hitmanjules

The synopsis of the original 'Ghostbusters' from 1984 is that Drs. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler are three parapsychologists who are thrown out of their University jobs and go into business for themselves.

Dr. Peter Venkman tells EPA villain Walter Peck that he has Ph.Ds in psychology and parapsychology, and I'll assume Ray and Egon have them as well.

With their educational background being in psychology and parapsychology... how did they get the knowledge to build portable nuclear power packs and ectoplasmic tractor beam devices?

Wouldn't building their ghostbusting equipment have taken years of study in fields of nuclear energy, electrical engineering, high-level physics, etc?

Super X

I always figured that Egon was the smartest of the three by far and held more PhDs than either Ray or Peter, so I wouldn't be surprised if the character held them in the necessary fields to design the equipment.

DthRdrX

Egon was a genius, degrees or no degrees.

TomOpus

Uhmmm it's a comedy movie about ghosts.

Super X

Well, that would make for a pretty boring discussion board. "It's just a movie, it doesn't matter."

Mabuse

One thing bothered me: Did Lardass have to pay to be in the contest?

GoldenJCJ

Back of man, they're scientists!

Mabuse

Serious answer: Venkman says he has a degree in psychology and parapsychology, but it is never stated what the others' specialties are. It's possible Egon is a CalTech EE kind of guy.

majorjoe23

How were weak-ass scientists strong enough to carry such heavy backpacks?

GoldenJCJ

Because they were men, obviously!

Josh-da-man

I always sort of got the feeling that Egon was sort of a garage scientist, who may or mat not have had a lot of formal education. Wouldn't surprise me if he was an autodidact.

Shannon Nutt

Egon has a doctorate in physics from MIT and an undergrad engineering degree.

Decker

That's probably why he never worked in the private sector.

Hazel Motes

You kind of drive a hole through your own argument.

You openly admit to assuming something, then exactly one sentence later you present it as fact.

Who's to say Egon or Ray didn't have any number of other degrees? Who's to say Egon isn't just a bonafide genius. Hell, who's to say Louis Tully isn't an heir to some sort of coke bottle eye glasses fortune? They never mention, so really anything is possible.

Peter Venkman sexually harrasses Dana Barrett, I assume he is serial rapist.

Since he is a convicted Serial Rapist, why doesn't the court sentence him to prison for breaking probation when he is arrested?

Count Dooku

As Jeff Goldblum explains in The Fly, A uber-genius does not have to know how to build his equipment, he/she just needs to know how to hire the right people to build the component parts he needs and then be able to put them together to serve the ultimate purpose.

Solid Snake

I always assumed it was mostly Egon's work w/ some help from Ray. Venkman never seem all that knowledgeable on the tech itself. He just knew wtf to do w/ it.

Either way. It's obvious that Egon is the most knowledgeable of the equipment. But Ray wasn't sooo far behind on it either. I'm sure he had a hand in it. Venkman for sure just didn't seem right in the science needed for it.

Mabuse

Also, keep in mind that it's explained in the movie that having the encounter with the ghost in the library somehow gave them the data or readings or whatever that will now make catching ghosts possible. Egon says this right after the encounter.