Why Walter Peck was wrong?

[CharlesPhipps]

I had a theory, even as a child, that Peck is actually bringing them an order to shut down the containment unit based on extremely specious but legally accurate circumstances. Because he's only brought one guy from the power company and not the entirety of the New York bureaucracy as well as guys in hazmat suits.

Basically, I imagine Peck's order is probably, "Excessive amounts of energy are being derived from a inappropriately wired grid. Shut it down until they can be upgraded."

Not:

"Unlicensed nuclear device."

And I also think that Venkman's pathological inability not to be a dick to anyone means that they got the absolute worst result possible. Mind you, Egon would have been even worse. Ray or Winston probably would have just gotten him to give them a fine they couldn't afford.

Note: Peck shows up again in the canonical GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME as the new Inspector for Supernatural Phenomenon so apparently he fell upwards--which is the biggest proof that he's a real bureaucrat and probably a Republican or conservative Democrat appointee.

[DAv]

Note: Peck shows up again in the canonical GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME as the new Inspector for Supernatural Phenomenon so apparently he fell upwards--which is the biggest proof that he's a real bureaucrat and probably a Republican or conservative Democrat appointee.

The game justifies it by having his appointment due to the Mayor being possessed by the ghost of Ivo Shandor. He keeps on the role in the IDW comics, although he is shown to actually accept the existence of ghosts, as well as finding ways to use them to bring in money for New York. Basically hired them out to other cities in America for lucrative contracts in one arc.

[Fianna]

Arguably, the Ghostbusters do keep a large amount of dangerous chemicals at their headquarters ... assuming you count ectoplasm as a chemical.

[CrypticMirror]

Arguably, the Ghostbusters do keep a large amount of dangerous chemicals at their headquarters ... assuming you count ectoplasm as a chemical.

If you see a group of guys consistently dripping goo everywhere, then I'd want someone to at least check up on that.

[MightyDavidson]

Arguably, the Ghostbusters do keep a large amount of dangerous chemicals at their headquarters ... assuming you count ectoplasm as a chemical.

That's not really hazardous though. Venkman was covered in the stuff from head to toe with no negative consequences after all.

[Jonathan101]

Why would he bring a Geiger counter?

He has no idea they are using unlicensed nuclear accelerators, and if he DID know that would actually undermine his belief that they are just a bunch of scam artists.

Well, no one's seen the containment grid, but they have seen them walk around with the proton packs. Seems entirely reasonable to suspect just from witness description the things might kick out radiation, and a responsible regulator would be prepared to test for that.

As noted upthread, while we can suggest that the filmmaker's political views are *why* Peck was depicted as petty and irresponsible, within the film itself he absolutely is those things. He brought what seems to be a regular technician from Con Edison to turn off what by all evidence was a nuclear reactor, and even that guy was like "I have no idea what this is and we shouldn't touch it"!

The Ghostbusters absolutely needed to be regulated and quite possibly shut down. But Walter Peck wasn't equipped to handle the job.

Edit: It's telling that in the video game, which uses a lot of the core concepts from potential Ghostbusters 3 scripts that had been kicked around at that time, by the early 90s when it takes place the Ghostbusters were more or less on the city's payroll, because "A ghost-free city is a tourist-friendly city".

Peck believes the Ghostbusters are frauds. He thinks they are using nerve gasses to cause hallucinations and that the proton packs are just a light show. He has no respect for the intelligence of their clients who he considers gullible and even stupid, which he flat-out says when Egon tries to warn him how dangerous turning off the equipment is ("Don't patronise me! I'm not GROTESQUELY stupid like the people you bill!").

The electrician is there to shut down what Peck thinks is a bunch of fancy special effects tech. Peck honestly believes they are a bunch of con artists and he doubles down on that belief when confronted with evidence to the contrary since he can't accept he is wrong.

[FaxModem1]

So, quick question, in the movies, cartoons, or video games, was there ever a bureaucrat there to do their job for the right reasons? Say, someone from the Department of Energy curious just how they're powering their proton packs?

Or only strawmen like Walter Peck?

[Jonathan101]

So, quick question, in the movies, cartoons, or video games, was there ever a bureaucrat there to do their job for the right reasons? Say, someone from the Department of Energy curious just how they're powering their proton packs?

Or only strawmen like Walter Peck?

NASA calls them for help in one episode. The French government need their help in another.

The Mayor isn't technically a bureaucrat, but he and most of his office apart from that one guy in II are on the Ghostbusters side...mostly.

Otherwise, they don't actually deal with bureaucrats at all to be honest.

[MightyDavidson]

So, quick question, in the movies, cartoons, or video games, was there ever a bureaucrat there to do their job for the right reasons? Say, someone from the Department of Energy curious just how they're powering their proton packs?

Or only strawmen like Walter Peck?

I don't think anybody's gone after them in the cartoons, aside from ghosts of course. Peck did show up in one episode of the cartoon but aside from that, people going after the Ghostbusters was not a common thread in the cartoons.

[Senko]

Why would he bring a Geiger counter?

He has no idea they are using unlicensed nuclear accelerators, and if he DID know that would actually undermine his belief that they are just a bunch of scam artists.

Well, no one's seen the containment grid, but they have seen them walk around with the proton packs. Seems entirely reasonable to suspect just from witness description the things might kick out radiation, and a responsible regulator would be prepared to test for that.

As noted upthread, while we can suggest that the filmmaker's political views are *why* Peck was depicted as petty and irresponsible, within the film itself he absolutely is those things. He brought what seems to be a regular technician from Con Edison to turn off what by all evidence was a nuclear reactor, and even that guy was like "I have no idea what this is and we shouldn't touch it"!

The Ghostbusters absolutely needed to be regulated and quite possibly shut down. But Walter Peck wasn't equipped to handle the job.

Edit: It's telling that in the video game, which uses a lot of the core concepts from potential Ghostbusters 3 scripts that had been kicked around at that time, by the early 90s when it takes place the Ghostbusters were more or less on the city's payroll, because "A ghost-free city is a tourist-friendly city".

Peck believes the Ghostbusters are frauds. He thinks they are using nerve gasses to cause hallucinations and that the proton packs are just a light show. He has no respect for the intelligence of their clients who he considers gullible and even stupid, which he flat-out says when Egon tries to warn him how dangerous turning off the equipment is ("Don't patronise me! I'm not GROTESQUELY stupid like the people you bill!").

The electrician is there to shut down what Peck thinks is a bunch of fancy special effects tech. Peck honestly believes they are a bunch of con artists and he doubles down on that belief when confronted with evidence to the contrary since he can't accept he is wrong.

The problem with the theory he wants the unit shut down so it can be upgraded is that he's told repeatedly this is a dangerous thing to do. Igon tells him "Turning off these machines could be extremely hazardrous". and he responds "I'll tell you what's extremely hazardrous your facing a dozen violations of envrionmental regulations". Igon replies "Try to understand this is a high voltage laser containment system simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb in the middle of the city." then you get Peck's "I'm not stupid." after some more dialogue he orders his electrician to turn it off and Venkmen say's "Don't shut it off I'm warning you." to which Peck's own electrician say's "Umm I've never seen anything like this before I don't . . ." Peck cuts him off with "I'm not interested in your opinion just shut it off."

So there's no good intentions here he has trumped up charges based on nothing but malicious prosecution then he proceeds to ignore not only the warnings of two Doctors with multiple degree's that simply shutting the system down would be dangerous but straight out say's he isn't interested in the professional opinion of his own expert. Even if they had been con-artists using dangerous chemicals that's a good way to turn a small business breaching regulations into a full scale environmental disaster. Then when it turns into said disaster her tries to blame them and say its a direct result of their actions not his own in ignoring 3 different people one on his pay roll saying "don't do this."