Skip to main content

Ghostbusters designer reveals ECTO-1’s crazy origin and what it almost looked like

all female ghostbuster cast revealed ecto 1 ghostbusters
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters has been accompanied by all sorts of talk about a third film for the franchise and a re-release of the 1984 comedy in theaters, as well as more than a few Ghostbusters-themed features in various media. One particularly fascinating angle on the film’s legacy is a recent episode of the web video series Beyond the Marquee which featured an interview with designer Stephen Dane, who not only crafted the Ghostbusters’ iconic car ECTO-1, but also designed the proton packs and ghost traps used by the team in the film.

During the interview (which you can watch below), Dane explains why the ECTO-1 almost didn’t make it to the screen, and shares some of the early concept designs for the vehicle. He also talks a bit about the elements he didn’t get to include in the design of the vehicle due to time constraints.

Recommended Videos

Related: Who is on Bill Murray’s short-list for an all-female Ghostbusters?

At one point in the segment, Dane describes himself as a creator of “visual bull” as he explains where some of the various odds and ends attached to the ECTO-1 originated — including a few surprising, off-the-shelf additions to the vehicle that have become part of its iconic look.

In the end, it’s hard to argue with Dane’s classification of the vehicle as a cultural touchstone, given its instantly recognizable status 30 years after it rolled onto the screen.

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
The Flash director says the film failed because people ‘don’t care’ about the DC hero
Barry Allen runs through the Speed Force in The Flash.

It's been nearly two years since The Flash hit theaters in 2023, and the film remains one of the most infamous bombs in recent comic book movie history. Its director, Andy Muschietti, isn't confused about why the film failed, though. During an interview on Radio Tu’s La Baulera del Coso, Muschietti said that he believes The Flash performed so poorly because it wasn't as widely appealing as everyone, including himself and its producers at Warner Bros. Pictures, hoped it would be.

"The Flash failed, among all the other reasons, because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that,” Muschietti argued. “When you spend $200 million making a movie, [Warner Bros.] wants you to bring even your grandmother to the theaters.”

Read more
Sebastian Stan says Thunderbolts is Marvel’s Breakfast Club
Bucky Barnes stands in the desert in Marvel's Thunderbolts.

Marvel Studios may have released only one film last year, but it has three theatrical titles coming in 2025. The movies in question -- February's Captain America: Brave New World, May's Thunderbolts*, and July's The Fantastic Four: First Steps -- all promise to move the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga forward in their own unique ways. The three also seem very different from each other. Brave New World, for instance, is being marketed as a paranoid political thriller, while Fantastic Four has seemingly adopted a retro-futuristic, '60s-inspired aesthetic.

As for Thunderbolts*, one of the film's stars says that it has more in common with a classic 1980s coming-of-age dramedy than comic book fans may expect. "Thunderbolts* is really interesting because it was so fun, man," Sebastian Stan, who is set to make his MCU return as Bucky Barnes in the forthcoming film, revealed during his recent appearance on Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast. "I'm curious to see how people are going to respond [to it] because the closest [film] that comes [to mind] is that movie The Breakfast Club."

Read more
5 years ago, this sci-fi Alien rip-off drowned at the box office. Is it worthy of reappraisal?
The aqua suits in the movie Underwater

Five years ago in January 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic started to make its first headlines, a different kind of disaster arrived in movie theaters: Underwater. The movie starred Kristen Stewart, and based on the trailers, it looked to pay homage to older sci-fi horror classics. Yet Underwater turned out to be a super clunky, visually murky, and ill-paced film about a deep-sea mining station at the bottom of the Mariana Trench that inadvertently wakes up a giant deep-sea monster.

In theory, Underwater should have been enjoyable. Even if it added nothing to the genre and was just a poor homage to Alien, Cloverfield, and The Abyss, it should have been at least derivative fun. But it wasn't, and audiences stayed away from the big-budget film. So what went wrong, and is Underwater worth watching five years later now that it's available to stream at home?
Why Underwater is a Cthulhu-sized disaster
Underwater | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

Read more