exactly us. No one.
• 13:44
  I'm already on the call with you.
• 13:46
  Exactly. I'm not getting off the phone.
• 13:51
  Just a few more. You can tell I've heard that a
• 13:53
  few times, eh? Definitely, definitely what I
• 13:58
  want to ask is a sort of signature question for me to ask
• 14:01
  3 dream dinner guests. And this can be past or present,
• 14:05
  but I want to keep it themed with the Ghostbusters.
• 14:07
  And I'm going to ask you for three supernatural, paranormal
• 14:12
  guests for your ghost part ghost, kind of get the words
• 14:15
  out. Ghostbusters Party 3 guests #1
• 14:21
  Paranormal, supernatural guests. Supernatural.
• 14:25
  So they have to be a ghost, Yes. OK, any ghost or only in the
• 14:30
  series? Any ghost?
• 14:32
  Any ghost? Oh, boy.
• 14:36
  Well, I think Alexandra Dumas first and foremost, because I'd
• 14:43
  love to talk to that man. I'd love to hear his insights.
• 14:46
  I'd like to talk to him about the modern world.
• 14:49
  I'd like to see what he thinks about it.
• 14:51
  It would be interesting. It would be fascinating to see
• 14:54
  what this man thinks of our modern world and pick his brain
• 14:59
  about it. Show him TikTok.
• 15:02
  Show him TikTok and be like write a story about this.
• 15:06
  It was the best of times. It was the worst of times
• 15:08
  Indeed. That's not Dumas, but still.
• 15:15
  Let's see. Second, second person, second
• 15:18
  ghost I would like to have at my my banquet.
• 15:21
  Oh, this is very difficult. Harold Ramis, I guess, is the
• 15:27
  easy answer. I got to say that I want to talk
• 15:29
  to the man. I never got to talk to him.
• 15:31
  I've gotten to meet several of the original cast at this point,
• 15:34
  and they're all lovely people. They're all very, I don't want
• 15:39
  to say grateful, but they're all very gracious.
• 15:43
  They're all very. And they are really like, you
• 15:46
  know, for us, it was a job at the time.
• 15:48
  We thought it might be something good.
• 15:50
  We're trying to do our best work, obvious.
• 15:53
  But when they say, man, you guys took this and ran with it and
• 15:57
  you're doing good work with it. And as an actor, that is what we
• 16:02
  want. We want to make an impact, and
• 16:03
  clearly we did. And Harold, I never got to talk
• 16:07
  to Harold. I would like to talk to him.
• 16:09
  I'd like to talk to him about comedy as a whole, not just
• 16:12
  Ghostbusters. What is funny?
• 16:15
  What makes a thing funny? What is your process of making a
• 16:18
  thing funny? Where do you go to?
• 16:20
  Where do you draw from? Is it all past experience or the
• 16:24
  things you that you thought were important to keep going
• 16:27
  forwards? Always important?
• 16:30
  I'd I'd never got to talk to him.
• 16:32
  I would love to talk to him and I suppose I should do something
• 16:36
  unusual, something wild for the third, something I what is a
• 16:41
  what is a completely out there goat?
• 16:47
  I'd like to talk to the ghost of Hamlet's father.
• 16:51
  Fair enough and ask. Him, you know what's it like?
• 16:54
  I I fear, though the problem is I don't speak Danish.
• 16:59
  I probably need a translator. Can I get the ghost of a Danish
• 17:04
  English translator? Can I?
• 17:09
  That would be great. Forecasting.
• 17:11
  Full sleep in that. Oh man, that translator is going
• 17:15
  to hog Harold Ramis all night. I just know it.
• 17:20
  I love it fucking fast. The causes, mate.
• 17:23
  Brilliant. What I got asked now is the
• 17:27
  charity stuff, the stuff you know that you're doing this for,
• 17:30
  the rewards. Tell me about what it is like
• 17:35
  for you to sort of do this even though it's been a lifetime
• 17:38
  passion, but for you to do it for charities to, you know, at
• 17:42
  the end of the day, there is reward.
• 17:44
  You know you're doing it for a good cause and it means
• 17:47
  something to you more than the Ghostbusters.
• 17:49
  You know that you're making a difference to people that need
• 17:52
  it. It's wonderful.
• 17:57
  It's wonderful because I get to marry something I like doing
• 18:01
  with something that helps people.
• 18:05
  Again, we talked about the 2016 movie around that time.
• 18:08
  We very specifically chose to help the Canadian Women's
• 18:12
  Foundation, and we chose to help them because of the backlash
• 18:16
  that that movie had. And we were like, well, this is
• 18:19
  a foundation that helps find homes for women who are leaving
• 18:24
  their abusive situations. This is a foundation that helps
• 18:28
  fund women in trades. This is a a foundation that can
• 18:32
  help women. And why wouldn't we be doing
• 18:35
  that? If anything, that backlash shows
• 18:38
  us the importance and the need for this.
• 18:44
  So getting to give back, getting to use this to give back to
• 18:48
  people is kind of amazing. I get to give charitable work by
• 18:55
  dressing up as a Ghostbuster and running around and having people
• 18:58
  take pictures and go, oh, golly, you look a lot like that.
• 19:02
  Dan Aykroyd there, eh? That's wonder.
• 19:05
  You did your you look really good.
• 19:07
  And I go, yes, thank you. And it's great.
• 19:11
  That's wonderful. What, What more do you want to
• 19:14
  be able to give generously, to be able to call attention to
• 19:18
  causes you believe in? And I get to do it in a flight
• 19:22
  suit with a Proton pack on. It's pretty.
• 19:26
  It's pretty awesome. You get to have fun while you're
• 19:28
  doing it mate. That's that's awesome.
• 19:30
  Yeah, again, you kind of get to touch people's lives.
• 19:35
  You get to make an impression. Lots of people will give.
• 19:39
  All of us have been at the grocery store and had like, do
• 19:43
  you want to give 2 bucks to help feed people?
• 19:46
  And you go, yes, and you're on with your day and you never
• 19:48
  think about it. But when you interact with us,
• 19:52
  when you come to the table and see the stuff we put out and
• 19:55
  like have conversations with us, that's a a charitable donation
• 20:00
  that you can remember forever and you can be like, yeah, this
• 20:02
  one time I talked to these Ghostbusters and they were like
• 20:06
  this and I gave them some money and that that was to help an
• 20:08
  animal shelter and it was really neat.
• 20:12
  That's a donation you get to experience and talk about and
• 20:14
  share with forever. But what more can you want?
• 20:19
  You're making an impact on people's lives and that's
• 20:21
  something that's not only fulfilling, but it's really
• 20:25
  interesting to then use that chance to make an impact to help
• 20:30
  other people. That's great to hear, mate.
• 20:32
  That's honestly great to hear. You know, I've got to apologize
• 20:35
  for that. Honestly, I can tell you genuine
• 20:37
  as well. Finally, someone.
• 20:41
  Some random guy from England so. Finally.
• 20:45
  That's what you needed. Check that mark on my bingo
• 20:49
  card. What's next for the Ontario
• 20:53
  Ghostbusters? Well, we're always expanding our
• 20:57
  displays. We're always looking to expand
• 21:00
  our crew roster. We're always, you know, looking
• 21:02
  for more people. The more people we have, the
• 21:06
  more events we can do. But the next little bit, well,
• 21:11
  it is our busy season. I cannot overstress how busy we
• 21:16
  are in October. We have a lot of people who want
• 21:20
  us to turn up and then as soon as we tell them, yeah, you know,
• 21:23
  you can throw some money towards our charity, they're like, oh,
• 21:26
  yeah, there you go. And that's wonderful.
• 21:30
  And it helps us give back. But it does mean, like, I feel
• 21:35
  very much like Ray and Winston at the second movie where
• 21:39
  they're doing the kids birthday party where we're turning up and
• 21:44
  we're like, hey, let's have fun. And then everybody's like, yeah,
• 21:50
  OK. And we're like, oh man, the next
• 21:53
  three hours are going to really drag.
• 21:55
  OK. Let's do it.
• 21:58
  That's great, mate. That's great.
• 22:01
  If they want to keep up to date with what you got lined up for,
• 22:04
  especially this month, that time recording, it's Halloween around
• 22:07
  the corner in two, well, less than three weeks, that's for
• 22:10
  sure. But Halloween's round the
• 22:11
  corner. We're literally middle of
• 22:13
  October. And if the listeners out there
• 22:15
  want to come up to date with the Ontario guys buses, see where
• 22:17
  they're going to appear and what they got lined up, how can they
• 22:20
  do that and find you on social media?
• 22:23
  You can always Google us. We're on the Facebooks, we're on
• 22:26
  the Twitters, we're on the Instagrams.
• 22:30
  If you put us, if you put on Terry Ghostbusters into any
• 22:34
  search engine, we will be the first Infinity hits.
• 22:40
  It is wonderful being a unique brand like that.
• 22:45
  It is a brand, I can't confirm this.
• 22:46
  They do come up, especially YouTube as well.
• 22:48
  Literally it's, it's quite hard to find, not find them on social
• 22:51
  media. But yeah, that's awesome.
• 22:54
  Go give them a follow wherever you follow your social media,
• 22:58
  Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, find them, find out who they're going
• 23:03
  to call, but give them the follow.
• 23:05
  Like this video? Subscribe to the channel, give
• 23:07
  me a photo of my social media handles.
• 23:09
  They will be in the description below.
• 23:10
  But for now, I've one happy Halloween and have a great week.
• 23:14
  Even Halloween, something like 2-3 weeks, but you get the
• 23:16
  point. Have a spooky week?
• 23:32
  Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages,
• 23:36
  it's time for What Do You Call It podcast.