History Characters / Ghostbusters

* KarmicPunishment: Becoming the head of a brand new government organization with an implied pay hike doesn't ''sound'' like a punishment until it's made clear to him in the same scene as that reveal that his organization's continued existence now depends entirely on the Ghostbusters he hates so much to operate.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Averted; he survives it.

* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: When Egon has the possessed Louis hooked up to a brain-wave scanner, the image on the display is of Vinz Clortho's head.
* MsFanservice: Zuul, at least while it's in Dana's body.

* HollywoodAtheist: An interesting case. In a short scene toward the end of the first movie, Ray and Winston are alone in Ecto-1, and Winston asks if Ray believes in God. His response is a brief "Never met him." It's rather strange to hear this coming from someone who sees strange spiritual events every day. Ray goes on to quote the Book of Revelations regarding the End of Days, showing that he has some Biblical knowledge. So he may not be an atheist per se--he might be an agnostic.[[note]]Dan Aykroyd has stated that he portrayed Ray as someone who flunked out of seminary school after losing his faith and took up paranormal investigation as a desperate need to believe in ''some''thing.[[/note]

* HollywoodAtheist: An interesting case. In a short scene toward the end of the first movie, Ray and Winston are alone in Ecto-1, and Winston asks if Ray believes in God. His response is a brief "Never met him." It's rather strange to hear this coming from someone who sees strange spiritual events every day. Ray goes on to quote the Book of Revelations regarding the End of Days, showing that he has some Biblical knowledge. So he may not be an atheist per se--he might be an agnostic.

* TheEngineer: While Egon is typically the group's [[TheStrategist strategist]] during missions, Ray is the mechanic and practical inventor. He built the proton packs and the stuff on the Ectomobile, and also designs something called a "Ghost Bomb" in the cartoon series.

* GigglingVillain: Tony has a really high-pitched AnnoyingLaugh as probably his only vocalization.

* [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Omnidisciplinary Lawyer]]: Averted and lampshaded in the second film. He specifically warns the main quartet that he doesn't know criminal law. Sure enough, he botches the defense and the judge rules against them. It's only the timely appearance of ghosts (thereby proving to the disbelieving judge [[CassandraTruth that ghosts are real]]) that get the Ghostbusters off the hook. To his credit, Tully does help play legal hardball at that moment to force the judge to rescind the restraining order.

* TheHero: It's a subtle thing, but if anyone in this group fill this role, it's Peter. The other members will generally do more of the heavy lifting, but Peter is higher profile and speaks for the group.

* TheMillstone: Every problem the 'Busters have to deal with in the original film is caused by him. It's his freewheeling attitude that gets them kicked out of Columbia, his overt come-ons with Dana nearly cost them their first customer, and his standoffishness with Peck is what gets the containment grid shut down. Every one of these incidents is subverted because Venkman's cleverness and quick tongue always end up fixing the problems he causes.

* TheTrickster & TokenEvilTeammate: He is purposely contrary to people, inciting them to become aggravated with him. Peter seems to not care much for their feelings though and goads them on. He is willing to mock or patronize even people in places of authority, whereas Ray and Egon would be more-easily cowed and cautious. Though he usually shows more discretion with these people than to the average Joe. May be unrelated, but perhaps his attitude to higher authority improved after what happened with Peck.

* NonHumanSidekick: Most likely -- see below.

* TeamPet: In the game and other media.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Despite the "too dumb to live" below, he ''does'' have a good point that the Ghostbusters are using some extremely suspicious and dangerous technologies in an equally unprofessional manner. Of course, his response is every bit as stupid.
** Ends up banking on this to keep the Ghostbusters running and their gear from being seized in the IDW comics: Yes, they've got suspicious and dangerous technology, and yes, it ''does'' get used in unprofessional manners. But the Ghostbusters are also frequently the only ones who know how to maintain and (more importantly) ''stabilize'' said tech. It helps that, by his own admission, nobody wants "to press the point with the ''idiot'' who foricibly turned off the containment grid."

!!!'''Played by:''' Annie Potts

* StalkerWithACrush: He comes off this way in the first film, apparently sitting just inside his apartment door all day long so he won't miss Dana walking down the hall. (Though, again, it may not be entirely his fault, see above under DoggedNiceGuy.]]

* WhenHeSmiles: Sometimes when he does smile it comes across as [[TheUnsmile ominous or threatening]]. However when he does it for genuine reasons it's nice to see, such as when he's assuring Dana that he won't use anything to hurt Oscar during a routine Check-up.

* SubmissiveBadass: In the second film.

* SpookySilentLibrary: Her chosen domain, [[CaptainObvious obviously]].

* BerserkButton: The novelization of the first film reveals one; don't talk bad about his family. When a magazine does an investigative story on Pete's past and his father's history as a carnival impresario, Peter deliberately lets a ghost roam free in their offices until they agree to publish a retraction.

** CasanovaWannabe: He is still not capable of winning over everyone. At least it seems that way till they start going out with him...

* FreudianExcuse: Having an absent, sleazy conman for a father certainly explains a fair amount of his personality.

** Third. Peter had no obligation to show Peck the delicate, and highly classified, containment unit, especially as Peck was not in Ghosbusters HQ in any official capacity, but merely ''claimed'' to be an agent of the EPA, and "asked" to see the unit purely for the sake of his own curiousity, not because of any violation of code on the part of the Ghostbusters, nor any active complaint, civil or criminal.

** However, in the first movie and in other points during ''Ghostbusters II'', Ray is shown to be a perfectly competent driver. [[spoiler: Peter looks worried because that short clip is from a deleted scene after Ray looks into the painting of Vigo's eyes. In the cut scene, he drove Ecto-1A like crazy through traffic... because he was possessed by Vigo and aiming to ''commit murder-suicide''. He's snapped out of it by Winston punching him in the face, slams on the brakes before Ecto can run head-on into a tree, and explains that he just felt an urge to drive into said tree and end it all. Peter warns Egon to keep an eye on Ray and not even let him shave. The comics featuring The Real Ghostbusters characters in ''Ghostbusters II'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5kjwaK4eg included the scene.]]]]
* DysfunctionalFamily: The novelization for the first movie paints his family out as one. His parents disappeared and are presumed dead, and his brother and sister refuse to talk to him or each other for what we can assume are very petty reasons.

** In the 2009 game he mentions he spent some time in a seminary. Whether this was because he wanted to go or if it had something to do with the Stantzes being a top-notch DysfunctionalFamily isn't elaborated on, but it's more or less confirmed that he was, at one point in his life, religious.

* LeeroyJenkins: "GET HER!"
** Leading to a hilarious brick joke. "Go GET HER...Ray!"

* LastNameBasis: Unique among the main characters in that he generally refers to everyone except Winston by their last name. This seems more personal preference than reflective of his feelings towards them, however.
** ... Until the second movie, when he starts nicknaming everyone instead.

* ManChild: His sheer delight at sliding down the fire pole (and at the rest of the fire station) in the first movie would put him here even if nothing else would. In general, however, where Peter is dry and cynical and Egon is clinically rational, Ray tends to have a lot of childlike enthusiasm for what they do.
** In the cartoon, he sleeps with a Stay-Puft plushie, and the team picks him to stand in for a six-year-old child to help catch the Boogeyman. He's also ''overjoyed'' to see a plush dog similar to one he owned as a child used as a prop and immediately rushes over to pick it up and cuddle with it.
*** In the second movie, [[spoiler: when he fails to possess Oscar, Vigo decides Ray's just as good]]. The fact that Vigo specifically requested a child to live through speaks volumes of Ray's man-child tendencies.

* SpiritAdvisor: Has one in the IDW comic. It's [[Film/TheBluesBrothers Jake Blues]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: In-universe. He's up against the quintessential trifecta of what government inspectors are supposed to inspect; unprofessional, irresponsible and downright ''dangerous'' actions by private individuals. However, he falls flat on his face in that [[YouAreWhatYouHate he is all those things himself]], and makes no attempt to find responsible professionals to make the Ghostbusters' operation safer; he just shows up and throws his weight around because he found a loophole to justify his presence, and just makes everything worse as government inspectors tend to do.

* GenreSavvy: When Egon explained the growing problem with the containment unit, all Egon had to do was use a Twinkie as an example.

* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: His first name is pronounced "yaw-nosh".

* [[LoveRedeems Mood-Slime Redeems]]

A musician who alerts the Ghostbusters to Gozer's presence before getting possessed by Zuul in the first film. Between the two movies she got married, had a son, and got divorced, and started working Manhattan Museum of Art as a restorer before getting caught up in the Ghostbusters' problems again. Has an on-again-off-again relationship with Peter Venkman, who loves her, but has commitment issues.