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Why was Walter Peck the bad guy?

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L

lastplayed

Member
Just watching Ghostbusters on TV, and I've always found it a bit odd that someone who's just doing his job and trying to protect the environment of the biggest city in the US is made out to be an antagonist. Sure he released all the ghosts, but the Ghostbusters were breaking several environmental laws and using unregulated and untested equipment, what was he supposed to do?

ghostbust.188a.gif
 
Robin64

Robin64

Member
lastplayed said:
Just watching Ghostbusters on TV, and I've always found it a bit odd that someone who's just doing his job and trying to protect the environment of the biggest city in the US is made out to be an antagonist. Sure he released all the ghosts, but the Ghostbusters were breaking several environmental laws and using unregulated and untested equipment, what was he supposed to do?
Click to expand...

Not release all those ghosts, for one thing! He let paperwork bullshit get in the way of common sense.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Dude went from having reasonable concerns and the potential to help get these guys get up to code while providing a very special service for the city, to going nuts, calling them frauds with no actual basis (despite countless civilian testimonies), and then releasing all the ghosts back into the city by forcing a city worker to shut down equipment he knows nothing about.

Guy was way off the mark...
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
lastplayed said:
Just watching Ghostbusters on TV, and I've always found it a bit odd that someone who's just doing his job and trying to protect the environment of the biggest city in the US is made out to be an antagonist. Sure he released all the ghosts, but the Ghostbusters were breaking several environmental laws and using unregulated and untested equipment, what was he supposed to do?
Click to expand...

My take away from his dialogue was that it was partially venkmans fault for messing them around so much.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
lastplayed said:
Just watching Ghostbusters on TV, and I've always found it a bit odd that someone who's just doing his job and trying to protect the environment of the biggest city in the US is made out to be an antagonist. Sure he released all the ghosts, but the Ghostbusters were breaking several environmental laws and using unregulated and untested equipment, what was he supposed to do?

ghostbust.188a.gif
Click to expand...

Peck was the embodiment of bureaucracy. Paperwork and forms over common sense. His actions showed what happened when people stopped thinking for themselves and started to blindly follow rules and regulations.
 
D

Delta Assault

Member
You see, it all gets down to this Venkman fellow. Venkman's paranormal sublimative/psycho-erotic behavior pattern is like a net. Weak-egoed neurotics, like Peck, are drawn into corresponding intersticing patterns. You might say Venkman commits the environmental crimes... using his so-called bureaucratic villains as narcissistic proxies.
 
H

Henchmen21

Banned
It's always been obvious to me that Peck was only in the EPA as a stepping stone in his career. He could've probably given two shits about the environment, he just was a bureaucrat first and foremost.
 
S

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Regan Era, innit? Plucky entrepreneurs form a starter company and are harangued by "heartless" libral organisation with an environmental agenda. The implication being that ghosts are more of a real threat than Climate Change is fairly amusing.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Honestly, anybody in the real world, looking at a bunch of guys building a nuclear reactor or worse in their basement "to keep ghosts from escaping" would consider they're looneys and have everything shut down at once. It just happens that in that case, the looneys were right.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
Screaming Meat said:
Regan Era, innit? Plucky entrepreneurs form a starter company and are harangued by "heartless" libral organisation with an environmental agenda. The implication being that ghosts are more of a real threat than Climate Change is fairly amusing.
Click to expand...

This (also note that the film has no love for academia either). It's got a pretty strong libertarian streak.
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
Alx said:
Honestly, anybody in the real world, looking at a bunch of guys building a nuclear reactor or worse in their basement "to keep ghosts from escaping" would consider they're looneys and have everything shut down at once. It just happens that in that case, the looneys were right.
Click to expand...

Yup. Peck is the bad guy because he was actively working to prevent the protagonist(s) from doing what we want to see them do. In that sense, Peck is the proto-Skyler.
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
Venkman was a dick to him.

Ghostbusters got established by bullshitting their way past laws that would've prevented them from getting anywhere. Peck was just doing his job, and Venkman pushed him away. Venkman essentially assaulted Peck's manhood, saying that there was nothing Peck could do to stop Venkman and the Ghostbusters.

That's when Peck snapped, and came at Venkman/the Ghostbusters in the entirely wrong way.

Then in the Mayor's office, Venkman went after Peck's manhood again (It's true, this man has no dick, followed by an attempted brawl).
 
C

ConfusingJazz

Member
A) The Ghostbusters argues that it's ok to have an unregulated nuclear reactor, especially in the heart of New York City.

B) Peck argues that it's ok to shut down said nuclear reactor where the only expert he brought along says "WTF is this shit!?" and then shuts it down without proper supervision or training.

Both are exceedingly irresponsible.

Hell, the Ghostbusters are literally carrying the ability make "all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light" on their back. All they have to do is "accidently cross the streams". I think you should probably be required to have some sort of training.
 
J

jackdoe

Member
Alx said:
Honestly, anybody in the real world, looking at a bunch of guys building a nuclear reactor or worse in their basement "to keep ghosts from escaping" would consider they're looneys and have everything shut down at once. It just happens that in that case, the looneys were right.
Click to expand...
Definitely. Hell, they strap on nuclear powered backpacks for a living which can't be good for those around them.
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
lastplayed said:
Just watching Ghostbusters on TV, and I've always found it a bit odd that someone who's just doing his job and trying to protect the environment of the biggest city in the US is made out to be an antagonist. Sure he released all the ghosts, but the Ghostbusters were breaking several environmental laws and using unregulated and untested equipment, what was he supposed to do?

ghostbust.188a.gif
Click to expand...

What environmental laws? He had no evidence of anything whatsoever.

He was just butthurt so he got a court order to shut down equipment he had 0 clue about, as he himself stated. When he was told the shutting down of the equipment would be disastrous he said F you do it anyway.

He was a moron ... and that man had no dick
 
C

ConfusingJazz

Member
IAmRandom31 said:
What environmental laws? He had no evidence of anything whatsoever.

He was just butthurt so he got a court order to shut down equipment he had 0 clue about, as he himself stated. When he was told the shutting down of the equipment would be disastrous he said F you do it anyway.

He was a moron ... and that man had no dick
Click to expand...

They have an unlicensed nuclear reactor, and four unlicensed proton accelerators.

I think Peck was a moron in how he handled things, but he wasn't out of bounds to say "What the hell are you doing?"

Granted, it should have come under the AEC, IAEA, and the Department of Energy as a whole, but still.
 
J

jond76

Banned
I guess it doesn't surprise me that in today's world someone would side with Walter Peck. Haha

He acted like it was impossible that he was wrong about the situation. Arrogance at it's finest.
 
B

Bluth54

Member
Walter Peck made me hate the EPA for the longest time as a little kid since I didn't know who they were or anything about them other then Walter Peck worked for them.
 
M

Mr_Zombie

Member
IAmRandom31 said:
What environmental laws? He had no evidence of anything whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Keeping a nuclear reactor in the middle of New York. Yes, what can possibly go wrong.

No to mention, if shutting down such a device would be disastrous, then maybe, just maybe, Ghostbusters shouldn't keep said device in the middle of a big city. There are many ways, even accidental ones, that device could be shut down or break down.
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
Mr_Zombie said:
Keeping a nuclear reactor in the middle of New York. Yes, what can possibly go wrong.

No to mention, if shutting down such a device would be disastrous, then maybe, just maybe, Ghostbusters shouldn't keep said device in the middle of a big city. There are many ways, even accidental ones, that device could be shut down or break down.
Click to expand...

I think the exact quote is " simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb on the city "

so there must of been a way to safely turn it off

also again Peck knew nothing about what the people had in the basement. Nothing at all. He was just butthurt that he wasn't allowed to go down and see it and made up stories about the Ghostbusters using fumes to make people hallucinate to see Ghosts.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Mr_Zombie said:
Keeping a nuclear reactor in the middle of New York. Yes, what can possibly go wrong.

No to mention, if shutting down such a device would be disastrous, then maybe, just maybe, Ghostbusters shouldn't keep said device in the middle of a big city. There are many ways, even accidental ones, that device could be shut down or break down.
Click to expand...
Where exactly would they keep it? All the ghosts are in the city. And it's NYC, not exactly that easy to quickly get in and out of the city just to take it to a secluded less populated area. Especially since there aren't many less populated areas around NYC, and the city itself is huge. The commute times after every job would be ridiculous.

Made more sense to risk keeping it in the city. Since there's no alternative. The ghosts are going to be there no matter what. It's a catch-22.
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
Mr_Zombie said:
Keeping a nuclear reactor in the middle of New York. Yes, what can possibly go wrong.

No to mention, if shutting down such a device would be disastrous, then maybe, just maybe, Ghostbusters shouldn't keep said device in the middle of a big city. There are many ways, even accidental ones, that device could be shut down or break down.
Click to expand...

It's not a nuclear reactor it's a laser containment grid tuned to the same frequency that their traps and proton packs are tuned to like a forcefield to contain the ghosts.

The only reason Egon said it would be disastrous is because the thousands of ghosts they have contained there will all be released at once to terrorise the city.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
Data West said:
Walter Peck defense force.
New lows, gaf.
Click to expand...
dickless defense force is strong with the next one

Cheerilee said:
Venkman was a dick to him.

Ghostbusters got established by bullshitting their way past laws that would've prevented them from getting anywhere. Peck was just doing his job, and Venkman pushed him away. Venkman essentially assaulted Peck's manhood, saying that there was nothing Peck could do to stop Venkman and the Ghostbusters.

That's when Peck snapped, and came at Venkman/the Ghostbusters in the entirely wrong way.

Then in the Mayor's office, Venkman went after Peck's manhood again (It's true, this man has no dick, followed by an attempted brawl).
Click to expand...
 
R

richiek

steals Justin Bieber DVDs
This movie was made during the Reagan era, so of course the government EPA guy is the bad guy.
 
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