Dan Aykroyd finally explains Ghostbusters’ origins, ghost sex

Perhaps the most infamous scene in the original Ghostbusters isn’t even really a full scene. Of course, I’m talking about the moment when Ray Stantz, as played by series creator Dan Aykroyd, has his pants unzipped by a floating female apparition and is … shall we say, “pleasured” by her. That experience is so intense that Ray’s eyes go crossed. It’s a moment that keeps coming up over and over again, because the latest movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, repurposes the franchise into a family-friendly coming-of-age story about teenagers taking on the ghostbusting mantle. Ghostbusters the original was definitely not for family viewing.

Beyond that obvious fact, the sex scene raises an important question. Can ghosts have sexual relationships? And if they have feelings, shouldn’t they have rights? Ghostbusters trap and imprison these spirits just for the sake of their existence. It is not known what happens to ghosts kept in this containment unit. This could either be Heaven or Hell.

We go to the source for answers to these difficult questions. On this week’s Galaxy Brains, I’m joined by Dan Aykroyd himself to discuss the philosophical questions raised by ghost sex and entrapment.

This conversation was edited as usual to make it less strange.

Dave: Let me talk about the philosophical implications that some of these things have for you. Obviously, GhostbustersIt’s a fun romp. It’s a fun adventure story. It’s a comedy. One thing that has always intrigued me about adulthood was the fact that ghosts can have intimate relationships with the living. There’s a scene in the original GhostbustersWhere Ray, your character is in intimate contact with a ghost

Dan Aykroyd: Yes. That was the woman I can remember. Kym Herrin was her name and she was Playboy Playmate. She was the ghost. Like, I wish they’d let that scene go a little longer.

Dave: My childhood thought exactly the same.

Dan Aykroyd: Sexual encounters are common with spirits. And there are some people that I know that have a house that have a presence and they don’t try to purge it. They said, You know what, I’m going to stay with it and I’ll live with it.

Dave: Yeah. So the reason why I’m interested in this is not prurient or sexual, necessarily, but the idea that when you trap these ghosts in the containment unit in Ghostbusters, they live there, presumably forever because you can’t really dispose of them. They’re just trapped, right?

Dan Aykroyd: They’re trapped. But once they get in there, it’s an amalgamation of their energy. It’s like a vacuum. When you enter there they merge and create this ball of psychic energies. You could put a million spirits in there, and it’s not going to take up any more space. It’s not as if there’s any real concept of space in that space.

Dave: So they’re living inside of a vacuum and sort of a void. Is a ghost conscious if they can have intimate relationships, feel love, and engage in sexual behavior? Is there anything they can see, even if it is in the universe you envision? Are they aware of the void that they’re in?

Dan Aykroyd: We would love for their psychological mix to be harmonious, so they could hum and sit still for many years. There might still be remnants of that consciousness. This prison is likely to be a prison. It should be compassionate, I thought. But, you know, from my family’s research … If you look at my dad’s book, History of Ghosts, which was just published in Poland, by the way, it’s a definitive piece on mediums and sciences and the world of paranormal research. They believe in the supernatural, the survival of consciousness and the fact that the mind can continue to be as it was when you lived your entire life. They do seem to have consciousnesses that are similar to fish. Once you take the hook out, they don’t really do too much.

Dave: Yeah, I’m just so fascinated by this. I’m not trying to make this up, Oh, and the entire premise does not make for compassionate living. It’s just like, Ah, yes! What would it be like?? I wonder what it would be like to live in that environment. I think maybe there’s something to be explored there in subsequent films because it’s a thing that I have no concept of.

Dan Aykroyd: That would create a vacuum. It could also be an animated film.

Dave: Yeah. It is.

Dan Aykroyd: We have an animated concept in the making with Ivan Reitman from Ghost Corps. Maybe I don’t know where we’re going to go in terms of story with the first two movies or whether it’s going to take another turn and introduce a whole new world. We’re only in development on that right now. It’s exciting to think of Ghostbusters being animated because we’ve already had a very successful television show, The Real Ghostbusters.